Edrick wrote:The real issue is there are about 100 de facto D2 schools that have elevated to D1 but only can survive through the buy-game economy.
The tournament doesn't need to expand to make the percentage of teams making the post season greater. The denominator just needs to be reduced and those de facto D2 programs sent back to where they could possibly be competitively viable.
D1 basketball shouldn't have more than 250-275 schools --- max.
That seems like an arbitrary number and largely irrelevant to the question of whether the tourney should be capped at 64 or 68, or expanded to 96, or whatever. What if the Football Five decide that 65 is the right number for "D1"? Where would that leave us in terms of relevancy?
I just love the tourney, and while I completely agree that teams 60-68 (as presently configured) essentially have no chance to win the title, it is that
chance of an upset (think Butler, or even FGCU as a 15 seed) that is a huge driver of casual fan interest. People that don't follow CBB too closely during the season really tune in during the tourney. That significantly bumps up the number of eyes, brackets, etc, and the TV contract is as big as it is because of those more casual fans (I would guesstimate that ~40% of the people avidly watching the tourney, buying tickets, filling out multiple brackets, etc, don't pay much attention at all during the season). It's an event, and people want to be a part of it whether they follow CBB during the year or not. So the more people consuming an event like that, the better, because the TV contract gets bigger with a larger market.
Expanding to 96 teams would add two more days to that first 'weekend' of games (not that big of a deal in my mind), but it would bring in another 28 underdogs who just might upset Duke, KU or whoever. That would create considerable extra casual fan interest.