March Madness may get madder with the expansion of the NCAA basketball bracket to 96 teams.
Just weeks after the madness of March came to an end, the NCAA went into serious deliberation over expanding the men’s basketball tournament to a 96-team field.
The current 65-team bracket has proven to provide excitement, but the decision to expand is based on more than just good entertainment. The ultimate goal of adding more teams is to generate more revenue, which would result in more money for conferences.
NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen said no final decision has been made, but the expansion is definitely in the works.
On April 1, Shaheen announced the logistics of the expanded tournament and included details about the benefits of the plan, and even how the revenue would be distributed.
The expansion could entail a positive aspect for conferences like the WAC. A bigger bracket would increase opportunity for teams like Fresno state to make it into March Madness.
According to a recent official sports report, Bulldogs head coach Steve Cleveland would welcome a 96-team field because of the possible opportunites for WAC schools.
However, the idea of 96 teams isn’t necessarily sitting well with everyone. CBS 47 sports director George Takata said he’s nearly appalled by the plan.
“What the NCAA really needs to work on is a playoff system for college football,” Takata said. “It’s mindboggling to me that the NCAA would rather screw up something that works, rather than fixing something that doesn’t.”
For those like Takata that may have negative feelings toward the new idea, hopefully you’ll find comfort in the fact that the tournament will still be played within its normal three-week period””the only difference in time frame is it would start two days later than the current bracket. Further differences include 31 additional teams, elimination of the play-in game, and a first-round bye for the No. 8 seeds.
As for Guy Haberman, host of the Guy Haberman Show on ESPN Radio, he thinks one of the biggest problems with the expansion may not have even been considered yet by the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.
“The people that are really going to suffer are the ones like me who don’t know how to make double-sided photo copies,” Haberman said. “And if you think bubble-talk is useless now, wait until we’re discussing the merits of Virginia Commonwealth, a fifth-place team from the Colonial Conference, versus a 17-16 St. John’s team.”
While common sense may say the expansion gives more teams a chance to win a championship, Haberman disagrees.
“If you’re expanding a tournament, then you should also increase the number of teams that have a chance to win the tournament,” Haberman said. “But this doesn’t do that. As it is, you have 12 teams or so in a given year that really have a shot””and that isn’t changing with an additional 31 teams.”
The Division I Men’s Basketball Committee still needs to approve the idea which would then need to be approved by the board, but so far signs all seem to be pointing to yes on whether or not the plan will go through.
A meeting will be held April 29 to further discuss the matter.
