Dave Kaup / Reuters

If a team is to celebrate an NCAA title, as Kansas did in 2008, it might have to fight its way through a 96-team field beginning next year.

So if it was difficult to find 65 worthy teams, imagine the trouble finding 96.

As ESPN’s Jay Bilas said, “This is the weakest at-large field in the history of the tournament. If you can’t make it in this year, you probably can’t really play.”

Which teams might have made the NCAA field, if the expansion had occurred this year?

Just look at the National Invitational Tournament, if you dare. It takes 32 teams that the NCAA can't accommodate.

This year, that field includes North Carolina, which finished tied for ninth in the ACC with a 5-11 conference record, and stands at 16-16 overall. The Tar Heels are 8-point favorites in the first round against William and Mary.

While some coaches — notably Kentucky’s John Calipari — are against expansion, the majority have expressed support. The most notable proponent is Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who certainly wouldn’t have needed the help this year, as his Orange are a No. 1 seed. For other coaches, though, expansion means as many as 31 more spots, and grabbing one of those could be the difference between a contract extension and a plank walk.

Miami missed both the NCAA and NIT despite a 20-13 record and a strong run in the ACC Tournament. (OK, the Hurricanes did finish last in the ACC with a 4-12 mark in the conference’s regular season.)

“I think it’s something that we need to explore because there are so many mid-major conferences now that you see a lot of those (leagues) getting multiple teams in the tournament,” Haith said. “I don’t know if we need the 96 that everyone’s talking about, but I’d like to see them explore it.”

It appears they will. And that’s fine with former college basketball stars Clark Kellogg and Greg Anthony, both of whom are now CBS analysts.

Both were against it at first.

“Change is always uncomfortable, for anybody, or any organization,” Kellogg said. “And when you don’t know exactly what the plans are for change, it’s even more uncomfortable.”

Now it looks unstoppable.

“I think the winds are blowing in that direction,” Kellogg said.

And he’s willing to go with them.

“My posture has changed to be open-minded about it,” Kellogg said.

So has Anthony’s.

“When you really think it through, the tournament has expanded from 32 to 48 to 64 and 65,” Anthony said. “Every time, it’s proven to be the right choice, and the tournament has continued to thrive and even prosper. You are also going to create a scenario, where you are going to start having better teams in some of the non-power conferences. Now these kids are going to go to schools because they know they are going to have the opportunity to play on the national stage. Whether or not it happens, who knows? But that potential does exist, and if the possibility does arise, I still think the tournament will continue to be what it is.”

Only bigger.

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