Possible/Probable expansion of March Madness

I really hope this is an April Fool's Day joke, but sadly, I don't think it is.

During the last couple of days, the sports world is reporting that the NCAA is considering the likely expansion of March Madness to 96 teams. That's right. Ninety-six.

The purpose of a tournament is to find the best team and crown them champion. So that means only "the best" teams should get into the tournament to begin with. By having so many teams, all you do is dilute the tournament as a whole.

• Fact 1: A #16 seed has never beaten a #1 seed. (I'm sure it will happen some day, but that's beside the point.)

• Fact 2: The highest seed to ever win the tournament was Villanova in 1985, who was #8. That would have made them somewhere around the 32nd best team going into the tournament. 

Right now there are 65 teams. Does anyone really think that a team coming into the tournament ranked in the 40's or higher will actually win the whole thing? Well, I'm sure someone does, but I'm sure someone believes there's a leprechaun living in their closet, too. You get my point.

So what will having 96 teams accomplish? Oh, that's right, money. The NCAA is after your money. Which is the main reason college football still doesn't have a playoff. The bowl system makes the NCAA (and schools) way too much moola for them to change anything; except maybe add more bowl games.

On top of all of this, the NCAA is so hypocritical is makes me sick. They claim one of the main reasons they won't do a football playoff is because the athletes would have to miss too much class. But then they turn around and are talking about expanding one of the biggest tournaments in all of college sports. (Not to mention the fact that the lower level football schools already have a playoff system.) Right now, teams go home for a couple of days between the weekends of playing. With the current expansion proposal, that would not be possible, as they would have games starting on Tuesdays. (i.e., they miss more class time.)

I see an expansion to 96 teams doing a few things, much of which I have gathered from the combination of many sources:

1. The regular season ceases to matter. This is the biggest issue, in my opinion. If everyone and their brother gets in, who will truly care about their regular season games?
2. Conference tournaments suffer as the best teams let their benches play most of the time.
3. We watch an additional "half-round" of opening games with some of the most boring upsets anyone has ever seen. Will we really care if the 96th best team beats the 36th best team? Or if the 10th best Big East team beats the 9th best Big 12 team? Probably not.
4. People stop caring about filling out brackets because it becomes a mental chore, all culminating in...
5. The death of the best thing that happens in sports all year. Its mutilated remains laid at the altar of the almighty dollar.

Going back to the fact that a #16 has never beaten a #1, none, and I repeat none, of the additional teams that would get in under a 96 team bracket (teams 66 - 96) would have a realistic chance of winning the whole tournament. NONE.

The bottom line: the NCAA is considering this expansion to line their pockets, and not for the integrity of the game.

I propose the creation of a new authority in college athletics. The DCAA. The Democratic Collegiate Athletic Association. If there was a vote on what the fans and players wanted to see in college sports, I can almost guarantee that the majority of people want the best tournament in college sports, March Madness, left alone, and they want to see a true champion in college football determined by a playoff.