NCAA Hoops Tourney to 128 Teams?

[Caveat Emperor]

The fact is, all teams are eligible to make the NCAA... just win your conference tourney!!! If it will make them feel better, I'm sure the NCAA would take over the "one-bid" conference tourneys and call them the NCAA tournament... so long as they could make a bunch of dough off of it.

Except that's not really true.

The only real change I'd make immediately to the NCAA tournament is to either eliminate the "Play-In" game, or make it a matchup of two "bubble" teams and have them play for the right to enter the tournament as an at-large #10 seed.

It's complete crap that the tournament officials force confrence champions like Hampton (MEAC tournament champions 2006) to go and play an extra game for the right to enter the tournament. They followed all the rules, won their conference tournament, but were denied their automatic bid to the tournament. If the NCAA doesn't want teams like Hampton or Monmouth in, they should just come clean and get rid of the automatic bid system and hand the spot over to another power conference school. But don't make them play an extra game for their "automatic" bid. That's a joke.

[savafan]

If they expand it enough, perhaps there will be a chance of seeing the Edison State Community College Cavliers in there.

haha, no, I still doubt that happens.

[dabvu2498]

If they expand it enough, perhaps there will be a chance of seeing the Edison State Community College Cavliers in there.

It won't happen, especially since they're the Chargers.

Maybe the Wright State-Lake Lakers will get in though.

[savafan]

It won't happen, especially since they're the Chargers.

Maybe the Wright State-Lake Lakers will get in though.

Correct, Lehman High School is the Cavaliers.

[MrCinatit]

It won't happen, especially since they're the Chargers.
Maybe the Wright State-Lake Lakers will get in though.

Oops. Okay, so it's been a few years...:

[Heath]

It won't happen, especially since they're the Chargers.

Maybe the Wright State-Lake Lakers will get in though.

If you are thinking that it's that easy to get in, you must absolutely never count out the Sinclair Tartans.

Speaking of your 128 teams, can you imagine the Pool sheets on THAT? It would be two sheets and HORRIBLE to score.

[BuckeyeRed27]

This could be one of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas.
The college tournament should be smaller if anything. The regular season means nothing.
One of the reasons that football has become much more popular than basektball (both college and pro) is that each weekend those games mean so much. If you lose one game in college football you probably just lost out on playing for the national championship. I think that makes it far cooler because the whole season is a playoff.
Basketball is a little bit easier sport to score an upset so you don't want anything like footballs system, but watering it down anymore would be awful. The season has to mean something.

[kyred14]

It has something to do with George Mason, alright. The big conferences want their money. They don't like the little taking "their" spots. And if they want it, NCAA will probably give to them. They're all about the money too, ya know.

[Reds Fanatic]

The NCAA made a good decision and is keeping the tournament at 65 teams.

The NCAA Tournament will remain at 65 teams for the foreseeable future after the men's basketball committee decided against any kind of expansion at its annual spring meetings this week in Orlando.

A news release is expected to be issued by the NCAA.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches had been pushing to expand the tournament beyond the 65 with a number to be determined. The NABC saw the access to the tournament as one of the reasons to expand, especially in light of the run by mid-majors of late and a few bubble teams not making the field that some coaches were convinced should have been included.

Before the meeting, members of the committee like outgoing chair Craig Littlepage showed little enthusiasm for the proposal. The committee needed to see the great cause to expanding the tournament, how that would occur and in what format.

There also are contractual issues that make expansion a non-issue for years to come. Creating more rounds would alter the postseason dates that would run into other programming on CBS, the network of the championship.

Ultimately, the NCAA views conference tournaments as a way for all teams to have access to the NCAA Tournament. Teams that win conference tournaments (everyone has one now except for the Ivy) get into the field.

[dabvu2498]

The NCAA made a good decision and is keeping the tournament at 65 teams.

Not sure when the TV contract will be renegotiated, but when it is, I'd bet we'll have a 7 round tourney.

Oh well, it's not like I'm not going to watch it if they do.

[15fan]

It has something to do with George Mason, alright. The big conferences want their money. They don't like the little taking "their" spots. And if they want it, NCAA will probably give to them. They're all about the money too, ya know.

The fact that a mid-major made it to the Final Four is going to have an incredibly insignifcant impact on the payouts to the other conferences in the next 6 (or is it 7 years?).

CAA teams will see a boost of a couple hundred thousand dollars over the next several years. That's a significant boost to the CAA teams, but that's a drop in the bucket to schools in the ACC / Pac 10 / Big 11, etc.

As far as the idea of expanding to 128 teams, that would have meant that the NIT champ would've had to chant "We're #129!"

(Can you imagine how horrible the basketball in the NIT would've been if they had to take teams #129 - 160? Ugh. )

[Danny Serafini]

(Can you imagine how horrible the basketball in the NIT would've been if they had to take teams #129 - 160? Ugh. )

Just for giggles, here are teams #129-160 in the RPI last year:

129 Drexel 15-16
130 Buffalo 18-13
131 Oral Roberts 20-11
132 Southern U 19-12
133 Illinois-Chicago 16-14
134 Fordham 16-16
135 Tennessee Tech 17-12
136 Texas Tech 15-17
137 St. John's 12-15
138 Loyola (Chicago) 17-11
139 Missouri 12-16
140 UL Lafayette 13-16
141 San Diego 17-12
142 Eastern Washington 14-15
143 Lipscomb 21-10
144 Monmouth 18-14
145 Fairleigh Dickinson 19-11
146 Virginia Tech 14-16
147 Oregon 14-18
148 Toledo 19-11
149 Loyola Marymount 12-18
150 Lehigh 17-12
151 Colorado St 14-15
152 Rhode Island 14-14
153 Long Beach St 17-12
154 Sacramento St 13-15
155 Austin Peay 17-14
156 Mississippi 14-16
157 Gardner-Webb 17-12
158 IUPUI 17-10
159 Georgia Southern 18-9
160 Georgia Tech 11-17

Enjoy that tournament!

[KronoRed]

The Georgia Tech/Georgia Southern battle would be something

[Benny-Distefano]

I think they should expand it to 256...no, 512... no, just make it a gig of RAM.

Wait... what were we talking about again?