Make This Happen

The NCAA Tournament is damn near flawless. Even still, minor tweaks could improve it. There are three sure-fire ways to fix the minor flaws of the tournament while keeping its spirit in tact.

1. Eliminate the opening round game. It’s a shame that the losing school of this game is even considered to be in the actual tournament. Even though both of these schools are champions, they receive zero respect. Their school name appears in smaller font on the bracket line, if it’s included at all. They also won’t appear on those tacky t-shirts that list the entire bracket on the back. They don’t get to experience the true NCAA tournament. Reward the champions and punish the at-large teams. The opening round should be eliminated, but the play-in concept should not.

2. Expand the play-in game format. There should be three play-in games on the Tuesday after Selection Sunday. All three games will involve questionable at-large teams that have a real claim for tournament inclusion. All games will involve power conference mediocrity taking on mid-major good-but-not-greatness This year’s line-up could potentially look like this:

Villanova vs. Illinois State
Arizona State vs. Temple
Dayton vs. Baylor.

Winners advance to the NCAA Tournament and losers go home to watch the real tournament begin without them. The tournament would be considered to have 64 teams, not 67. This would create a situation where actual champions (yes, even of the weakest conferences) are treated as such and the at-large runners-up need to prove their worth. This would also create a hot-topic for the water coolers and blogs by pouring gasoline on the Major/Mid-Major fire. Possible names for this event include “Prove-It Tuesday” or “The Official Major/Mid-Major Bracketology Buster sponsored by Pontiac and the lame college basketball themed made-for-TV movie ESPN is trying to shove down our throats this year.”

3. Enforce a .500 winning percentage requirement. The NCAA Tournament is not in existence to deliver exciting games for the casual television spectator. Its purpose is to determine a National Champion. Would the 7th place team from the ACC with a 7-9 conference record have a better chance of advancing than a 12-4 2nd place team from a respectable mid-major conference? Probably. However, does the former team deserve to be in the tournament over the latter? Absolutely not. We know they’re not good enough to win it all. They weren’t even good enough to finish in the top half of their conference.

These three steps would make the NCAA Tournament fairer and more exciting; at the same time, these steps would stave off far-fetched ideas such as implementing a 128-team format or inviting only the 64 “best” teams. Small tweaks would allow the heart of the tournament to remain in tact while simultaneously keeping the magic of March Madness alive.