Something I have never Understood About NCAA Tournament

[cjdore]

Why in these play in games do we have any teams but the very bottom seeds in these games? Don't get me wrong, I took great joy in seeing Miss St eliminated in play in game but they were an 11 seed playing against another 11 seed. Shouldn't these games be seed 16's vs seed 15's. it just makes no sense that 11 seeds have a play in game but 12, 13, 14, and 15 seeds are safely in tournament.

[katmai]

The reasoning is that they are having the bottom 4 At-large seeds play in the 11 games, and the bottom 4 automatic bids play in the 16 games. May not make sense, but that is why they do it.

[AuricGoldfinger]

When the field was expanded from 65 to 68 teams, the NCAA basically added three new at-large spots. I suspect the NCAA knew they wouldn't get support from the non-Power 6 schools if they didn't force the last four at-large teams to play in Dayton.

I've also heard people argue that Dayton ought to be nothing but the final eight at-large teams, and that the 16 seeds shouldn't be forced to "sit at the kid's table."