The NCAA prez, powers that be, and their financial gurus, decided to expand the NCAA tournament last week. The org is in dire financial straits. Expansion along with a nullification of the ban on alcohol-related advertising are seen as the fix to financial shortfalls.

Good move? Or not? I posted my take on the topic.

https://x.com/gtmoblue/status/2050682824324206699?s=12

Not a fan, but I get it (and recognized it was inevitable).

wait a second, gtmo is on here??? Wow that is AWESOME!!!!

just fyi on tweets you can embed them in your post to make them visible.
start it of with [ twitter ]
then post the url of it- switch it from x.com to twitter.com.
then end it with [ /twitter ]
take out the spaces between twitter and the bracket.

It should be a positive for the Big East.

Time will tell.

If I have the math correct, at-large bids go from 36 (with PAC12 taking up an extra automatic spot) to 44, meaning teams #33 to #44 get Dayton'd, although it'll be in 2 different locations. The barrier to not get Dayton'd remains the same.

I actually liked the opening round as an appetizer, and I'm sure the 8 schools didn't mind the spotlight, not to mention financial motivation via extra tourney credits. But with 24 teams taking part over only two days, I'm going to have to wait and see if I like the new format. We don't know if these opening round games will reward tourney credits the way they do now.

I'm with GW11 in the sense I hate this, but as soon as it was rumored I knew it was going to happen. It was being pushed by the top conferences so they could make even more money, so there was no stopping this from the get go.

I also have wondered if these games are going to pay out credits the way the other games do as kayak said. If they don't, I guarantee a lot of the smaller schools (like Miami O this past season) are going to get stuck there.

Most teams are losing money in the new economics. This is a desperate attempt to generate more revenue to help them survive. Of course the additional spots will go almost entirely to the P4, so it will do nothing to help them survive mid majors. The charm of the tournament is that everyone in the tournament has a shot. It’s the run of a team like St. Peter’s to the Elite 8 a few years ago or FAU to the Final Four that electrifies the audience. This expansion will make those kinds of runs and will hasten the demise of the mid majors. They can’t compete in this arms race.