NCAA Tournament Expansion

[ECisGod]

It seems like this is a topic that comes up every year, but it is in the news again.

 

What to know about the recent men's NCAA tournament expansion news - ESPN

 

NCAA won't expand men's basketball tournament for now, committee still considering many options for future - CBSSports.com

 

What does everyone think?  The tournament went to 64 in 1985 when there was 283 D1 teams.  There are now 361 (including a few that are "transitioning" to D1).  To get the same percentage of teams as 1985 you would have 81-82.  Since 81/82 is not a logical number, I think 80 would be a pretty good option.  The "First Four" would be replaced by a first round of 16 games to get down to 64 and then it would be just like the current tournament after the "First Four".

[Omaha-Husker]

Would certainly help DONU get that first W.

 

What I actually think is that a bunch of people will complain, but most will still tune in. Since this is almost assuredly happening at some point I would like some rules like if you win your regular season or conference tourney you get in and you must have at minimum a record above .500. I don't care if Oklahoma's NET was 70 and technically a bubble team in a field of 80 or 96 or whatever they end up at you are 15-17 you don't qualify.

[teachercd]

15 hours ago, Omaha-Husker said:

Would certainly help DONU get that first W.

 

What I actually think is that a bunch of people will complain, but most will still tune in. Since this is almost assuredly happening at some point I would like some rules like if you win your regular season or conference tourney you get in and you must have at minimum a record above .500. I don't care if Oklahoma's NET was 70 and technically a bubble team in a field of 80 or 96 or whatever they end up at you are 15-17 you don't qualify.

Yep, people will complain and they will watch.  

 

More games is better, not worse.  

[Mavric]

27 minutes ago, teachercd said:

Yep, people will complain and they will watch.  

 

More games is better, not worse.  

 

But ... but ... but .... the playoff has totally ruined the regular season in college football!!!@@!@!@!

[teachercd]

4 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

But ... but ... but .... the playoff has totally ruined the regular season in college football!!!@@!@!@!

Ha, right???

 

When it goes to 12 the ratings will be bananas for all the games.  

 

 

[ECisGod]

On 7/15/2023 at 9:03 AM, teachercd said:

Ha, right???

 

When it goes to 12 the ratings will be bananas for all the games.  

 

 

There will be 82 teams that get bowl invitations this year out of 133 BCS teams.  If hoops used that same percentage the NCAA tournament would have over 220 teams.   Can you imagine how crazy and long the tournament would be?

 

Bowl games have changed from a reward for a good season to a participation trophy.

[teachercd]

4 minutes ago, ECisGod said:

There will be 82 teams that get bowl invitations this year out of 133 BCS teams.  If hoops used that same percentage the NCAA tournament would have over 220 teams.   Can you imagine how crazy and long the tournament would be?

 

Bowl games have changed from a reward for a good season to a participation trophy.

Starting at 220 (221, whatever it takes…what movie?)teams would be down to 110 teams after the first two days… Then you immediately follow that up with two more days to get it down to 55 which I know is an uneven number but just bear with me… then you take Friday off and continue Saturday and Sunday to get it down to 27 James… Then you take a few days off and cut down to what is essentially be sweet 16. 

 

and I’d rather watch more tournament basketball, then less.  Plus the huskers could probably make a field of 220.

[desertshox]

10 hours ago, teachercd said:

Starting at 220 (221, whatever it takes…what movie?)teams would be down to 110 teams after the first two days… Then you immediately follow that up with two more days to get it down to 55 which I know is an uneven number but just bear with me… then you take Friday off and continue Saturday and Sunday to get it down to 27 James… Then you take a few days off and cut down to what is essentially be sweet 16. 

 

and I’d rather watch more tournament basketball, then less.  Plus the huskers could probably make a field of 220.

 

Mr mom

 

But would they be able to win a game?

[ECisGod]

15 hours ago, teachercd said:

Starting at 220 (221, whatever it takes…what movie?)teams would be down to 110 teams after the first two days… Then you immediately follow that up with two more days to get it down to 55 which I know is an uneven number but just bear with me… then you take Friday off and continue Saturday and Sunday to get it down to 27 James… Then you take a few days off and cut down to what is essentially be sweet 16. 

 

and I’d rather watch more tournament basketball, then less.  Plus the huskers could probably make a field of 220.

The most logical way would be to have a first round of 92 games (if there were 220 teams) to get to 128 for the second round.  To play 92 games would take at least 4 days because of TV wanting every game to be televised (we'd get such wonderful matchups as 10 vs 55).  That would be the first weekend (Thursday- Sunday) and then you'd still have 7 more rounds and the round of 128 would probably take another full 4 day weekend to get to 64 teams that would play out just like the current tournament (3 more weeks).  Because of TV it would probably take 5 weeks to get a champion and 7 or 8 wins to get there - most likely 7 because only teams seeded 10+ would play 8.

 

Nebraska should be able to get a win in a 220 game tournament. Even if they were seeded 25th meaning they were between 97-100 on the s-curve they would end up playing a 40 seed which is the current seeding difference between 1 & 16.

[Mavric]

On 7/17/2023 at 2:55 PM, ECisGod said:

There will be 82 teams that get bowl invitations this year out of 133 BCS teams.  If hoops used that same percentage the NCAA tournament would have over 220 teams.   Can you imagine how crazy and long the tournament would be?

 

Bowl games have changed from a reward for a good season to a participation trophy.

 

Technically they could go to 126 teams and not have the tournament last any longer than it does now.  Teams would just play three games that first week, like the First Four teams that win two games do.

 

If you went to 256 the tournament would be one week longer than it is now.  You'd just need a lot of sites that first weekend.

[ECisGod]

10 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

Technically they could go to 126 teams and not have the tournament last any longer than it does now.  Teams would just play three games that first week, like the First Four teams that win two games do.

 

If you went to 256 the tournament would be one week longer than it is now.  You'd just need a lot of sites that first weekend.

Technically that's true, but there aren't enough TV networks to show all the games unless they regionalize the games like they used to.  Everyone says the point is to give the players a better chance to play in March Madness, but everyone knows the real reason is money and if all the games don't get televised the money doesn't get maximized.