This year, there has been plenty of talk about expanding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, with the main reason being to bring more excitement and attention to the “First Four” games, which kick off March Madness. Since 2011, the First Four has essentially been a play-in round taking place in Dayton, Ohio, which features two games between the four lowest-ranked conference champions who made the field via automatic bid, along with two games between the last four at large bid teams from the bubble.
Under expansion more games would be added to this round to create a full day of college basketball action instead of just the typical night set of games. This idea was widely met with a negative response, as many see 68 teams in the bracket as more than enough.
So how do you fix the First Four without adding more teams? Well, with the current state of the bubble, this year's college basketball season is panning out to give us the perfect answer.
Heading into conference tournament play Indiana, Ohio State, and Xavier are all teams who are on the bubble. In fact, in ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology all three of them are currently in the category of "last four in" and would be playing in the first four.
If you want to bring excitement in-house to these opening games, what better way than to have three teams who are all in close proximity to one another and whose supporters would have an easy trip to Dayton, Ohio? On top of that, they all have very strong and dedicated fan bases, which would help bring attention to these opening games.
In terms of making it in, the Buckeyes are in the most trouble as they will surely need a win in their first game of the Big Ten tournament against Iowa and possibly an upset over Illinois in the next round. Barring several bid stealers, with strong ends to their regular season, I expect Indiana and Xavier to both be in even if they were to lose the first round, which would not be hurtful losses as they would be to solid teams in Oregon and Marquette.
Oklahoma is currently the fourth team who would be joining them in Lunardi’s prediction, but several other big name programs around the bubble (Arkansas, Texas, and North Carolina) would add even more buzz. The only way this could be any better is if one more team from the area was the fourth to make it a battle of the Midwest.
Lunardi has Dayton in the “next four out,” but a run to the A10 final would likely not be enough to get them in. An A10 tournament title would put them in the field, but they would not go to the first four as they would not be one of the lowest-ranked conference champions who received an automatic bid. The Cincinnati Bearcats are another perfect fit who were on the bubble not too long ago, but a 2-5 end to their regular season knocked them out of contention.
I know the selection committee has a job to do, but if they want to make fans happy and possibly fix the First Four, which is a problem in the mind of the NCAA, they will send these three teams to Dayton if they are anywhere near the bubble.