Tell me why someone who loves college basketball and especially loves March Madness would not want to see an extra round of games. You cannot give me a real reason. "It would destroy the integrity of the tournament!" I was unaware there was any integrity. I watch these games to see upsets or to see my own bracket succeed. I personally have no ties to any college basketball team, other than GW, but I am realist when I say that we will never be a perennial tournament team. Unless something were to happen that could change that. Something along the lines of increasing the tournament teams from 65 to 96. If you go to this school and count yourself as one of the seven fans of this basketball team, then you should, without a doubt, be a fan of a larger tournament. I personally have now seen three seasons of GW basketball without a single conference tournament win. And I don't expect to see them be one of the top 65 teams next year. But 96? I actually do think that they could reach that level. They could have this year if some of the games in conference play went a little differently. Am I being selfish for wanting to see my college basketball team, the only college sports team that I actually care about, be just a little more successful? Maybe, but I don't think so. Because if that makes me selfish, that makes every other fan who roots for a team that is not one of the best consistently.
When a team from a smaller conference makes the tournament, the conference gets a certain amount of money and distributes it throughout the conference. The more teams from a conference that make it, the more money the teams get. Tell me how that can be a bad thing. We all know that there are a very select few teams that have a chance to win the tournament in any given year. And that isn't very interesting. I and many others are far more interested in seeing the first two rounds and the upsets that go with it. So if we were to give the top 32 teams (or 31 conference champions plus the best seeded team that did not win their tournament) a bye into the second round and have 33-96 play each other, you would basically be creating an extra game in the first weekend. You would be weeding out the "contenders" from the "pretenders" in the tournament. None of these teams have a chance to win. But you could say that about most teams in the current 65. The point is, they get a chance to play their way into the tournament. You'd still have upsets and when a team like George Mason makes it to the Final Four (admittedly not a very likely scenario) it would be even more of an accomplishment.
This is about fairness, and yes, about money. The increased money for schools and conferences that would not normally get a chance would be a welcome benefit for schools like the A-10 and GW. And as a GW fan, I really cannot complain. The best schools would be uneffected, the lesser schools would get a chance and everyone would get to see extra tournament basketball. I say, once again, tell me where the problem is?
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