Expand the Tournament?

NCAA basketball is a sport that gets a lot of attention and has its share of controversy. There is the ever-blurring line between amateures and professionals, recruiting questions, academic issues, and event class warfare- that between the haves and the have-nots. Teams who barely make the NCAA Tournament every year, especially those in Mid-Major schools, are hoping to expand the Tourney by at least three teams. This means more bracket-busters, tighter schedules, and more games… but also more March Madness.

Said a NCAA coach in a recent Andy Katz article, “Every time the tournament has gotten bigger, it’s gotten more popular, it’s become better. I think now we have an NCAA membership of over 330. We currently let about 20 percent of the teams into the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA now owns both tournaments, the NIT and the NCAA. Fan interest in the NIT against the NCAA, there’s no comparison. It makes sense to sort of wrap it all into one tournament, expand the field. It’s going to be better for coaches, obviously, from a job-security standpoint. I think you’re going to have a better tournament.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on August 23, 2007 - Post a comment