OT: NCAA First Four concept

[Nevadaref]

NCAA reveals format of new 68-team tournament - ESPN

Hybrid compromise between the big schools fighting for the last at-Large spots and the little guys from the small conferences who get to dance by winning their conference tourney.

What I don't like is that the NCAA is telling teams from some of the smallest conferences that they really don't have an automatic bid. They essentially only have 1/2 of a bid as their champion must meet another champion with only one of them getting a spot in the tournament.

I think that the small conferences are getting the short end of this, but it could have been much worse. The NCAA could have opted for four games to determine the 16 seeds and stuck eight such teams in these contests.

Hopefully, this format will evolve and we will eventually see the last 8 at-large teams meeting to earn their way in and be seeded from 10 to 14.

PS I also don't think that one day off is enough for these teams. They would have to play three games in six days to advance out of the first weekend. All of these games should take place on Monday or Tuesday and then the winners play again on Friday. That's not difficult to set up.