We Don’t Need Participation Trophies for the Tournament

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Play-in games begin tonight amid discussions of expanding the field from its current 68 teams up to possibly 96. While Dan believes expansion is inevitable, he thinks 96 is far too many. The current system rewards winning, especially a conference tournament, and adding that many schools will diminish the value of a tournament bid.

Dan Patrick: “I think we’ll expand the tournament, I just don’t think we’re going to expand to 96. And I hope they don’t because that’s why you have a regular season. Everybody gets the opportunity to play in March Madness, all you have to do is win your tournament. You get an automatic bid. Why have a regular season if you’re going to have 96 schools that go in? The conference tournament: win it and you’re going to go in. Even if you don’t win it, you could still make March Madness. I don’t think we need to make it, you know, a participation type trophy for everybody.”