96 Teams Is 31 Too Many ...or Not Enough

The NCAA's interest in expanding the men's basketball tournament from 65 teams to 96 has met with almost universal scorn, but the bottom line will clearly dictate the path the all-American rite of spring takes. For some, even 96 teams isn't enough. "It's going to make putting a bracket together a little complicated," writes Jason Gay, but "why not go for it—invite every one of the current 347 NCAA Division I schools"?

"The idea is to replicate the drama, energy and positivity of a third-grade gingerbread-house-making contest," Gay writes for the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, on a list of five serious and 20 less-than-serious reasons the idea stinks, Mike Wise of the Washington Post argues: "Thirty-one more tourney teams sounds suspiciously like more bowl games, leading to (cue shrieking violin music) . . . the Basketball Championship Series." To see Wise's full list, click here.
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