NCAA Expands Field For Men’s Basketball Tournament – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
July 19, 2000
%^$
%^$%^$
%^$ INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The field for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament will%^$expand by one next season with an “opening-round” game the Tuesday before the%^$first round begins.%^$
The NCAA, which confirmed the 65-team field Tuesday, said the winner of the%^$game between two of the lower-ranked conferences will move into the brackets as%^$a No. 16 seed.%^$
The tournament field is expanding because 31 conferences will receive%^$automatic bids next year, two more than last season. The committee always%^$selects at least 34 at-large teams.%^$
The additional automatic bids will go to the year-old Mountain West%^$Conference and the Western Athletic Conference, which didn’t have one last%^$season after eight members left to form the Mountain West.%^$
The Division I Men’s Basketball Committee is recommending the opening-round%^$game be played on Tuesday, March 13, at the University of Dayton Arena, which%^$is a host site for first- and second-round games. Then again, that team might%^$have to play somewhere else.%^$
“They could play at Dayton,” NCAA spokesman Bill Hancock said. “They will%^$be seeded into line No. 16 and if, on selection Sunday, the committee believes%^$that the No. 1 seed should be assigned to Dayton to play No. 16, then that team%^$could stay in Dayton.”%^$
The NCAA’s Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet will decide Aug. 3%^$whether to adopt the recommendation.%^$
The 65-team field will be a first, but it won’t be the first time the NCAA%^$has given more than 64 teams a shot at the championship. In 1991, 33 conference%^$champions received automatic bids and six of the teams competed in three%^$play-in games. Those three winners joined 61 other teams in the tournament%^$field.%^$
Craig Thompson, the Mountain West commissioner, chaired the basketball%^$committee.%^$
“We want to do everything we can to ensure that the student-athletes who%^$compete in the opening-round game get the full flavor of participation in this%^$great championship. The University of Dayton has a strong history of drawing%^$tremendous crowds to NCAA tournament competition,” Thompson said in a%^$statement.%^$
The NCAA said the teams playing the Tuesday game will be determined on%^$Sunday, March 11, with the remainder of the tournament field. The NCAA will try%^$to assign the Tuesday winner to a site playing host to first-round games on%^$Friday, rather than Thursday. Dayton’s first-round games will be played Friday.%^$
“They could stay in Dayton, but they could also move, and that won’t be%^$known until selection Sunday,” Hancock said.%^$
Both opening-round participants will get a full share of revenue for playing%^$in the tournament, Hancock said.
