True Madness: A 346 Team NCAA Basketball Tournament
In case you have heard, and many of you might have missed it, the ACC and all 15 of its league coaches are behind a proposal to hold an NCAA basketball tournament that would include all 346 Division-I basketball playing schools.
March Madness in November, or maybe a better name could be Colossal Chaos, but in the year that has been 2020, that sounds like fun.
Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated tackled the subject in his unique way on Wednesday and gave some solid logic to the pros and potential cons of such a project.
While Forde's article is thought-provoking, it didn't take much effort to get me on board with the idea, for multiple reasons.
One, it would be great for all the players who missed their opportunity-and have already gone off to the NBA or other professional leagues- to experience what playing in the "Big Dance" is all about, only this would be an even bigger dance.
It would also allow some smaller schools to get into the action, even if they are to serve as roadkill for the big boys at Duke, Michigan State, and Kentucky. Some of these kids would love to have the chance to play those teams, and I say yes. Let them have it.
Yes, I read and understand the logistical issues that such an event would pose for planners, but so what. If they are willing to tackle it, then again, I say, let them have it.
I could go on and on about other issues raised in the article and how I might think of them or how to make this work, but that would be a waste of my time writing, and yours the reader to pound home my support for this idea. I support it, so now you know in case you missed it already.
That said, there is one thing Forde wrote in his article that is a must, and I agree it's non-negotiable.
Please don't mess with our brackets!
For this to work, we have to have all-346 teams in one format so us crazies of college hoops can predict those first-round blowout wins for Duke, Michigan State, and Kentucky and feel good about our prediction prowess.
Without that, what fun would this whole thing be!
Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven.
