Shatel: 96-team dance dilutes quality

Do not sign me up for an NCAA men’s basketball tournament with 96 teams. It would be a mistake. It would be for the money, of course. The NCAA is looking for a new TV deal for March Madness, and in these economic times, the NCAA would need to add more games for the buck.

I hear some coaches say that college hoops doesn’t get nearly the percentage of its overall membership in the postseason, the way college football does. I disagree. College hoops has the NIT. I consider all of the fringe bowl games that 6-6 teams get “rewarded’’ for to be football’s NIT.

College football is an example where we reward mediocrity too often in this country. We want everyone to be happy. We’re afraid to lose. In major league baseball, the wild card added to the postseason, but it was only one team. You’re going to add 32 more teams to the world’s greatest sporting event? Every year, there are probably only five teams that get left out that deserved to be there. What’s more, it would take away from the regular season, particularly February, when bubble teams play for their lives every night.

It might make some coaches’ lives easier. But, consider the flip side. What if you aren’t even good enough to make the 96-team field? It would put a whole different tenor to this year’s Creighton and Nebraska seasons. Neither of them would make a 96-team field. What would you be saying about Dana Altman and Doc Sadler then?

• Well, so much for the theory that Creighton would be a better team without P’Allen Stinnett.

• I don’t get all of this talk that Nebraska’s recruiting take last week was less because it lacked big-play receivers. The offense Bo Pelini wants to run is not about eye-opening receivers. If anything, NU’s emphasis should be on big-time offensive linemen. After watching the lines in Sunday’s Super Bowl — especially the Colts’ offensive line — there’s no question that the stars of the show for NU have to be on the O-line. There is nothing better than a dominant offensive line.

• Peyton Manning is a great quarterback, but I’m glad the “greatest ever’’ talk has now subsided. Sorry, but Joe Montana, John Elway and Troy Aikman don’t throw that pick.

• Super commercials were pretty good, not memorable. Betty White, the Doritos dog and the house made of Bud Light did it for me. Godaddy.com needs to goawaydaddy.com. And when did Fletch and Clark Griswold grow old?

• Hey, we still have Bracketology to follow. Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com has Nebraska’s women’s team projected as a No. 1 seed, playing first-round NCAA hoops in Minneapolis and Kansas City, Mo., for the regional. By the way, the NCAA women’s Final Four is in San Antonio. Can we leave today?

• Mike Denney is only two dual victories away from 300 in his 31-year career at UNO. That’s as a team. Coach Denney doesn’t actually wrestle — he just looks as if he still could.

• Looks as if USC coach Lane Kiffin is off to a raucous start, with a commitment from a 13-year-old quarterback. Does that come with a note from his father? Meanwhile, UCLA’s Rick Neuheisel is beefing up his talent cupboard, including the kid from Portland that Nebraska courted. Advantage, Skippy.

• Colorado plans to honor its 1990 co-national championship team by wearing throwback uniforms throughout the 2010 season. It might be better off suiting up the ’90 team all season.

• Do Omaha hockey fans have anything left after last weekend? They had better. “Hockey Night in Omaha,’’ a terrific cross-promotion, is coming on Saturday, with the Lancers (4 p.m., Civic) and Mavericks (7 p.m., Qwest Center Omaha) hosting games. The Michigan series is always special, but this is probably the last time Michigan ever comes to Omaha — unless UNO and Michigan would consider a nonconference home-and-home in the future. I have to think that Mav hockey fans would love that.

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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