It's going to look weird. Instead of one play-in game determining who plays a No. 1 seed, we're going to have four extra games which means more work for those who are able to win in the opening round.
Expansion, New Television Deal Coincide with NCAA Men's Basketball
It's a wait-and-see approach that the NCAA plans to use for several years to see if it will enhance the brand of March Madness which reached a new television deal. Games will be seen from 2011-2024 on Turner Sports networks (TBS, TNT and truTV) besides being broadcast on CBS Sports.
The four opening round games will be played at the University of Dayton in Ohio on March 15-16, 2011. It's planned to have two game on each day with the teams finishing their season earlier than others expected to play on the first day rather than the second.
The field will be announced on March 13 which will be the first time we see the opening round pairings handed out. The four games pitting teams in the opening round are expected to be between teams who if they win will play a team seeded 5-8.
Eight teams will be chosen for these games. Without the four opening rounds games, four of the eight teams would have not made it as the case was last year. The negative is it's an extra game and could prove to be detrimental depending on the health and fitness of the team.
There are many factors to consider for those formatting the four opening round games including ensuring diverse and entertaining games likely without rematches. The NCAA has often been known to not offer up rematches in the first round so suffice to say the opening round would follow the same parameters.
What used to be the First Round in the 64 and 65-team tournament, which started on Thursday will be now the Second and Third Rounds which will commence March 17-20, 2011.
The Regionals, which include the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, will be played March 24-27 with the Final Four being played in Houston, Texas on April 2. The National Championship will conclude the first ever 68-team tournament on April 4.
How the 68-Team Field May Look?
This is strongly discouraged for the time-being to be replicated. When teams start playing conference games, we'll have a lot better feel on the contenders and pretenders for the 2011 NCAA tournament.
Some conferences are already scrutinized as only getting X number of teams (many forecast the Pac-10 to secure at most three bids) so based off of some of those predictions and my wild guesses to who the conference winners and at-large choices will be in five months, here's what the 68-team NCAA tournament will vaguely look like.
MIDWEST
- Kansas State- 16 Belmont
- Villanova- 15 Morehead State
- Washington- 14 Pacific
- Florida- 13 Lamar
- Purdue- 12 Missouri State
- Minnesota- 11 Western Kentucky
- San Diego State- 10 Oklahoma State
- Florida State- 9 Xavier v. George Mason (Opening Round)
WEST
- Michigan State- 16 UMKC
- North Carolina- 15 Long Island
- Kentucky- 14 Radford
- Georgetown- 13 Northeastern
- Temple- 12 UAB v. Nevada (Opening Round)
- Gonzaga- 11 Illinois State
- Baylor- 10 West Virginia
- Brigham Young- 9 Alabama
EAST
- Duke- 16 Stony Brook
- Kansas- 15 American
- Illinois- 14 Montana State
- Texas- 13 Kent State
- Wisconsin- 12 Cornell
- Louisville- 11 Fresno State
- Massachusetts- 10 Arizona v. New Mexico (Opening Round)
- Davidson- 9 Marquette
SOUTH
- Pittsburgh- 16 Alabama A&M
- Ohio State- 15 Bethune-Cookman
- Missouri- 14 Rider
- Tennessee- 13 Cleveland State
- Virginia Tech- 12 Creighton
- Connecticut- 11 Clemson v. UNLV (Opening Round)
- Butler- 10 Memphis
- UCLA- 9 Saint Mary's
For a glimpse of what it would like minus the names of the schools, check out the link http://www.chiff.com/recreation/sports/2011-printable-bracket.htm
Tyrone Bowman - I'm 25, a recent Journalism graduate of Sacramento State, love the outdoors and am ultra-competitive. I thrive for perfection even though ...
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