Except the 8 teams in the play in games are not an addition to the original 64Archived Message
Posted by Blazer on March 14, 2024, 15:57:16, in reply to "Let me rephrase "
First, of course it's only 4 additional teams to the original 64, not 8. But more important, the original 64 has always included the auto-bid leagues that are the worst teams. This is why we have play-in games for 11 seeds, and 16 seeds. It's not just the 8 worst teams in the field.
The 4 additional teams are all shitty bubble teams, mostly from Power 5 conferences. These are the teams that have been added via the play-in games, but they are of course better than most of the auto-bid 15 and 16 seeds who have always been part of the tournament since it expended to 64 teams.
The premise of your argument is wrong, unless you are claiming we should get rid of auto-bid leagues altogether and only choose the best 64 or 68 teams (which would of course eliminate 200+ D-I teams from ever having a realistic shot at the Tourney, which of course is part of the magic of the entire event).
Previous Message
The 8 teams that play the 4 playin games should be the 8 worst teams. They are an addition to the original 64. 61-64 played the 4 best teams.
So, have 61/68, 62/67, 63/66 and 64/65 play. The winner gets to be on the 16 line against the 4 number 1s.