OT: NCAA First Four concept
 

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.

Nevada,

I agree -- its a copout.

If they say that the "tournament" (for all intents and purposes) begins on Thursday, as in an auto bid gets you to Thursday, then the opening round has to be with the last 8 at-large bids.

If the auto-bid gets you into the field of 68 only, then the opening round should feature the 8 worst teams (likely the 8 last auto bids from the smallest conferences).

But to mix the two, is sending mixed messages to try to appease different groups. While it may be a compromise, it isn't logical, although to ask for logic from the NCAA might be an ambitious request.

The NCAA needs to decide what an auto-bid guarantees and then go with that, otherwise, they aren't making any sense.

Just depends on when you think the tourney begins.

At least now one of them has a decent chance to win their game...an get and NCAA win recorded in their records. Before, they were pretty much guaranteed a loss.

For the last 4 auto-bids, how many of them have ever won their first game? Zero. Now, they get an extra game and have a fair chance to win that one before going against the #1 seed. Of that group, it is highly unlikely that they will be playing on Sat/Sun any way....so 3 games in 6 days is not really relevant.

For the last for at-large bids, that is more of a valid point....one of those does occasionally win their first round game (now second round game) and will play on the weekend. But that number is small and few have ever gone past the first weekend anyway.