What's with the extra game at the beginning of the tournament? Why not just have a standard 64 team field?
2007-03-13 08:59:08 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Basketball
If it truly is to get more teams from less prominent conferences, why stop at only 1 more game?
2007-03-13 09:04:28 · update #1
It was a way to get mid- or low- major teams another team "in" the tournament. Although they're not really in are they. The field will expand withing the next 10 years and that stupid play-in game will be extinct.
2007-03-13 09:02:59 · answer #1 · answered by Phat Kidd 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences split (after the two year probationary period), the MWC was granted the 31st auto bid. Rather than reduce the number of at-large bids to 33 like the women did, the men just kept the at-large pool at 34 and threw teams 64 and 65 in the play-in. Kind of a dumb idea, but they're going to get stomped by the 1-seed anyway...I'm rather neutral towards the idea as it really only matters to the teams playing in it.
2007-03-13 09:10:12 · answer #2 · answered by Lmeister 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A few years ago, they expanded the field by one slot to accomodate an additional conference automatic bid. Rather than subtract an at-large contender, they increased it by one and have the two lowest seeded teams play each other for the "right" to get smashed in the first round.
2007-03-13 09:04:20 · answer #3 · answered by jimvh2020 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
To make more money, theres no other good reason. Also it allows one of the major conferences to get another team in,instead of one the lower conference winners taking up a spot in the field of 64.
2007-03-13 09:04:17 · answer #4 · answered by e DOUBLE 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If they add more teams, unless they go all the way to 128 (unlikely) they would only be adding more de-facto "play in"
games as only the lowest seeded teams would be involved, the other way to look at it is that the higher seeded teams would have a bye. The way it works now techically the 63 teams not involved in the play in game all have a first round bye.
2007-03-13 09:53:24 · answer #5 · answered by ligoneskiing 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
there's a sport the place 2 communities, this twelve months being Alabama State and Morehead State play in a one in all those wild-card sport to get the final spot of the experience. The winner of this sport performs between the acceptable seeds interior the experience, this twelve months being Louisville.
2016-10-02 01:40:34 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The extra game is more of a ceremonial game, like an offical "start". Plus it gives some of the Mid-Major player something to brag about to their grandkids.
2007-03-13 09:24:52 · answer #7 · answered by Basketball Jones 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They added the "play-in" game a few years ago, just to give that "little guy" from a smaller conference a chance to play in the tourney.
It's more marketing than anything else, IMO. Everyone likes to see the underdog get his chance.
.
2007-03-13 09:03:32 · answer #8 · answered by tlbs101 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
it has to do with the number of conferences and the number of automatic bids.
2007-03-13 09:01:34 · answer #9 · answered by phdpsychman 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋