Imagine if you had, in your 2010 World Cup betting options, 48-64 teams instead of 32, how would you feel about the event in South Africa?  NCAA basketball betting players may be facing the same thing if the administrations and television executives have their way.

Next year’s NCAA Tournament was expanded from 65 to 68 teams, meaning there will be a play-in game in each region instead of just one.  However, there was a huge fear among fans and purists (and some coaches) alike that the Tournament would be expanded to a whopping 96 teams, which would create more games for the NCAA to show on television, which is important as they just signed a massive new deal between CBS and Turner Sports.  But there are a whole slew of complications with going to 96 teams.  First of all, time: the Tournament would obviously have to go longer, which cuts into conference tournaments and remember, a lot of these athletes are students who won’t be going to the NBA and still have to do little things like go to class, and study.  But the biggest worry is that it will dilute the product.  The Cinderella aspect of the Tournament is a big part of its allure, but it would pretty much make the regular season irrelevant if you knew you could probably get into the dance with a sub-.500 record. The furore among fans will probably put this off for a few years, but I would place a sports bet on this coming up again sooner than later.