RADIO
NCAA officials are having second thoughts on the First Four. The idea, which was first included in March Madness in 2011, is that the last four at-large teams have to get through a play-in game to get to the field of 64. But that may not be the best way to field the most competitive teams.
This year, the First Four games are Ole Miss against BYU and Boise State against Dayton. But the selection committee said that if UConn had won their conference tournament game last Sunday, Dayton would have gotten bounced out because of the automatic bid that the Huskies would have received.
Essentially, the NCAA is saying that Dayton is more deserving than UConn and that Dayton would have a legitimate gripe if they had to be left out. The NCAA wants as many deserving teams into the tournament as possible. Which is ironic because most people think Texas and UCLA only made the tournament this year because they have bigger markets and/or their own network.
The NCAA hasn’t mentioned any alternatives to the selection process, but why not make the worst eight conference winners play-in for all four 16-seeds? That way, more truly talented teams could get into the tournament as at-large bids. For instance, we know that the two worst 15 seeds aren’t one of the best 68 teams in the country. So if they had to play in for a 16 seed, it would have allowed Temple and Colorado State, the top two NIT teams, to make the tournament. This also works for the NCAA because it means bigger markets make the tournament.
And it works for fans because they don't have to wait until Thursday morning to finalize their bracket.
