Virginia Tech, Rhode Island and other NCAA teams were on the 65-team bubble a year too soon.  

The NCAA is discussing the expansion of the NCAA tournament from 65 teams to 96 teams.  There haven’t been a lot of clear-cut decisions that have been made at this point.  However, from the financial and logistical ramifications, more teams could be a better fit for the NCAA.

The 96-team proposal would have one less game site, and there would be no additional travel time for participating teams.  At first glance, one would assume that the additional 32 teams selected would be those that would habitually play in the National Invitational Tournament – although no decision has been made regarding the selection criteria for the 96-team field.

Also, there’s hasn’t been a decision as to whether the NIT will continue to exist.

The proposed format contained 32 teams with first-round byes, while the other 64 teams would play first round games.  From that point, the field will be condensed to a 64-team field which we are used to seeing.  So, the top 8 teams in each regional bracket would only have to win 6 games to win the championship, while all other teams would need seven consecutive victories to go all the way. 

To weigh in on the selection criteria, there should be some discussion around admitting teams based on their conference record, as opposed to their individual conference tournaments.  The current system of selection automatically rewards teams who get hot toward the end of the season (which arguably makes for a better tournament), but what about those teams who have consistently played well throughout the year?  For example, if Cornell wouldn’t have won their conference tourney, what would have been their fate?  Would they have still been playing on the NCAA stage, or would they have been relegated to the NIT?  With their appearance in this year’s Sweet Sixteen, the Big Red obviously proved that there shouldn’t have been any doubt regarding their inclusion in the NCAA field.  For this reason alone there needs to be a balance in such selections, particularly for conferences that are not “power conferences.”

Based on the format of the new proposal, Tom Izzo's Spartans would have had a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament.

Many analysts assume that expanding the field will water down the bubble-team talk, but, in fact, it will have the opposite effect.  Right now, there are 33 at-large bid for the Big Dance – with 315 teams available to be invited.  The new proposal will dictate that there be 64 at-large bids available coming from those same 315 schools.  Sounds like there will be even more teams that’ll feel that they’re deserving of an invitation.

Add to that the fact that we don’t know the plan for the NIT.  Without the NIT to fall back into, teams that have their bubble burst will have a tougher time coming to grips with the disappointment because they won’t be playing any basketball.  Their attention will solely be focused on the tournament that they felt they were qualified to compete in.

So, while the opportunity for more revenue and excitement exist, the NCAA still has its work cut out for itself with the decisions that hang in the balance.

But at least the Virginia Techs and Rhode Islands of the world will be happy.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.