Make It a 96-Team Tournament

I was reading George Coztanza's blog...and came across his take Change Mid-Major Conference Tournaments.  In there, he blasts off about how these mid-major and smaller conference sacrifice their regular season champion to a "winner take all" tournament.

Unlike the pro sports, where the regular season creates the seeding and advantages [home field being the biggest]....there really is no advantage in the NCAA hoops postseason tournaments....aside for the seeding.  In fact, some of these tournaments play in one of the gyms of the league's members.  Well, that member could be a #2 or #3 seed...and the regular season champ sees no advantage.

Read George's take....as he beautifully illustrates some differences in the way conferences hold their tournaments [#1 seed gets to host tournament, double-byes].

My "solution" would be just to say.....screw it.....get 96 teams in.

Yeah, that sounds like a lot.  It is.  But, when you look at it....it's only about 30% of the entire NCAA hoops landscape [the current 65-team format gets 20% in].  In pro sports, nearly half of the NBA and NHL teams get it.  NFL teams have a 38% shot at getting in.  MLB teams have a 27% shot.  In college football, you have nearly a 50% chance at getting to a bowl game.  But, in NCAA hoops, you only have a 1-in-5 chance to make the dance....and a 1-in-10 shot if you play in one of these non BCS-conferences. 

So add more teams in.  What can it hurt??  These are college kids and there's nothing wrong with letting these guys play more basketball.  For about 99% of these kids....this will be the highest level they will reach in their hoops lives.  Let 'em live it a little longer.

My solution would be this.....guarantee that EVERY conference get TWO automatic bids.  There are 31 conferences....so that's 62 bids.  The other 34 bids would be those at-large bids.  [Sportz Note:  Actually, I'd like to see that 34 number down to 26 or 18 since many of those at-large teams would be eaten up in the auto bids.  Especially in the big conferences.  But the NCAA "law" states they must have 34 at-large bids - that's why we have that stupid "play in" game now]. 

Those two bids per conference could mean that the regular season champion and the tournament champion would each get a bid into the dance.  And if they are the same team....then the 2nd place team [or conference's #2 seed] would get the nod.  That guarantees a team like Bucknell, who went thru the Horizon season undefeated, will get a tournament shot....even if they have ONE tough stretch in the conference tournament. 

So...there are now 96 teams.  How do you play the tournament??

Well, 32 of the "worst teams" would participate in the "play-in" day.  You could either have a two day event....like the Tuesday and Wednesday before the NCAA's First Round.....with 8 games on each day in two cities to hold the event.  Or have a free for all 16 games on the Tuesday before the tournament....in four regional cities....will a balls to the wall hoops extravaganza.  ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU could house the event either way.   The winners of those games go on to be the #16, #15, #14 and #13 seeds in the NCAA tournament.  For those of you in your 20s....well, the NCAA did a similar type thing in the early 1980s when the tournament was 48 teams. 

But what does this solve??

-It puts the regular season back into play.  Sure, in the big conferences this is not a big deal.  But these smaller conferences don't get to see their best team compete if they get upended by a desperate team on their best day.

-We could just say "the reg-season champ is in...and if the tourny champ is different then they get it too".  Nope.  Then all of the regular season champs would tank it in the conference tourny to allow a 2nd team in their conference to get into the dance.  Might as well just let them both in. 

-Keeps the integrity of the at large "laws".  Again, I would like to see that at-large number drop to 26 or 18 since this two-team auto rule would get, probably, 10-12 teams auto bids into the dance that would've been at-larges anyways. 

-Makes that "play-in day" much better.  Right now, it is one game...in Dayton...with the #64 and #65 teams in the dance.  This new way would have 32 teams in it....and ya never know a few could be from big conferences....and would have a Bracket Busters type atmosphere to it.  I mean, it would have the same feel as, say, those mid-major conference tournaments would have.

-Make the regular season better.  I think that with a guarantee that the regular season champs gets in....the conference season will be more hotly contested.  Especially when the top two or three teams face off.  It would also make non-conference games better.  If I am, say, a team like UNC-Wilmington....I'm looking to play the other big wigs in the Mid Major World....or in the major conference world