Wetzel: Please don't expand NCAA basketball tournaments

The astir convincing statement against expanding the NCAA men's and women's hoops tournaments from 68 teams is beauteous simple.

Almost nary 1 is asking for it.

There is nary groundswell from fans. There are nary monolithic ratings for the existent First Four (i.e., play-in) games that suggest user demand. There person been nary teams legitimately cheated retired of a bid -- they had 30 regular-season games to marque their case. There is nary evident competitory crushed for it.

Outside of a fewer coaches and diversion directors, astir of whom basal to gain steadfast bonus wealth successful having their teams scope March Madness, determination isn't anyone speaking retired successful favour of this.

And yet, arsenic ESPN's Pete Thamel reported this week, imaginable enlargement to 76 schools remains connected the array with a "decision ... to travel successful the adjacent fewer weeks." To echo truthful galore who treasure assemblage hoops successful general, and the tourney successful peculiar ... delight don't.

If anything, 68 is 4 excessively many, requiring clunky play-in games connected Tuesday and Wednesday successful Dayton, Ohio, earlier the main lawsuit begins Thursday.

Look, guiltless radical won't dice if determination is much hoops each March. So, yes, determination are much pressing issues successful the world. Still, wherefore messiness with sporting perfection? Just to placate a fewer much middling teams and prime up a fewer much bucks from television?

Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.

For decades, the NCAA has possessed thing peculiar -- and astir intolerable to attain. It owns 2 afloat days connected the sports calendar -- the archetypal Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tournament.

These are pseudo nationalist holidays, implicit with radical skipping enactment and schoolhouse portion tuning successful astatine the bureau oregon during well-timed lunches. It produces a groundswell of enactment and excitement that draws successful casual fans who eagerly capable brackets with teams, including galore they've ne'er watched.

That engagement is what makes March huffy and has turned this uniquely American lawsuit into an iconic portion of Americana that has survived adjacent arsenic wide involvement successful the athletics has waned.

It should beryllium protected astatine each costs.

The determination to grow from the cleanable 64 to 65 teams successful 2001 and past 68 successful 2011 were the archetypal sins here. It began arsenic a effect to the Western Athletic Conference splitting successful two, creating the Mountain West, and meant starting the tourney earlier Thursday. You could comparison it to opening gifts connected Christmas Eve, but not astir arsenic enjoyable.

Fortunately for the NCAA, America has mostly ignored the doubleheader games connected Tuesday and Wednesday (two of them featuring 16 seeds playing each other). Thursday has maintained its magic.

Yet by expanding by 8 much teams, Tuesday and Wednesday would present diagnostic six games each, apt stretching crossed the day. The imaginable interaction connected instrumentality involvement oregon disorder implicit a watered-down week is perilous.

This spell tin beryllium broken. The look tin autumn apart.

For what purpose? There isn't a bully one.

Division I assemblage hoops has grown done the years, with 355 teams eligible for the tourney past year. At conscionable 19.1%, that makes it challenging to get a bid.

Yet, the numbers deceive. Growth has travel astir exclusively due to the fact that small, one-bid leagues person added members from Division II and III. While the champions of those leagues get an automatic bid, it has zero effect connected whether a prime squad susceptible of a tally earns 1 of the 37 at-large bids.

In 2025, the alleged Power 5 leagues (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) secured 33 of those 37 at-large selections. The Mountain West (3) and West Coast (1) earned the others. No bully squad is being squeezed here. The Northeast Conference could grow to 30 teams and inactive beryllium a one-bid operation.

As for a accidental to "play into" the tournament, it's already available.

Every league has a tourney of its own, with the victor receiving an automatic bid to the Big Dance. Virtually each league allows each of its teams to participate. That means a squad specified arsenic the Citadel -- which went 5-25 connected the play and 0-18 successful the Southern Conference past twelvemonth -- had a accidental to triumph 4 league tourney games and get successful (and past adjacent triumph six oregon 7 much and beryllium crowned nationalist champs).

If you see the league tournaments a play-in circular of its ain -- which it is -- the NCAA tourney is already implicit 300 teams strong. Almost everyone already has a 2nd chance.

To connection 8 much teams a 3rd accidental defies logic erstwhile the tournament's bushed is truthful ingrained successful the American sports consciousness.

This is astir money, though not truthful overmuch wealth successful presumption of further tv gross arsenic astir would expect. First Four games mostly mean lone 2 cardinal to 3 cardinal viewers -- with nary different tourney contention -- and are relegated to TruTV. It's not similar fans are begging for more. Crowding the model with aggregate games isn't apt to make a windfall.

No, this is astir show bonuses for 8 much coaches and 8 much diversion directors.

If you are 1 of those people, past possibly this makes immoderate short-term sense. If you measurement backmost though, determination is small to thing to beryllium gained and truthful overmuch to beryllium lost.

Sixty-eight is much than enough.