We put together a field of 76 to see what it would look like- Here is what we bracketed

Using the seed list from this year and a few teams in consideration we put together a field of 76. We have 8 play-in games for seeds 12, 15, & 16. Seeds 15 & 16 are automatic qualifiers and seed 12 are the last 8 at large bids. This expansion adds 8 at large bids which would automatically fall into the 12 line.

Where would they play

We have chosen the following iconic gymnasiums for hosting

Dayton- current site of the first four

The Palestra- The mecca of basketball

Hinkle Fieldhouse- A special place in a special state

Four games in each location played on Tuesday and Wednesday

The Justification

The numbers of programs in Division 1 has expanded and the percentage of teams in the tournament has not. Now, Virginia’s play last night does not help, but there were some quality teams left out. What did help us was seeing the joy of the Wagner team after winning a tournament game. Adding “play-in” games for automatic qualifiers is often looked at in a negative light. The teams in seeds 14-16 often do not have the opportunity to win a game and would under expansion. We know the “participation prize” ideas will flow, but there was a lot of joy in that Wagner locker room on Tuesday night. Expanding by 8 does not dilute the product as much as we thought before we bracketed the field. We also want to keep the tourney! There is a fear that the power 6 conferences will break away and form their own tournament. If expansion saves March Madness, then we give in. We also believe in providing solutions. Hence, we bracketed a 76 team field.

The Field

We bracketed using the seed list from this season through seeds 1-9 and then also from seeds 10-16 with a few modifcations. We added the first four out and four other teams to the bracket. We have screen shots of our spreadsheet. We hope they are easy to follow.

East

West

South

Midwest

We have not been a proponent of expansion and would still like the field to be 68 teams. We do, however, see the possibilities of expansion. Such an expansion will take some time to get used to as a bracketology group and as fans, but we believe is acceptable in the face of big money changing March Madness forever.