March madness?

[blackjack avenger]

Shorten the regular season

It's very important to get interest back into the regular season and the NIT. My plan would do that.

There has already been talk of expanding the NCAA tournament and even folding the NIT into it.

All the regular season coference games would have added meaning. Are you a big east or acc fan? Imagine the extra heat in the games.

Also I already came up with the cool names
the final four of the NIT that make the NCAA are called "the first 4"
March madness may last into april

the nit would be called the first dance
leading to the big dance

[moo321]

It's already bloated. There's maybe 40 teams with any chance of winning the tournament, and most of those are an outside shot.

However, there's so much money in tournament games, that they have to keep expanding. Same reason pro hockey and baseball have too many games, and basketball and football are close to having too many.

[blackjack avenger]

the college regular season conference champion means nothing
the NIT means nothing

the ncaa owns the NIT

So how can the NCAA generate interest in the NIT? answer, by making it a feeder tournament for the NCAA tournamnet.

The number of teams for the ncaa tournament would be 64
the number of teams for the nit would remain 32

The regular season conference games would mean something because the winner gets an automatic bid.

The winner of the conference tournament would still get an auto bid

the semifinalists of the NIT "first 4" would qualify for the ncaa, they would be the 4, 16 seeds. and they would be placed on how they finish in the NIT.

There would still be at large bids

So fans would be rooting throughout the college season:
Can my team win the conference regular season?
darn missed it
Can my team win the conference tournanment?
darn missed it
can my team make the quarters of the NIT?

It's almost like there are 3 rounds of playoffs, one faces triple elimination or triple opportunity to qualify.

The whole season would be building with tension as opportunites for teams to qualify decrease.
At the beginning of the season everyone has a chance, but as you lose confernce games then one must win their tournamnet, having failed that then there is another chance in the NIT.

[blackjack avenger]

Instead of having the NIT be a feeder tournament why not just eliminate the NIT and make the NCAA tournament 96. Which is being discussed.

Here is the reason:

With the NIT being a feeder tournament of lesser teams you can still have competitive games among similar teams.

If the NCAA goes to 96 you will have many 30 point blow outs in the first round or two, which are not that appealing.

by making the NIT a feeder tournmanet you raise the NIT without weakening the NCAA tournament product.

If you just expand the NCAA tournmanet your weakning it because of many early lopsided victories.

[Sharky]

BA,

how would you select the 32 teams for the NIT "feeder"?

[blackjack avenger]

Originally Posted by Sharky

BA,

how would you select the 32 teams for the NIT "feeder"?

Good ?

Let's think of the NIT and NCAA as 1 tournament for selection.

Who qualifies?
1. conference tournament winners
2 .conference regular season winners
3. at large bids
4. the semifinalists "first 4" of the NIT become the 4, 16 seeds of the NCAA

Here is fun topic for the radio talk shows, in different years there will be a different number of at large bids, because sometimes 1 and 2 will be the same team and sometimes not.

So you qualify for the big dance or the little dance, it will be based on subjective considerations, like what is done now for the big dance and the NIT. The top teams in the NCAA with the lesser ones in the NIT, but can earn a chance to the big dance.

As it stands now, teams think the NIT is an insult a failure, there has been talk of teams not going, has this happened? Now teams will go to the NIT and fight because they still have a chance for the big dance. All those teams that whine because they did not make the big dance, they will have a big chip on their shoulder to prove themselves. There is a joke that if you win the NIT you become the 65th best team. Not so with the new NIT, you get to play for all the chips

An issue is time, shorten the regular season? or have march madness potentially bleed into "april anarchy". there is talk of having a 96 ncaa tournament so apparently it can be done.



IT WOULD BE AWESOME BABY

[blackjack avenger]

The NIT
The final shot
A chance to be the "first four"
32 teams 4 chances

que
emotional uplifting music

[kewljason]

On the rare occasions that I wager sports, I am an underdog guy. I generally feel that the masses play favorites, so I like to go the other way. I also like the idea of starting out ahead (with points) and having to lose that advantage rather than the other way around.

Well, I don't have to tell anyone who has been paying attention about THIS tournament. Underdogs have had a tremendous run, including last night winning 3 or 4 games. Not just covering, but winning outright! I wish I could tell ya that I have cashed in big on this, but I haven't. Haven't placed a wager on this tournament. I did wager and cashed in nicely during the two weeks of conference tournaments leading up to the NCAA tournament, as previously mentioned, but haven't played this tournament. It's hard to sit and watch, and think of what could have been. Hope you guys that are wagering are betting the dogs!

[The Chaperone]

Originally Posted by darco77

Conference USA total wins OVER .5 -135 - 10 units
Pac 10 total wins UNDER 3.5 +145 - 10 units

Hindsight is 20/20 but that Pac10 under bet was truly brutal. Was this before or after USC was announced to be in the play-in game? They lost that game anyway, but the bet was still an easy loser and being in the play-in game really hurt your equity. The even bigger problem than that was that UW was massively live to make a deep run. They didn't, but still a huge ding to your equity.

[kewljason]

What about the big east?? 11 teams in the big dance and we kept hearing how this was justified because they were the best conference. Only 2 teams make it to the sweet 16 and one of them Marquette was the last of the 11 teams in.