Jump into a 96-team office pool

Come on in. The water is fine here in the heated hypothetical 96-team NCAA Tournament office pool.

Yeah, I know.

Don't mess with a good thing.

But they said the same thing about chips before salsa.

For the first time since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there is serious talk of a bigger dance. The full-court press includes a shaky economy, big and little guys fighting for a larger share of the pie and an opt-out window after this season in the NCAA's television contract with CBS.

Why not?

A 96-team tournament adds another four-day weekend of fun, cash for schools in need and, most important, does not pollute the office pool.

Plus, you've been getting your butt kicked each March by the administrative assistant upstairs, so maybe this is an embraceable change ultimately costing less loose change.

Even better than the best three weeks in sports: Another week. But we must tread carefully.

As College of Charleston head coach Bobby Cremins pointed out Tuesday, it was "a big deal" to get the NCAA to add a 65th team and play-in game to the tournament.

Mike Krzyzewski, as usual, is the voice of reason. He favors "putting everything on the table where it's a quality discussion on the options that are available."

"But we should definitely consider it because the game has grown," the Duke head coach said Monday during an Atlantic Coast Conference weekly conference call. "The tournament over the years has grown and we have not taken good care, in the current structure, of our regular season champions for all the conferences, which I think is an oversight of the current tournament."

The new bracket

The best new bracket formula looks like this, and still fits on a sheet of paper suitable for copying:

--The top 32 teams in as No. 1-8 seeds (eight teams in each of four regionals).

--The bottom 64 teams play one game apiece over a four-day, first-round weekend at two sites (eight games per day -- Thursday and Saturday at one site, Friday and Sunday at the other).

--The 32 first-round survivors make up the No. 9-16 seeds in the field of 64.

With the NCAA Tournament expanding from 65 to 96, the 31 new teams should include 15 spots reserved for regular season conference champions in mid-major leagues. The leagues should be chosen in descending computer ranking order starting just below the weakest rated league to have both its conference champion and regular season champion selected.

This is where tweaking comes in.

But also where 2010 regular season Southern Conference champion Wofford would qualify without having to win the SoCon Tournament. Which sure beats an NIT bid.

"Dave Odom won the NIT twice (at South Carolina) and it was meaningless," Cremins said. "I think it would be great to expand (the NCAA Tournament)."

Pre-John Kresse

Comparing the number of major college football teams in bowl games to the NCAA Tournament field is an apples and pomegranates exercise: The bowl system is not a tournament in which all participants are eligible for a championship.

The NFL and Major League Baseball make better comparative examples.

Eight of 30 (26.6 percent) MLB teams make the playoffs.

Twelve of 32 (37.5 percent) NFL teams qualify.

Currently, 65 of 347 (18.7 percent) NCAA Division I basketball teams make the NCAA Tournament.

So an expanded 96 of 347 (27.6) is relatively reasonable.

Particularly considering all the schools that have grown basketball programs since the field jumped to 64 in 1985.

The College of Charleston, for instance. John Kresse came to Division I basketball, did lots of conquering and left -- all since 1985.

Strangely, "Keep 65 Alive" traditionalists have an ally in, of all people, Wofford head coach Mike Young.

"I adhere to the thought of 'If it's not broke, why fix it?' " Young said Tuesday. "… Let's keep it the way it is. It's the best. It's unbelievable. Why mess with it?"

Don't mess with a good thing.

Yeah, I know.

But maybe a 96-team NCAA Tournament will help you finally finish ahead of that administrative assistant.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com or (843) 937-5593.