Bilas blasts idea of expanding March Madness

[unihorn]

“Never underestimate the NCAA’s capacity to do something stupid,” Bilas said. “And, if they did this, it would be profoundly stupid. When anyone says more teams need access to the tournament: every team has the same access to the tournament now. All you have to do is win your conference automatic bid, which is against your peers with a group of teams you have chosen to be among.”

“Bilas emphasized the fact that every Division I team has a chance to reach the tournament and scoffed at the idea of expanding the field from 68 teams to an absurd 96.”

“The one thing that everybody’s forgetting is this is not an access tournament. It’s a national championship event,” Bilas said. “You should have to do something hard to get in.”

 

[dementiajoe]

I agree. If anything the tournament needs to shrink some. The four 1 seeds should have a first round bye and play winners from the play-in round.

 

[unihorn]

Bilas is top notch.

 

[T-6 Miner]

Bilas is top notch.

He'd think differently if his school was always on the outside looking in. And no, not every team has the same opportunity to get in, nor will they ever have the same opportunities. I'm not an advocate for expansion but he needs to be honest in his comment. We all know, including Bilas, an expanded field would be more P-4(5) teams, not more mid-majors.

 

[UTEPfan1966]

He'd think differently if his school was always on the outside looking in. And no, not every team has the same opportunity to get in, nor will they ever have the same opportunities. I'm not an advocate for expansion but he needs to be honest in his comment. We all know, including Bilas, an expanded field would be more P-4(5) teams, not more mid-majors.

Absolutely! An expansion is about taking care of the eletes

 

[jdubb66]

Bilas is a tool for the elite. What he fails to realize is that the only way all teams will have an equal chance at making the big tournament is by having elimination rounds. Anything arbitrary is just letting the power 5s stack the tournament with their weaker teams thus taking more money.

Haskins always wanted the tournament open to everyone making it a true national tournament instead of a cash grab for the richer conferences.

All you would have to do is to have a couple of elimination rounds throughout the season say mid and three quarter season, then seed the remaining however many based on whatever arbitrary ranking you follow.

This would weed out the weaker power 5 teams and give all the other teams a fair chance at March Madness. But this will only happen if they can sell the power 5 teams on the economic benefits of having those elimination games.

 

[unihorn]

Bilas is a tool for the elite. What he fails to realize is that the only way all teams will have an equal chance at making the big tournament is by having elimination rounds. Anything arbitrary is just letting the power 5s stack the tournament with their weaker teams thus taking more money.

Haskins always wanted the tournament open to everyone making it a true national tournament instead of a cash grab for the richer conferences.

All you would have to do is to have a couple of elimination rounds throughout the season say mid and three quarter season, then seed the remaining however many based on whatever arbitrary ranking you follow.

This would weed out the weaker power 5 teams and give all the other teams a fair chance at March Madness. But this will only happen if they can sell the power 5 teams on the economic benefits of having those elimination games.

Would you like to see 2 CUSA teams get in this year?

 

[Rocketsr]

Would you like to see 2 CUSA teams get in this year?

No, because they will get slaughtered and it will not look good. Right now the conference champ is going be a 16 seed, that is really pathetic already. Do we want 2 Sixteen seeds in?

The NCAA tournament is open to everyone if you look at it. Win your conference tournament, and you are in. No one is excluded. You don't have that option anywhere else.

 

[TxRdKiller]

Would you like to see 2 CUSA teams get in this year?

Sure. Why not? Nobody will give a shit that two 16 seeds lost. They won’t even know or care which conference they came from. All teams lose eventually except the eventual champions.

 

[dementiajoe]

They won’t win the championship, but UMBC (2018) and FDU (2023) have defied the odds as a 16 seed.