96 in the NCAA Tournament

I'll take that one step further. The pressure to win the first game becomes enormous, especially for the teams that get those first-round byes.

The way it has been, the top four seeds in each region open the tournament with a pretty easy game. Yes, there are some upsets, but very few among the fours or better in the first round. The fans are virtually guaranteed two games for their trip. Even if their team loses in the second round, they get to spend a whole weekend and have a good time.

Now, a three seed, for example, gets a bye and opens against a better team than it would have before, likely a team from a major conference -- remember the Woffords and Arkansas-Pine Bluffs of the world have been bumped down in the seeding and probably lose in the first round anyway -- and certainly a team that already has confidence and momentum from a tournament win.

The chances for a loss have increased greatly, but the fans don't care. All they know is if the team loses its first game, they're pissed because they spent all this money and got all excited for what, one night? The bye becomes meaningless. To fans and boosters, the team was one and done, a failure. That happens more than once, it turns into pressure on a coach.

 

I seem to remember reading or hearing that the plan was to fold the NIT into the NCAA tournament, which I assumed meant there would be no more NIT. But I can't remember where I read or heard that, so it might well have been someone talking out of his hind end.

 

Yeah, from everything that was said after this year's NIT ... that likely could've been the last one if the NCAA goes to 96. NCAA won't want to run the NIT (and have the finals in NYC) with the dreck of teams littered in the CBI and CIT.

 

Schools have spring break at different times. Some have them the first week of March. Some in the last week. It would be very easy for a team to be in their conference tournament during spring break and end up spending two weeks of class time at an NCAA tournament site.

 

Baron,

Re: your avatar. Wasn't there a certain black bird that really made the Isle of Malta famous?

 

Scicluna was the man who made Malta famous, not the falcon who made Malta famous. The falcon can pull out his own foreign objects out of his trunks if he wants to be as famous in Malta as The Baron.

 

This is horseshit. I have enough trouble reading a 64 team bracket on my computer.