Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Mike Greenberg's NCAA changes...if he had his way

Mike Greenberg offered his thoughts this morning on Mike and Mike (with Jay Bilas sitting in for Mike Golic) and I must say that I agree with a lot of his commentary but not all.

I agree with Greeny that the NCAA should do away with all of the play-in games and go back to 64 teams in the tournament. To think anyone considered expanding to 96 teams...

The second one he brought up is one I disagree with. His idea is to do what the Ivy League does, which is crowm the regular season conference champion and do away with the post-season conference tournament. It is a good idea but it doesn't sit well with fans because many teams need those extra wins to get into the tourney or increase their seeding. Take the 2008 SEC tournament, for example. Georgia had to win all four of their games to play in the NCAA tourney. They did...including two games in one day thanks to the Atlanta tornado during the 7 PM game that Friday.

Crowning the regular season champ does have its advantages. Look at the Georgia situation. Because they won, an at-large team with a higher ranked RPI did not make the tourney.

The final thing to do, Greeny said, is to adopt the baseball rule for the NBA and college basketball. This one is one that likely won't sit well with NBA fans. The NBA doesn't really have the minor league depth that Major League Baseball has. In baseball, a player can declare after high school but might not sign despite being drafted. If drafted and they opt against signing, they lose draft eligibilty until after their junior year.

The NFL would never consider drafting high school players or college players until after their junior year. The NFL is different as it is more of a contact sport and players need to mature as they play the game.

What do you think?

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