68-Team Tourney Kills the Automatic Qualifier

Since 2011, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has put the top 68 teams head-to-head to determine a season champion. This was up from 65 beginning in 2001, which was up from 64 beginning in 1985.

The 68 teams that qualify each year include 32 automatic bids, which are filled by each conference's tournament champion, and 36 at-large bids. Before the Big Dance packs a punch into TV screens across America, there are four games for teams to advance into the official "First Round." These four games are known as the "First Four." 

Copyright Dayton Daily News, 2017

There are two types of First Four games. The first is the lowest-ranked at-large bid teams. The second is the lowest-ranked automatic qualifying teams. Usually, the at-larges go to a Power Conference school - Arizona State, Syracuse, etc. 

I see these first four games as a snub to the teams that earned their spot through an automatic bid. Two conference tournament winners will not get to play in an official round. Yes, these are the lowest quality of the qualifiers, but they still should all be able to say that they made the Big Dance.

The automatic qualifiers are listed as 16-seeds, so they will meet a 1-seed in the First Round. Meanwhile, the at-large bids are listed as 11-seeds and get to play 6-seeds upon victory. There's always speculation on Selection Sunday as to which will be the last four teams in and who will be the first four out? I see a problem in this:

If you have to question their entry, they probably shouldn't be in the bracket!

Copyright X (at)sportingnews, 2022

Texas A&M and Rutgers may disagree with me, but I believe the bracket should be decreased to an even 64 teams for a clean bracket that does not delve into technicalities and gives mid-majors the opportunity they deserve in the bracket. Most of these 16-seeds would lose to the 11-seed every time. The difference is that the automatic qualifiers automatically qualified (it's in the name), while it's debated whether the at-larges are even good enough to make the field.

For next year's bracket, I'd like to see a lack of First Four games and some respect put on the automatic qualifying Mid-Majors.

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