NCAA March Madness: Expansion on the Horizon?

I didn't have a picture idea, so I typed in Big East Tournament and this one jumped out at me. We all look down on male cheerleaders, but I would trade spots with that guy for a few minutes.

So, I explained the choice of this article's photo, said something nice about male cheerleaders, and now it's time to write this bad boy.

I hope that when I say bad, it turns out meaning good.

To say that any form of humor is the best would be silly, but I do like irony.

To wit...

The BCS, with its dozens to hundreds of flaws, is badly in need of an expansion to four, eight, or sixteen teams. Right now, the BCS is a three team tournament: the top two SEC teams, and one other team from a conference that starts with Big.

Now March Madness is darn near perfect. It used to be in a nice 64-team box, but the WAC split-up and created the Mountain West so there's now a 65th team, and an untidy play-in game.

If you lose the play-in game, were you actually a part of the Big Dance? That's a tough question, just like trying to figure out what decade we're in right now.

I say yes, and that we are still in the first decade of the 21st century.

A big topic of discussion now is expanding the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

I first want to say that I really like March Madness the way it is. For one thing, it gives the NIT a bunch of teams with winning records. If the NCAA Tournament expands to 96 or 128 teams, then you might have to rename the NIT the RNIT (Really Not Invited Tournament).

I'm just kidding about the NIT, no one cares about that. The Ohio State Buckeyes, my favorite college team, won it a few years ago and I was making fun of them the whole time for being in it.

I got going on the NIT and lost my train of thought. I think I was talking about how flawed the BCS is. Wait, no, I was trying to be funny. Wait, that wasn't happening either. Now I am stalling because I really don't know what to do with the field of 65.

First thing, get rid of the play-in game. It's like a bad haircut on a really hot chick. The whole origin of the play-in game, to use a really bad pun, is whack.

You know what? I kinda like that whack pun.

If expansion does happen, I want to see it go to 128 teams. I like that everyone has to win six games now to be a champ. I know, I know—the play-in winner would have to win seven now, but I already said to let the hair grow out on that fox.

I think I am getting my puns mixed up or recycling really bad jokes.

Huh, no winners there.

If expansion does occur and it does go to 128 teams, I would like to see the regular season conference winners get an automatic bid. The regular season for smaller schools should mean something in case the top seed gets upset in their conference's respective postseason tourney. I figure if there are 128 teams, it won't change the fact that only a handful of teams will be good enough to win seven straight games.

This year is so wide open and I only see 10 teams with a real shot at winning six straight. Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Ohio State, Duke, Kansas State, Villanova, West Virginia, Michigan State, and to be, I'll add New Mexico. If a team outside this group wins the National Title, I would be shocked. If New Mexico wins it all, I will also be shocked but I will say that I called it right here.

It is too bad that Purdue's Robbie Hummel hurt his knee because they were looking tough all year long.

John Calipari has the most talented roster, but his big three are all freshmen. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe have been solid all year and they make Kentucky a team to beat. Patrick Patterson might be the leader that the young guys need to make a deep run in the tournament.

Still, I would take Bill Self in a coaching matchup against John Calipari. They met a couple of years ago in the final game and Calipari kind of fell apart at the end as his Memphis Tigers lost a late lead to Kansas.

I guess to close out this untidy article, I should give some takes.

1. Irony is a great form of humor.

2. Hot chicks with bad haircuts are still hot.

3. The BCS needs to expand.

4. The NCAA Tournament could expand to 128 teams, but it does not need to.

5. My Final Four picks are Kentucky, Ohio State, Duke, and what the heck, Butler.

6. Kentucky wins it all. 

One last thought...

The Pac-10 has just been awful this year. This might be the worst power conference in the history of NCAA basketball. It is their own fault for recruiting a slew of one-and-done players.

I hope that the conference is so bad that Arizona, my second favorite college team, can win the Pac-10 tournament and make their 26th straight NCAA Tournament. If they don't win it all, I hope they lose to UCLA in their first game because you know how I feel about the NIT.