Expanding The NCAA Tournament: Is March Maddening?

96. That would be the size of the tournament should proponents of tournament expansion get their way.

There are strong opinions on both sides of the debate when it comes to expanding the NCAA basketball tournament. Many coaches support expansion because it would result in an easier path into the tournament, but from people I have talked to, fans are opposed to expanding the field because it would diminish the notable importance of college basketball’s regular season.

In my opinion the tournament is about as close to perfect as we can get when it comes to crowning a champion in any sport, at any level.

One of the greatest aspects of college sports is that the regular season actually matters, it means something. Players in the college game compete with exponentially more passion that their counterparts in the professional arena—not only because they play for their school instead of money but because every time they step out on the court it’s to play a game that carries significance with it. Each game is important because at the end of the season when the selection committee sits down to decide who’s in and who’s out they look at every game—good wins, bad loses, conference games, and non-conference games. In the end every game that was played shows the selection committee something about the team.

The importance and quality of regular season college basketball is in stark contrast to that of the NBA.

I’ll be the first to concede that playoff basketball in the NBA is very exciting—although I wouldn’t label it nearly as exciting as March Madness. However, in a season with over eighty games, individual games are not nearly as important as they are in the college game. By early April in the NBA, teams have played enough games to give themselves some leeway at the season to sit players and essentially pack it in at the end of the season for a few games. College basketball’s exciting nature comes from the fact that every game influences your chances of making the tournament or your seeding.

Keep the tournament the way it is, keep giving the season importance, and keep the passion in college basketball!