NCAA Tournament 2015: 5 Reasons March Madness is Flawed and Overrated
The NCAA college basketball playoff tournament is unlike any other.
There's more teams, more predictions, more brackets and more madness than any other league playoff. The best (so they tell us) teams are selected to compete in a 68-team payoff in random locations against one another for the championship.
Although a very entertaining competition, it still has its imperfections. Here are five reasons March Madness is flawed:
1. Too Many Teams
In 1978, the NCAA Tournament featured just 32 teams. Then, in 1980 it had 48 teams. Keeping the trend going, 64 teams were invited to play at the 1985 NCAA Tournament.
Think about that for a second. That means that in just a seven year span, the field literally doubled from 32 to 64 teams.
Obviously today, we have 68 teams in play competing for the championship. "The more the merrier," most will argue, but the reality is 68 teams far exceeds the needed limit. A No. 16 seed has never defeated a No. 1 seed, and probably never will. It's completely pointless to even have those four No. 16 seeds in the tournament. Maybe somewhere in the 48 team range would be more suitable for a better tournament.
2. No Home Court Advantage
Winning in the regular season doesn't pay off in college basketball like it does in the pros. Despite finishing the regular season with a much superior record than your opponent, you still have to pack your bags and travel for an away game. Sounds logical and fair, doesn't it? No. 4 Louisville will face No. 13 University of California, Irvine, in Seattle, Washington. Despite Louisville going 24-8 compared to UC Irvine's 21-12, they must travel nearly 2,500 miles to play inferior competition in what is expected to be a pro-UC Irvine fan base.
3. Shot Clock
This is more of a college basketball thing instead of just a error in March Madness. The NBA has a shot clock of just 24 seconds, but that's far different at the college level. Teams can simply hold the ball for 35 seconds in college. It used to be 45 seconds until the 1985-86 season. Talks of reducing the shot clock to 30 seconds have escalated, but nothing definite yet. Having 35 seconds to hold onto the ball is far too long.
4. Duke-UNC
Remember when Duke and UNC played each other in the NCAA Tournament? Neither do I. That's because (many people don't realize it) the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels have never once played each other in March Madness. Why on earth does the selection committee never put this unbelievable rivalry in the same region even though the two schools are separated by just 10 miles? The 2015 NCAA Tournament has five teams from the state of Indiana placed in the Midwest region: Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue, Valparaiso and Butler. All-time great rivalries should be made in the postseason, not the regular season.
5. Devalues the Regular Season
When you have so many teams in a playoff system like we see here, it almost completely evaporates the regular season. In all honestly, it's just not fair to high quality teams like Kentucky, Virginia, Villanova, Duke and Wisconsin because they performed at such a high level in the regular season.
It's almost like inviting the New York Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA playoffs. The very best teams perform at an extremely high level all season long and they have to compete in a playoff against teams that barely even have a winning record at random locations.
Follow Damon Salvadore on Twitter
FOR MORE SPORTS NEWS AND UPDATES, CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VISIT LATIN POST.COM'S SPORTS PAGE