[NU Sports] NCAA Poised to Expand to Field of 96; NIT Slated for Extinction

[Tom Maycock]

> So what is essentially 'pure' about 65 ? 

Nothing at all. As I believe I said earlier, I think 65 is too many. And 96 is just stupid. 

There's nothing "purist" about it. It's just a question of what makes sense. 

The tournament should either include all teams, or only include those teams who had very good years and have at least an outside shot at winning the whole thing. 

You can make a case for either approach. But if you go with the latter option, I don't think it makes any sense to invite more than, say, 32 teams, and even that is probably pushing it. 

I took a quick look at last year, and it appears the highest seed to make it to the final 16 was 12th ranked Arizona, who were promptly *destroyed* by 1 seed Louisville. 

So, through a bit of a fluke, Louisville essentially got a free pass in that round, while every other team in the round of 16 had to face real challenges. What's the sense in that?

Further, the final 8 teams all came from the top 12 seeds in the entire tournament. I would guess that's not uncommon. We could have done away with an entire 4-day weekend of games and arrived at the same pool of teams. 

There's no question that the 65 team tournament is entertaining--those early round games are often the most entertaining, and everyone enjoys the Cinderalla stories and the upsets. And the cascade of money from those first few rounds is undeniable, in revenue to conferences and schools, to gamblers, to networks, and so on. 

But ultimately, those extra games (and upsets) distort the ideal of crowning a true champion. 

Tom