Let’s Repeal and Replace NCAA Tournament

(St. Louis, MO) – It’s time to make America’s college basketball championship great again! On my first day in office as President of the NCAA, we will repeal and replace the current NCAA Tournament system that gives handouts to the ‘power 6’ conferences.

We’re going to drain the swamp!

All kidding aside, it is time to renovate this wonderful system and reward teams that play well all season and stop propping up the already richest 20% of the teams. Let me be clear. There is never going to be a perfect system that is free of controversy. However, what if we made teams earn their way into the tournament?

I am suggesting four major changes to our beloved March Madness.

Regular Season Champions Qualify

It is absolutely crazy that regular season champions are guaranteed nothing more than a top seed in their respective conference tournaments. We would have 32 automatic bids given out before the ESPN’s ‘Championship Week’ begins.

Conference Tournament Champions Qualify

If a team other than the regular season champion wins their league’s postseason tournament, they qualify too. However, if the regular season champion wins the postseason crown too, they automatically move into a select company of teams that receive ‘premier seeding’.

This season, 19 teams won both of their conference titles. Those 19 teams would be seeded 1 through 19 in the national championship. Thus the regular season champions would still have motivation to win the league tournament.

There were 26 other teams that earned one of their conference’s two championships. Using this season as an example, we would now have 45 teams automatically qualify for the national tournament, including 34 teams from non ‘power 6’ conferences.

Eliminate Non-Winning Teams

Unless teams win their conference tournament, they have to win more games than they lose within their conference schedule. A .500 or below record in league play would deem a team ineligible for postseason play. That move would eliminate five teams from this year’s tournament.

Add Twelve Teams to March Madness

By adding 12 teams, the tournament would include 80 teams, and the ‘play-in round’ would include the bottom 16 teams. Those winners would be slotted against the top eight seeds in the tournament.

There would be (by this year’s example) 35 slots to fill and give the ‘power 6’ and conferences ample opportunity to stack the brackets. This year there are 34 from the money leagues, including many of those that would be automatic bids.

What would happen if we repealed and replaced with these adjustments, more teams would reach the ‘Big Dance’. More teams from non ‘power 6’ leagues, and more of those teams would have favorable seeds. Those top seeded teams would have a competitive advantage of being in the top 64, playing near home, and playing a team that had to fight its way into the round of 64.

Let me know what you thing, buy a red hat and let’s make the NCAA Tournament great again!

Do Good