Sixteen Deep: Messing with perfection

You guessed it. Another blog entry denouncing the planned expansion of the NCAA Tournament to 96 teams. Since this is a Big East-centric blog, I'll try to focus on reasons it's absolutely AWFUL for the biggest conference in the land. With 16 teams, this hurts the Big East the most in my opinion because while they will probably get the most teams in every year, there are way more cons than pros that result.

Here's a quick list of reasons I can't stand this idea.

1. Too many games. Adding 32 more games in such a short time frame is just going to make people bored. You don't get to watch most of these games anyway so what's the point?

2. Players are going to be so tired, you'll see fewer upsets. Even if the worst team to get in as a 24 seed somehow miraculously upsets a 9 seed (which is the highest seed not to get a bye) they're not going to sneak up on an 8 seed in the next round. Plus, they're going to be way too tired. Murray State won a big game against a top 12 team in Vanderbilt in one of the most exciting games of the year. That's not going to happen very frequently next year because a lot of those low seeded teams are going to be Providence or Iowa. Schools in big conferences that are not at all "mid-majors" just middling teams.

3. There's a big difference between an 8 seed and a 9 seed. One gets a BYE and the other has to play a Tuesday game. You think we debate a lot when it comes to the bubble for just making the tournament, how do you decide those differences? Nine seeds have more wins than 8 seeds in the first round anyway. It's just going to cause a lot more debate. Even if a 16 seed never beat a 1 seed, it always had as equal chance as anyone else to do damage. Win 6 games in a row. That's it. Period.

4. Office pools will obviously suffer. No one wants to fill out this bracket. It's unruly, it's complicated and there's just too much to know. The average fan probably only knows a few teams anyway. Office pools will become like playing the lottery and picking random things to happen. That'll kill the tournament's mass appeal.

5. The Big East will have had 13 teams in this year. What is the point of playing the regular season if that's the case?

6. Conference tournaments, including the Big East's, will basically be useless as well. Some teams make runs in the tournament to get off the bubble, but with this new format, few teams will have to do so since they're either in a one-bid league or already in.

7. BAD TEAMS WILL MAKE THE TOURNAMENT. If expansion is needed, then why not have 4 play-in games for the 12 seeds. Every year there's a debate about 4 or 5 teams for 2 spots. Why not just let them play for the last at-large bids. With expansion, you're just going to let teams who have no business getting in in the past.

8. The game will drastically change. Right now, every team's goal is 20 wins and a .500 record in conference. That pretty much guarantees you an in if you're in a major conference. All this does is lower expectations. Does it really matter to Notre Dame if they get a 16 or a 20 seed? No. Now all you'll need is 17 wins or something like that.

Basically, this is an awful idea. But it's coming so let's just hope it works out alright.