Xavier wins the national title!
Well not really. And let’s face it, they don’t stand a chance. Why? From 1964-2007, every school that won the college basketball national championship is a member of a conference that is considered Division 1A (I refuse to call it FBS) in football. The last school not from a Division 1A conference? Loyola in 1963! To me, that means odds are it isn’t happening again. But if college basketball took a note from college football, Xavier – a member of the Atlantic 10 – would have a shot at a national title, instead of maybe getting to the Elite 8 at best.
Many will agree there isn’t much college football does right in terms of rankings, bowl games, or choosing who should play in the national title game, but where they have hit the nail on the head is the split between Division 1A and Division 1AA. Now college basketball needs to do the same. The George Masons of the world are great stories, but they hardly ever happen, and in the end what does a Final Four run mean if you don’t come home with the trophy? If I were a student at Drake this year, a few wins in the tourney might be fun and memorable, but would it even compare to having a legitimate chance to win a national championship? Of course not. Loyola hanging on to the memories of their title team of ’63 is like Yale bragging about their football dominance of the 1800’s.
So because of all this, I am blowing up the 2008 tournament and showing you how it should be. One tournament for Division 1A schools and one for Division 1AA schools. Each tournament will be made up of 32 teams, because when you cut the number of eligible schools and still have 64 make the dance…well then you border on the ridiculous (much like the number of schools that make it to bowl games compared to the overall field).
The rules are simple. Win your conference tournament and you’re in. The at large spots are up to the selection committee. What does this accomplish? Well the UNCs and UCLAs of the world still have pretty much the same chance to win it all, but now so do the Gonzagas and Butlers. It also gives the fans and television networks better matchups quicker. Again, George Mason was a nice story, but when they finally ran out of gas, it wasn’t exactly good TV watching Florida run over them.
For the Division 1A tournament, no team that isn’t in the real dance makes it in my redone version. There are currently 40 teams in the tourney that are from the eligible conferences, so actually, 8 teams get cut. Starting with the lowest seeds; Villanova (12), Baylor (11), Kansas State (11), Kentucky (11), and Arizona (10) are gone. Boise State (14), Georgia (14), and Western Kentucky (12) get to stay since they won their conference tourneys. The last 3 out are 9-seeds Arkansas, Oregon, and Texas A&M. Kent State (9) also gets a free pass by winning the MAC.
Looking at the top half of this year’s tourney field (seeds 1 through 8); this new format still includes 28 of those 32 schools. The South region actually remains intact, with the top 8 seeds making it in. No team has to move to a different region than they have already been selected to, and no same-conference matchup would occur until the Elite 8.
So, the Division 1A tourney looks like this…
East Region
1 UNC
8 Boise State
4 Washington State
5 Notre Dame
3 Louisville
6 Oklahoma
2 Tennessee
7 Indiana
Midwest Region
1 Kansas
8 Kent State
4 Vanderbilt
5 Clemson
3 Wisconsin
6 USC
2 Georgetown
7 UNLV
South Region
1 Memphis
8 Mississippi State
4 Pittsburgh
5 Michigan State
3 Stanford
6 Marquette
2 Texas
7 Miami
West Region
1 UCLA
8 Georgia
4 Purdue
5 West Virginia
3 Connecticut
6 BYU
2 Duke
7 Western Kentucky
While I won’t bother to go through the process of mapping out what would be the Division 1AA tournament, 7 additional schools would get in this year and sudden 1-seeds Xavier, Drake, Butler, and Gonzaga now have a real shot at bringing home a trophy.
Due to the overall hype surrounding the NCAA tournament and what it means when Small School USA makes it in, this change will never happen, but it’s fun to dream.