Men's and Women's Tournaments Expand to 76 Teams | The Boneyard

Men's and Women's Tournaments Expand to 76 Teams

WHY???????? The women's NCAA tourney already has at least 24 teams which cannot dream of winning one game let alone a championship. So let's have more boring blowouts! Why? MONEY!!!!! This may be OK for the NCAA men where lowly seeded teams can win more than one game. Heck in 1985 8th seeded Viillanova and in 2014 7th seeded UCONN won the championship! What is the lowest seeded women's college basketball team to win the NCAA tourney? 3th seeded North Carolina in 1994. Pretty soon the NCAA tourney will be all about participation trophies. Only the worthy or at best the semi-worthy should compete because they can compete. The women's MCAA tourney probably should be 32 teams or so.
 
SVCBeercats said:
WHY???????? The women's NCAA tourney already has at least 24 teams which cannot dream of winning one game let alone a championship. So let's have more boring blowouts! Why? MONEY!!!!! This may be OK for the NCAA men where lowly seeded teams can win more than one game. Heck in 1985 8th seeded Viillanova and in 2014 7th seeded UCONN won the championship! What is the lowest seeded women's college basketball team to win the NCAA tourney? 3th seeded North Carolina in 1994. Pretty soon the NCAA tourney will be all about participation trophies. Only the worthy or at best the semi-worthy should compete because they can compete. The women's MCAA tourney probably should be 32 teams or so.
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I can’t see that by adding more teams they will make more money.
 
I may be in the minority but I think it's great. How many teams in mid-majors lost in the conference final, were clearly the best in their league, but failed to make the tourney? Maybe you all are right - it will allow the SEC to get 15 teams in now. OR...maybe the committee will do the smart thing and start rewarding the mid-majors who have great records but don't play as hard a schedule.

Frankly, I think the committee should limit the tourney ONLY to teams with a winning record in their conference. Or somehow set metrics that severely penalize teams with a losing conference record, making them a 13-15 seed. Hell, the committee can make up whatever metrics they want. Quad wins/losses is a newer one, so why not give weight to help some of the strong mid-majors who can't get enough games against the power conferences?

Last point - the Big Dance is a huge deal for any school to make. It's NOT as big a deal to be invited to the WNIT or WBIT, or whatever other tourney's will exist in the future. I'm betting most schools would rather make the big dance than get invited to one of the other tournaments, even if they were to win a game or 2 there...
 
I've always thought what the tourney needed was more 136-52 games in the first weekend. Most likely this is just a backdoor to get the 12th and 13th best teams from the B1G and $EC into the tourney. Gotta get those 13-18 bubble teams in from the power conferences somehow!
 
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I have always had a strong dislike for the ‘first four’ aka ‘play in’ games. Teams that win their conference deserve to be part of the main event. Now there will be 24 teams relegated to second class status.

Further, with only four games on the first day, most bracket contests had those games as freebies. How will that work with 12 games?
 
SCHuskiedad said:
No need for the P4 conference tournaments any longer since now they will all get invited.
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Let's give some thought to limiting the number of "schools" from each conference that can be invited to the tournament. That would open up a few additional slots for non-P4 schools who didn't win their conference, and it might slow the growth of mega-conferences.
 
Seems like it's trending to the point where any team with record above .500 will get in.
Watering down the tournament is sadly for one reason only....$$$.
 
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Don't hold your breath waiting for more at-large bids for mid-majors. The impetus behind the expansion was pressure from the P4 conferences: "The primary driver of this move hasn't been money, but rather access for at-large bids for power conferences. The expansion has been pushed by power conferences, which have grown throughout the course of the current deal."

So if the folks who got "their" expansion have their way, the North Dakota States, Rices, Loyolas will be passed over in favor of the Pitts, Houstons, and Arkansas (es?) of the world.
 
NCAA WBB is not the same as football in Great Britain. But the FA Cup is a fun tournament. Soccer is even more "on any give day" than basketball. Wigan Athletic caused a major upset in 2013 by beating Manchester City 1-0. So underdogs have a chance in the FA Cup. 76 teams in March Madness won't be like that. There will be two-tiered bracket process. Brackets won't count until after the first round.
 
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Puppy Love said:
I have always had a strong dislike for the ‘first four’ aka ‘play in’ games. Teams that win their conference deserve to be part of the main event. Now there will be 24 teams relegated to second class status.

Further, with only four games on the first day, most bracket contests had those games as freebies. How will that work with 12 games?
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Bad news- a lot of this is going to be autobids. 15s and 16s playing one another to make the actual first round.

The rest will be 11/12/13 seeds. Bleh.
 
Well really, we're at 68 now. So that's only 8 more. We always have the first 4 out, so that only leaves finding 4 more teams.

The worst thing about this is it may help TN make it into the Tourney again next year. Not good.
 
meyers7 said:
Well really, we're at 68 now. So that's only 8 more. We always have the first 4 out, so that only leaves finding 4 more teams.

The worst thing about this is it may help TN make it into the Tourney again next year. Not good.
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The thing that I am waiting to see is if the added slots are used for worthy mid major teams or for more unworthy ACC, B1G, SEC and Big 12 teams.
But deep down, I know which way the committee will go....
 
Based on what I read today, this was pushed by the P4 conferences so I don't see that the expansion of the tournament will help mid majors in any way. Sometimes I feel that the best description of what is going on with college sports can be summed up by the title of an REM song. "It's The End of the World as We Know It." It remains to be seen if we'll all feel fine.
 
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I think the field should be CUT . . . to 32 teams. Four regional tournaments of 8 teams each. Would be very competitive to get in, and the entire tournament would be filled with exciting games. No big mis-matches. . . . And then what about all those teams ranked 33 and beyond? They could vie for an NIT, with a championship at MSG. A tournament limited to teams ranked 33-64 would also be much more competitive and attractive to fans. By contrast, the current expansion only creates more boring blowouts.
 
OldSchooler said:
By contrast, the current expansion only creates more boring blowouts.
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It really doesn't though. It's just expanding the "First Four," so there are more play in games. There would be the exact same number of boring blowouts with mismatched teams as we saw this last Tournament.
 
OldSchooler said:
I think the field should be CUT . . . to 32 teams. Four regional tournaments of 8 teams each. Would be very competitive to get in, and the entire tournament would be filled with exciting games. No big mis-matches. . . . And then what about all those teams ranked 33 and beyond? They could vie for an NIT, with a championship at MSG. A tournament limited to teams ranked 33-64 would also be much more competitive and attractive to fans. By contrast, the current expansion only creates more boring blowouts.
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Good idea
 
Pure greed. These are kids/very young adults. Time to study? Enjoy campus life in the Spring? More injuries. It (just cynical me) thinks this is nonsense.
 
CGK said:
Pure greed. These are kids/very young adults. Time to study? Enjoy campus life in the Spring? More injuries. It (just cynical me) thinks this is nonsense.
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Yea, but it's not that many games or much time really. After the 1st weekend you only have 16 teams left. So for 60 teams it's an extra week, extra game or 2.

You get to travel somewhere, maybe get to see somewhere new. For many, get on national TV (or at least cable). (may not have many chances at that)

Most of these kids know what they are signing up for. They always seem pretty happy to make the Tournament. I've yet to see an interview where a player says "ah crap, we made the tourney".
 
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