March Madness Selection Committee: Corrections and Further Observations

 First, allow me to provide a couple corrections to my previous column's questionable math and labels two days ago. As you may recall, my "modest proposal" called for two teams from each of the 31 automatic qualifying conferences to receive bids to the Division One NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament. Since there are now 68 teams in the tourney, that leaves six, not five, at-large bids to be granted judiciously in six separate conferences. I apologize for the bad math.
 Do the at-large bids have to go to the six BCS football power conferences? No. We're talking basketball, not football. Subdivisions and categories of Division One conferences only apply to football and the football postseason. Those six major conferences receive enough special treatment in the biggest revenue-generating sport. Why not be more egalitarian in the other sports? For example, this year the Big East would deserve a third team, but so would the Mountain West, a mid-major conference. Likewise, the Big 10 would deserve a third team, but so would the Atlantic 10, a non-football conference.
  My previous column also needed more clarity and accuracy when it came to describing the schools and conferences. Obviously, mid-major schools only come from the mid-major football conferences: Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, Sun Belt Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference. With that in mind, schools from the 12 championship subdivision conferences or schools from the eight non-football conferences and all independent schools associated therewith should have been called something besides "mid-major" or "small school." Apologies again.
 The term "small school" should only be used for Division Three and NAIA colleges, although many of them have enrollments larger than 7500. Perhaps the term should just be shelved.
 With corrections out of the way, let me make a few more observations. First, what's with the new nomenclature for early tournament rounds? I don't have a problem with calling the first four play-in games "The First Four." It is technically a pre-round, though, not a First Round. Where it becomes problematic is when the first full round played on Thursday and Friday is now called Round Two/Second Round and the second full round played on Saturday and Sunday is now called Round Three/Third Round. Really?
 We all know what this name change is all about. It's about gradually preparing the public mindset to accept what for many is extremely unpopular: the expansion of the tournament field to 128. I know. I should learn my lesson and avoid any further explorations of math and numbers. The trouble is, I can't. 
 A solid analogy for the round's name change is what the Sacramento Kings franchise of the NBA is currently doing. Of late, the Kings have been wearing uniforms with the word "Royals" replacing "Kings." This references the old franchise name when the team played in Rochester and Cincinnati. It also portends of the future, an unpopular future for many Sacramento fans, as the team prepares to relocate to Anaheim next year. The NHL L. A. Kings will force a name change for the NBA Kings when/if they enter their market. To most observers, the move is a foregone conclusion.  
 Some purists find the prospects of an NCAA Championship Tournament almost doubling to 128 an 
appalling thought. I'm one of those. Don't we have enough Division One postseason slots now with the 32 found in the NIT, the 24 found in the CollegeInsider.com, and the 16 found in the College Basketball Invitational in addition to the 68 already set in the NCAA? I believe that makes a total of 140 Division One schools playing basketball in this year's postseason. Pretty good, huh? 
 If the NCAA goes in the near future to a full first round rather than just a First Four, that would boost the total to 200 teams. It sounds ludicrous. It sounds like Division One college football, where 70 of the 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision qualify for postseason play. Can you spell "saturation"? There are 346 Division One men's basketball teams, so well over half would be playing postseason ball under that scenario. It means all conferences would be like the Big 10 and the Big East this year, where almost two-thirds of the teams qualified for postseason tournaments. Pass the smelling salts.