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Expand NCAA tourney to 68

After losing in the first round of the Big East Tournament, Jim Boeheim and Syracuse would probably welcome the NCAA Tournament expanding to 68 teams. (Kevin Rivoli/The Associated Press / March 13, 2008)

Roderick Boone

2:08 PM EDT, March 13, 2008

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It's going to happen. You know it will. We're not talking about Kansas' seemingly yearly choke job in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, this is about something you'll see on your tube in a couple of days as you await the name of your favorite college basketball team's name to appear in glorious high definition.

At some point Sunday during its NCAA Tournament Selection Show, CBS cameras will zoom in on a poor coach whose lips will be curled up as he spews venom about how his team got, well, a raw deal. Greg Gumbel will ask the coach if he believes his team should be in, and to make a case for why they shouldn't have been left out. Gumbel will ask the coach if he thinks it's fair some mid-major team was given a coveted at-large bid despite not playing in a one of the nation's power conferences. The coach will say how playing in a league like, oh say the Big East, should count for something and how if his team was in a weaker league, um like the Southland Conference, it would have a similar or better record than a mid-major team that became the darling of the selection committee.

It's a predictable card, one that's played every year. There are always a handful of teams that wind up on the dreaded proverbial bubble, which bursts roughly midway through the selection show after the field has been announced. Every year, there's going to be more than one deserving team left on the outside with its nose pressed to the window looking in at everyone else at the party. But you can't increase the field to a ridiculous number. Otherwise, it will seriously water down what's arguably the most riveting, exciting event in sports.

The solution, from this direction anyway, seems rather simplistic . Add three more teams to push the number up to 68. There's no need to get radical with anything. Although three isn't an even number, it's the perfect number to spice things up.

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Basically, the suggestion here is to have not one "play-in" game, but four in all. Why should there only be one? Each winner, of course, gets to go up against the No. 1 seed in the first round. This way, if the selection committee isn't convinced a team has truly earned its way in and sits on the fence, then what better way to solve that dilemma than making them play their way in?

These extra spots, by the way, shouldn't be for the teams that had plenty of chances to grab a spot they feel is rightfully theirs. We're talking about the Syracuses, the Floridas and the Virginia Tech's. No, they should go to the VCU's and South Alabamas of the world, you know those schools whose chances to be included in the field usually take a death blow once they get upset and bow out of their postseason conference tournament.

Really, think about how it would turn the Tuesday before the NCAA Tournament truly tips off into a coveted event that gets the juices flowing for the real deal. Rather than one game that gets underway at 7 or so, having four would turn the University of Dayton Arena or whatever venue is lucky enough to host the festivities into a college basketball haven for a day.

It's a no-brainer and the decision should be an easy as a Roy Hibbert slam dunk. Tinkering with the tournament by adding teams since the inaugural eight-team format in 1939 has turned out to be a genius move. One more tweak wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?