NCAA Basketball: 3 reasons to bring back BracketBusters

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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

2. The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee needs this

Back to the origins of the purported goal of BracketBusters – more candidates to bust brackets with upsets over major conference teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Nowadays, there are more metrics than ever to evaluate Division I programs each season. Just this year, the NET was introduced to the world and we’re still relatively new to the idea of the quads.

The wins/loss associated with the quadrant system depends on a few factors, including the site of the game. But the biggest factor is where a team resides in the NET, with most Quad 1 games (the highest honor) coming against teams in the top 30.

Through Saturday’s games, the mid-majors in the top 30 of the NET are Gonzaga (No. 1), Buffalo (14), Wofford (15), Nevada (24), and Utah State (30). Most of those teams seem like locks for the NCAA Tournament, although the Terriers may have some reason to be concerned if they don’t win their conference tournament.

In one hypothetical world of flexible scheduling (a stretch, to be sure), those eight teams would face off against eight teams ranked 31-75 in the NET, giving teams an opportunity to gain another Quad 1 win without doing too much damage to the six teams currently in good shape: the likes of VCU, Saint Mary’s, Lipscomb, Belmont, New Mexico State, and Furman would be able to improve their resumes with a statement win.

It would create a much more equitable NCAA Tournament field for the Selection Committee to fill.

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