ESPN's first attempt at a 96-team NCAA bracket is very large and scary

We’re told that a 96-team NCAA Div. I Basketball Tournament bracket is a given; a done deal. But what would such a bracket look like? The bracketologists at ESPN spent several days in the lab to construct a test model of such a bracket, and unfortunately it was so mindless and large that it broke it’s restraints and escaped into the countryside. But before it did, they took a snapshot of the hideous creature, a portion of which you see to the right. It’s based on the premise of eight teams in each of the flour regionals receiving first-round byes, creating, in essence, 32 play-in games. As The Sporting Blog points out, games such as Arizona State-Saint Louis and Virginia Tech-Coastal Carolina may not make for an entertaining first two days of the tournament. It’s a good point. But it also depends on how you look at it

Here are the main complaints about a 96-team tournament field:
* The first two days of the tournament will be unwatchable!
The NIT is still televised, last time I checked; so somebody’s watching that caliber of basketball. Think of the first two days of the NCAA Tournament as a mini-NIT. Those winners will be battle-tested, and presumably deserving to be there. And that makes the chances of Duke or Syracuse getting beaten in the first game even better.
* It will dilute the tournament.
If the first two days of games bother you, find something else on TV (and if the ratings suck, you can bet the 96-team format won’t be around for long). The first time a No. 22 seed reaches the Elite Eight, you may actually think the new format is pretty good.
* Virginia Commonwealth? Belmont? I don’t even know their mascots!
Rams. And um … I’ll get back to you.
* If the tournament’s not broke, don’t fix it!
Very witty, in a 19th-century kind of way. Bruins!
* Coaches will be able to pad their resumes with undeserved NCAA bids.
That’s not high on my list of worries, but look at it this way: I actually think it’ll work the other way. There will now be a distinction between coaches who merely make the NCAA tournament, and those whose teams earn a first-round bye. “His teams had five straight NCAA first-round byes” will beat “His teams made five straight NCAA tournaments” every time in a coaching search.
* I wear my pants very high, and don’t like people on my lawn!
I understand.
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The 96-Team Bracket Will Kill The Tournament’s Opening Days [The Sporting Blog]
Bracketology [ESPN]