Big East: Can the non-football schools survive?

My new avatar has two fists up and is ready to duke it out.

It has no tats though.

 

Didn't know the blue font was needed there. That might be the most obvious tone of sarcasm, especially with the capitals, I've ever used.

 

Your sarcasm needs a little work.

 

So does your attitude and your brash, undeserved name-calling. New York mentality on display here, folks.

 

Fuck off, little boy.

 

If 42 is "little," you certainly live up to your signature.

 

42 going on 14. .

 

You need to work on your Pantera lyrics, spnited.

 

I'm sorry, man, but hell no. You can't possibly tell me that Coppin State (all 20 losses of them), Texas-Arlington, Mississippi Valley State and, for that matter, Georgia, are more worthy of going to the NCAAs than Tennessee, Texas, Duke, Georgetown, Michigan State, Vandy, Xavier, UConn and a shit-ton of other teams just because they strung together four wins down the stretch.

If anyone should be complaining, it's schools that win consistently and prove they're the best team in their conference, only to get sent packing because of one bad game (or another team's great one).

One suggestion: Expand the field to, say, 96 teams. All conference regular-season champs and tournament champs get in. At-larges fill out the field. Possible side effect -- regular season champ of a one-bid conference lies down so the conference gets two in, but I'm not sure how you'd avoid that. Unless regular season champs are excluded from conference tournament play, but then that takes away a lot of the fanbase, since usually the best team is the best-travelling one. But it's a thought, leastaways.

 

Those 8 Catholic schools can peel off on their own and form their own league like the Mountain West did from the WAC. It would be a very similar situation — original conference members are joined by newcomers who then take over, leaving the old members stewing.

Then we'll have 66 teams and a Dayton doubleheader.

 

I just don't get the arguments to change the tournament. Sure, you can keep expanding. but that just means team No. 81 or team no. 97 or whoever the next team left out becomes starts bitching. Somebody will always find a reason to complain.

I saw the argument brought up on this thread returning to the days of conference champions only going to the tournament just to put some importance on the conference tournament championship games. As if that's much more important than allowing the best teams in the country to compete for one title that matters.

How about this for an idea? Leave the thing alone. It is wildly popular. The format is infinitely better than what the NCAA has for football. And bitching of one or two teams bound for the NIT aside, it's usually pretty damn fair.