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[UACFlyer]

This situation is made to sound like as complex as finding a cure for cancer or Mars travel...when actually it's ridiculously simple.

Combine the NCAA-owned NIT with the NCAA tournament forming a 96 team field...about 1/3 of the Div 1 schools. Thirty two receive a first round bye, while 64 play round one games.

That's it. Mid-major NCAA tournament problem solved.

Scheduling remains challenging....but would becomes an issue without life and death consequences for majors and mid-majors as regards getting into the NCAA tournament.

The consequences of a good major program playing a game at Dayton and losing would not be a potential NCAA tournament killer. With a 96 team field all good/deserving programs would make the NCAAs. The challenge would be making the bye-group of 32, not getting into the tournament. For schools like Dayton that would be a challenge they would welcome compared to the present situation where just getting into the NCAAs is a long-shot unless you have a stellar season.
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Another option, just as simple: Each year there are teams that had really good seasons that don't make the NCAA tournament cut. Looking back over ten years or so, that number is not 12 or 15 or 18. More likely it's ten or fewer. That injustice could be easily addressed by expanding the field from 68 to 76, for example. Instead of one First Four site (Dayton) there would be a few play-in games to narrow the field to 64.

Of course a school like UD would prefer too avoid the play-in round. But they would have made the field and are in the tournament. We've been in that situation....and it's infinitely preferable to missing the NCAA tournament. And as for regular season OOC scheduling, it would not be a life and death matter for either Power 5 schools or mid-majors. If you had a good team chances of making the "field of 76", or whatever, would be far better than the current crap shoot a school like Dayton has to deal with every year.