Like a lot of marketing. Take a meaningless “event” and convince people it is important.
I actually think the regular season should be important. Eliminating these silly conference tournaments (see I’m not only against the NBE one) and playing a couple more regular season games would be my preference. League champ gets the auto bid. If DePaul doesn’t get an extra chance to go to the dance, so be it. Play better next year Demons. Make the Regular Season great again. I know it’s about the money. But I really don’t get why Mid-majors, especially low ones, do it. For the NEWBIE and P4s it doesn’t mean anything. Most teams already have locked up bids. But for those low majors, a team that battled and won over 20 or so games risks being ousted by a less qualified one. Dumb! How many NEWBIE fans would favor the NBE tournament if only the winner went to the NCAA tournament?