The NCAA has unveiled its 68-team tournament plan. It entails four “play-in” games, but not the way you might expect. Instead of teams ranked 61-68 playing for those coveted 16-seeds, two of the games will feature the last four at-large bids. That is, you will have This past year would have likely featured something like Utah State v. Mississippi State and UTEP v. Virginia Tech. Certainly more interesting than Arkansas-Pine Bluff v. Winthrop.
I like the change. Guys like Dick Vitale complain every year about a couple teams not getting into the tournament; Now at least two more will get in. And making those "bubble teams" play two of the four play-in games is great because they were the last four teams to get in. I'm also curious to see what this does to the fabled 5-12 matchups that create their fair share of upsets.
The NCAA has unveiled its 68-team tournament plan. It entails four “play-in” games, but not the way you might expect. Instead of teams ranked 61-68 playing for those coveted 16-seeds, two of the games will feature the last four at-large bids. That is, you will have This past year would have likely featured something like Utah State v. Mississippi State and UTEP v. Virginia Tech. Certainly more interesting than Arkansas-Pine Bluff v. Winthrop.
I like the change. Guys like Dick Vitale complain every year about a couple teams not getting into the tournament; Now at least two more will get in. And making those “bubble teams” play two of the four play-in games is great because they were the last four teams to get in. I’m also curious to see what this does to the fabled 5-12 matchups that create their fair share of upsets.
I'm glad they've temporarily scrapped the idea of 96 teams, but I also like this small expansion to 68. Now Vitale can bitch and moan about the 69th and 70th teams not getting in….
