This is where we disagree completely. Last year Oklahoma (who missed the tournament) literally beat Alabama (who was a #1 seed). The tournament would have been better if you could include more at large teams and fewer AQs.
Based on Bullet’s list above this would/should be an easy compromise.
Take all 10 FBS conference and add in any conference who has made a Sweet16 in the last 40 years: Big East, A10, WCC, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, Patriot, Southern, and the Summit League.
That would free up 11 AQ spots. If you get rid of the First Four that removes 4 teams which means we could go back to the basic 64 team setup and still have 7 additional at large bids for Oklahoma, Indiana St, Seton Hall, Pitt, St John’s, Providence, and Wake Forest.
Yes, I think that would have been a better product and the average fan wouldn’t know any better since there would still be more than enough non traditional brands in the tournament to satisfy their Cinderella dreams.
I’m very knowledgeable on most conferences in Division I and was only able to name 8 of the 11 conferences that were left out without looking it up. We have too many conferences in Division I which is the problem here.