March Madness Expands To 65 Teams
July 19, 2000
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The field for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament willexpand by one next season with an “opening-round” game the Tuesday beforethefirst round begins.
The NCAA, which confirmed the 65-team field Tuesday, said the winner ofthegame between two of the lower-ranked conferences will move into the bracketsasa No. 16 seed.
The tournament field is expanding because 31 conferences will receiveautomatic bids next year, two more than last season. The committee alwaysselects at least 34 at-large teams.
The additional automatic bids will go to the year-old Mountain WestConference and the Western Athletic Conference, which didn’t have one lastseason after eight members left to form the Mountain West.
The Division I Men’s Basketball Committee is recommending theopening-roundgame be played on Tuesday, March 13, at the University of Dayton Arena,whichis a host site for first- and second-round games. Then again, that teammighthave to play somewhere else.
“They could play at Dayton,” NCAA spokesman Bill Hancock said. “Theywillbe seeded into line No. 16 and if, on selection Sunday, the committeebelievesthat the No. 1 seed should be assigned to Dayton to play No. 16, then thatteamcould stay in Dayton.”
The NCAA’s Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet will decideAug. 3whether to adopt the recommendation.
The 65-team field will be a first, but it won’t be the first time theNCAAhas given more than 64 teams a shot at the championship. In 1991, 33conferencechampions received automatic bids and six of the teams competed in threeplay-in games. Those three winners joined 61 other teams in the tournamentfield.
Craig Thompson, the Mountain West commissioner, chaired the basketballcommittee.
“We want to do everything we can to ensure that the student-athleteswhocompete in the opening-round game get the full flavor of participation inthisgreat championship. The University of Dayton has a strong history of drawingtremendous crowds to NCAA tournament competition,” Thompson said in astatement.
The NCAA said the teams playing the Tuesday game will be determined onSunday, March 11, with the remainder of the tournament field. The NCAA willtryto assign the Tuesday winner to a site playing host to first-round games onFriday, rather than Thursday. Dayton’s first-round games will be playedFriday.
“They could stay in Dayton, but they could also move, and that won’t beknown until selection Sunday,” Hancock said.
Both opening-round participants will get a full share of revenue forplayingin the tournament, Hancock said.
