March Madness technically tips off Tuesday night with the “First Four” play-in games, featuring four teams vying for a No. 16 seed and four for a No. 11 seed. Don’t worry, you don’t need to finish your bracket predictions until Thursday at noon, when the main course is served — the First Four games are just an unnecessary appetizer, invented by the NCAA in pursuit of its highest priority: profit.
The next few weeks will be loaded with thrilling upsets and busted brackets across 67 games. To be fair, some of the teams in the First Four may bust brackets and make a deep run, like when Virginia Commonwealth University went from First Four to Final Four in 2011. But was anyone really dissatisfied with the madness, before the First Four? Besides, when it comes to the tournament, there should only be one objective: winning the whole thing. While low seeds have certainly impressed in the tournament, it doesn’t mean they are capable of hoisting the trophy amid confetti on April 8.
For example, 16-seed University of Maryland, Baltimore County knocked off the top-seeded University of Virginia last year, making history as the first 16 seed to beat a 1 seed in the men’s tournament. Beating Virginia mattered in the grand scheme of the competition, but UMBC was certainly not going to go on a tear all the way to a national championship. Fifteen-seed teams have also made history, like when Florida Gulf Coast University upset 2-seed Georgetown University and then beat San Diego State University to become the first-ever 15 seed in the Sweet Sixteen. There have even been four 11 seeds who made the Final Four: Louisiana State University (1986), George Mason University (2006), Virginia Commonwealth University (2011), and Loyola University Chicago (2018). All four of them lost, however, in the national semifinals. The 1985 Villanova University Wildcats, an 8 seed, were the lowest seed to ever win it all.
Under the current format, the champions of 32 conference tournaments are guaranteed a tournament appearance. Those champions make the tournament regardless of their overall record or strength of schedule. Thus, by no means is the 68-team field comprised of the 68 best teams in college basketball.
For example, Ken Pomeroy’s college basketball rankings rank North Carolina Central University, champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament, as the 303rd best team in the nation (out of 353). Clemson University, which clocks in at 29th on Pomeroy’s rankings, didn’t make the selection committee’s cut for at-large bids.
The committee has also left off some strong teams over the years like Missouri State University in 2006, which was ranked 21 in RPI (Ratings Percent Index, based on wins/losses and strength of schedule), as well as 29th-ranked Texas Tech University in 1997 and a handful of other teams ranked 30th in past years. (That said, the RPI system is certainly flawed and, at times, controversial.)
Some might love the idea of letting so many teams into the tournament, but it draws the whole process out and makes it longer. Not everyone takes issue with this from a time perspective, but it means there are more pointless games to keep up with for those filling out a bracket.
It’s hard to say what the ideal solution to fix March Madness is. It’s certainly an exciting tournament, but it is far from an ideal system. Cutting the field back to 64 teams from 68 would be a good start.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
