TexasTerror
June 9th, 2006, 08:39 PM
Thoughts on expanding the field to 80? I'm not a big fan of the NCAA tournament making conference tourney champs go to a play-in game. Would rather at-large schools go to the game. Would be more entertaining for sure and would give the 'tournament experience' to conference champions from mid-major or low-major conferences...
Field of 80? Tournament size debated
By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY
For the first time since adding a 65th team in 2001, the committee that oversees the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament is weighing expansion of the field.
Spurred by Syracuse's Jim Boeheim and other coaches, who called in March for at least modest expansion and met with the committee last week, incoming chairman Gary Walters said he expects the 10-man panel to address the issue, probably when it next meets June 26-30 in Orlando.
"We're going to have a serious discussion," said Walters, who takes over as chairman in September, "and then we'll make some decision about where we'll proceed from there."
The committee has been cool in the past to suggestions of expansion, reluctant to tamper with a hugely popular and successful event. "What we have right now is working pretty well. There's no outcry out there," Walters said. "(But) I don't know that we should be influenced by whether there's an outcry or there isn't. What we should do is act in what's in the best interests of the game as stewards of the game."
Expansion, if it happened, would require approval by NCAA legislative bodies and probably couldn't come before 2009. Neither Walters nor others would speculate on how many berths could be added, though suggestions have ranged from three (and an overall 68-team field) to 15 (and an 80-team bracket).
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/tourney/2006-05-18-tourney-field_x.htm
Field of 80? Tournament size debated
By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY
For the first time since adding a 65th team in 2001, the committee that oversees the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament is weighing expansion of the field.
Spurred by Syracuse's Jim Boeheim and other coaches, who called in March for at least modest expansion and met with the committee last week, incoming chairman Gary Walters said he expects the 10-man panel to address the issue, probably when it next meets June 26-30 in Orlando.
"We're going to have a serious discussion," said Walters, who takes over as chairman in September, "and then we'll make some decision about where we'll proceed from there."
The committee has been cool in the past to suggestions of expansion, reluctant to tamper with a hugely popular and successful event. "What we have right now is working pretty well. There's no outcry out there," Walters said. "(But) I don't know that we should be influenced by whether there's an outcry or there isn't. What we should do is act in what's in the best interests of the game as stewards of the game."
Expansion, if it happened, would require approval by NCAA legislative bodies and probably couldn't come before 2009. Neither Walters nor others would speculate on how many berths could be added, though suggestions have ranged from three (and an overall 68-team field) to 15 (and an 80-team bracket).
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/tourney/2006-05-18-tourney-field_x.htm