We may never see a 16 beat a 1

There were a lot of story lines heading into the Syracuse-Vermont first round game.

Syracuse's Kris Joseph and Vermont's Maurice Joseph are brothers. Vermont's Evan Fjeld playing through despite losing his mother a little more than a week ago. The Big East's struggles in the NCAA Tournament. The last time these two played in the tournament gave us one of the most memorable calls in college basketball history, and Gus Johnson was once again manning the play-by-play.

But the one that didn't get enough publicity is that this match-up very well could have been the last 1-16 game. Ever.

The latest news on NCAA Tournament expansion is that it will "likely happen" in the 2011 season.

You all know my feelings on this. (I hate it). You also should know that all the warning signs from the past week all point towards expansion. Thursday's fantastic day of games no doubt brought in enormous ratings and internet traffic. As it should have, because the day was amazing to follow.

Conspiracy theorists believe that Duke's generous region is another sign of expansion. Duke is like the Yankees in that you either love them or hate them. There is no middle ground for college basketball fans. But like the Yankees, the Blue Devils command attention, whether it is from the media or the fans. Attention brings TV ratings. The thinking goes that if Duke makes the Final Four, the ratings will be that much higher. And if the ratings are that much higher, than the NCAA is selling a better product. Higher ratings mean that the NCAA can sell their television rights at a higher price, enabling them to opt out of their current contract for a more lucrative one.

You still with me?

Like I said, I hate the idea of expansion to 96 teams. (Although I would be on board if they wanted to expand to, say, 68 or 72 teams, increasing the number of play-in games and allowing all those teams on the bubble's cut line a chance to play their way into the dance.) As good as the first day of the tournament is, making it take two weekends to trim the field down to the Sweet 16 is, simply put, too much of a good thing.

Ben and Jerry's Phish Food ice cream is my biggest weakness, but there's no way I'm going to eat a gallon of it in one sitting.

And while losing this first weekend of the tournament would be a disaster -- seriously, its like a national holiday; are we going to do away with President's Day next? -- perhaps the biggest loss here is that we will never see a 16 seed topple a 1 seed.

Only four times in the history of the 64/65 team tournament have we seen a 15 upset a 2. All four should be firmly engrained in your memory. In 1991, the Richmond Spiders became the first 15 seed to beat a 2 seed as they upset a Syracuse Orange (then the Orangemen) team led by Billy Owens and Dave Johnson. In 1993, the Steve Nash-led Santa Clara Broncos knocked off Arizona. In 1997, Coppin State beat South Carolina by 13 points. And lastly, in 2001, the Hampton Pirates knocked off Marcus Fizer's Iowa State team, providing us with one of the Tournament's most lasting images.

Imagine the celebration if a 16 seed ever beat a 1 seed.

Would we every forget it? How many Pontiac game-changing performance commercials would be made out of it? Hell, Princeton's 50-49 loss to Georgetown in 1989 has gone down in history simply because the Tigers came that close.

But with expansion, we will never see it.

(Sigh).

I guess I better enjoy this tournament while it lasts.