96 Team Bracketology

[TheTastyGreek]

ESPN's Lunardi does a preliminary 2011 bracket for the proposed 96 team field.

How great a deal would the expanded field be for the non power conferences? Well, here's the breakdown by multi-bid conference (compared to their 2010 representation):

Big East (13) (5 more bids than 2010)

ACC (12) (+6)

Big 12 (9) (+2)

Big Ten (8) (+3)

SEC (8) (+4)

Atlantic 10 (6) (+3)

Conference USA (4) (+2)

Mountain West (4) (NO CHANGE)

Pac-10 (4) (+2)

Missouri Valley (3) (+2)

Colonial (2) (+1)

Horizon League (2) (+1)

Mid-American (2) (+1)

West Coast (2) (NO CHANGE)

So, the six BCS leagues would get 22 of the 31 additional spots in the tournament, with 3 more going to the unofficial 7th power conference, the Atlantic 10.

Meanwhile, the other 26 conferences would, combined, get one more new berth than the ACC will add. And that's only with Kent State being the last team in the field.

But, on the plus side... EVERY SINGLE TEAM IN THE ACC would qualify. Making their entire regular season and conference tournament essentially irrelevant for tournament qualification.

Awesome. Looks like a great plan.

[CMJ]

Lunardi isn't the best prognosticator ever, but yeah....that's probably not too far off from what it'd look like. Awesome isn't it?

[MeanGreenTexan]

ESPN's Lunardi does a preliminary 2011 bracket for the proposed 96 team field.

How great a deal would the expanded field be for the non power conferences? Well, here's the breakdown by multi-bid conference (compared to their 2010 representation):

Big East (13) (5 more bids than 2010)

ACC (12) (+6)

Big 12 (9) (+2)

Big Ten (8) (+3)

SEC (8) (+4)

Atlantic 10 (6) (+3)

Conference USA (4) (+2)

Mountain West (4) (NO CHANGE)

Pac-10 (4) (+2)

Missouri Valley (3) (+2)

Colonial (2) (+1)

Horizon League (2) (+1)

Mid-American (2) (+1)

West Coast (2) (NO CHANGE)

So, the six BCS leagues would get 22 of the 31 additional spots in the tournament, with 3 more going to the unofficial 7th power conference, the Atlantic 10.

Meanwhile, the other 26 conferences would, combined, get one more new berth than the ACC will add. And that's only with Kent State being the last team in the field.

But, on the plus side... EVERY SINGLE TEAM IN THE ACC would qualify. Making their entire regular season and conference tournament essentially irrelevant for tournament qualification.

Awesome. Looks like a great plan.

They're considering dropping the NIT for this joke?

Really, not many people care about the NIT. However, it is a good tourney, and once the final four shake out, you have really good basketball. Winning the NIT (or even a final 4 showing) is a nice momentum builder for NCAA bubble teams as well.

I am against this. But in the end, the NCAA will do whatever makes more money... so it doesn't really matter what anyone thinks.

[Keith7]

a 96 team tournament is just dumb

[Mean Green Matt]

Does joe lunardi just mindlessly pick western kentucky every preseason?...I may just not pay attention to him enough, but it sure seems that way.

[CMJ]

Does joe lunardi just mindlessly pick western kentucky every preseason?...I may just not pay attention to him enough, but it sure seems that way.

No, you're basically spot on. I think he's picked WKU the last 4 years. Granted, it's usually a decent guess.

Edited April 15, 2010 by CMJ

[Army of Dad]

I really hate the 96 team idea. Of course good sense and NCAA are often mutually exclusive.

Edited April 17, 2010 by Army of Dad

[GrandGreen]

BB is not like football, the majority of teams are from non-power conferences. Why won't the second tier unite and oppose any new tournament configuration that would result in even more uneven representation? Promote a rule that would prohibit any team that does not win their tournament or have a winning conference record from going to the tournament. As noted above, if there is no limit on the number of teams from a conference; for the power leagues; the conference race and tournament become meaningless.

My guess, is there will be some kind of limitation put on the participants as there are in Bowl games to curtail teams with losing records from going to the tournament.