NCAA Basketball: What if March Madness worked like the FIFA World Cup?

By Dakota Cox | Jul 10, 2018

PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: A general view of the court with March Madness signage is seen prior to the start of the game between the OklahomaSooners and the Rhode Island Rams in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

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ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA – JULY 02: The Belgium team celebrate as Tomoaki Makino of Japan looks dejected following his sides defeat in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Round of 16 match between Belgium and Japan at Rostov Arena on July 2, 2018 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /

Group Stage

After the teams are seeded, they would be put into clusters of four. This would work exactly like the Group Stages of FIFA: every team plays each other, and the top two move on to the next round.

The NCAA could determine how to handle tie-breakers (points scored, head-to-head, points allowed, point differential, etc.), but you would inevitably end up with two teams per group for each of the eight groups. Every winner of a group would be paired against the loser of a separate group for the next stage.

Knockout Stage

Once you made it to the Knockout Stage, you would simply be like the Sweet 16 with the undeniable 16 best teams in college basketball. The rest of the tournament would work just like March Madness, and you would inevitably end up with one champion.

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