New tourney format: First Four to Final Four

In 2011, the 68-team NCAA Tournament will still end with the Final Four. It will now begin with what is being called the "First Four."

Once the basketball committee decided to expand the tournament by three teams, it had to decide on a format. Instead of two of the lowest-seeded teams playing one "opening-round game," it would need eight teams playing four games to get into the main 64-team draw. It considered matching up 16 and 17 seeds (all would have been smaller conference champions) with the winners playing No. 1 seeds. It also considered having four games played between the final eight at-large teams. In the end, the committee split it.

The last four seeds (ranked 65 to 68 by the committee) will play two of the games for the right to lose to two No. 1 seeds. The last four of the now 37 at-large teams will play the other two games and have to win for the right to get into the main draw. There will still be 31 conference champions that automatically qualify.

Typically, the final at-large teams are seeded anywhere from 10 to 12, but they were never confirmed. Now, everyone will know those teams, the "last four in." The winners will move on to play in what the committee is now calling the "second round."

These two at-large games could be between two 10, two 11 or two 12 seeds. The winner of the 10-seed game would play a seven. The winner of the 11-seed game would play a six. If it's a 12-12 game, the winner would play a five. Typically, some of the mid-major conference champions will have seeds in the 10-12 range, but they will not be involved in these games.

In these "First Four" games, two teams will be listed in four spots on the 64-team grid. So, America's favorite March pastime, filling out that NCAA bracket, will be unaffected.

The "First Four" games will be on truTV and be played either the Tuesday or Wednesday after Selection Sunday, with obviously a quick turnaround to the "second round." Sites to be determined, but Dayton, where the "opening-round game" has been played, is sure to get some of the games, if not all of them. In the first year of the new Turner/CBS deal, all 67 NCAA games will be broadcast live.

The old school among us kind of thought 64 was the right number, but with NCAA politics being like politics everywhere (self-interest rules), some expansion was inevitable. So 65 and now 68 is palatable. In fact, the games between those final four at-large teams will give those early games some juice the "opening round game" never had. Now, 96 would have been a problem. In fact, it will always be a problem, but, for the foreseeable future, it is just an abstract problem.

No doubt, representatives of the final four at-large teams will whine about having to play a game just to get into the main draw. However, in the 2010 Tournament, three of those teams in like-situations would have been playing in the NIT.