NCAA Possibly Expanding Tournament Field

[cycloneG]

I don't like it

NCAA presents expanded basketball tournament models that could grow Big Dance to 72, 76 teams

The NCAA Tournament could be expanding up to 76 teams as soon as 2025-26 season

www.cbssports.com

 

[Drew0311]

Let's ruin the one last good thing about college sports. The NCAA tournament. I am so sick of these money grabs. Nobody wants this.

 

[Cyclonsin]

If they screw up the greatest event in sports I swear to God, I'll only watch most of the games.

 

[isufbcurt]

Need to do the opposite, go back to 64 and get rid of the stupid play in games.

 

[drmwevr08]

Bow to the Altar of cash.

 

[cydnote]

Hoks are voting yes

 

[cycloneG]

Need to do the opposite, go back to 64 and get rid of the stupid play in games.

 

[NorthCyd]

Meh. It will spin up the internet outrage machine for a little while and then the tournament will go right back to doing monster numbers.

 

[CRcyclone6]

Bigger brackets!!! Yes! Not really, I don't like this.

 

[2122]

Let everyone in. And give 'em all trophies. There must be no hurt feelings.

Tracking the teams that have never made the men's NCAA tournament

In the long history of the men's NCAA tournament, a field that has now grown to 68 teams, there are still a number of programs waiting to participate in their first March Madness.

www.ncaa.com

 

[clonedude]

If they are trying to completely ruin college sports…. they are doing a GREAT job!

Everything they are doing right now is terrible.

 

[Gunnerclone]

People will argue that “they’ve expanded the tournament lots of times and it’s fine” but the next expansion is where the scale tips from a competitive standpoint. Not that it really matters.

 

[MJ271]

Meh. It will spin up the internet outrage machine for a little while and then the tournament will go right back to doing monster numbers.

I kind of agree. I don't particularly like even the smaller increases, but I don't think it will actually have a major impact until they extend all the way to another weekend and/or add enough at-large teams to eliminate the chance for low-major upsets over top seeds. Once they get to that point, I feel that they will have over-saturated the market for casual fans and will have lost a lot of the "Madness" part of "March Madness."

They'll still do it, though, because having an additional round with stakes will still add money overall, even if it reduces viewership some in the round of 64 or 32.

 

[Cyched]

I kind of agree. I don't particularly like even the smaller increases, but I don't think it will actually have a major impact until they extend all the way to another weekend and/or add enough at-large teams to eliminate the chance for low-major upsets over top seeds. Once they get to that point, I feel that they will have over-saturated the market for casual fans and will have lost a lot of the "Madness" part of "March Madness."

They'll still do it, though, because having an additional round with stakes will still add money overall, even if it reduces viewership some in the round of 64 or 32.

Yeah going to 76 is basically adding two other First Fours. I foresee them doing play in games for all 16 and 11 seeds, and so on.

If they do that and keep the structure intact where the round of 64 starts on Thursday, I don’t foresee a major drop in interest. But yes, expanding into another weekend or full round would kill it.

 

[cycloneworld]

This is what happens when money >>>> everything else.

We have already ruined 100 year old rivalries, killed entire conferences, created a system where 2 conferences are valued way more than any other, etc. all in the name of a few more dollars. Why not screw up the NCAA tournament too...

 

[Clonehomer]

So will they hand out the participation ribbons during the selection show, or will they wait to do it at the tournament sites when all the players can get their juice boxes and orange slices?

 

[Clonefan32]

I hate it more than anything I've ever hated before in sports. Let's just scrap the regular season at this point. It's apparently meaningless.

Imagine the MLB, NBA, NHL or NFL saying we are going to play a full season of games, but at the end of the day you're all in the playoffs. You'd have absolutely no product for the entire regular season. Why would anyone care?

 

[clone37]

I feel like this is just another example of the pendulum swinging too far in America these days. America was built on hard-working folks focused on growth, power, and prosperity. Problem is this mindset creates issues over the long-term and will lead to diminishing returns eventually. Everything can't just continue to grow grow grow....it becomes a zero-sum game at some point at the expense of many.

 

[cykadelic2]

Yeah going to 76 is basically adding two other First Fours. I foresee them doing play in games for all 16 and 11 seeds, and so on.

If they do that and keep the structure intact where the round of 64 starts on Thursday, I don’t foresee a major drop in interest. But yes, expanding into another weekend or full round would kill it.

Agree, any expansion that would trigger another week of games won't be tolerated.

With 72 teams, Dayton can accommodate two more games on both Tuesday and Wednesday. With 76, another venue would need to be added for the Tuesday and Wednesday play in games as suggested in the article.

And obviously with NCAA tourney expansion, the high major conference tourneys become more meaningless and with conference expansion to 16 or 18 schools, they become even more of a clustereff.

 

[HFCS]

People will argue that “they’ve expanded the tournament lots of times and it’s fine” but the next expansion is where the scale tips from a competitive standpoint. Not that it really matters.

About 20% of d1 teams and about 45% of major conference teams get in, that’s enough.

Its not like college fb where you had 2 out of 140 or 4 out of 140 and expansion was clearly needed.