Busting Brackets
Fansided

NCAA Basketball: A look at a potential expanded 2021 NCAA Tournament

By Jason Burgess

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)
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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: Tom Holmoe, director of athletics at Brigham Young University, works as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: Tom Holmoe, director of athletics at Brigham Young University, works as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

Here is how an expanded field would be constructed

My proposal is for a 76-team tournament that, like the season that precedes it would be a little unconventional, Joe Lunardi of ESPN recently proposed an 80-team tournament with some interesting tweaks that I will employ, here are the details:

Selection Sunday

-Conference tournaments will be done on Saturday, allowing the committee a full day to finalize the selection, bracketing and seeding process.

The field

-32 regular-season champions will receive an automatic bid, as will the winner of the conference tournament. This allows all 32 conferences the chance at multiple bids.

-Teams that win both the regular season and conference tournament will be rewarded by playing at the first and second-round sites closest to their campus, regardless of seed (as long as bracketing principles allow).

-The remaining teams will be at-large teams.

First Four and others

-Dayton and the First Four will still be used, only in a different manner.

-As many have wanted, the First Four will consist of the final eight at-large teams selected by the committee.

-The first four teams left out of the field as well as the next four teams out will also be involved in the tournament.

-The teams in the First Four and the first 8 teams left out of the tournament will take part in a soccer-style drawing conducted by the chairman of the committee after the bracket is revealed.

-This drawing will result in four four-team groups, with no conference being represented more than once in each group.

-Each group will be assigned to a region with Dayton being used for the East Region, where a four-team tournament will take place with the winner becoming the final team in that region.

-Each tournament will take place at a site that will have Friday and Sunday first and second-round games.

-The tournaments will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, allowing the winning teams to rest (or travel) before opening play on Friday.

Home/March Madness