(10-20-2021 04:31 PM)CoastalJuan Wrote:  1) They're not currently doing it in football. It's pretty much going the opposite direction of football, who is expanding their playoff to create more interest

2) Isn't the fact that all conferences are involved the only reason people watch March Madness?

The answer to your question is "no". A relatively small number of people watch for this reason. But I'd bet my house that most of them would still watch if the Cinderellas were only the weakest tournament teams from the top 16 conferences. If the weakest 16 conferences, who almost never get past the round of 32, were relegated to a lower subdivision, I doubt if you would lose 5% of your current audience.

A lot of people will say they would stop watching the NCAAT, and even college hoops at all, but the truth is they would come back pretty fast.

(10-20-2021 10:27 PM)bullet Wrote:  A lot of you don't remember when the tourney was 25 teams. And only champs went. And there were what, 150-200 Division I members? I know the number was around 250 in the 80s with 48 and 52 team tourneys. We've added 100 schools mostly tiny schools with tiny budgets and miniscule fan bases.

They would not be missed. Even most on this board couldn't tell you where many of these schools are.

And they are in Division I solely because of the basketball tourney money.

Yeah that little bold part is the difference. This wouldn't be divided where "only champs went" it would be only the schools deemed "Power" schools wherever that dividing line falls could go. Even if that dividing line fell in a way that included the AAC that would still be the end of me watching college basketball.

The top 16 D-I hoops conferences based on their trailing three year Massey Composite ranking are the 10 FBS conferences, plus the Big East, Atlantic 10, West Coast, Missouri Valley, Southern and Ivy.

There are plenty of potential Cinderellas in those conferences to satisfy 99% of casual fans. For the other 16 conferences, some of their fans will watch the first round games if their school is playing and tune out once they are eliminated. But a lot of them will continue to watch just because they are fans of college basketball and enjoy watching the better teams play even if their team has gone home.

If the conferences ranked 17-32 didn't get an automatic bid to the tournament (but could still earn an at-large bid), a few people would raise a fuss for the first year, and then forget about after that. The tournament itself wouldn't be hurt at all.