Well, it looks like we are on our way to expanding

[Bull Matrix]

the NCAA tourny with more teams. I can say at least many top coaches want more teams in right now. Bruce Pearl wants about 80 teams in the field, but I dont think they will expand by that much. I say that there will be a total of 68 teams that will get selected in the not so distant future. It will have four play in games that the 4 #1 seeds will be awarded to play the winner.  Teams like Drexel, Syracuse, and Kansas St would have got in if they had four extra teams.  The BIG EAST needs to have 7 or 8 bids per year in my opinion. No way should Syracuse who went 10-6 in the BIG EAST should be left out this year. What a joke!!!

[Apis Bull]

If you expand it to 68, someone will ***** about not getting in.  If you expand it to 80, someone will ***** about not getting in.  If you expand it to 300, someone will ***** about not getting in.  I say, leave it like it is.

[Bull Matrix]

I was saying the same thing, but I changed my tune after seeing teams like Syracuse and Drexel not making it at the expense of Arkansas. Another solution would be to take away these auto bid for conference tourny champs. Make all these automatic bids rewarded for the conference regular season champs instead. That way these small conference wont take bids away by somehow lucking out and winning their conference tourny. They have to do something to make it more fair.

[USF_Grouper]

The point of the tournament is to crown a champion.  Syracuse is definitly one of the top 64 basketball teams in the country, but they would have no chance of winning the tournament.  Field seems fine to me.

[79 Bull]

Get rid of the NIT - put 128 teams in the same tournament and guarantee Madison Square Garden the 4 most eastern teams in the elite eight every year.

[79 Bull]

OR put 96 teams in the tournament without the NIT.   Top 32 seeds would get a first round bye.

[Sunil]

I think this whole idea of expanding the tournament is ludicrous. It's one of my concerns about a potential football playoff as well.

The whole point of the tourney is to crown a national champion...not just to have teams make a tournament (correct me if I'm wrong). Therefore if you are "on the bubble" out of that 65...what gives you a legitimate gripe to say you are the national champ. Granted that there are always upsets and a cinderella could get hot at the right time...but if the point is to crown a national champion and we've selected all the major conference winners and the rest of the top 25 AND include a bunch of at large teams..and you still don't get in...what's your claim to be the BEST team in the NCAA? It's not nearly as subjective as the BCS system can be....at least in basketball if you win your conference, it's enough...you're in.

As I said before, this same whining would concern me in talking about a football playoff. If you have a 4 team playoff...#5 will be whining....a 12 team playoff...a 13th team complains. I realize that's another debate...but the BBall tournament is about as inclusive as a "playoff" realistically needs to be. Jim Boeheim seems like a great coach...but it's hard for me to have sympathy for "bubble" teams in their claim to become the national champ.

[Matt]

why dont they just skip the whole season and go straight to the tourny with everytime invited???

come on, this is crazy.  every year there are a few teams that feel like they should of gotten in but if they would of won 1 or 2 more games in the REGULAR season they would of been in.

got to keep it 64 teams....

[bulls96go]

leave it alone

[Bull Dozer]

No way they are ruining the best event in sports like that.