NCAA "Play-In" Game Should Be Left "At-Large"
I first fell in love with the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 1987. That was the first year that my father let me participate in his office pool. I picked Billy Donovan and his Providence College team to go to the Final Four and didn't miss a game as the Friars actually did it. Billy the kid and his coach Rick Pitino helped me finish second in that pool. Since then I've watched as Pitino won the Championship twice at the University of Kentucky and Donovan won back-to-back titles coaching Florida. Since I first started watching "the Dance" it's always been the little schools, like Providence in 1987, that have made it great.
As great as the tournament is, I believe it now has a flaw. The play-in game was started in 2001 and with it the tournament expanded from 64 teams to 65 teams. That's great. The problem is that every year the two teams that are forced to "play in" are two teams that have already played their way in by winning conference tournaments. Meanwhile the eighth place team from the Big East or the sixth place team from the PAC 10 get a free pass into the field of 64. There's no question that if this year's Villanova team was to play one of the teams in tonight's play in game the Wildcats would probably win easily. But that isn't the point. Mount Saint Mary's and Coppin State won conference tournaments to guarantee themselves a place in the tournament, yet they're now forced to play a single game in Dayton, Ohio with the loser heading home having never gotten a true feel for what the tournament is all about.
How can we fix this problem? I'm glad you asked. Tournament organizers can make the play-in game a battle of "at-large" teams and not conference champions. The winner of the game would then receive a #12 seed in the field. Normally the lowest ranking at large bid ends up with an eleven or twelve seed. If this system had been adopted this season, tonight's play in game would most likely feature a matchup between Kentucky and Arizona. Isn't that a little more exciting than Mount Saint Mary's taking on Coppin State. Almost every year, the game would pit a pair of teams from major conferences with national reputations. Because of that, the game would bring in better ratings and it would be a win for everyone. The biggest winner would be those little schools. They ones that make this tournament so great to begin with.
Tim