The NCAA Should Not Expand the Basketball Tournament to 96 Teams

The NCAA is probably going to expand the basketball tournament field to 96 teams from the 65 that currently can enter. "March Madness" will be "March Boring" if the NCAA basketball tournament is indeed expanded. It will destroy the NIT (National Invitational Tournament) and incorporate it into "March Madness."

I find it odd that the NCAA can't give college football a playoff system because of missed class time by students but can expand the basketball tournament field to 96 teams. What it comes down to is money, of course. The NCAA wants a new television contract and the best way to do that is to offer more games. More games will bring more revenue into the NCAA bank accounts and water down a NCAAA basketball tournament that is too big already.

Conference tournaments like the ACC means nothing except for teams trying to win a spot in the NCAA basketball tourney. They will mean even less now that more teams will get automatic bids and not have to win a conference basketball tournament to make it to the big dance. As a kid growing up in the best college basketball state in the country, I miss the ACC tournament meaning something.

Expansion to 96 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament will also make the regular season even less meaningful than it is now. Why play hard when you will probably make the tournament anyway? Pretty soon if a college can field 5 basketball players a few cheerleaders and a mascot, then they are in!

The NCAA is clearly about making money in their desire to expand the basketball tournament field. Sure some decent teams that just had a bad season will get into "March Madness" but that don't mean squat. 2010 had an unusual number of upsets in the NCAA basketball tournament but that was the exception rather than the norm. Good teams will hammer the smaller teams and an expanded "March Madness" will be watered down and take too long to play.

This CBS sports article and video explains why some think the NCAA should expand all the way to 96 teams. I can see why many basketball announcer types and coaches support expansion, it means more work for them. However coaches who can't make the NCAA basketball tourney in an expanded field will probably be fired more quickly than would have been the case. The thinking would be if they can't make an expanded field then they must not be a very good college basketball coach.

Sources

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2500025