Why the NCAA Tournament Should Be Expanded
by Ralph
Willard, Holy Cross
George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga and I recently had a long
discussion about why March Madness needs to be expanded.
Everyone knows about George Mason's run to the Final four last
year and everyone celebrates how good it was for college
basketball. Yet most ignore the fact that with the current
number of teams allowed in each year, it almost never happened.
Despite having a special year the Patriots were one of the last
teams invited. Other teams who had special years, like Hofstra,
Missouri State, Michigan, Creighton, Western Kentucky, South
Carolina, Northern Arizona, Florida St, Farleigh Dickenson, Old
Dominion, Butler and others never had their chance.
There are too many good teams now for the field to remain at 64.
That was fine twenty years ago, when everyone had fifteen
scholarships and before the rise of summer basketball. Now there
are too many good players distributed throughout college
basketball and some of the non-BCS leagues have made major
investments in facilities and programs.
The Missouri Valley plays very competitive basketball from top
to bottom and has made huge improvements in its facilities and
marketing, yet its teams still compete with the mid-major tag in
front of them. Any loss to a bottom member of that league during
conference play is a "Selection Sunday " killer, despite
everyone knowing how hard it is to win on the road in college
basketball.
The BCS leagues have all expanded and now have good teams each
year that have no chance of going to the tournament because
there are only 32 at large bids given out under the current
format.
Every year there are good teams left out who have had special
years. Special years are very difficult to repeat on the
mid-major level. Just about all mid-major programs (with the
exception of the top programs in the MVC) rebuild and don't
reload. Every year you hear fans say that ‘so and so’ is the
next Gonzaga (even though Gonzaga has transformed itself into a
major, through facilities and commitment). Yet every year, mid
major programs that have special years almost always drop down,
if not the next year then almost certainly after two. The
reasons are simple. Seniors and recruiting.
Almost all the special mid-major teams are led by seniors on
their roster. It is near impossible to recruit to replace those
special players while they are in the program, because mid-major
programs "get steals" in recruiting only if there is immediate
playing time available. Thus Hofstra for example, is good again
this year but not special like last year, because of the front
line seniors it lost.
BCS schools have the opportunity and the yoke of playing teams
with good RPI'S throughout the season. This is because almost
all the teams in those conferences play seventeen or eighteen
home games. The competition from top to bottom is better in
those leagues, and that's a fact. However they always get the
opportunity to make up for a "bad" loss, while mid majors rarely
if ever, get that opportunity. They regularly get teams at home
with high RPI's.
Mid major teams almost never get that opportunity. Playing in a
conference tournament is a means of getting more teams into the
NCAA's for the BCS conferences. Conference tournaments are
pressure cookers for mid-major teams that have had special
years, because almost always, if you stumble, you are out (two
years ago Davidson went 16-0 in conference play lost in the
tournament and was left out).
The bottom line is that expanding the tournament would help
eliminate the two currently unfair situations that exist in
selecting teams for the NCAA. The BCS schools that get left out
because of the size of their leagues, and the mid-majors who
have had special years, but may have had a stumble or two during
the season, or in their conference tournaments.
The inequity of non-conference play will never be addressed
because of the money generated at a lot of BCS schools by
non-league home games. Having a 96-team tournament would give
selection committee a better means of making the process more
objective. It would give more teams each year the opportunity to
prove they belonged in by letting them actually play.
Parity in college basketball is greater than ever and it will
probably increase in the future. The tournament should be
expanded to reflect that. Interest and excitement would grow and
more senior student-athletes, whose teams have achieved during
the year, will get the wonderful experience of playing in the
NCAA.
