NCAA Gets It Right...For A Change

Today, the NCAA announced how the new bracket for the 68-team field would look. There would be two play-in games featuring four teams fighting for presumably, 16 seeds. And now for the real kicker, the other two games will feature the last four teams in the field, playing for a spot in the main field of 64. The committee will seed them, so it could be two teams playing for the 12 seed and the right to play, say, Butler (the 5 seed) in the first round.

Why does this work? Because a opening round of eight small schools beating each other up for the right to be destroyed by a 1 seed is boring, it's not compelling, it’s the exact opposite of everything March Madness has become. Yes, there will still be two of these games, but we also got two games that should be extremely entertaining. Imagine, if you will, Virginia Tech on the bubble (its not hard to, they seem to be there every year) as well as Florida, Seton Hall, Penn State and or maybe a mid-major like Creighton, Saint Mary's, or maybe even Elon (well, maybe not the Phoenix for the foreseeable future anyway). Well, we in theory, no longer have to debate who should be in. They get to play their way in now and for those that are bracket-obsessed, we will now know who the committee viewed as the last four teams in. Although, I imagine Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg will find something to complain about next March anyway. (Maybe, Seth, if you actually scheduled a decent non-conference schedule, you wouldn’t be left crying and playing in the NIT.) Now if you want to debate why the games will be on TruTV, fair enough.

Would the perfect scenario have been four of these play-in games, with bubble teams fighting it out? Probably. But this is a happy medium and certainly not the worst thing in the world. Once again, the NCAA has managed not to do what I thought they would and make the worst decision possible. The first came when they resisted the urge after preparing everyone for an expansion to 96 teams, that they only went to 68 teams. 96 teams would have watered down the NCAA field and pretty much wiped out the NIT (a tournament I like, but perhaps that is because I am a college hoops junkie). Yet, we have moved to 68 teams and a sensible concept for the bracket for now, although I am sure that will change soon enough.

Journey - Who’s Crying Now

Conference realignment lacks climax

A week ago we were all hearing how the Big East and Big 12 would cease to exist thanks to the massive expansion of the Big 10, Pac 10, SEC and ACC. It was going to be a unprecedented conference realignment causing mass hysteria throughout the country.

All that build up and all we got were three teams on the move. No super conferences to fight for global domination. No Big 16 or Pac 16. Just the Big Ten becoming the Big 12, the Big 12 becoming the Big 10 and the Pac 10 becoming the Pac 12. Talk about a let down.

I wanted to see a shakeup. I loved the anticipation that we didn't know what was going to happen the next day, or who would be the next team to jump ship for the big money from the Big Ten. I wanted to see conferences finally force Notre Dame to join or not get to play their teams. All I got was Nebraska in the Big Ten and Utah and Colorado join the Pac 10.

The Big 12 made Texas a luxurious offer (more than $20 million a year), effectively keeping the conference together. If Texas left, all hell would have broke loose, and it would have been beautiful. Instead the the Nebraska Cornhuskers are going to leave all of their rivalries behind and travel quite a distance to their new home in the Big Ten. Wooo! Another mediocre football team and terrible basketball team!

Seriously, "No Country For Old Men" was more climatic than the way this whole thing played out.

On another note. Why the hell are administrators from these conferences trying to tell us academics had any influence on their decisions to bring in a new school, or join a different conference? I understand that is the company line, but come on. These were all money moves. Nothing more.

Nebraska saw the payday they would receive from the Big Ten Network, Texas basically held the Big 12 ransom, etc. Here is a great article from the Post-Gazette that shows just how well Nebraska fits in with the Big Ten academically. I guess someone has to be last, right?

Chuck Berry - School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)