Expanding NCAA Tournament Not A Good Idea

There is a discussion going on about expanding the NCAA Basketball Tournament from the current 65 teams to 96 teams. Frankly, I don't think it's a good idea. There are several good reasons for this.

First of all, it cheapens the accomplishment of making the tournament. If 96 out of 300 plus schools get a berth in the NCAA Tournament, then that's almost half of the schools participating at the Div. l level. That would be like all of these college football teams who go to the small, obscure bowl games just for having a .500 or above record. It will also destroy the NIT Tournament. Many younger people aren't aware of this, but there was a time that the NIT was more prestigious than the NCAA tourney. The NIT was the more important tournament to be a part of. I know that's hard to imagine, but that was the case at one time. There's no need to kill a tournament that has been around even longer than the NCAA tourney.

Also, you would water down the NCAA tournament. I know there was a time when there were only 32 teams allowed in the "Big Dance", then 48 teams. The tournament expanded to 64 in 1985 Let's face it. The Tuesday Night game they have is really a play-in game, so there really are still 64 teams. I know teams like St. Mary's last year would have loved for the field to be 96 because they no doubt would have been included. The problem is that it cheapens the regular season and it relaxes the sense of urgency that we all love to see. We all like the "win or go home" scenario that faces many teams. There's no need to expand the tournament. You already have the NIT and the CBI Tournament as well. No need to expand the field.