Welcome to a Slightly Bigger March

The rumors had run rampant during March Madness. Now we have more detail on the Dance. While those early reports had suggested with an almost definitive tone that we'd see 96 teams, the NCAA appears to be expanding only to 68 from the current 65. The men's basketball tournament held every March is widely regarded as an almost "perfect" playoff structure. The addition of the 65th team bruised that image a bit, but it's still better the BCS of college football.

Right now the story focuses on the continuation of CBS coverage and the addition of TBS, TNT and even truTV as broadcast partners. Interesting that it now appears every game will be broadcast live starting in 2011. This halts a revenue stream for DirecTV who had been selling a March Madness package to cover all the games. But it's good for all of the fans who can now watch their Ivy League or WAC without the odd breakaways CBS producers seem to screw up every year.

Back to the expansion, there does not seem to be an explanation of what structure the extra games will take. It is assumed that now instead of one "play-in" game on Tuesday, we'll get 4 games. Are they all to play for the illustrious 16 seed in each corner of the bracket? Or, will the NCAA listen to fans (and their wallet) and go for at large play-in games, like for a 10 or 11 seed? I think in the grand scheme of things, most fans would rather watch the 3rd ACC team play the 4th SEC team than the Horizon and MEAC champions fight for the position. Of course the power conferences have great influence and would rather have their teams "safe" in the 64.

While the expansion was not favored by all, it was almost universally agreed 96 was an awful number to jump to. The growth was essentially a given and 68 is a good place to land. Is it March yet?