The Blue Board

Friend of mine posted this on Facebook. Thought I'd share:

A brief history of changes to the size of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament:
1939: 8 teams
1951: 16 teams
1953: between 22 and 25 teams
1975: 32 teams
1979: 40 teams
1980: 48 teams
1983: 52 teams
1984: 53 teams
1985: 64 teams
2001: 65 teams
2011: 68 teams

345 schools in D-I basketball, 68 team playoff = 20% of the teams reach the playoff

No one outside of the top 8 has ever won a national championship. Why is the field more than twice as large as it needs to be. This air of "fairness" about sports makes the better teams play longer and risk their players. Of course, everyone experiences the same risk, but it matters to the higher seed more. They have proven throughout the course of the entire season that they are the better teams.

There has never been a #1 vs. #16 upset.

There have been 6 #2-#15 upsets.
None of those 15 seeds made it past the 2nd round (into the Sweet 16).

There have been 16 #3-#14 upsets.
2 of those 16 14 seeds made it to the Sweet 16
1997 Chatanooga and 1986 Cleveland State both lost in the Sweet 16.

I could go on and on, but this is ridiculous. If everyone is allowed into the tournament, the tournament is only special if you win it all. If you keep giving people that suck a chance, there is no point in limiting it to 68. Why not all 345 schools??

IMAGINE THE BRACKETS!!!

Note: If this kind of rampant expansion ever happens in the new football playoff, someone will have to answer to me in one form or another.

EDIT: I noticed that he was incorrect on one count, in that Villanova was an 8 seed (not in the top 8).