Only people in favor of expanding NCAA tournament: The coaches

Even considering expanding the NCAA men's basketball tourney from 65 to 96 teams is a bad idea.

The tournament struck a golden nerve with America when it found its current format. Three perfectly synchronized weekends, three totally different weekends (David vs. Goliath, then the determination of the Final Four, then the best of the best settling things).

And, of course, the bracket is set up perfectly for what drives the tournament's success as much as anything, office pools.

So who would want to tamper with a beautiful thing? Who else? Those who stand to gain the most from an expansion of the field. The coaches.

Illinois' Bruce Weber: "Selfishly I think as a coaching profession, there's so much pressure on you to get into the tournament, if you don't get in, you're a failure. So, I think it would help keep jobs, it would maybe stabilize some programs, so I am definitely for it. I think most of our coaching profession is."

Maryland's Gary Williams: "I'll give you the best argument: They've expanded the tournament. I remember 16 teams when UCLA was doing their damage and winning championships. They went to 32, went to 48 with a play-in game for some teams. Went to 64 and now it's 65. Each time it was expanded it was because there was more good teams. There's more good teams now. That's why it should be expanded."

I just came back from Arizona, Pac-10 country. If there are more good teams now, they aren't inhabiting the Pac-10.

Texas Tech's Pat Knight: "This week I'm all for it. I haven't thought much about it, but from a money standpoint and everything it would be good. It's not like people aren't going to watch the early-round games just because they expanded it. ... A conference like ours, you could take seven or eight teams and that eighth team would have a chance to do real well."

Hey coaches, the people who made the tournament what it is today is the general public. We like the brackets the way they are, and we like having enough time (from Sunday night until Wednesday night) to fill out those bracket sheets for our pools. We don't want a round of games on the Tuesday before the tourney starts.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim "I Love the BCS" Delany is a voice of reason on this subject. Delany said:

"I think nobody would disagree that the 65-team, three-week event … has worked. You have David vs. Goliath. You have all sorts of internal story lines year in and year out. It's compelling. It's one of the great sports properties in the world.

"I have no problem with looking at expansion, whether it's small or big. I only say that issue is one that must be managed openly and transparently, (and) I have concerns that it's not."

Here's what we know: If the NCAA tourney expands, it will do so because it benefits the major conferences, not the sport in general. 

Powers that be, just leave the tourney alone and be happy with all the money your tournament makes right now. Isn't enough ever enough?