Expansion Unnecessary

            After another successful NCAA men’s basketball tournament that was loaded with upsets and exciting finishes the thought of expanding the tournament from 64 to 96 teams seems like the wrong move in furthering the tournaments success. The way the tournament is set up now with four regions each containing 16 teams has been successful over the years; producing memorable moments and turning some college athletes into overnight superstars just ask Bryce Drew or Christian Laettner. So the thought of expanding the tournament is puzzling.

            One of the main arguments for the expansion of the tournament is that it will give more opportunities for smaller schools to have a Cinderella run through the tournament. While every once in a while America gets to see a small school make a magical run throughout the tournament the truth is upsets don’t usually make it past the first round. Sure there usually is one maybe two teams that pull of a couple of upsets but really none of them ever reach the final four or the national championship game.

I’m willing to bet most college basketball fans can’t name the highes seed to make it to a final four before George Mason did it in 2006. The fact is most small schools will run into a major conference power house and go home empty handed. Take this years tournament for example sure Butler made it to the championship game, but they were ranked in the top 25 in the country for most of the year.

Cornell was able to reach the sweet 16, but eventually lost to college basketball powerhouse Kentucky. Also the University of Ohio knocked off Georgetown in the first round but lost in the next round to Tennessee.

            If the NCAA wants to expand to 96 teams why not let everybody in. If every team has a chance of pulling off multiple upsets on there way to a final four why not just give everyone a chance. I mean I’m sure that the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders, who won 10 games this past year, could somehow beat a team like Duke or Kentucky. Also, take into consideration that a 16 seed has never beaten a number one seed. What makes anyone think letting teams that a worse or equal to these 16 seeds would help?

            Another problem with expanding the tournament is that the top eight seeds in each region would get a bye in the first round. This makes no sense, why would college basketball fans want to watch a bunch of mediocre teams play each other only to most likely lose in the next round against a better team. No one wants to watch two teams that probably would not have made the tournament under the old format play each other in what would result in a low scoring struggle.

            The expansion would also cause one of the best weeks in college basketball, championship week to lose its glory. Teams compete every year for a conference tournament title that gives them a automatic bid into the tournament. If the tournament expands the conference tournaments do not mean nearly as much and some teams that lose in the first round of there conference tournament would still make the big dance.

            Along with all these problems there is no reason to expand the tournament in the first place. The NCAA tournament is one of the most popular sporting events in the country. Millions of people sit down every year to watch the games and fill out there respective brackets. Expanding the tournament is not going to increase viewer ship it will only hurt it. There haven’t been any complaints about the tournament so there is no reason why the NCAA should feel the need to add more teams.  

            The fact that the NCAA wants to expand the tournament is frightening and wrong. The tournament is perfectly fine the way it is and there is no reason to change it. The way I see it the more teams in the NCAA tournament the more problems the NCAA would encounter.