Why are there 65 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament instead of 64?

Answer 1

A total of 65 teams qualify for the tournament played in March and April. 31 teams earn automatic bids by winning their respective conference tournaments. Since the Ivy League does not conduct a post-season tournament, its automatic bid goes to the regular-season conference champion.

The remaining 34 tournament slots are granted to at-large bids, which are determined by the Selection Committee, a special committee appointed by the NCAA. Teams whose tournament inclusion status via at-large bids are unclear are called being on the "bubble".[3] The committee also determines where all sixty-five teams are seeded and placed in the bracket.

When the Mountain West Conference was created in 1999, the winner of the Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament for the 1999-2000 season did not receive an automatic bid. As an alternative to eliminating an at-large bid, the NCAA expanded the tournament to 65 teams beginning in 2001. The #64 and #65 seeds play the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Opening Round Game (informally known as the "play-in game") on the Tuesday preceding the first weekend of the tournament.

Answer 2

65 teams...one winner, need to play 64 games in order to find a winner...a little simpler

AnswerA total of 65 teams qualify for the tournament played in March and April. 31 teams earn automatic bids by winning their respective conference tournaments. Since the Ivy League does not conduct a post-season tournament, its automatic bid goes to the regular-season conference champion.

The remaining 34 tournament slots are granted to at-large bids, which are determined by the Selection Committee, a special committee appointed by the NCAA. Teams whose tournament inclusion status via at-large bids are unclear are called being on the "bubble".[3] The committee also determines where all sixty-five teams are seeded and placed in the bracket.

When the Mountain West Conference was created in 1999, the winner of the Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament for the 1999-2000 season did not receive an automatic bid. As an alternative to eliminating an at-large bid, the NCAA expanded the tournament to 65 teams beginning in 2001. The #64 and #65 seeds play the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Opening Round Game (informally known as the "play-in game") on the Tuesday preceding the first weekend of the tournament.

Answer 3

Honestly, there is no good answer. This is just an attempt to include more teams into the March tournement.

There are now 68 teams, but, in a conversation that would've happened at least a year ago, this is just another way of inclusion for money. You see, this is called the 'play in' game [now there are four 'play in' games, called the First Four], and besides including another team in this, they get free advertising

"Tune in to NCAA on CBS tomorrow night for the play in game"

It's another round, another game, which means more air time, which means more advertisements on TV and in the arena.

Hope this is an improvement to the last answer!