The NCAA tournament is the best sporting event on the planet, but it could be better. For a few years, key voices around the game have called for the further expansion of the tournament from 65 teams to 73 teams or 128 teams, or even to open it up to every Division I institution, fashioning it after the old days in the Indiana high school state tournament.
The argument for the expansion of the tournament field is a simple one. More good teams play in Division I than ever before, and every time in the game's history when the number of good teams has increased, the NCAA has expanded the field. The argument against doing so is the same that you have heard with regard to the wild card in Major League Baseball and the NFL. Expansion dilutes the field and renders the regular season and conference tournaments less meaningful and less compelling.
Yet, there is the lobby for "fairness" to the mid-majors. There is no question that several quality mid-major teams are left out of the field each year. (Several quality major conference teams also are left out of the field each year.) And even though mid-majors make up almost half the NCAA tournament field every season, there is no question that the best mid-majors are in the field.
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Jay Bilas
College Basketball analyst- College basketball analyst for ESPN and ESPN Insider
- Played and coached at Duke
- Practicing attorney
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Jay Bilas
Jay Bilas provides expert color commentary from courtside on college basketball games and serves as a studio analyst and as the co-host of ESPN's popular studio shows "College GameDay" and "College Gamenight." He also writes for ESPN.com and contributes numerous reports for "SportsCenter." Since 2003, Bilas has provided in-depth player scouting and analysis for ESPN's coverage of the NBA draft.
