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Saturday, May 1, 2010
NCAA rep says Dayton in discussion for extra games
I listened to a podcast of an ESPN radio interview with NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen talking about the decision to expand the NCAA tournament to 68 teams and what that might mean for Dayton.
He said the options for grafting in the three additional teams include playing four opening-round games and having the winners meet the No. 1 seeds or possibly pitting the bubble teams against each other for spots in the 64-team portion of the field. He said that decision will be made when the NCAA meets in mid-May and again in June.
He said Dayton is under consideration for hosting all four “play-in” games because of how the city has embraced that event since its inception in 2001.
“I’ve been to nine of the 10 games, and it’s amazing how they will sell eight to 12,000 tickets, and the community really adopts the two teams that got into that,” Shaheen told ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb. “I think Dayton has set itself apart in that regard, and the committee has been thrilled with their execution.
“At the same time, as we go forward, there’s nothing to say the game can’t move around or can’t be in multiple locations. Those are the kinds of discussions the committee will have over the next two months, and there will be discussion among the membership (Division I schools) on it as well. There’s a lot of options.”
The NCAA should reward Dayton for its support of that opening-round game for 10 years and have all four here, in my opinion. If it’s bubble teams vs. bubble teams, all the better.
