This would be the seeding for a hypothetical 96 team 2019 NCAA tournament field. Bolded teams are the 32 conference champions with autobids. Seeding is by each team's Massey Composite ranking at the end of the regular season. If this were an actual tournament, I would use an average ranking using Massey, KenPom, Sagarin and NET to seed teams.

The selection committee would be replaced by a seeding committee that would place teams in brackets and first round sites taking geography into account. They would only be allowed to move a team up or down one seed to reduce travel or avoid intra-conference matchups in the first two rounds.

1st round byes:
1: Virginia, Duke, UNC, Gonzaga
2: Michigan State, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan
3: Texas Tech, Houston, Florida State, Purdue
4: Auburn, Kansas, Virginia Tech, LSU
5: Buffalo, Wisconsin, Kansas State, Iowa State
6: Nevada, Mississippi State, Villanova, Wofford
7: Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette, Maryland,
8: Utah State, VCU, Florida, Syracuse

First round (#9 vs #24, #10 vs #23, etc:)
..9: UCF, Oklahoma, NC State, Clemson
10: Iowa, St Mary's. Washington, Texas
11: TCU, New Mexico State, Minnesota, Oregon
12: Ole Miss, Ohio State, Baylor, Murray State
13: Belmont, Seton Hall, Nebraska, Indiana
14: Creighton, Arizona State, Toledo, Temple
15: Memphis, Alabama, Furman, Lipscomb
16: UNC-Greensboro, St John's, Dayton, Arkansas
17: UC-Irvine, Xavier, Providence, Colorado
18: Fresno State, Vermont, Butler, Davidson
19: Yale, Liberty, East Tennessee State, Georgetown
20: Northeastern, South Carolina, San Francisco, Wichita State
21: Hofstra, Oregon State, Old Dominion, St Louis
22: Georgia State, Northern Kentucky, Montana, Colgate
23: Abilene Christian, Bradley, Gardner-Webb, North Dakota State
24: Iona, Prairie View A&M, Fairleigh Dickinson, NC Central

First week:
Round 1 (32 games) Thursday/Friday
Round 2 (32 games) Saturday/Sunday

Second week:
Round 3 (16 games) Thursday/Friday
Round 4 (8 games) Saturday/Sunday

Third week (Elite Eight):
Round 5 (4 games) Saturday (quarterfinal)
Round 6 (2 games) Sunday (semifinal)
Round 7 (1 game) Monday night (championship)

After Round 1, the 16 highest seeded teams among the 32 losers would go on to the NIT Tournament, where the 8 highest seeds host the other 8 in the first round. The four highest seeded first round winners would host the other four. The Final Four teams would go on to Madison Square Garden.

NCAAT bids by conference (1st round byes in parentheses):

B1G..10 (5)
SEC..10 (6)
ACC...9 (7)
BE.....9 (2)
B12...8 (4)
AAC...6 (2)
PAC...5 (0)
A10...4 (1)
SOU...4 (1)
MWC..3 (2)
WCC..3 (1)
ASUN..2 (0)
COL...2 (0)
MAC...2 (1)
OVC...2 (0)
17.....1 BID

Good idea.

I’m not in favor of going past 72 (4 more First games), but this is somewhat logical.

The only thing is there would have to be days off in the Elite 8 rounds. You want the teams to be at their freshest when they are playing for the national championship.

(03-28-2019 01:08 PM)leofrog Wrote:  Good idea.

I’m not in favor of going past 72 (4 more First games), but this is somewhat logical.

The only thing is there would have to be days off in the Elite 8 rounds. You want the teams to be at their freshest when they are playing for the national championship.

You would think conferences would want that for their tournaments as well, but nobody does it, even though many last four or five days. There's something to be said for demanding a certain amount of stamina from a champion.

(03-28-2019 01:45 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(03-28-2019 01:08 PM)leofrog Wrote:  Good idea.

I’m not in favor of going past 72 (4 more First games), but this is somewhat logical.

The only thing is there would have to be days off in the Elite 8 rounds. You want the teams to be at their freshest when they are playing for the national championship.

You would think conferences would want that for their tournaments as well, but nobody does it, even though many last four or five days. There's something to be said for demanding a certain amount of stamina from a champion.

I’ll put it this way, the NCAA will not have a basketball championship without rest for the teams. If they did, they would have already done it like the NAIA does, playing a 32 team tournament in 7 days.

Conferences are on their own. Some of the smaller ones do spread the tourneys out. But, it’s hard to do when you have a set location.

I played around with a 96 team bracket too but with some different parameters:

Each conference gets an autobid fr both the regular season champ and the tournament champ, which would mean that regular season champs would sit out conference tournaments.

Of the 28 additional teams, 7 at-large berths ended up going to teams that would otherwise not make the tournament.

(03-28-2019 04:53 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I played around with a 96 team bracket too but with some different parameters:

Each conference gets an autobid fr both the regular season champ and the tournament champ, which would mean that regular season champs would sit out conference tournaments.

Of the 28 additional teams, 7 at-large berths ended up going to teams that would otherwise not make the tournament.

In my first pass at this, I had autobids for both regular season and tournament champions. When I looked at it more closely, I saw that adding regular season champs as autobids would have dropped the cut line for at large bids from an 85 Massey rank to a 70, and would have stolen more spots from non-P5 schools than from the P5 (6 vs 2). Of the 15 mid-major regular season champs who lost in their tournament, 7 would have earned an at-large bid anyway, and none of the other 8 had a Massey ranking better than 100. Most weren't even close with three being over 200.

Since giving them an autobid also gave an incentive for conferences like those 8 to try to promote a second team to the field, I didn't think that was worth it. If your regular season champ is that weak, they just don't deserve to steal a bid from a stronger mid-major IMO.

I actually took time to take ken_d's seedings and turned it into a full-fledged bracket.

Here ya go!

Restrictions:
For the top two seed lines, I used the actual seed list rankings to determine the placements. The first four teams from each conference were placed in separate regions, which forced me to swap two teams from their original seeds. Teams on the lower lines were placed at the site closest to them(I decided to give each higher seed hosting privleges for the opening week), unless conference restrictions could not be resolved. Teams cannot play another conference member until the second weekend.

EAST Regional

Columbia Sectional(at Colonial Life Arena)(Fri-Sun)

at Cameron Indoor Stadiun; Durham, NC(Fri-Sun)
1-DUKE
16-St. John's vs. 17-UC IRVINE
at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum; Logan, UT(Thu-Sat)
8-UTAH STATE
9-NC State vs. 24-PRAIRIE VIEW A&M
at Pete Maravich Assembly Center; Baton Rouge, LA(
4-Louisiana State
13-Belmont vs. 20-San Francisco
at Bramlage Coliseum; Manhattan, KS
5-Kansas State
12-Ohio State vs. 21-SAINT LOUIS

Des Moines Sectional(at Wells Fargo Arena)(Thu-Sat)

at Breslin Center; East Lansing, MI
2-MICHIGAN STATE
15-Furman vs. 18-VERMONT
at KFC Yum! Center; Louisville, KY
7-Louisville
10-Washington vs. 23-NORTH DAKOTA STATE
at Toyota Center; Houston, TX
3-Houston
14-Creighton vs. 19-LIBERTY
at Humphrey Coliseum; Starkville, MS
6-Mississippi State
11-Texas Christian vs. 11-GEORGIA STATE

WEST Regional

Salt Lake City Sectional(at Vivint Smart Home Arena)(Thu-Sat)

at Spokane Veterans Memorial Coliseum
1-Gonzaga
16-Arkansas vs. 17-Colorado
at Carrier Dome; Syracuse, NY
8-Syracuse
9-Central Florida vs. 24-IONA
at Auburn Arena; Auburn, AL
4-AUBURN
13-Indiana vs. 20-Wichita State
at Hilton Coliseum; Ames, IA
5-IOWA STATE
12-MURRAY STATE vs. 21-Oregon State

San Jose Sectional(at SAP Center at San Jose)

at Crisler Arena; Ann Arbor, MI
2-Michigan
15-Memphis vs. 18-Davidson
at Fiserv Forum; Milwaukee
7-Marquette
10-Iowa vs. 23-BRADLEY
at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center; Tallahassee, FL
3-Florida State
14-Toledo vs. 19-East Tennessee State
at Lawlor Events Center; Reno, NV
6-NEVADA
11-NEW MEXICO STATE vs. 22-MONTANA

SOUTH Regional

Columbus Sectional(at Nationwide Arena)(Fri-Sun)

at John Paul Jones Arena; Charlottesville, VA
1-Virginia
16-UNC Greensboro vs. 17-Xavier
at Siegel Center; Richmond, VA
8-Virginia Commonwealth
9-Clemson vs. 24-FDU
at Allen Field House; Lawrence, KS
4-Kansas
13-Nebraska vs. 20-South Carolina
at KeyBank Center; Buffalo, NY
5-BUFFALO
12-Baylor vs. 21-Hofstra

Tulsa Sectional(at BOK Center)(Fri-Sun)

at Thompson-Boling Arena; Knoxville, TN
2-Tennessee
15-Lipscomb vs. 18-Butler
at Fifth Third Arena; Cincinnati
7-CINCINNATI
10-SAINT MARY'S vs. 23-ABILENE CHRISTIAN
at Mackey Arena; West Lafayette, IN
3-Purdue
14-Alabama vs. 19-YALE
at The Palestra; Philadelphia
6-VILLANOVA
11-OREGON vs. 22-COLGATE

MIDWEST Regional

Jacksonville Sectional(at VyStar Veterans Memorial Coliseum)(Thu-Sat)

at Dean E. Smith Center; Chapel Hill, NC
1-North Carolina
16-Dayton vs. 17-Providence
at O'Connell Center; Gainesville, FL
8-Florida
9-Oklahoma vs. 24-NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL
at Cassell Coliseum; Blacksburg, VA
4-Virginia Tech
13-Seton Hall vs. 20-NORTHEASTERN
at Kohl Center; Madison, WI
5-Wisconsin
12-Ole Miss vs. 21-OLD DOMINION

Hartford Sectional(at XL Center)(Thu-Sat)

at Rupp Arena; Lexington, KY
2-Kentucky
15-Temple vs. 18-Fresno State
at Xfinity Center; College Park, MD
7-Maryland
10-Texas vs. 23-GARDNER-WEBB
at United Supermarkets Arena; Lubbock, TX
3-Texas Tech
14-Arizona State vs. 19-Georgetown
at Bon Secours Wellness Arena; Greenville, SC
6-WOFFORD
11-Minnesota vs. 22-NORTHERN KENTUCKY

You'll notice that four schools are hosting their games at neutral sites(Buffalo, Houston, Villanova, and Wofford). I instituted a minimum capacity of 8,000 for the opening weekend.

Please no, it is bloated as it is.

I also toyed with a 72 team field, with one major break from current NCAA policy. I did not give an autobid to every DI conference. Instead, I only gave one to conference champions ranked among the Top 100 schools. I would still give every conference a share of the loot, but the bottom feeders would have to earn their way in through outstanding regular season performance.

In this model, I had 56 byes (the top 56 by ranking), and a play-in round of 16. The lowest ranked at large in this field was #64 (Dayton). I didn't like this model as much as the 96 team one.