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NCAA Baseball Too Large?
Published: 5/27/2008 10:40 AM
Last Modified: 5/27/2008 10:40 AM

When the NCAA Baseball Tournament was expanded to 64 teams, there were plenty of coaches that secretly admitted it was too many.
There are not 64 good college baseball teams out there.
This year's field seems to indicate filling out the bracket for the tournament has become almost silly.
Oklahoma, the eighth-place team in a 10-team league, was included. So was Arkansas, a ninth-place team, in a league that only invites its top eight teams to the post-season conference tournament.
Former OSU men's basketball coach Sean Sutton (seventh in the Big 12) probably wishes he was a baseball coach.
So, is 64 too many for baseball? It would seem so.
Baseball isn't alone. There probably aren't 64 good tennis teams or golf teams or women's basketball teams.
By contrast, a good argument could be made for 128 teams in men's college basketball. And, some of the most entertaining bowls are those pitting teams not considered in the top 35 or 40.
It won't change. Baseball coaches can hang onto their job by claiming they made the NCAA Tournament. That's why the expansion of the basketball tournament to 128 teams is expected to happen in the near future.
So, strange things will continue to happen on the day the bracket is announced for NCAA tournaments.

Reader Comments

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Tbone (5 years ago)

You seem to be right on your "too many baseball teams" opinion that too many teams are involved in the NCAA Baseball tournament. Sure hopw you are wrong about expanding the NCAA Basketball Format. The NBA Season has gone on and on where I believe most people have lost interest

David (5 years ago)

Just how many teams compete in NCAA division one baseball? That would give people a better idea as to whether or not there are too many. I agree with TBONE that the NCAA should not expand the basketball tournament. It should be somewhat of an accomplishment to get in the big dance.

Chance (5 years ago)

I disagree with the need to expand the NCAA Men's Basketball to 128. The point of the tournament is to crown the best team, and I have a hard time believing that the best team would not make it in the top 65. If we regularly saw 13-16 seeds in the Final Four I would consider changing my stance.

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Tulsa World senior sports columnist John Klein is in his fourth decade of covering sports. He started his newspaper career at The Daily Ardmoreite in 1977 and moved to the Tulsa World in 1978. He served 10 years as sports editor for the Tulsa World before being named to his current position in 2005. He also spent five years as the Southwest Conference beat writer for the Houston Post. He has won many writing awards and is a former Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year.

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