Bracket Challenge

[spdrama]

Either 80 or 96 make sense to me. I don't like the play in games.

The number of Division I basketball teams was 318 in 2000. It is 362 now.

Oh, and RPI should never be discussed again.

Unfortunately, the motivation behind the idea to increase the number of tourney teams comes from the whining of big conference heads & coaches that don’t like getting knocked out by lower conference teams. They want more at-large selections for themselves and more play-in games for mid to lower conferences knock each other out. They love to kick these small conference teams around in November & help put Ws on their pre-conference play records, but don’t want to face them in March when they’ve had an entire season to improve to a much higher level of play, and in some cases, parity. Can’t speak for all fans, but the best thing about this tournament for me is watching the Oakland Davids beat up on the Kentucky Goliaths. Take that away and you lose fan support. Many of us went to these smaller schools or live near them. Big fan base to lose.

 

[spdrama]

Unfortunately, the motivation behind the idea to increase the number of tourney teams comes from the whining of big conference heads & coaches that don’t like getting knocked out by lower conference teams. They want more at-large selections for themselves and more play-in games for mid to lower conferences to knock each other out. They love to kick these small conference teams around in November & help put Ws on their pre-conference play records, but don’t want to face them in March when they’ve had an entire season to improve to a much higher level of play, and in some cases, parity. Can’t speak for all fans, but the best thing about this tournament for me is watching the Oakland Davids beat up on the Kentucky Goliaths. Take that away and you lose fan support. Many of us went to these smaller schools or live near them. Big fan base to lose.

 

[ESPNjacket]

Unfortunately, the motivation behind the idea to increase the number of tourney teams comes from the whining of big conference heads & coaches that don’t like getting knocked out by lower conference teams. They want more at-large selections for themselves and more play-in games for mid to lower conferences knock each other out. They love to kick these small conference teams around in November & help put Ws on their pre-conference play records, but don’t want to face them in March when they’ve had an entire season to improve to a much higher level of play, and in some cases, parity. Can’t speak for all fans, but the best thing about this tournament for me is watching the Oakland Davids beat up on the Kentucky Goliaths. Take that away and you lose fan support. Many of us went to these smaller schools or live near them. Big fan base to lose.

The motivation is to get more of their teams in and more units. It is about grabbing even more of the pie.

I agree with you that it would be bad for the tournament's entertainment value, which drives the size of the pie.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I thought you guys knew basketball. I filled mine out while watching cycling in about 3 minutes. Sitting T2 (Craig).

Who is espnfan @#1? Not someone who posts here!

(I'm proof that ignorance is bliss.)

 

[slugboy]

I thought you guys knew basketball. I filled mine out while watching cycling in about 3 minutes. Sitting T2 (Craig).

Who is espnfan @#1? Not someone who posts here!

(I'm proof that ignorance is bliss.)

I’m just glad to still be on page 1 of the standings. I didn’t pick Yale, and I probably wouldn’t if I had 10 brackets

 

[Peacone36]

Expansion is dumb
Removing AQs is dumber

its fine.

 

[jeffgt14]

It's clearly not fair that you don't get a shot at a title for not being one of the 50 best teams during the season.

In other news, I'll find out in about 5 hours if my bracket is done or not. Need some upsets.

 

[Techster]

What Sankey is pushing for in the NCAAT is the same thing the B1G and SEC are pushing for in the CFB Playoffs. More automatic spots for their leagues, more of the revenue pie for themselves. Eventually, the other "power leagues" Big 12 and ACC will get shafted (we're seeing that in the expanded playoff model) and get even less revenue from the NCAAT and CFB Playoffs.

IMO, the NCAAT is single best event college sports has going. Better than the CFB playoffs. This isn't something the SEC and B1G should dictate. The magic of the NCAAT isn't about the big schools (though they invariably end up winning the most championships), it's about the Cinderella runs of small teams and lower seeded schools. You take more slots away from the smaller schools and lower seeded teams, and the less magic the NCAAT has.

 

[wreck1]

I thought you guys knew basketball. I filled mine out while watching cycling in about 3 minutes. Sitting T2 (Craig).

Who is espnfan @#1? Not someone who posts here!

(I'm proof that ignorance is bliss.)

Believe that would be me!
Filled mine out while sitting on the throne! Didn’t take time to put in a name.
Strategy was mostly anti-sec bias.

 

[spdrama]

It's clearly not fair that you don't get a shot at a title for not being one of the 50 best teams during the season.

In other news, I'll find out in about 5 hours if my bracket is done or not. Need some upsets.

Ohio State, Wake Forest, Villanova & Pitt were all in the top 50 NET. They all had their shots at a title in their own conference tournaments. Why should they get another shot at a National title over an Automatic Qualifier who first is forced to beat another Automatic Qualifier in a play-in? Eventually it will be the Grand Canyons, Oaklands, James Madisons & Yales who will get screwed.

 

[Root4GT]

Ohio State, Wake Forest, Villanova & Pitt were all in the top 50 NET. They all had their shots at a title in their own conference tournaments. Why should they get another shot at a National title over an Automatic Qualifier who first is forced to beat another Automatic Qualifier in a play-in? Eventually it will be the Grand Canyons, Oaklands, James Madisons & Yales who will get screwed.

Nailed it. The Low Majors get 1 team in the NCAAT. Ther earn it via winning their Conference Tournament. JMU and Grand Canyon had to win their Tournaments unlike UNC, Duke, Clemson or UVA. Not to mention half the SEC.

 

[CEB]

Believe that would be me!
Filled mine out while sitting on the throne! Didn’t take time to put in a name.
Strategy was mostly anti-sec bias.

That’s proving to be a brilliant strategy. Kudos to you, sir.

 

[jeffgt14]

Ohio State, Wake Forest, Villanova & Pitt were all in the top 50 NET. They all had their shots at a title in their own conference tournaments. Why should they get another shot at a National title over an Automatic Qualifier who first is forced to beat another Automatic Qualifier in a play-in? Eventually it will be the Grand Canyons, Oaklands, James Madisons & Yales who will get screwed.

You missed the sarcasm in my statement

 

[slugboy]

I did not expect my championship pick to go out THAT soon. Wow

 

[jeffgt14]

last place

 

[TooTall]

last place

Nah...you just #1 loser. Dont be so negative.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Appropriately, we are down to two potential winners; GoodBuzz and King2b

 

[GoodBuzz]

Appropriately, we are down to two potential winners; GoodBuzz and King2b
View attachment 15968

Very ironic that it was (I believe) CuseJacket and I in 2017 when I had UNC and he had Gonzaga. He was leading for a while this year and I thought it might come down to us again. The irony is the correlation to the eclipses! Looks like I shouldn't pick again until 2044!!

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Not sure where to post this but…

Purdue can hang with UConn when they play hard and physical. But they clearly were tired in the second half and UConn is one well conditioned and disciplined team. They just wear everybody out that they play. Scary good team and one of the best I’ve ever seen.

 

[YlJacket]

UConn plays a lot like Virginia just much more perimeter oriented and with much better offensive players . They both use a screen and curl action that grind you for the whole 30 seconds of the clock.