"I agree completely."

That's what ESPN's Bracketologist, Joe Lunardi, said last year when I emailed him this commentary. I've pulled this one out from the back of the freezer, defrosted it, and updated it with teams and scenarios from this year's tournament...

With the announcement of the brackets for the Division I Men's basketball tournament comes the annual gnashing of teeth about (and by) teams that weren't selected. Missouri State, Cincinnati, and Michigan, on the "bubble" for gaining entry to the tourney, weren't picked. On the other hand, Air Force, Bradley, and Utah State made it through the selection process to join the field of 65.

But there are two other schools where folks should be complaining: Monmouth and Hampton. You see a few years ago, the NCAA-in its infinite wisdom-decided to expand the field from 64 teams to 65 (presumably to quell the anger of the bubble teams). Tonight Monmouth plays Hampton in a "play-in" game. The winner joins the big boys in "Bracketville." The loser goes home, having not actually played in the NCAA tournament.

Granted, these are the two worst teams in the field. Either team would get trounced by Connecticut or Duke. But that's not the point. These two teams did what the NCAA asked them to do: they won their conference tournament, gaining an automatic bid into the March Madness field. And yet, teams who finished with sub-par records and spent the final weeks of the season on the bubble get to participate, no questions asked. So instead of making the trip to Dallas or San Diego to be part of the festivities of the NCAA Tournament, these two teams catch the red eye to Dayton to play in front of a half-empty stadium.

Just like the other 63 teams in the field, these two teams have great stories to tell about their road to the tournament. But for the team that loses tonight, it will be as if they never even existed, because this game is possibly one of the least-watched sporting events of all time.

No offense to either of the schools involved, but does anyone watch this game? Does anyone care? I'm guessing that According to Jim attracts more viewers tonight. Heck, more people will probably watch the repeat of Gilmore Girls. Most people don't even consider these two schools when filling out their brackets. (How many times has someone looked at you with that blank stare when trying to figure out where the 16th seed college named "Play-in" is located?)

If I were the Czar of Sports (which, by the way, I am still submitting my resume for), things would be different: The day after the Super Bowl would be a holiday, there would be a Division I-A college football tournament, and there would be no play-in game for the NCAA Tournament. Instead, there would be three more teams added to the field for a 68-team tourney. There would be four "Bubble Buster" games, two each at different sites (rotating each year of course), making the match-ups far more intriguing than tonight's game.

Using Joe Lunardi's final Bracketology report (a great resource for college hoops junkies) as a guide, along with the teams everyone has been talking about ad nauseam since Selection Sunday, I've come up with four potential games we could be looking forward to tonight instead of the play-in game.

Keep in mind that since all of the seeds from 14-16 are conference tournament champs from lower-tier conferences (i.e., a bunch of schools you may never have heard of), the final "at-large" teams selected by the committee were two of the 13 seeds and two 12 seeds. I've selected those four teams as well as four teams who just missed out on making the field. Oh, and since the selection committee either loves controversy or can't avoid it, I'm still not putting Cincinnati in the field. Just for kicks.

Without further ado, here are the second annual "Bubble Buster" games (as drawn by the Can's trusty illustrator, Rob). Round 1 of the tournament would go this way in my world: 

The selection of mid-major schools over some of the bigger names in college basketball caused the greatest stir this year, so let's match two of them up in the opening round. Hofstra, hailing from the Colonial Athletic Association, beat George Mason twice in ten days, but didn't make the NCAA tourney field (even though George Mason did). Meanwhile, Bradley was the 4th team selected from the Missouri Valley Conference. This is the first game of the day, with the winner moving on to face Kansas in the tournament.

Game 2 of the Dayton Bubble Busters is a doozie. Missouri State (also from the Missouri Valley Conference) has the distinction of having the highest RPI ever for a team that wasn't selected for the NCAA tournament. Texas A&M almost knocked off Texas in the Big 12 final. One of the arguments against this system would be that it gives the teams awaiting opponents an extra advantage. And since controversy rules in the world of the NCAA, giving Syracuse-the national darlings after their magical Big East run-an extra advantage would certainly fit the bill.

Two big-name schools try to play their way in out west as Michigan and Florida State square off. Florida State was one of just three teams to beat Duke this season, while Michigan knocked off Illinois just a few weeks ago. With Washington awaiting the winner, this could be the game of the day.

I realize both of these teams made the field in the real world, but not in my world. Instead, Utah State-who lost a heartbreaker to Nevada in the WAC tournament-takes on the team everyone says doesn't belong: Air Force. Illinois will face the winner of what could be a thrilling game.

There you have it. Perfect? No. Better than the current system? Heck yes. A couple of notes: all of the winners of these games would play on Friday and not Thursday (to give them a little breather); the losers could be the top four seeds in the NIT; folks running office pools would have to make the decision of whether or not to include these games in their pools.

Someday, common sense will prevail and the NCAA will put a system such as this one in place. Until then, I'll keep dreaming about becoming the Czar of Sports (feel free to contact your Congressman and demand action on this). And if you think I'll be watching Monmouth vs. Hampton tonight, you're crazy.

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