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March Madness Expansion to 76 Teams

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UofMbasketball

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Mar 2, 2022
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The NCAA is expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams soon after the completion of this year’s March Madness tournament, per Yahoo Sports' @RossDellenger. The proposal would add eight games to the First Four, with 24 teams playing in an opening round before advancing into the second round.
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RUJMM78

Heisman
Jul 25, 2001
26,187
12,443
113
There are too many teams now with maybe 15 having a realistic chance of getting to the Final Four.Get rid of automatic bids for the smaller conferences and let them play in the N1T.
 
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bac2therac

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
247,188
176,838
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UofMbasketball said:


The NCAA is expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams soon after the completion of this year’s March Madness tournament, per Yahoo Sports' @RossDellenger. The proposal would add eight games to the First Four, with 24 teams playing in an opening round before advancing into the second round.
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Just a terrible idea watering down the tourney for ****** 16-16 teams and 4 loss Quad 3 Stanford

Gross
 
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RC80

All-Conference
Feb 25, 2021
1,361
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Same reason they will be expanding football playoffs. Thought it would be 72 first; they'll just expand the Tuesday / Wednesday games. Make it an all-day TV deal.
 
R

RUtrumpet92_rivals498139

All-American
Feb 5, 2003
10,966
9,365
113
Sounds like a terrible idea. You're not going to have a ton of people skipping work on a Tuesday afternoon to watch play in games. Maybe they will only be night games? Bracket pools just got messier!
 
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NickRU714

Heisman
Aug 18, 2009
14,008
12,811
113
bac2therac said:
No one wants to se all 18s and 17s play
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Oh now I see this disconnect.
I was talking about the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Not American Idol.

Actual athletic tournaments are designed around talent and skill.

This American Idol style tournament you seem to be talking about is designed around "what people want to see".
 
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NickRU714

Heisman
Aug 18, 2009
14,008
12,811
113
Again, does anyone want to see only the 15-18 seeds play in the first day on the B1G tournament?

Why don't they make Purdue play on Day 1 then?
 
bac2therac

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
247,188
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NickRU714 said:
Again, does anyone want to see only the 15-18 seeds play in the first day on the B1G tournament?

Why don't they make Purdue play on Day 1 then?
Click to expand...
Purdue cant play day 1 because if you have 76 schools thats not possible...you have to pear it down to 64. Purdue was a 2 seed
 
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NickRU714

Heisman
Aug 18, 2009
14,008
12,811
113
bac2therac said:
Purdue cant play day 1 because if you have 76 schools thats not possible...you have to pear it down to 64. Purdue was a 2 seed
Click to expand...

Ya but people want to see Duke and UConn and Michigan play, right?

They should have eight #1 seeds and make them part of the First Four.
Boom - ratings!

Come On Please GIF by NBA
 
P

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,078
12,419
78
bac2therac said:
Yawn
Click to expand...

Agreed. It’s doubtful, but holding out hope for autobids for all conference winners. That’s the only way this move is sort of “okay” in my opinion.

Do that and everything we debated about the consolation tournaments basically resolve themselves. There’d be no purpose for a true extended bracket style NIT and it would simply fade away naturally. Perhaps a couple other networks set up mini brackets like the Crown did for filler content. Even with limited interest the economics of running 4-8 team mini-brackets for basketball are probably still net green with commercial pay outs and being able to dangle a few NIL dollars to prevent the opt out problems in the bowl games. Can’t pay a whole football roster in the same way.

Again - a long shot since this is not the purpose of the tournament but boy - 8 more bubble teams in the field would be an awful outcome. I’ll add - I’d even take a stipulation of autobids for conference winners in the top NET (80 or fill in the blank). I don’t think a NET 200 17-14 SWAC winner is a necessarily good addition to the field but any 26-5 team that wins their conference would be a better auto addition than taking the next 8 bubblers on the list.
 
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NickRU714

Heisman
Aug 18, 2009
14,008
12,811
113
bac2therac said:
Yawn
Click to expand...

Not my fault you wanted "exciting" first round games.

If you want only at-large as first rounds games then super easy fix.
Seed the "at large" teams as the lowest seeds.

Holy cow - what a ground breaking suggestion that literally every other atheltic tournament in the world from tball to world championships has figured out.

I dont care who plays in the games.
The fact you keep arguing against the LOWEST SEEDS playing the most games in a tournament is comical in a sports discussion.
As I said, it sounds like an American Idol talk.
"Yes I know they lower...but...I just like the other ones better so I want to watch them more".

Simple questions:
Who should have to win more games in order win a tournament: a 16 seed or a 12 seed?
Who should get a bye in a tournament: a 14 seed or a 11 seed?
 
D

Degaz-RU

Heisman
Dec 19, 2002
22,298
26,510
88
Leave it to the NCAA to water down the most perfect sports tournament — aside from the World Cup — in the world.
 
bac2therac

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
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PSAL_Hoops said:
Agreed. It’s doubtful, but holding out hope for autobids for all conference winners. That’s the only way this move is sort of “okay” in my opinion.

Do that and everything we debated about the consolation tournaments basically resolve themselves. There’d be no purpose for a true extended bracket style NIT and it would simply fade away naturally. Perhaps a couple other networks set up mini brackets like the Crown did for filler content. Even with limited interest the economics of running 4-8 team mini-brackets for basketball are probably still net green with commercial pay outs and being able to dangle a few NIL dollars to prevent the opt out problems in the bowl games. Can’t pay a whole football roster in the same way.

Again - a long shot since this is not the purpose of the tournament but boy - 8 more bubble teams in the field would be an awful outcome. I’ll add - I’d even take a stipulation of autobids for conference winners in the top NET (80 or fill in the blank). I don’t think a NET 200 17-14 SWAC winner is a necessarily good addition to the field but any 26-5 team that wins their conference would be a better auto addition than taking the next 8 bubblers on the list.
Click to expand...
Also in addition to 8 more mediocre schools getting now we will contend with another garbage 8-10 new bubble schools
 
bac2therac

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
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NickRU714 said:
Not my fault you wanted "exciting" first round games.

If you want only at-large as first rounds games then super easy fix.
Seed the "at large" teams as the lowest seeds.

Holy cow - what a ground breaking suggestion that literally every other atheltic tournament in the world from tball to world championships has figured out.

I dont care who plays in the games.
The fact you keep arguing against the LOWEST SEEDS playing the most games in a tournament is comical in a sports discussion.
As I said, it sounds like an American Idol talk.
"Yes I know they lower...but...I just like the other ones better so I want to watch them more".

Simple questions:
Who should have to win more games in order win a tournament: a 16 seed or a 12 seed?
Who should get a bye in a tournament: a 14 seed or a 11 seed?
Click to expand...
Conference aqs shouldnt have to play in

At larges should play in Seeding is totally seperate from making the field

However the at larges shouldnt be seeded 18th and penalize top seeds in next round..very bizarre suggestions
 
B

BillyC80

Heisman
Oct 23, 2006
17,057
15,441
72
Seems like we’re heading toward 96 teams eventually, where 32 teams get a first round bye.

Incidentally, there were only 32 teams when RU made it to the Final Four in 1976. Then again, there were a lot fewer D1 basketball teams back then.

In 1985 when the field expanded to 64 teams, there were 282 D1 teams, now there are 365.
 
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bitnez

All-American
Jan 18, 2006
6,394
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In the end I like to watch ball. If this existed a few years ago we make it in 22-23 and who knows if that would have changed the trajectory of the program. And if the extra teams stink they’ll lose anyway.
 
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Mholinko

All-Conference
Apr 25, 2023
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If it’s 24 teams playing I would imagine this will look something like 4 play in games for the 16 seeds and 8 play in games for at large bids maybe 10-11 seeds or 11-12 seeds
 
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PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,078
12,419
78
bac2therac said:
Also in addition to 8 more mediocre schools getting now we will contend with another garbage 8-10 new bubble schools
Click to expand...

I’m going to hold out some hope. Maybe Miami of Ohio opened some eye balls? Had they lost one game during the regular season they would’ve been OUT. It would never happen as a blanket autobid for every conference winner, but maybe an autobid for conference champs who clog in the top 75 NET could gain traction? This year that would’ve meant inclusion of Belmont and Yale (I think that’s it). Expanding to include up to NET 100 champs would pull in teams like UNCW and SFA. They have to do something. 8 additional extended bubblers (blanket) would be truly awful.
 
Fat Koko

Fat Koko

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The NCAA is insolvent.

The debt the NCAA owes is $2 billion higher than the NCAA's assets.

In round numbers, the NCAA owes former athletes $3 billion from the House settlement. The NCAA has $1 billion on hand, mostly cash and investments.

The media rights deal with ESPN for the NCAA men's basketball tournament generates most of the NCAA's revenue. This agreement ends in 2032.

Staring down bankruptcy, the NCAA is attempting to reopen the ESPN agreement by expanding the tournament, hoping this will generate more revenue for both the NCAA and ESPN.

What the NCAA won't say is the NCAA aims to raise cash to help fund its House settlement obligations by reducing or eliminating distributions to member schools. For Rutgers, that is $3 million to $5 million per year of revenue that could go away.
 
P

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,078
12,419
78
bac2therac said:
Conference aqs shouldnt have to play in

At larges should play in Seeding is totally seperate from making the field

However the at larges shouldnt be seeded 18th and penalize top seeds in next round..very bizarre suggestions
Click to expand...

The one positive in the move is that no matter what they do, more bubblers will be pushed to the play in round as the round will go from 8 total teams to 24. If it’s 12 bubblers and the 12 worst auto bidders in the opening round it’ll mean the 4 teams currently slotted as the last 4 in after the first four, will now have to “play in” also. Of course, that would be true of 4 additional autobid teams too, which is why it seems very reasonable (and logical) to me - if your going to do this, add the balance of making high enough level conference champs guarantees. I don’t know what the right NET level is, but if 76 teams are making the field, no conference champ who ranks as quad 1 / 2 (top 75) should ever not make the cut - at bare minimum.

When I said “who cares?” About the mid majors with gaudy records playing eachother in the NIT I was trying to say that once they were slated for a consolation tournament, TV viewing interest dwindles. In round one of the NCAAs - the most excited and well viewed games are the ones where the small conference teams put up a good fight which you’d at least get more of if you adjusted those rules as part of expansion.
 
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