Just a couple of weeks ago, one of the best NCAA basketball tournaments ended, with “mid-major” Butler falling to powerhouse Duke after missing two shots in the last five seconds. Butler achieved a similar feat to that of George Mason just four years ago, however this magical and entertaining event might never happen again.

Within the next couple of months, representatives from colleges and conferences will decide whether or not the NCAA basketball tournament should expand to 96 teams. This will destroy everything unique and magical about this sporting event.

March is the month I look forward to most because of all the madness that comes from college basketball games—the huge upsets, the buzzer beaters and best of all, the “cinderella teams.”
 If the NCAA tournament is expanded to 96 teams, this will eliminate any chance of a “cinderella team” making it to the Sweet 16 or even the second round (third round, if expanded) ever again.
 Currently, for March Madness, the winner of each conference tournament gains an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. However, with the new proposal the winner of the regular season for each conference will also gain an automatic bid. 

 This will ruin the excitement of the first round because small schools will be playing other small schools. In addition, many of the weak teams from major conferences will earn berths into the tournament, even though they do not deserve one.

Not only is this making the matchups less exciting, but it is also cheating the smaller schools from a chance against major programs. Schools like Murray State, who made the most of their chance by defeating four-seed Vanderbilt, would have to face a team of same level as they have been doing throughout their season.

Every year, just before the tournament, there are all of the talks about “bracketology” and “the last four in,” and “last four out,” but with the expansion, this will all die. I spend hours watching SportsCenter trying to find out if my team or other teams are on the “bubble” or not. Without this, I will lose so much enthusiasm for the upcoming tournament. 

Plus, with the expansion, there goes any shot of achieving the “perfect bracket” since the whole first round will be teams no one has ever heard about or teams that do not deserve a berth.
 I pay attention to college basketball closely to make sure I can get as many picks correct when the tournament comes around. However, this year I threw my bracket into the trash after all of the upsets during the first and second rounds, or the upsets that I picked that never happened. I picked Butler to lose in the first round, so how the heck am I supposed to pick the winner of Arkansas Pine-Bluff vs. Lehigh if the tournament expands? Anyway, who would watch that game? Seriously?