NCAA Messing With March Is Madness!

One of the most popular cliches' says: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Apparently the gurus who run the NCAA men's basketball tournament have never heard this one. Hoops fans all over the USA recently enjoyed what's being called the greatest tourney in history and now they're hearing it might be expanded from 65 teams to 96! Huh? What sense does that make?
None.

Unless one realizes that CBS has a contract with the NCAA which is about to expire. In case a network like ESPN is interested in making a bid to televise the tournament, how much more would they offer if they had roughly sixteen more games to broadcast? To cite another cliche': "Follow the money."
I don't think this inane idea has anything to do with the desire to help smaller schools
reach the big stage. If so one of the most obvious proposals would guarantee all teams that win their regular season conference title a spot in the big dance. Right now, teams are only guaranteed a shot if they win their conference tournament. So a team like Ohio U who went 7-9 in the MAC but won the MAC tournament made it to the NCAA's but Kent St. who went 13-3 stayed home. Yes, Ohio U scored a big upset over Georgetown in the first round. That doesn't mean Kent St. didn't deserve their chance. I have not heard any of the NCAA honks bring up this issue, perhaps the only problem with the current format.

Actually, Ohio U's big upset is one of the many reasons the NCAA tourney should be left alone.
Here's some of the others. How about Ivy League upstart Cornell knocking off powerhouses Temple and Wisconsin? Or Old Dominion besting Notre Dame? One of the highlights of my spring break trip to Arizona was coming in from the pool and sitting in my hotel room dripping wet because I could not take my eyes off the tremendous upset win by Northern Iowa over #1 seed Kansas. Only exceeded by the Michigan St. vs Maryland 85-83 thriller I listened to on my transistor radio while watching a spring training game between the A's and Reds. Everywhere I went there was a great basketball game going on!

Of course, the story of the 2010 big dance was Butler University and their steady march to the championship game. Three upsets in a row over Syracuse, Kansas State and Michigan State. Big schools who are used to playing big time teams, not losing to tiny colleges from Indiana. You couldn't have asked for a better story-line heading into the final game against 3-time champion Duke. "David vs Goliath," the media blared and the fans ate it up. Unfortunately "David" came up 2 points short of the upset that would have made history. TV ratings were huge and so was the national interest in NCAA basketball.

And they want to mess with this thing? That's madness!