Some thoughts as we head into the NCAA Tournament...
For the first time in tourney history, we witnessed an opening-round 64 vs. 65 game Tuesday night. Northwestern State beat Winthrop 71-67 in Dayton (each had won their respective conference tournament). Next up for Northwestern State: top-seeded Illinois in the Midwest.
The plus of having a play-in game is that it allows another team to be part of the Dance, even though it has to earn it the tough way and get into the tournament in a very difficult fashion in terms of playing that extra game on Tuesday.
It's a situation where one more club gets a chance. The NCAA wants to keep the 34 at-large berths; the split of the WAC, leading to the Mountain West, led to an additional automatic bid. So now there are 31 automatic bids.
I don't see it as a major problem, having an extra game. I know some teams are very upset that they would have to play in that way. But the bottom line is it gives an extra team a chance to be in the tournament.
FORGET EXPANSION
I was asked recently about expanding the NCAA Tournament. One person at an airport said to me the field should include everyone. On my chat, I was asked about an 80-team field to help allow more mid-majors in.
First of all, with all the conference tournaments, that is like an NCAA Tournament for the mid-majors and smaller conferences. They are in that kind of pressure -- win or go home. It's unfortunate that playing well and winning the regular-season title is often offset by an upset in the league tournament, costing a trip to the Big Dance.
But I don't think expanding the tournament any further is a good idea. What's wrong with having these debates over who is in and who is out? The talk of the "bubble" adds interest to the sport as we head to March Madness. What we have now seems to work for me.
TIME TO RE-SEED
One thing I would like to see would take place at the Final Four. I would like to see the teams re-seeded so that we are not set with the regional matchups. This way, if you have two heavyweights on one side and two surprises on the other, you can have better games in the national semifinal.
