Looks Like It's Official: NCAA Men's Basketball Field To Expand To 68 Teams

[BNWriter]

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/article_451a4eb6-4e30-11df-9114-001cc4c03286.html

I'm usually worn out by the time the championship game rolls around after 65 teams have played. And expanding it to a proposed 98 (98!!!???) teams have played seems insane to me. I know there may be another similar thread around here, but I could not find it.

Is this really necessary to find a champion?? Or, is it, as we all know (if not suspect by now) just for the $$$$$??

 

[imjustagirl]

96, actually.

And of course it's about the money.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I'm glad that saner heads have prevailed, or maybe there was just enough of people shouting 'No' for the NCAA to get their heads out of their rears for once and listen.

I still like just having one play-in game to give the small schools the spotlight for that one night. But when the alternative was 96 teams, I'll take 68.

 

[mustangj17]

Welp, I called the 68 thing a while ago. Now we are going to see some much much much better matchups in 15 vs. 2 and 14 vs. 3 games

 

[BNWriter]

96, actually.

And of course it's about the money.

TNT (or is it TBS...?) And CBS will divide the coverage, and yeah, I figured it was about nothing but $$$, but I wonder if the group that wants academic performance thrown into the mix to keep certain schools from being able to participate in the tourney (based on graduation numbers) will have any influence on the situation (maybe some schools who get invited might not be able to play if grad rates aren't high enough...).

 

[Guy_Incognito]

It doesn't specify where the extra teams go. I'd assume it's the worst 8 have play ins to be the 16 seeds. I'd prefer the idea that was floating around of leaving the bottom as it was & having the last 8 at large finalists (currently the last 4 in & the last 4 out) in play-in games to be the 12 seeds. People would watch those games.

 

[Armchair_QB]

It will be interesting to see how the NCAA handles these play-in games. Right now the team that wins in Dayton has to play at a Friday-Sunday first round site - which is why the overall No. 1 doesn't always face the play-in winner. That obviously won't work with four play-in games.

I guess the simplest thing would be to play the games at the four first round sites that host the No. 1 seeds. Sucks for Dayton though.

 

[imjustagirl]

96, actually.

And of course it's about the money.

TNT (or is it TBS...?) And CBS will divide the coverage, and yeah, I figured it was about nothing but $$$, but I wonder if the group that wants academic performance thrown into the mix to keep certain schools from being able to participate in the tourney (based on graduation numbers) will have any influence on the situation (maybe some schools who get invited might not be able to play if grad rates aren't high enough...).

I was clarifying the expansion was rumored to be 96 teams, not 98.

 

[Oz]

It will be interesting to see how the NCAA handles these play-in games. Right now the team that wins in Dayton has to play at a Friday-Sunday first round site - which is why the overall No. 1 doesn't always face the play-in winner. That obviously won't work with four play-in games.

I guess the simplest thing would be to play the games at the four first round sites that host the No. 1 seeds. Sucks for Dayton though.

My guess: Play two play-in games on Monday or Tuesday night (those teams play Thursday) and two more play-in games on Tuesday or Wednesday night (those teams play Friday). And they could all be in Dayton.

 

[spnited]

This would work best if they make the last four at-large play the four lowest rated auotmatic bid conferences.

Doubleheader Monday or Tuesday, winners go to Thursday-Saturday regions. Doubleheder Tuesday or Wednesday, winners go to Friday-Sunday region. All play-in winners become No. 16 seeds and get clocked by the No. 1, but it makes the 5-12, 4-13, 3-14 better games.

Thank god they're not going to 96.

 

[mustangj17]

This would work best if they make the last four at-large play the four lowest rated auotmatic bid conferences.

Doubleheader Monday or Tuesday, winners go to Thursday-Saturday regions. Doubleheder Tuesday or Wednesday, winners go to Friday-Sunday region. All play-in winners become No. 16 seeds and get clocked by the No. 1, but it makes the 5-12, 4-13, 3-14 better games.

Thank god they're not going to 96.

I just hope this opens the door for more mid-majors, I don't want to see 19-11 Illinois getting to play a 5 seed in the first round and a team like, New Mexico State getting bumped to be a 14 because of this.

 

[spnited]

This will not help mid-majors at all. Three extra teams, I bet 2 out of 3, at least, are power conference 7th place.

 

[albert77]

I like the idea of having the four play-in games match eight of the most borderline at-large teams for the 12 seeds. This year, it could have been something like New Mexico State vs. Illinois, UTEP vs. Ole Miss (or maybe Rhode Island), Utah State vs. Virginia Tech and Minnesota vs. Mississippi State. That would give you four very watchable games of teams from legitimate conferences that might have a chance to make some noise in the tournament, rather than just eight sad sacks playing for the right to get killed by a 1-seed. I mean, hell, there were several early-round NIT games that were better and more interesting than the NCAA play-in game and the 1-16 first-rounders.

 

[trifectarich]

You can't announce the field on Sunday and have play-in games on Monday. That's asinine. Oh, I forget, this is the NCAA we're talking about; anything is possible.

The story I read made a big point about how this new deal makes it possible for every game to be televised live for the first time. What am I missing? Every game is shown live now, albeit not on a national basis.

 

[JakeandElwood]

Thank God it's not 96. This is kind of silly but a huge relief compared to that ridiculousness.

 

[Armchair_QB]

It will be interesting to see how the NCAA handles these play-in games. Right now the team that wins in Dayton has to play at a Friday-Sunday first round site - which is why the overall No. 1 doesn't always face the play-in winner. That obviously won't work with four play-in games.

I guess the simplest thing would be to play the games at the four first round sites that host the No. 1 seeds. Sucks for Dayton though.

My guess: Play two play-in games on Monday or Tuesday night (those teams play Thursday) and two more play-in games on Tuesday or Wednesday night (those teams play Friday). And they could all be in Dayton.

No way that would work. Teams don't find out where they're headed until Sunday night. The Monday teams would have to be ready to leave for their game site within hours of finding out where they're playing.

 

[Den1983]

I'm glad that saner heads have prevailed, or maybe there was just enough of people shouting 'No' for the NCAA to get their heads out of their rears for once and listen.

I still like just having one play-in game to give the small schools the spotlight for that one night. But when the alternative was 96 teams, I'll take 68.

Exactly. 96 would have been disastrous. A horrible idea.

 

[MileHigh]

It'll probably be a quadrupleheader in Dayton on Tuesday or a doubleheader on Tuesday and Wednesday.

As for the play-in teams, agree that it should be the last eight in. If you win a conference tournament and an automatic bid, put them into the main draw.

 

[playthrough]

You can't announce the field on Sunday and have play-in games on Monday. That's asinine. Oh, I forget, this is the NCAA we're talking about; anything is possible.

The story I read made a big point about how this new deal makes it possible for every game to be televised live for the first time. What am I missing? Every game is shown live now, albeit not on a national basis.

That if you had four TVs side-by-side you could now watch everything?

I don't want to have to work the remote on the first week of the tourney. I'm really OK with one primary game plus the halftime look-ins and switches elsewhere in the second half, as long as the network keeps up with things. And 95 percent of the time they do.

 

[deskslave]

It will be interesting to see how the NCAA handles these play-in games. Right now the team that wins in Dayton has to play at a Friday-Sunday first round site - which is why the overall No. 1 doesn't always face the play-in winner. That obviously won't work with four play-in games.

I guess the simplest thing would be to play the games at the four first round sites that host the No. 1 seeds. Sucks for Dayton though.

My guess: Play two play-in games on Monday or Tuesday night (those teams play Thursday) and two more play-in games on Tuesday or Wednesday night (those teams play Friday). And they could all be in Dayton.

No way that would work. Teams don't find out where they're headed until Sunday night. The Monday teams would have to be ready to leave for their game site within hours of finding out where they're playing.

They could easily announce the 16 seeds ahead of time, if that's the way they went with it. Most of the minor conferences play their tournaments earlier than the majors anyway.