Report: NCAA votes to expand NCAA Tournament for men, women to 76 teams
The NCAA has voted to expand the NCAA Tournament in basketball for the men and the women to 76 teams moving forward.
Basketball Report: NCAA votes to expand NCAA Tournament for men, women to 76 teams
- Thread starter Richie O
- Start date
6 and 6 it is.
bottom 12 seeds, 4 16s & 2 15s
Other six, 4 12s & 2 11s
And the 5 vs 12 matchups become 4 vs 13.
That works for me as long as few more mid majors are rewarded instead of P4/ P5(BE)/ P6(P12) don't take them all
bottom 12 seeds, 4 16s & 2 15s
Other six, 4 12s & 2 11s
And the 5 vs 12 matchups become 4 vs 13.
That works for me as long as few more mid majors are rewarded instead of P4/ P5(BE)/ P6(P12) don't take them all
Last edited:
Once they up it to 200 D1 teams it will equate to the Schiano model of bowl eligibility despite a 28% conference winning pct.
So you are okay with expansion if they dont take the best available teams?
I'm not sure you understand the basic premise of sports.
This is like America Idol.
"We are sending 2 additonal people to the next round. But not the next 2 most talented people. We're going to take the 6th and 7th best people that were left out."
this is just an abomination
What's the problem?
You wanted better ratings on Tuesday/Wednesday.
You said nobody wants to watch all the worst teams (15/16 seeds) play in the 1st round.
Now they are adding more of the mid tier P5 teams that you said you want to watch on Tuesday/Wednesday.
Its exactly what you advocated for.
To me, the only downside is they do a bad job of matching two at large/AQ teams in one of these opening round games at times. Stronger 13 seeds are a positive. Less Q3/4 teams taking up the 64 team field positive. There were 2 16 seed wins FDU over Purdue and UMBC over UVA. These upsets will happen whether 64 or 76 just takes the right head coach for it to happen.
I'd rather see 5/7, 6/6, 7/5 of these types, 25-6 Belmont, 28-8 Tulsa, 23-8 Liberty, 26-6 SFAustin or 22-7 Yale team, given the chance to play into the tourney than 12 of 19-15, 18-16 HM teams, strong SOS.
There is no downside of condensing the low major teams B4 facing the top 6 teams in the tournament they have little to no chance of beating or rewarding a bunch of mid majors missing the tournament because they play one bad game in their conf tournament. A lot of these type teams are given little chance to prove themselves during the reg season vs a HM team. Miami(OH) tried scheduling a few last year with no takers.
5 out of the bottom 16 seeded teams(seeds 13-16) were competitive games it's gotten worse the last few years. It makes for a more competitive March Madness not less. I don't care about giving a MEAC, SWAC, NEC, Patriot, AEC, OVC, ASun, and the other bottom 12 conferences single games vs a 1, 2.or 3 seed in a 64 team field. They want to give every low major conference an auto bid, this is the fix and 6 of these team can get a participation win B4 losing by 30-50 pts.
Last edited:
OMG they've added more games on Tuesday and Wednesday and some previous bubble teams will now be part of the tourney!!!
The sky is falling!!!
Just like when the NFL expanded the playoffs by adding more wildcard teams/games......it will drive fans away in droves........oh wait.
The sky is falling!!!
Just like when the NFL expanded the playoffs by adding more wildcard teams/games......it will drive fans away in droves........oh wait.
Exactly anytime there is change to sports we get reconfirmation on what the makeup of this message board is…OMG they've added more games on Tuesday and Wednesday and some previous bubble teams will now be part of the tourney!!!
The sky is falling!!!
Just like when the NFL expanded the playoffs by adding more wildcard teams/games......it will drive fans away in droves........oh wait.
Except it’s not this simple.
There’s no metric that’s truly appropriate to compare a 31-2 Miami of Ohio record (one more loss and they would’ve been out for sure) to a 17-16 Auburn to determine who is “better” or even how “better” should be defined.
The thing is - Miami of Ohio didn’t get the opportunity to play a ton of good teams and upset a few of them like Auburn did. So we don’t know they couldn’t or wouldn’t since they never got the opportunities.
We also don’t know that Auburn would go 14-0 or whatever if was in true road games if they played a midmajor conference schedule (along with true road games OOC). Going 3-6 in true road games against better teams does not tell us they wouldn’t lose at least a couple if they had to play 14 games in hostile environments even if against weaker teams.
So we don’t have the information. What we do have is one team that won almost all its games and another team that lost nearly half of theirs.
Excellent points and summary of the selection process.
But in the absense of a better selection process - defaulting to "well Auburn is a P4 conference so pick them" (the prevailing process?) is just as bad as "well Miami Ohio didnt get a chance to prove themselves so pick them".
People, to me, seem to skip over the "fix the process" and jump right to "I don't like more SEC teams so pick G5 teams. I don't really care about figuring out who is actually better".
They're diluting the golden goose. March madness is arguably the best sports event in the world. Adding games only makes it more confusing, will take away the energy from the Thursday-Sunday games, and just adds a bunch of mediocre teams that, in this transfer portal area, probably have their foot out the down anyway.OMG they've added more games on Tuesday and Wednesday and some previous bubble teams will now be part of the tourney!!!
The sky is falling!!!
Just like when the NFL expanded the playoffs by adding more wildcard teams/games......it will drive fans away in droves........oh wait.
Neither is “great” - but over the course of an entire season, I’d argue that very few teams would do better than the 1 loss season Miami (Ohio) had even while playing in the MAC. It’s really hard to win every conference game on your schedule when half of those games are on the road. And they barely made the field.
Auburn, meanwhile went 6-0 against cupcakes weaker for the most part than MAC teams (none in a hostile environment) and those wins are included in their 17. Meaning - they went 11-16 against everyone else. 27 tries against real teams and that was the result. One might argue that a lot of those teams were top tier, but then, they were only 5-2 against Oregon, Miss, Miss State, LSU and SC. Against 15 win teams in our conference RU went 7-1 and we were nowhere near a bubble team. 5-2 against the weaker real team - does nothing to separate Auburn from Miami in my opinion. I’m sorry but I don’t care how good the teams they did beat are - when your not beating all of the bad real teams, you shouldn’t expect the benefit of the doubt from winning 6 out of 20 of the other ones.
Can wait for Rutgers fans to meltdown when 19-14 Rutgers is passed up for a 17-17 SEC schoolOMG they've added more games on Tuesday and Wednesday and some previous bubble teams will now be part of the tourney!!!
The sky is falling!!!
Just like when the NFL expanded the playoffs by adding more wildcard teams/games......it will drive fans away in droves........oh wait.
You've already melted down about this LOL....the negativiy you shroud yourself in doesnt sound like much fun.......besides, is it really much different than a current 68 team format hypothetical of RU fans melting down about a 21-12 Rutgers getting passed up for a 19-17 SEC school?
Field of 68 - who should be in the 1st round games and why?
Advocating for "ratings".
Men's Bracketology: Welcome to the newly expanded 2027 field
Here's what the first 76-team projected field looks like -- with Florida still No. 1 overall.
www.espn.com
Actually it makes zero sense.
You posted Katz list of 76 teams ranked in order.
Ok - selection of teams is done using whatever process (AQs, at-large etc.)
It doesn't matter who the actual teams are).
Using that list of 76 teams, 24 of them need to play in the 1st round to get to 64 teams.
Which numbers should do that?
The bottom 24 literally makes the only sense.
Its comical watching people twist into knots to justify anything else.
"But but but ratings....nobody wants to watch the worst teams in the 1st round."
Its like people have never participated in or watched a sports tournament ever.
What doesn’t make sense to you about it? If anything doesn’t make sense, it’s the premise of any autobid team having to “play in”. March Madness is the playoff tournament for D1 and it’s been long agreed by all that every D1 “champ” (whether determined through a conf tournament or regular standings - left to conference discretion) is guaranteed representation in the tournament. There is a formal process every conference goes through with the NCAA to attain D1 status. It’s not like any conference can just decide this year they want to be D1. That’s the deal - and the whole foundation of the tournament.
Arguably - what should really happen is Selection Sunday, should be just that. An announcement of the 52 teams in the main bracket (no seeds) and the 24 bubble teams playing in to compete for the final 12 spots. The bracket with seeds announced an hour after the final play in game concludes.
Stop saying "play-in". The tournament is 68/76 teams. Every team is in the tournament. It doesnt matter what fans think about Tuesday/Wednesday games.
NFL playoffs are 7 playoff teams per conference.
Not a 4 team playoff with 3 "play in" games.
The conference tournament championship games are the "play-in" and determine a bid.
The topic is 1st round participants.
Just like the Big Ten Conference Tournament - the lowest seeds play 1st.
Just like every other single tournament.
If you dont want AQ teams in those 1st round games - YOU SEED THEM HIGHER.
Just like the NFL playoffs.
"#1 factor in seed is division/conference championship. You get preferential seeding over all Wild Card/At-Large teams."
#4 seed Carolina Panthers (8-9) hosted #5 seed LA Rams (11-5).
Carolina had a "division champ" and that trumped every other tiebraker for seeding.
I think that's a terrible idea personally.
But it makes sense if you implement it to reward conference champs more.
Right - see that’s a matter of perception. When it comes to broad following, many brackets historically have started with the round of 64. It’s my opinion, that doing it my way would be meeting in the middle so to speak. Let the “real” field be the neat 64 team bracket. Making the play in then in turn would only mean you did enough to give yourself a chance to earn a spot in the field. I think the tournament on a whole would be better that way.
Agree, hate the “play-in” terminology. If you’re playing in the tournament…you’re in the tournament.
Says who? Maybe with 76 teams now involved that shouldn’t be the case…
Let 24 bubble teams be selected to duke it out to earn the last 12 available spots in what has always been recognized by most as the “real” bracket anyway - the field of 64. Rank those 24 bubblers and give the top 12 home court. Do that - and the many unhappy fans concerned about March Madness getting watered down perhaps feel a lot better about the change. Earning an At Large bid in that case still has the same meaning it always had - arguably more meaning.
Arguably - this model would hurt nobody. The top seeds should be happy as they continue to draw the lowest autobids that they earned the right to be matched up with in round one. The auto bid teams all get their crack against a top dog which was historically what March Madness was always about and what made it popular in the first place. It becomes harder to earn a guaranteed spot in the field, but hey, those top 12 bubble teams (10/11 seeds of the past) get home play ins would bring in more revenue - shouldn’t be too upset.
I know - it will never happen. But if they wanted to drastically expand, this would’ve been the ideal approach which is the exact opposite of what Nick suggested (pitting 24 midmajor auto bid qualifiers against each other to fill out the bracket).
They split the difference - so because 12 “auto qualifiers” are playing in those games, your right. They have to consider it part of the tournament since they are guaranteed to be included. This is the one and only reason.