Blog Entry
Big Dance expanding to 96 teams?
February 1, 2010 by Bret Nellor, under News.
Big news today with a story published regarding the NCAA is expanding March Madness to include 96 teams! And of course an article that refutes that it’s a done deal.
Essentially a 96-team tournament would be equivalent of adding all but one of the NIT tournament teams. No idea how they’d accommodate all the extra teams, but my guess is that we’d see an expanded play-in round before the “main course” 64-team format we’re all familiar with.
I’m not opposed to adding more teams to the tournament. Obviously it would improve Nebraska’s chances of getting to the Big Dance and finally getting a win. But I think an extra 31 teams is too much. Look at last season, 6 Big 12 teams made the NCAA tourney and 3 teams made the NIT. This year there could be 10 Big 12 teams qualify for postseason play. Are the 9th and 10th place Big 12 teams deserving of a NCAA tournament bid? Are they better than the 2nd or 3rd place team in a mid-major conference? Maybe, maybe not.
What’s your thoughts on an expanded tournament field?
