BOLT: NCAA Tournament Expansion?

It seems as though we are headed toward expansion of the now 65-team NCAA tournament bracket.

I've been delaying talking about this, as I hoped it would just go away. But the conversation continues to pick up steam. The coaches are for it, as I'm sure it will save many of them their jobs. APT is for expansion to 68 teams. I like the play-in games. They give some smaller schools a chance to actually celebrate a NCAA victory, which is nice to see. I understand that Division I is growing and that the tournament field should grow with it. That makes some sense, but D-I hasn't grown by 50%, so there is no need to jump the tourney to that level, necessarily. I also understand that no one watches these other tournaments. I watch the NIT sometimes. It's pretty solid basketball, but it certainly doesn't get a lot of support.

It's tough though. I guess I'm still formulating my opinion. The thing is, if they expand to 96 teams, everyone is still going to watch. We'll adjust to the new way they schedule, we'll skip work and class when we need to, and we will watch the tournament in its entirety, because it is the greatest annual event in sports. The seeds that typically win the tournament won't have to play any extra games, as the now 9-16 seeds will all be playing additional basketball, and after one round of 32 play-ins, we will be back at 64 teams, and continue as we used to.

I guess I have to think about it further. Perhaps after watching this years tournament, I will feel stronger.

Your thoughts?

-APT