Running 2018 college rings postseason thread

Mike DeCoursy had an interesting take on the First Four. He said if ESPN had won the bid we would have 96 teams in it by now. The First Four was a way to give Turner a couple more nights to broadcast without completely changing the fabric of the tournament.

His opinion was he doesn't love the First Four, but it's a small price to pay to avoid ruining the whole thing with 96 teams.

 

I love Villanova to win the whole thing but Purdue really scares me in that potential regional final.

 

As I recall, the First Four was created because Coach K. thought too many major conferences coaches were losing their jobs for not making the tournament.

 

NC State worries me. Yurtseven is exactly the kind of player who has given KU trouble all year. And I think Keatts is going to wind up being a Hall of Fame coach.

 

Hell of a guy, too. Wrote a feature on him a couple of years ago when he was just getting going at UNCW and was very impressed.

 

I'd be fine with 96 if you eliminated the NIT, which is just an experimental playground for the NCAA anyway. No one gives a fuck about the NIT. The major conference teams don't want to be there. The mid-major snubs don't want to be there.

 

Alford better send K a nice bottle.

 

Yeah, I've known him since the first time he was at Hargrave. I used to love watching them practice because there was so much teaching going on. And with that talent he could have gotten away just rolling the balls out and letting them go.

 

68 teams was illogical when it was implemented and it still is, if for no other reason than the idea of giving every team the same requirements is thrown out the window. The NCAA tells 60 teams that to win the title, you have to win six games and you get three or four full days to prepare for your first game. Then it tells a few other teams that it's seven games to the title and, by the way, you get one full day of preparation twice in the first week.

64 is better, always will be.

 

Sitting essentially parked on I-75 after an accident near the UD Arena exit last night also made me wish they'd only put 64 teams in the tourney.

 

Baylor hosted a first-round NIT game last night and beat up on some school called Wagner. Official attendance was 1,988, so the fans don't want to be there either, obviously.

Edit: I just looked at the official box score, and it says: National Invitational Tournament (NIT) 1st Round.

Should be National Invitation Tournament.

 

You are correct. People miss that all the time.