Big Ten commissioner saying expansion to 96 teams "probable" in 2011

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://ow.ly/16WtxI


Definitely in line with everything I'm hearing on the broadcasting side of the ledger.

[wojosdojo]

110% not a fan. Teams will have absoulutly nothing to play for.. well maybe DePaul.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

sad.  ruins the best weekend of the whole year.

[PGsHeroes32]

on the bright side, we will be a tourney team forsure next year

[RJax55]

on the bright side, we will be a tourney team forsure next year

If the tourney goes to 96 teams, we should be making it every year.

[Nukem2]

sad.  ruins the best weekend of the whole year.

Also dilutes the regular season and renders conference tournaments rather useless as well as watering down Selection Sunday and bubble talk.  What bubble with 96 teams...??  Who cares who that 97th team is (unless, of course, that is your school).

[reinko]

People said the same thing during the last expansion, and the we are still around!  Armageddon has not ensued!  It will still be awesome, I will still take days off of work, they make work in a bye system of sorts, so seeding will still be very important.

[cheebs09]

People said the same thing during the last expansion, and the we are still around!  Armageddon has not ensued!  It will still be awesome, I will still take days off of work, they make work in a bye system of sorts, so seeding will still be very important.

I think this is one of the bigger problems I have with it. One of the things I really like about the 64 team tourney is that there are no byes. Yea the 1 vs 16 is sort of a bye, but other than that there is always the chance a 15 upsets a 2. Not often, but it has happened. I just always liked the idea all the teams had to win the same number of games. How long until we run into a problem like the BET where the byes seem to hurt the teams more? The lower seeded team already has a win under their belt and has some momentum. I just can't get excited for the possibility of watching Seton Hall play a 2nd or 3rd place mid-major team on the first day of the tournament.

[Mobot]

I like the 96 team field.  The first round will basically be 32 play-in games.  Most of the low-major automatic qualifiers will be eliminated leaving the top 64 teams in the nation.  The #1 seeds will finally face some competition in their first game.

For those worried about office pools, a 64 team bracket can still be completed after the first round is over.

[muguru]

Greed.....It's what drives America, and College Basketball unfortunately.

[MU1984]

96 teams is probably a bit much, but I don't get why this is that horrible.  If we had a 96 team field this year, Kentucky would've played a UNC or UConn in the 1st round instead of ETSU.  Yeah, the first round games where the 9-24 seeds play will be pretty dull (you're going to watch it anyways so why wouldn't the NCAA do this), but after its narrowed down to 64 the second round and on is going to be extremely entertaining and will have more upsets on average than the last 25 years in the 64/65 format.  What's the problem with that?  

People will grow to love 96 (although 72-84 is probably perfect).

[mug644]

I like the 96 team field.  The first round will basically be 32 play-in games.  Most of the low-major automatic qualifiers will be eliminated leaving the top 64 teams in the nation.  The #1 seeds will finally face some competition in their first game.

For those worried about office pools, a 64 team bracket can still be completed after the first round is over.

That will be interesting if that how it gets worked out. If I understand it, then 32 teams get byes, and 64 teams play to match up with those top 32. Might the 64, after the first round, get re-seeded?

[mu_hilltopper]

I like the 96 team field.  The first round will basically be 32 play-in games.  

Bingo.  

[ChicosBailBonds]

Greed.....It's what drives America, and College Basketball unfortunately.

Expenses also drive America.....it costs money to run things, something most Americans and especially our gov't don't realize

[ChicosBailBonds]

Bingo.  

Yup....more upsets than ever before, more mid-majors involved, absolutely does not render the regular season worthless and arguments of that nature are silly beyond belief.  Teams will be playing for those byes which is exactly why the regular season won't be worthless.....as well as playing to get into the tournament, trying to win their conference championship, etc.  No coach is going to let his team "coast'....beyond silly on so many levels.

[GGGG]

Yup....more upsets than ever before, more mid-majors involved, absolutely does not render the regular season worthless and arguments of that nature are silly beyond belief.  Teams will be playing for those byes which is exactly why the regular season won't be worthless.....as well as playing to get into the tournament, trying to win their conference championship, etc.  No coach is going to let his team "coast'....beyond silly on so many levels.

Honestly, the regular season from a viewing point of view has been pretty worthless for awhile.  The viewership number for the regular season aren't all that good anyway.  This won't make them worse.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Honestly, the regular season from a viewing point of view has been pretty worthless for awhile.  The viewership number for the regular season aren't all that good anyway.  This won't make them worse.

Do you mean from tv ratings?  True, but things are so fractured now it's very difficult to compare to the past.  Remember when there was one college basketball game a week and it was on NBC?   Now it's everywhere on multiple platforms (satellite, Telco, cable, online, mobile, etc).  So overall eyeballs are likely up in aggregate, but individual ratings are down for comparable games.

But I agree with the general premise, no way this makes the regular season more irrelevant.  It's a silly argument.  Teams are playing for conference championships first.  That hasn't changed.  They are playing for conference tournament seeding next...that hasn't changed.  They are playing to get into the NCAA tournament....that will change as there are more spots, BUT they will also be playing like the dickens to be one of the top 32 teams to avoid a first round game, thus neutering this argument that the regular season is meaningless. 

It's like some people here saying all 350 teams are getting in....THAT would make the regular season meaningless, but this doesn't do that.

[RawdogDX]

I was against this idea at first but, I think it's more productive to be excited about this than to complain about more march madness.  

More upsets.  We'll have stats on how many years coaches have earned a bye.  Lots of people fighting over how a team that should have been a 7 seed and was a 9 instead and have an extra game.  That will be fun.

If these play in games are happening on wednesday we'll need to push up the big east tournament.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

one question:

Were people pissed about the jump to 64 teams?

I mean, I'm not happy about the jump to 96, but people weren't happy about the jump to 64 and that has worked out pretty well.

Shrug.

[radome]

If the tourney goes to 96 teams, we should be making it every year.

Buzz is a hero! Makes the tourney every year since he arrived.

[ATWizJr]

If the tourney goes to 96 teams, we should be making it every y

Yeah, that's what we were all saying when it went to 24.

[RJax55]

Buzz is a hero! Makes the tourney every year since he arrived.

Haha, yeah. Easy to see why almost every coach wants the tourney expanded to 96.

Unless there's a rule that BCS conference teams must finish .500 or better to make the field, MU should go every year.

In a mock 96 team field, St. Johns made the tourney. You're talking about a team that finished 13th in conference by going 6-12. I would hope that even in a rebuilding/down year, MU could do the same.

[chapman]

More upsets= Hard to call a crap team beating another crap team an upset.  I'm not going to be on the edge of my seat or talk about it the next morning when a 22 seed beats an 11 seed. 

More mid-majors=Rewarding programs that aren't usually good and usually don't invest enough to try to be good.   

A .500 or better rule=Stupid.  Georgia Tech made it at 7-9 this year because they were one of the best at-large teams.  You're going to add 32 more spots and then also keep a team like that out?  The major conferences would never, ever allow this.

I will agree it doesn't make the regular season irrelevant, as a conference championship, a conference tournament championship, or simply doing well in conference will be more of an accomplishment than anything else because hanging a banner for an NCAA appearance like we do now will be as pathetic as hanging banners for winning preseason tournaments.

[MarquetteDano]

I just don't understand the 50% increase overnight.  Why not like 80 teams to start?  I know they are trying to replace the NIT for good but there are still these other tourneys.  Get rid of the NIT and allow 80 teams.  Other tourneys (CBI, CIT, etc.) can replace the NIT.

Also, with any expansion (even to 80) they had better allow an automatic bid for winning your conference regular season.  I can just see some decent small conference school losing out against 15-14 Oregon State because the small conf school didn't win their conference tourney.

Assuming 96 teams, last four in based on RPI...

Arizona 16-15
South Carolina 15-16
North Carolina 16-16
Charleston 21-11


Weak.  

[MU1984]

More upsets= Hard to call a crap team beating another crap team an upset.  I'm not going to be on the edge of my seat or talk about it the next morning when a 22 seed beats an 11 seed. 

Missing the point.  Not talking about 11/22s...there will be more upsets once the field is down to 64.

I believe 3 #15 seeds beat #2s in the 64/65 format and we all know a #16 never won.  This won't be in the case with the 96 format over a 25 year timeline.  We all know the first round or first 32 play-in games will not be that great...so what?  The 64 team field after this round will be more competitive (i.e. leading to more upsets than we currently get) than ever before.  Shame on the NCAA for putting out a better product!