Say it ain't so

[Five Two]

We think the Bracket Buster is too big and watered down. Will March Madness follow and go to 80? God, I hope not. I think its one team too big already and I wish it would go back to 64 teams.

Saw this on http://www.collegeinsider.com/ in the middle of a NIT-NCAA piece.


How well do you think the NIT would do if the NCAA expanded it again? Well, that is what is being whispered. The current field of 65 would expand to 80, with the top 16 teams receiving a first round bye. Ultimately such a change would adversely affect the mid-major ranks. Of the 15 additional bids, 10-12 will undoubtedly go to the power conferences (don’t be naive enough to think otherwise).

[Washingtonian]

Leave it at 65 - it works, end of story.

I think the extra game is good because of schools switching conferences all the time and getting some national exposure for two schools that never get it.

[SaintDK10]

Wow. Why don't we just get rid of NIT all together. :lol:

[ODUBB35]

Better yet, why don't we just let everybody into the NCAA's except teams that have offensive logos. The NCAA is getting ready to screw everything up...

[Five Two]

Eventually, every BCS school will be allowed in, all conference tournament winners and any schools over .500 schools from the non-BCS, non-mid major conferences. The tournament will start in mid January and finish on the first Monday in April. Its going to look like the NHL and NBA playoffs. :lol:

[TJ Reaper]

I think the NCAA tournament should give those teams who have won their regular-season AND tournament championships in their respective conferences better seeds; I don't care if the team is from the NEC or the WAC or the ACC.

At-large teams should not be superior to those who won their conferences. Maybe..........

(1) Rank the auto-bid teams in order (of course, you'd have your high, then mid, then low majors....fine). They all get national seeds.

(2) Determine your at-large teams. Rank them in 3's (3 #1's, 3 #2's). These teams are matched up with the national seeds.

In this format (you'd have to see it to know what I am talking about), the best at-large teams are matched up with the worse auto-bid teams; so you still get that balance, BUT you give those who won their conferences more recognition.

In this example, the middle of the tournament is A LOT more balanced. I'll make an example later.

[fmrick]

Eventually, every BCS school will be allowed in, all conference tournament winners and any schools over .500 schools from the non-BCS, non-mid major conferences. The tournament will start in mid January and finish on the first Monday in April. Its going to look like the NHL and NBA playoffs. :lol:

Well, not THAT bad of an increase. Just add one more week (2 games) and we would be at 256 teams, and no play-in game. But if they seed teams the same way do you really want to see the #1 seeds playing the forth-place team in the 23rd rated conference? Just two more walkover for the #1's, and I suspect the 2's, 3's and 4's.

Keep it like it is. Most conferences have a tournament (do all now?), so every teams has a chance to play themselves in anyway.

[BaNgMyPrOgRaM]

I dont believe the Ivy League has a conf tournament, maybe the only conference without.

It would not matter if the "dance" expanded, the cream rises to the top. 80+ teams, whatever.

F NIT -- i could care less if they existed!!

[dukaholic]

F NIT -- i could care less if they existed!!

Still bitter? ;)

Wasn't that like, 3 or 4 years ago now?

[VRam2]

Exactly Bang, F the NIT.

[TJ Reaper]

The Ivy League is the only Division I conference that awards its auto-bid to the NCAA's based on the regular season. The only post-season game in conference played in that league is a tie-breaker between the top two teams in case of a tie.

I admire the Ivy League. They take pride in the BEST team in their conference vs. the hottest. I think that, as I posted earlier, more credit should be given to regular season champions. There was no reason that Davidson from last year went SIXTEEN AND 0 in conference and did not get a look at the NCAA's (not saying they should've made it, but still....no look due to their OOC performance vs. a top 50 schedule mind you).

[RamMobile]

I really dislike the IVY league model of the autobid, because it makes no sense for that league. THERE ARE ONLY TWO TEAMS COMPETING FOR THE TITLE!!! Last year, Princeton had a hiccup early on in the conference season and that basically ended their postseason hopes in january. The rest of the year was a Penn victory tour. YAWN!!!

[KevinMac]

I still think the best way to do it is to expand the tournament one round and give auto bids to both the regular season and conference tournament champions. You can go up to 96 teams or so, really not even that many. Have an opening round on Tuesday then start the meat of the draw Thursday as always.

Face it: Right now the regular season is meaningless. Totally and completely worthless save for the regular season champ gets only two difficult games instead of three, and for the NIT, which isn't something I think we should be playing for.