woopdurritis's Blog

Enjoy the tournament while it lasts...

By woopdurritis | View all Posts
Posted Wednesday, March 31, 2010 09:18 AM   28 comments

It seems as though this is going to be the last year in which the NCAA Tournament is the field of 64.  Today on the front page of the USA Today it states that the field expanding to 96 teams is "probable" and "more than likely" 

I know a lot of members on here are in favor of 96 teams, some with the reasoning of more cinderellas, some want more games to bet on, and others just want to see more teams with a chance.  Just to put things into perspective how many 16 seeds have won the NCAA tournament?  How many 15 seeds have won?  In fact how many teams seeded 9 and higher have won the NCAA tournament.  ZERO!  And now we are going to add an additional 32 teams to the mix, some of them with records of .500?  Is the entire Big East and ACC going to be invited each year? 

The way this is going to work is that the top 32 teams would recieve a bye.  Therefore teams playing in the first round of the NCAA tournament would play 3 games in a span of 6 days (If they advanced each round)  That alone is pretty absurd. 

The reasoning for 96 teams is they want to raise more money for sports that don't generate the money to keep their programs going.  It seems ridiculous to be a school awards scholarships to athletes whose sport does not even generate the money to reimburse their scholarships.  Essentially the NCAA tournament will fund swimming, lacrossee, tennis, water polo, and so on.  Will this expansion even achieve that goal?  Has anyone been to the first round of the NCAA tournament lately?  It seems as though 60% of the seats are filled at best.  Take away Duke, Kentucky, and all the powerhouse teams from playing and see teams like UTEP, URI, Dayton, and you think the seats are going to remain 60% full.  You think people will be paying $200 to see these games?  No chance!!

Food for thought, UNC, who finished at 5-11 in the ACC this year (I think we can all agree they were pretty terrible) would have recieved one of the last 4 "at large bids" if the field had been 96 teams according to Joe Lunardi.  Is this not a little bit ridiculous.  Essentially 1/3 of all teams would be in the big dance.  What is the significance of the regular season anymore.  The bubble will be Quinnipiac, La Salle, and Yale next year

As a college hoops purist, I think that this is a terrible thing for the sport.  If they don't like the NIT or CBI than do away with it, but don't ruin the greatest tournament of all in my mind.

Report Abuse
 
28 comments
comment Post A Comment
legwand says:
03/31/10 09:32AM
It will probably cost them more money cause all the money they will spend putting together all these extra games I dont think they will make up for it with tickets and TV ratings because hardly anyone is going to even watch all these games. Less people will probably do brackets now cause it wont even fit on one piece of paper and its hard to enough picking 64 teams that half of them noone has ever heard of let alone 96. I doubt I will do a bracket next year.
bracks says:
03/31/10 09:43AM

But didn't everyone b*tch and moan back in '85 when they went to 64?

And an 8 seed won it that yr. (Yes, it also hasn't happened since) I think a 5 seed since then is the highest?

I think what it does is yes, make more money, but also, weeds out the cinderellas. Think about it, some teams that make that Conf tourney run of 4 wins in 4 days, now might need 2 more in 4 days to get just to the field of 32.

Thats like 6 games in 10 days!!!

Osirus13 says:
03/31/10 10:03AM
This is terrible. How can you change the best tourney in sports?
jesron1269 says:
03/31/10 10:20AM
So if the NCAA expands to 96 teams... what does that mean for the NIT, CIT or CBI tournaments?  Seriously is the #1 seed for the NIT going to be Centenery?  Are teams invited to the CIT or CBI going to be Wagner Cristian Academy?  Seriously that is just stupid.  Every school does not need to be invited to a post-season tournament!
butters123 says:
03/31/10 10:38AM
welcome to america, where if it's not broke we'll fix it
Livan33 says:
03/31/10 10:43AM
I think it's funny that even with the expansion only 4 Pac-10 teams get in.
legwand says:
03/31/10 10:55AM
How come college basketball can get a 96 team tournament but college football cant even get a 4 team playoff?
jpero says:
03/31/10 11:07AM
I highly doubt the tournament expands to 96 teams.

It might expand and add a few more teams but the NCAA and its committee will have a long talk and most would be against the expansion.

They know right now they ahve the greatest postseason of any sport. IF they expand to 96 they are just watering down a great product and it could be detrimental to their ratings and success as a whole. All this does is create a tournament that prevents cinderella stories and will give an advantage to the better, upper tier programs.

I also think this would be come out to be a financial loss for the NCAA during the first couple rounds if they expanded to 96
nbafan88 says:
03/31/10 11:19AM
Completely agree 100%


If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is going to be a terrible idea

but I feel that if it does happen it will only be for a couple years.

They will eventually realize that it is a huge failure.


and btw.. the prize for a perfect bracket should be raised to $250 Million dollars if this happens.


The NCAA tournament is perfect the way it is.

tmpeus78 says:
03/31/10 11:30AM
Anyone think Penn makes it next year? 
legwand says:
03/31/10 11:46AM
This is stupid and the new NFL playoff OT rule is stupid too.
legwand says:
03/31/10 11:47AM
And everything the NHL has done in the last 10 years has been stupid too.
jpero says:
03/31/10 12:07PM


Dont want to get this int a football conversation but I see absolutely nothing wrong with the OT playoff, football rule.

It doenst change anything about the game whatsoever. All it does is prevent a coin flip from deciding the game. Over the past 10 years the offensive game in football has surpassed the defensive game and with the rules the way they are it is very simple for a tema to wint he coin flip get a 35 yard return and in 2 plays get into field goal range where they just line it up for a FG to end the game.

A coin flip should never ever determine the outcome of a playoff game. If the teams scores a TD on first possession, game over. IF they get a FG then stop the opposing team, game over. IF they get a FG and the other team scores a field goal then both teams have touched the ball and whatever happens after that determines the game.

How would you feel in the superbowl if one of the teams didnt even have a chance of getting possession because of a coin flip. The game shouldnt be decided that way.
Louis_IV says:
03/31/10 12:26PM
hate this idea...
DrRosenrosen says:
03/31/10 12:27PM


It does seem like it is inevitable that it will expand to 96..unfortunately.  I always liked the idea of having the last 8 at large teams play on Monday/Tuesday in Dayton and slot them into the 4 12 seeds.  Logistically it probably doesn't work, but I like that a small school who works their butts off all year and wins the NEC or MEAC or something get to take a shot against a Kentucky or Kansas.  It is what makes the tourney great.  Put them, or a 15 or 14 seed against a Georgia Tech or Louisville in the first round and the upsets aren't as fun or exciting. 
Osirus13 says:
03/31/10 12:28PM
College football would need to be at least 16 for me to be interested. 4 wouldnt really solve the problems.
buckeye34 says:
03/31/10 06:24PM
K4ngur13 says:
03/31/10 06:28PM
I hate the idea
Zapper1 says:
03/31/10 11:22PM
Changing from 64 to 96 seems pointless.

I could understand expanding the field if it gave more teams a chance to win the national championship, but right now EVERY TEAM, regardless of its

record in the regular season, has a chance to win the national title in

March/April. You just have to win your conference tournament and then run the table in the Big Dance. A 96 team field? We've in essence got a 300+ team field.










billyweather says:
03/31/10 11:31PM
  I hate it as well!! 
yuice20 says:
03/31/10 11:46PM
If Northwestern doesn't get in now they should give up basketball
billyweather says:
03/31/10 11:49PM

 

      hell maybe the state of ILL can get more than one in the tourney. 

vpnyc1 says:
03/31/10 11:49PM

Time to start watching the Womens Tourney.........only kidding.

yuice20 says:
03/31/10 11:51PM
here would have been the potential matchups this year

GWarner27 says:
04/01/10 01:56AM
fuck the NCAA if they do this
cacabware says:
04/02/10 01:01PM

another topic that we agree on hm 

 

good read..................

Bucks10 says:
04/01/10 10:17AM
People will still complain about the 97th team that was left out. Ridiculous.
lillefty says:
04/01/10 11:49AM

96 teams and now the CBI & CIT becomes the NIT.  Why not just have a field of 128? 

With schools giving out less scholarships there are more kids who would have been the 9th or 10th man on Duke that are now the 2 star players on a  Weber st or Jackson st team. These mid majors schools are getting more competitive every year. add to this the fact that you have more majors with kids only staying 1 year and there aren't any truly dominant schools anymore. Now is the perfect time to expand if you are going to.  

It becomes worth it when you have a Rob Morris and Villanova type of game. Ohio/Georgetown .. Lehigh Hung with Kansas in the 1st round this year for most of the 1st half. The $$$ that these small schools get from being in the NCAA can fund their whole Athletic program.  

Add your response:
Please note that the blogger has the option of reviewing all comments before they are displayed to the public. Your comment may not be published immediately.
 

Profile

User: woopdurritis
Joined: May 2007
Location: Virgin Islands
Team: Virginia Cavaliers
Occupation: Health Services

Recent Posts

Archive

open2010
open2009

Categories

Advertisement