The NCAA tournament or March Madness is one of the biggest sporting events in the U.S. The NCAA is in the middle of a eleven year, six billion dollar television contract with CBS. Thats how big the tournament is! It has all everybody would want, action, suspense you name it, it has it. One thing some people say it doesn’t have is a fair seeding/choice process. People say that it is unfair that so many good teams cant get in because conference winners take up too much space. I disagree. I think that the seeding system isn’t just fair but very effective.

One thing that people say is unfair about the seeding process is that every conference in college basketball gets to send their winner to the tournament. Although I can see where people are coming from, I disagree. Every team at the beginning of the year should have at least some chance of making the tournament. Without this system every mid major team in America would have absolutely no shot( except for a few, like Gonzaga, Butler, etc.) of making the tournament. Without this, many teams would never get a chance to play under the brightest lights in college basketball. It gives every team hope and something to play for going in to every season. Also, if you don’t let those conference winners in ( specifically the bottom conferences) then the whole charm of the NCAA tournament is done. The nickname for the NCAA tournament is “March Madness”. It has that nickname because no one ever knows what is going to happen. Over the past ten years some of the best moments in the NCAA tournament are the cinderella stories. Whether it’s George Mason in 2006 who were the lowest seed to reach the Final Four(tying the 1986 LSU Tigers) or Butler in 2010 and 2011. There are so many more that are worth talking about like VCU from 2011 or Gonzaga in 1999 before they were a household name. It would take a full five page essay to name all the great cinderella teams and moments. Even when you see the commercials promoting the NCAA tournament, they show the great cinderella teams and moments more than the great number one seed moments. They do that because they know thats what the people like.

Another reason people say the seeding process is unfair is because there are sixty eight teams and it is too big. Yes, there are a lot of teams but it gives the tournament a good flow and size. It makes teams win two or three(if you play in the first round game then three) games before there already in the sweet sixteen. You have to really earn a championship berth in the system we have now. For example, say you only had thirty teams in the tournament, after the first round you already would be down to fifteen teams. The tournament would be over in a week. Also, it is good to have sixty eight teams in the tournament because it makes the tournament last longer. It makes the tournament a spectacle that lasts around seventeen/eighteen days. I hear some people say that the tournament should be the best twenty eight teams in the country and that’s it. I disagree completely. First off that tournament would be too small and would be over in an instant. Also, there would never be any new teams in the tournament. You would have the same teams year in and year out in that scenario. Although there would be a couple of new teams every year, you would have the same core teams every year like Kansas, Duke, etc. The tournament system that we have now allows for new teams and new opportunities every year. And from a business point of view having the tournament be bigger brings in more money than a small, short tournament would bring in. It’s common sense, the more games there are the more money you bring in.

Another reason why people think the seeding system is unfair is because they think that since so many teams are allowed in that the teams are watered down(not as good as they were thirty years ago). I agree to an extent. They do have a point. It’s common sense, the more teams you have the worse the teams are going to be at the bottom. But you still have elite teams that get in, the only difference from thirty years ago is that now more “o.k.” teams are let in. I also hear that the games are not the quality that they used to be. Just because games aren’t between two top five teams doesn’t mean they’re not great games. You can have a game between an elite team( Duke) and a non elite team( Butler, a couple of years ago) and still have a great, enjoyable game. Look at the 2010 national championship game, that was a classic game between an “elite” team and a “non-elite team”. Like I said before, a good game can come from any two teams and any time. That’s a big misconception in the world of college basketball. Good games don’t just come from the top five teams in the country. Great games can come from anywhere.

When you have something as popular as the NCAA tournament there is always going to be scrutiny. You can’t please everyone. The tournament is fine just the way it is. “If it aint broke don’t fix it,” thats the perfect saying for this problem. When you start fiddling with stuff that doesn’t need it thats when things start to break down. There is a reason why the NCAA tournament is one of the most popular sporting events in the country. We don’t have to start toying with it now.