by Jerry Keys

The month of March has become symbolic with the NCAA's March Madness. Most offices with over ten employees fill out brackets and wish to win the pot. A similar playoff system has long been yearned for NCAA football, to no avail. It would be more grueling for football teams to play extra games, but keep in mind, almost every powerhouse lines up a few cake games during the season (example: UT-Chattanooga vs. Oklahoma).

Why not pull those games back, or simply rest starters when the powerhouse team is leading 45-0 in the third quarter? A sixty-four team tournament would not work for football. But what about a eight or sixteen team format? The larger conferences (example...SEC) could forego the title game and rely solely on the BCS. Eliminating the conference championship would be one game less for most of the large schools who would more likely see playoff action. There is a month or more between rivalry games and major bowl games. Is it unimaginable for a team to engage in a game during the month lull? In my opinion, if there would be money to be made, the 'powers that be' would most certainly pay attention.

Luckily, NCAA basketball does not have that problem. In fact, basketball has more than one tournament. A year older than the NCAA is the National Invitational Tournament. In each tourney's infancy it was common for teams to participate in each one. City College (NY) won both tourneys in 1950. "In 1950, the NCAA ruled that no team could compete in both tournaments, in effect indicating if a team were eligible for the NCAA tournament, it had better play in it. Since then, the NCAA tournament has clearly been the major one, with conference champions and the majority of the top-ranked teams participating in it."

The NIT since lost its luster and is considered a second rate sideshow. In 1970, Marquette passed on an NCAA invite and accepted a NIT one. Even though the reason for declining was mainly due to location, the NCAA passed legislation where if a team declines an NCAA invite, it was prohibited from any other tournament action. Whether or not a home team will see tournament action, if the visiting team expects to but is being defeated, the home crowd will chant "NIT...NIT." UCLA proudly displays all their NCAA championship banners, but their 1985 NIT championship is nowhere to be found.

To smaller schools, a NIT championship is seen as glorious. Although, it is viewed as a wasteland for big conference teams with .500 records and small conferences touting a 28-win team, but unable to boast any wins over large or mid-major teams; it is better than nothing at all. Many small school fans equate a NIT championship with a first round upset of a #2 or #3 seed. The NIT prestige was further dampened when the NCAA purchased rights to the tourney for ten years in 2005. What could you expect from the NIT when the NCAA is the parent? You do not see a team turning down an invite to the NCAA tourney, but you do from the NIT.

In recent years, the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and College Insider Tournament (CIT) was added. The CBI began in 2008 and fields a pool of sixteen teams. The uniqueness of the CBI is the two teams vying for the championship play a best two out of three for the title. Some schools see the CBI as a stepping stone as Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) and Oregon won the tourney in 2010 and 2011. The CIT began in 2009, consisting of 32 teams and mainly focuses on mid-major teams not selected by the NCAA or NIT. The CBI and CIT compete directly for participating teams.

A previous article, which was scraped, was the now-heralded #15 seed FGCU (Florida Gulf Coast) who became the first #15 to advance to the Sweet 16. FGC began Division I play only last year. Are they simply lucky, or unheard of? By handily defeating #2 Georgetown and #7 San Diego St., FGC faces #3 Florida. What does a Sweet 16 bid get a small school? Ask any UT-Chattanooga fan about 1997. After all the publicity received this week, just imagine a Final Four appearance. The nickname for FGC is "Dunk City" and a NCAA savant pointed out they reminded him of the UNLV team in 1990-91. What was VCU seeded two years ago and advanced to the Final Four? It could happen.....

On a side note, the team a true baseball fan could root for is the....Houston Astros, on the AL West. Their team payroll is less than Alex Rodriguez's salary. Sound familiar? Look back at the 1990 Astros. They went on to be a perennial contender beginning in 1994. If you subtract the $4.5 million Houston pays for a traded player, their team salary would be $19 million; lowest since the 2006 Florida Marlins. The minimum major league salary in 2012 was $480,000. The major league roster is twenty-five players. You can do the math.

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