by Gabe Souza
Editorial. Photos by AP News
It was a nice little tournament.
The favorites were knocked out early to create some excitement. Butler, a mid-major team, made the national championship. Duke, a perennial favorite, won it in a squeaker.
It provided storylines for sportswriters all over the country; Baylor made a little run, not to mention the University of Northern Iowa’s shocker over Kansas.
All in all, it gave basketball fans everywhere a true, down to the wire, nail biting, heartburn-inducing, buzzer-beating experience.
This year’s games truly showcased the type of hype and excitement the tournament can create – what it really means to be a part of March Madness.
Toward the end of February, millions of people across the country became obsessed with college hoops. At work, they kept an extra Internet window open, streaming ESPN updates on Syracuse’s late regular season run.
Marriages became strained as Honey-Do lists were put off in favor of catching the big matchup between Kansas and Kentucky. Taking notes on John Wall’s ability to penetrate the lane was much more important than taking the trash out or fixing a squeaky door.
You show up to work on a Monday morning, red-eyed and groggy from watching Selection Sunday analysis till two a.m.
A mixture of number-crunching formulas, feel-good stories and gut-feelings turn into sweat soaked, stomach wrenching agony as throngs of sports guys across the country hesitated to pencil in that first round upset or go with all number one seeds in the final four.
There’s nothing like it. The NFL season is over, the MLB is just starting up and many folks prefer collegiate action to the last few games of the NBA season.
Thoughts of Cameron Crazies, Dick Vitales and George Masons fill every fan’s head as the tournament begins. Faithfully they check their brackets each day, hoping they’ve slated the winners.
The three-week tournament provides just enough peaks and valleys. It gives the fan 64 teams to follow and allows them to breathlessly track each one’s performance. The tournament is big enough. Add more teams and a fan’s ability to keep up with the games will dwindle.
That’s why I’m calling on shenanigans on the NCAA committee’s latest, greatest idea.
The group is considering a move to expand the March Madness tournament from the current 64-team bracket to a behemoth 96-team slate.
I understand the committee’s simple, yet deceiving logic of expanding the tournament. They think that more teams equals more fans equals more revenue equals everyone is happier. Right?
Wrong.
In reality, it’ll go something like this: more teams equals less entertaining games equals less-interested fans equals much less quality basketball.
The NCAA proposal would eliminate the National Invitational Tournament and give first-round byes to 32 teams. The plan would create an additional 31 games to be played within the same time frame as the current tournament.
That means the bracket will go from 54 games currently, to a whopping 85 – all to be played in just three weeks.
There has to be a method to the Madness of March. At it’s current state there is a flow to the games. Bracket-lovers have a break in between contests to assess their gains and scribble out their losses.
If the NCAA goes ahead with the proposal – which all sources seem to indicate – March Madness would morph into sheer hysteria.
It would be a non-stop dead sprint to the national championship. There would be no time to savor an underdog’s victory or drown your sorrows because of a last-second defeat.
Take the new bracket and apply it to this year. With all the extra teams chances are Northern Iowa never would’ve made it into the limelight, Butler would’ve gotten knocked out earlier and West Virginia may not have garnered that all-important number two seed.
You get the picture.
It’s bad for both the teams and the fans.
What many are already saying was one of the best basketball tournaments ever, could’ve been spoiled had the field been expanded to 96 teams.
And if there is one thing certain about college basketball, it’s that there will always be top recruits willing to play at top programs. And those programs will play against each other to create even more exciting basketball than before.
Hopefully the NCAA doesn’t ruin the chance for sports fans around the world to continue to see top-notch basketball be played at the collegiate level.
couldn't agree more, well said
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