Logistics Homework

The discussion on whether to expand the NCAA tournament from 64 (or really, 65) teams to 96 fascinates me. Most of the discussion focuses on whether the tournament should be diluted with the extra 32 marginal teams. Some are focused on whether the 32 best teams should have a bye.

I'm focused on the scheduling - how in the hell would this work, especially for TV?

Right now, a 64 team tournament means 6 rounds - 2 rounds per weekend, and it's done in 3 weeks. It's perfect. If we add another round into the tournament, how exactly would this be done?

Let's start at the end, first.
And let's use actual dates. This year, selection Sunday is on March 14; the first weekend is March 18-21; the second weekend is March 25-28; the championship is scheduled for Apr 5.

- Would CBS still require the championship game to be played on the first Monday in April (Opening Day Monday)? If it is any later, you get into Masters week (starting Thursday, Apr 8).
- So if we are set with the final 2 on the Monday, Apr 5, this means the semis are on Sat, Apr 3.
- Are we still set on the final 4 figured out on Sun, Mar 28? If so, why?
If so, now we have to add an extra set of games in a two week period, from Mar 14-28.

A couple of notes here:

- Each region would not have 16 teams, but 24. There would be 10 (not 6) games played in the prelim rounds to get to the sweet 16 (4 games in Rd 1, 4 games in Rd 2, 2 games in Rd 3). Would we play 2 of those regions on Wed-Fri-Sun - and then the other 2 on Thu-Sat-Mon?
- If you don't want to play the 3rd round games on the Monday after, then you have to start Tuesday and play Tue-Thu-Sat and Wed-Fri-Sun. But - is it fair to announce the bracket on Sun, Mar 14 and then force 16 teams to play on Tue, Mar 16? Is it fair for Virginia to be in Charlottsville on selection Sunday and then be forced to play a Round 1 game in Spokane on Tuesday afternoon? I say no.

- I think the earliest teams could actually play is Thursday. Thursday Mar 18 would be round 1. Thu-Fri would have 16 games each, and get 96 teams down to 64. Then we would be at 32 teams by the end of Sunday, with another 16 games played on Sat and Sunday. Now where the hell are we putting an extra round of games?

- If the above assumptions are true, this means we need three rounds - from 32-16, 16-8, and 8-4 - from Mon Mar 21 until Sun Mar 28.
- Would Round 3 - to get from 32-16, containing 16 games - need to be played on Mon-Tue, Mar 21-22. Ugh. This would mean moving the excitement of today's round 2 and putting it on a Monday-Tuesday. I would hate this.

- OK, move Round 3 to Thu-Fri, Mar 24-25. Then this means the Sweet Sixteen games are Sat-Sun, Mar 26-27.......but then this means the regional finals would be played on the following weeknights, Mon and Tue, Mar 28-29? We would have a doubleheader on Mon and Tue night. Do we want this?

OK, that's a lot of rambling - but do you see the point? What assumptions are wrong above - and what aspect of this "perfect" tournament will change if we move to 96?

Here's my solution....

- The final should not be on Monday - but move it back 2 days until Wednesday, April 7.
- Have the national semis played as a doubleheader (7 pm ET and 9:30 pm ET) on Monday, April 5.
- Have a quadruple header at the same location on the current Final Four Saturday (April 3). 8 teams - 4 games - starting at 1 pm, 3:30 pm, 7 pm and 9:30 pm. Can you imagine what an orgy this would be? This would actually make a "final four" ticket worth something.
- With this solution, the first two weekends would be the same. The only drawback is that the top seeds (seeds 1-8) would only play once on opening weekend.

Thoughts? There are no good solutions here...only mine.