You said it better than I would have, but I agree with you completely. Instead of all this controversy about really good teams (Cincinnati) being left out and marginal teams being taken over roughly equal teams that they lost to (Hofstra), expand the brackets by a few teams and make sure that everybody who should be in gets in. Yeah, you'll probably get some "bubble" teams that shouldn't be in, but that already happens with the automatic bids.

How do you expand the brackets only "a little" and include every team which "should" be in? Who decides who "should" be in?
In other words, where is the cut off point? If you take 68 then why not 69? If 75, why not 76?
Seems like an argument for having to take every D1 team!

I would rather see a qualifying system over the course of the season. Set it up so that a certain number of teams out of each conference qualify from their conference regular season. (How many could be based on a formula from the conference's RPI. The numbers need to be set up prior to the season though.) Then give the conference tournament champion an automatic berth.
Additionally, give the champion of some preseason and in-season tournaments a bid. The bracket buster idea should evolve into a mini tournament in Feb from which a mid major or two can earn a berth.

All discretion from a selection committee should be taken out of it. You either qualify or you don't.

There's always going to be some committee exercising judgment, b/c even if the participants are pre-determined, they still have to be seeded, and you'll still get stupid results like Tennessee at #2.

Well, at least both committees were consist with Tennessee. Men & women are both #2 seeds.

Except that one won't get beat by a 7.

Are you absolutely, guaranteed, positively sure about that? If you know this for a fact, please send me the winning lottery ticket numbers for Friday's MegaMillion drawing.:D

I disagree. Then the discussion centers around bubble teams that were denied a chance to play the play-in games. There's no way to win. The committee does the best they can (although I think this is the poorest job they've ever done) with what they're given.

Isn't it ironic that Pat Summit is 8itching about the Lady Vols being seeded as a #2 while everybody else is 8itching about the UT men being seated #2? :)

But we already have that problem. So why not just let a whole lot more of those bubble teams in and them sort it out in prelim games? Yes, you may still leave out a bubble team, but it will be a team with an RPI of 120, instead of 32. I forget which team it was, but this year a team was left out with an RPI in the 20's. Highest RPI ever not to be in the tourney. Stupid. That team should be in. And if it means letting in a few teams that have absolutely no shot at winning, so be it. We already do that, too.

Yes, let's expand the tournament.

Start it right after Valentine's Day, end it around Memorial Day.

Nah, not necessary. Play the play-in games on Tues, just like they already do.

How many more play-in games?

1? 2? 11?

I think that every D1 team should be invited to the tournament.

That's only.....fair.

And seed them alphabetically by name.

Within 5 years evey schoole will want to call themselves AAA Acme Airplane Academy.

7 more. Two play-in games for each region. That probably will allow the rest of the teams that really should be in to be in. And there are certainly 8 teams that have no shot of winning for those play-in games.


I actually heard this proposed on TV, and I think the guy was serious. He said you choose 32 teams to have byes, and let everybody else in the country fight it out for the other 32 spots. Never going to happen, but I think he meant it.