ACE Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Hire an agency and push a media campaign to expand the Tournament field to 96 teams. The idea has been swirling for a bit. It even has the support of some P6 conferences. There is currently only 1 A-10 team in the Top 50, but there are 7 others in the 50-100 range. There are several arguments that could be made in favor of it... - Football is expanding their playoffs - time is right for bball to do the same. More gambling opportunities, more games, more interest, more money. - You just expand the play-in days to have games going all day, basically creating two more full days of blowing off work and gambling! - Since 2000, I believe there have been more than 50 schools added to D1 hoops. - Expanding the Tourney field gives more at-large opportunities for schools from conferences like the A-10 in that 50-80ish NET range. - You create more David v. Goliath scenarios, which is what makes the Tournament special. - Jim Larranaga has advocated a scenario where the conference tournament champs are the ones who would get the 1st round byes and not have to go through the play-in game, so there is incentive and an extra reward for performing during the season. I like that idea. Here is an article outlining how it could work: some of the particulars can be debated in how it is structured, but a 96 team field could easily work and breathe new life into the Tournament and create more opportunities for non-P6 teams: https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/more-of-a-great-thing-expansion-to-96-teams-in-the-ncaa-basketball-tournament/ The article happens to point out that from the 2022 season, the conference that would have benefited the most was the A-10. Without a change like this, getting into the Tourney will continue to become more difficult in the NIL/free agency era and perhaps more importantly as these bigger conferences continue to grow and play more conference games, there is less opportunity for non P6 teams to schedule quality non-conference opponents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUMS81 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 The only way to have a truly level playing field is to allow every team to participate. Give the higher ranked teams a bye or two, add a couple of rounds and 10 days to the Tournament. Probably see more sustained fan interest nationally. billiken_roy likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 1 hour ago, SLUMS81 said: The only way to have a truly level playing field is to allow every team to participate. Give the higher ranked teams a bye or two, add a couple of rounds and 10 days to the Tournament. Probably see more sustained fan interest nationally. I don’t think fan interest is lacking now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 22 hours ago, willie said: I don’t think fan interest is lacking now I'm not so sure college bball overall is in great shape. Attendance and tv ratings seem to be stagnant at best. Football realignment will continue to screw with basketball. I think it will really hit fans next year when they get a load of some of these new "conference" match-ups which were precipitated by the football money grab. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/what-happened-to-college-basketball.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 1 hour ago, ACE said: I'm not so sure college bball overall is in great shape. Attendance and tv ratings seem to be stagnant at best. Football realignment will continue to screw with basketball. I think it will really hit fans next year when they get a load of some of these new "conference" match-ups which were precipitated by the football money grab. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/what-happened-to-college-basketball.html I was commenting on the tournament. Don’t have Nielsen numbers but I believe I believe it’s still must see TV. I certainly know it is with my family and friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 14 hours ago, willie said: I was commenting on the tournament. Don’t have Nielsen numbers but I believe I believe it’s still must see TV. I certainly know it is with my family and friends. You would like it even more if you had a bunch of great opening round match-ups, rather than just the four play-in games currently - many of which are not good. Under the new proposal, you would by treated to a lot of evenly matched game over two-days. Also, with more at-large bids on the line, you would make regular season basketball a lot more interesting and meanginful, for more programs. Currently, by about mid-January, most teams already know they have no chance at an at large, so they don't really play a meaningful game again until the time conference tournaments start. Under this proposal, a lot more teams would be playing meaningful games well into February trying to get into position to claim an at-large spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.