Kight Advocates 128.

[joebba]

Did anyone catch Knight's comments on this and what do you think?

I honestly do not think it is a good idea. Team 128 will bitch and moan about not getting it, that is jsut the way it is.

I understand he's coming from the viewpoint of getting rid of conference tourneys. Without the conference tourneys there are a lot of good team that can get in that just would not get a change or would get overlooked becuase they are not a traditional "power".

At least Knight does not see to think like all the other talking heads at ESPN.

[XU Fan]

I like Knight, but I don't like the idea of expanding the tournament any more than it is. They are just trying to find a way to squeeze some more BCS teams into the mix. Too bad for them if they missed. Win a few more games. Play a tougher non-con schedule. Whatever. There are plenty of spots to go around. I like the fact that it is hard to make the NCAA tournament. If it is easy to get in then it isn't as fun. As much as I like Knight I think he is way wrong on this one.

[Juice]

It would render the regular season meaningless if you let that many teams in. Just take care of business during the season and then you wont have to worry about not making the tourney.

[wkrq59]

It would render the regular season meaningless if you let that many teams in. Just take care of business during the season and then you wont have to worry about not making the tourney.--JUICE

Juice, that is exactly what the tournament's critics said when it was expanded from 16 to 32 to 64 (65) and it will be the dsame thing said if the field is expanded to 128. Don't kill the conference tournaments. There is too much money being made by the conferences. Besides, with a field of 128, you're just expanding the tournament by one week. Instead of four No. 1 seeds, you have eight and so on. It would make the tournament more fun for everyone. And we'd all get used to ripping up our brackets a week sooner.

[X-band '01]

This sounds like Jim Boeheim trying to use Knight as his own puppet. He said the same thing last year when SyrExcuse didn't get in to the tournament.

When the tournament expanded from 25 up to 64, it did enable all the conferences to at least get 1 or 2 at-large bids. With a 128-team field, pretty much any team that has a .500 record in a BCS conference will make the field. Who cares about a riveting Oregon-Syracuse first-round game?

Currently we see about 1 in every 5 schools make the NCAA field. Don't cheapen the accomplishment.

[DC Muskie]

Greenberg was on talking about if schools were really interested in providing student athletes an overall quality experience, they should expand the tournament and give kids the chance to play in March Madness. He then referenced how the football season has plenty of bowls for kids to go.

I couldn't stop from laughing. Why doesn't anyone call this for what it is...sour grapes. I think we should teach student athletes that you have to earn something, not have something given to you. I also think that Greenberg doesn't realize that the NIT is the Pullin Weed Whacker Bowl of college basketball.

[taxpayer]

I agree with Knight's idea. The point of the regular season is to win the regular season. The real question is what is the point of conference tournaments? Answer: cash. Why have the players playing 4 games in 4 days or if you get the bye, 3 games in 4 days; then you have 4 days off and then fly half way around the country (unless you're NC) to play your NCAA 1st round game.

I believe it's plausible to invite 128 to MMadness. Give teams one week off (typical conf tourn time) and then begin play. This only adds one game to the MM tourney, it gets more teams involved and in my opinion eliminates the unnecessary conf tourneys. X had a great year and won the A10 regular season. If you take a big picture look at this process, you can see that the regular season isn't quite as important as everyone says it is. Pitt finishes mid BE, wins BE tournament and gets a 4 seed. Georgia stumbles through the regular season, goes nuts in their conference tournament and therefore make the big dance. I, for one, would like to see the 128 option as opposed to playing against conference rivals AGAIN. Before I end this rank, let me also say that the A10's unbalanced scheduling stinks. Play everyone home and away. If that's too unweildly, expand the conf schedule or kick out the weak sisters.

[Muskie]

Knight and Gene Keady were vehemently against conference Tournaments when they coached in the Big Ten. I can't say I have an argument with that.

I remember this coming up on the show yesterday, but I don't recall Knight necessarily advocating for 128. I think it was more like, why not do 128 if you're going to have these tourneys. Knight, has in the past, been critical of these things because they take away from class time.