I especially love the first two days, when there's non-stop action from lunchtime until midnight snack.
I love it, but I can get enough.
The NCAA is exploring the possibility of expanding the 65-team field to 96 teams, maybe as early as 2011.
The fan in me sometimes wishes that the madness of March would never end, but in this case, more of a good thing wouldn't be better.
If the field for this season was 96 teams, "bracketologist" Joe Lunardi might be talking about how North Carolina's game against Miami next week is critical to keep alive both teams' tournament hopes. He might be talking about how Tulsa could take a big step toward securing its spot with an upset victory at No. 5 Duke on Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN2).
The Tar Heels, the Hurricanes and the Golden Hurricane undeniably are better than many of the automatic qualifiers that will fill up the last spots in this year's 65-team field. But if the expansion talk merely is about assuring that the best teams get in the field, then contract to 32 teams.
Since the field went to 64 teams in 1985, No. 8 Villanova that first year remains as the lowest seed to win it all, and a 32-team field would have included the Wildcats.
Or if it's about getting the best teams in while still giving the little fella a shot, expand to 128 teams. Many of the automatic qualifiers will be in the top 128 of RPI but obviously not as many will be in the top 96, so a 128-team field would get closer to including the best 128 teams than a 96-team field would get to including the best 96 teams.
Instead of any of those options, I say don't try to fix something that isn't broken just for the sake of the mighty dollar.
Here's why.
A 96-team tournament would feature four 24-team regions, with the top eight seeds in each region getting a bye. Any way you look at it, the resulting matchups would break up the beautiful balance currently enjoyed by the brackets.
For the most part, the teams seeded 20 through 24 would be the automatic qualifiers from one-bid conferences, the types of teams that occupy the 13 through 16 seeds in the current setup. That would mostly leave seeds 13 through 19 or so to teams that don't currently make the field -- a mix of teams toward the bottom of the major conferences and toward the middle of mid-major conferences, as well as an occasional regular-season champion from a bottom-tier league that faltered in its postseason tournament.
Here's where my biggest concern would come in: The teams in that range would face off against each other in the first round, and then the winners would take on the tournament's top seeds in the round of 64.
To me, that doesn't seem as fair -- or as much fun -- as the current system.
Let's say the field was at 96 this season and Duke drew a No. 2 seed. Traditionally, that would lead to a first-round matchup such as the one the Blue Devils had two years ago against Belmont, the type of matchup that sometimes is a laugher but sometimes is a highly entertaining David-vs.-Goliath.
But with a 96-team field, Duke might open against, say, Arizona State. The Sun Devils, meanwhile, already will have gotten acclimated to the tension of the tournament, having opened with Belmont in a game that's more like David vs. Goliath's sparring partner.
For my two cents, I much prefer the current setup.
The Dukes and UNCs of the world open against a significant underdog, but every once in a while, that underdog does something that defines the appeal of the first weekend of the tournament. It just wouldn't be the same seeing Arizona State struggle with Belmont while the top 32 teams in the field sit and watch.
Currently, the top teams open with a game that has an outside chance of producing a stunning upset. Then if they survive, they face a dangerous team -- often from a major conference -- to close out the first weekend.
The drama builds, at the right pace.
With 96 teams, the top seeds would wait before likely opening with an at-large team -- often from a major conference -- that's not good enough to make a 65-team field. Meanwhile, most of the Cinderellas would miss out on their chance to dance on center stage.
They'd miss out, and so would we.
You may contact Bryan Strickland at bstrickland@heraldsun.com or 419-6671.
