Thought I had posted this before, but even if I did, it’s worthy of a double-post. Here some of the reasons why the NCAA should NOT change the field to 84 or 96 or any huge random number.
The current setup is widely considered the best post season in all of sports. Forking with it runs the risk of screwing that up.
Any decision where $$$ is the primary motive should be beyond suspect.
Adding more teams now, takes us further down the path of adding more teams later, which taken to its inevitable conclusion will kill the whole thing. NCAA is to common sense, what Bud Light is to real beer.
While adding more games may be fun for (some) fans, it increases the likelihood that the best team(s) in the country will have one bad game and we’ll end up with the winner being the best team of March, rather than the best team of the year.
Adding more less qualified teams makes it more like the NBA, which, for people who’ve been following the NBA for years believe it’s become worse, not better.
While I agree that people shouldn’t do things solely for tradition, maintaining a strong tradition does have some value. Kentucky fans know the value of a strong tradition.
No matter what the number of at-large participants, there will always be some that feel slighted. Any argument that tries to say there will be less of those is incorrect, unless of course, all the teams are entered which, in all seriousness, is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
The post season is a reward to teams that have superior regular seasons. Adding more teams to the tourney makes the regular season less important. The farther you go, the less important it becomes (see NBA).
Updated 3/8 for @greggdoyelcbs
Per Greg’s article (nothing draws page views like controversy!), here’s his primary reasons FOR expanding the field, with my comments beneath.
Greg: But it’ll water down the regular season and conference tournaments!
Most every agrees that this is truth. You found a single example, George Mason, that supports this view but if it were worthwhile, wouldn’t we have like a dozen? A gross? A buh-zillion?!?
Greg: But what about the student-athletes? Think of the extra time they’ll miss from school!
Not a big point for either side of the issues, most assuredly not the NCAA as they push for morerevenuemorerevenuemorerevenue.
Greg: The tournament is three weeks as it is. Last thing I want is for it to grow to four weeks.
Who says this? I haven’t read a single article using this point. Talk about your straw man. It’s not that growing something that people like even larger is automatically a bad idea but keep in mind that the newly added games won’t be ones anyone will car about. Murray State vs. Louisiana Tech?!? *yawn* And I’m a huge college basketball fan.
Greg: But the No. 1 seeds will get a first-round bye. That’s not fair.
Right, so why expand it? More byes=bad, plus who doesn’t love symmetry? I say we go back to 64. Moving to 65 was a mistake.
Greg: But 96 teams? I don’t want to see those crappy teams in the tournament!
Out of the new additions to the tourney, a few will win a game (maybe two) but most will be less memorable than a recent Steve Martin movie. Why add the also rans? They had their chance to solidify their tourney position down the final 2-3 weeks of the season (yeah, the season that had meaning) so if they didn’t get done then, why subsidize them like a new Obama dis-incentive plan.
Greg: But I’m against expanding the tournament to 96 teams. I just am.
If this is their primary reason, it says more about the person and their lack of communication skills than it does the merits of keeping the best post season in all of sports as the King of the Hill.
In case you missed the behind-the-scenes look at Kentucky Basketball, WildcatWorld.com has put these up on YouTube for us. Fine right chaps, if I must say so.
How Christian Were the Founders?
Well I guess that depends. Do you you want to believe the documents from that period? Or those written (revisionist) recently? Care to wager where the New York Times comes out on this?
Billy Gillispie is ready to resume his career
Gillispie wasn’t a good fit at Kentucky but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good basketball coach. The question becomes can he remove the harmful influences of his personal life and get back to the business of basketball.
Raise your hand if you married up? You know who you are. See me over here? I have my hand up and I’m proud to admit it.
My lovely wife and I have been married for 17 years (yeah, I’m old, shut up) and we’ve just had one vacation apart from the kids in that time. Well, that ends today. By the time you read this, we’ll be jetting South for an unnamed island in the Caribbean. Little hint, it looks *just* like this photo.
So for the next 7 days I’ll be out of pocket. Unless I get abducted, held for ransom, escape and send out an cry for help via this blog, you won’t be hearing from me. Via con dios!
My wife and I are taking a trip tomorrow. Just one more example of how greedy our government is, check out these ratios for 2 tickets:
Actual Air Fare – $719.96
Taxes & Fees – $264.60
Ratio – 36.75%
How ridiculous is that? Now, we are leaving the country so maybe it’s the greed of our politicians combined with the greed of this foreign country’s politicians?
Do you get tired of picking out what to eat? Does it seem like the same things over and over? Would you rather just have them stick an I.V. in you and be done with it?
Never fear! Our brightest minds are at work on this very problem. The wunderkind at MIT have created Cornucopia. The bad news is that this project is just getting underway and I won’t be able to buy on at Bed, Bath & Beyond this weekend.
Just finished watching Kentucky beat Vandy today. What sticks in my mind was how bad the referees were; on both sides! But remember:
Refs favor the home team, the academics say. They’re big on “make-up” calls. They make more calls against teams in the lead, and the discrepancy grows if the game is on national TV.
This comes from an AP story about an article published in the The Journal of Sports Sciences. Bottom line? Refs are simply human too and, at least subliminally, pull for whoever is losing.
My wife is constantly on Facebook and does send some emails. Maybe this would be great for her? (Note of honesty: That just be me trying to justify a purchase… I certainly won’t deny it.)
Rock Band 3 in the works
No real “news” as everyone already knows they’re working on what comes next but I’m anxious for a new release. Not sure that Project Natal would work for this, would it?
Obama Jinxes No. 1 Kentucky
I’m sure our kids didn’t need to get their big heads any larger but what can you do when the President calls. Not a good game for Kentucky.
I don’t see many movies, which is a good thing and a bad thing. I like movies so I wish I could see more, but at least the ones I do see have the most potential to be worthwhile.
I thought Sherlock Holmes was terrific. And because of that, I’ve now lost faith in the Net collective MetaCritic as a reliable measure. Maybe it’s not the site’s fault as much as the self-important slew of “critics” who blew it up. From their comments, it seems they have more against Guy Ritchie than the movie itself, but whatever, I don’t care. I thought it was great fun, with a just a few complaints. 9 out of 10
The above picture is of a long-time KSR reader David Kaelin, who has been in Iraq and Afghanistan for some time and presented a Patrick Patterson jersey to two members of the Iraqi Government last week.
