NCAA Basketball: The potential disaster impact of losing autobids in NCAA Tournament
By Bryan Mauro
Eliminates Parity
Parity is what makes the NCAA tournament the best event in sports. There is never any rhyme or reason for what happens and why. Everyone is going to remember where they were watching the game where UMBC upset Virginia, I was in my bedroom finishing up an article during that game. Needless to say, I put the writing off until the next morning.
Recently we all remember what we were doing when Saint Peter’s beat Kentucky and then made a miraculous run to the Elite Eight. That was one of the greatest runs in NCAA tournament history, it changed a program’s life, player’s lives, and put a school on the map that no one knew about before.
Those are just the two most recent examples but let us not forget the magical run by Florida Gulf Coast to the Sweet 16, when they beat Georgetown in the first round. Dunk City was fun, and they were just another team to make a deep run out of a small conference. The Paul Westhead-led Loyola Marymount in the late 80’s, George Mason and VCU to the Final Four, Santa Clara, Bill Russell led San Francisco, Hampton and their upset over Iowa State, Lehigh, and Norfolk State with upsets over 2 seeds Missouri and Duke in the NCAA tournament.
UNLV with Anderson Hunt and Larry Johnson. Murray State and Ja Morant, Saint Joseph’s with Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, and finally San Diego State with Kawhi Leonard. None of these schools are power schools and all would be impacted greatly by the loss of the auto bid in the tournament.
I may have made a few broad generalizations as some of these teams would have been in regardless given how their respective seasons went but you understand the point. A lot of these schools make up the great history of the game and have some of the most memorable players the game has ever seen.
The mid-major schools make the game what it is and losing that would make the sport not even close to what it was. I would much rather watch a Cinderella-like Saint Peter’s make a run in the NCAA tournament than watch Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, and Baylor play the same set of teams every March for a chance to win a National Championship.
Is it really a true championship if not every team has a chance to win it when the season starts? That is the gripe we all make about College Football and the same would apply here.