Handyman
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Except this is a straw man. If done right #16 won't be anywhere near the tourny just like, in reality, the #16 team in the PWR never makes the tourny. (and why being on the bubble in the b-ball tourney, even when you have the supposed ranking, can be a sweat) The proper way to do it is to make sure that along with the expansion you would have the G5 conferences (or at least some of them with the opportunity to earn one later if you feel some arent worthy yet) would get autobids as well. That eliminates the worry that say #16 Minnesota (hey a boy can dream!) is going to make the tourny. Barring some real messed up shenanigans that likely isn't going to happen. Since the G5 schools would be the lowest seeds in most scenarios the bubble would be much higher than 16...more likely around #11. (if you assume all of the G5 get bids) Most likely, if the tournament is done right, the #11 team is going to be the #3 team in a Power 5 conference if Notre Dame doesn't qualify OR a #2 team if they do. The conference championship game loser is probably not that far away from making a run so it isn't that crazy a thought...
BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT...that isn't what is happening and the crap they are proposing for this 12 team tournament is a fucking joke. Last I read there is no provision that the G5 get a representative (and you know the Power 5 will do whatever they can to make it hard for them to qualify) and even if they do there is almost zero chance they get more than one. That means you are doing all of this to make sure that the 3rd or 4th best team in the power conferences are still in the hunt. Fuck that. First of all we know that because of various factors the SEC and the Big Ten are going to get in way too many teams most years hogging most of the at large bids and unbalancing the whole thing. It is going to be awful. (especially since it will be mostly SEC...lets get that awesome 3rd place SEC West team in...cause ESPN says so!!) The only thing that will be different is now at least the Big 12 and the Pac 12 will be guaranteed representation...other than that this solves none of the actual problems.
The only way to make expansion work is to cap the number of teams from a conference (2 for the 12, maybe 3 for the 16) and only allow in teams that played in their title game if they have one. (for the 12) Rematches are to be avoided as long as possible. Personally I say autobids for the G5 conferences and the Power 5 with either 2 at large (12) or 6 at large. (16) Then at least it is a "national" tournament and it somewhat resembles March Madness in that the little schools still have a chip and a chair and chance. It at least it becomes fun and all it will take is an upset or two and its off to the races. This will also incentivize schools to move up from say FCS. None of this will ever happen though because there is no chance that the networks or the Power 5 would allow it.
Honestly, this experiment of trying to create a tournament is crap and I wish they would abandon it. Go back to the old way. Make the Bowl Games mean something again. The BCS was bad enough but the Fraudulent Four is a crock and expanding it won't fix it.
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