Expansion talk's crazy, but here's one way to adjust NCAA tourney

Trevor Booker led Clemson to an 83-64 win over then-No. 12 North Carolina. AP

Any coach or administrator who wants to expand the NCAA tournament to 96 teams should be forced to sit down and construct this week's bracket. We're only in mid-January and the bottom of the at-large pool already is thoroughly mediocre. Trust me, we don't need more of these teams in the mix.

Here's a quick solution:

• Borrow from European soccer and link the NCAA tournament and NIT. Take the 32 first-round NCAA losers and add them to the 32 automatic bids and at-larges selected under existing protocol to create a new 64-team NIT.

• Announce the new NIT bracket on the Saturday at the start of the NCAA second round. Play the first two weeks on the Monday and Wednesday following the corresponding rounds of the NCAA. Play the Final Four on the Wednesday and Friday after the NCAA Final Four, to avoid the women's title game and end before weekend coverage of the Masters.

• Have the top four seeds in each region host pods. Highest seed remaining in each region hosts the pods on the second weekend. Final Four remains at Madison Square Garden.

Why it works:

• The event is much deeper and more competitive, with 32 extra games for TV. Result for NCAA and its TV partner(s): $$$.

• Four programs get to host up to four more home games. Twelve others would have one or two extra home dates, plus all hosts get a take from the pod's other games. Result for them: $$$.

• High seeds who get upset in the NCAAs don't have a terrific season crushed in one night. Meanwhile, the 15- and 16-seeds get an extra postseason game they actually might have a chance to win.

• The integrity of the NCAA tournament is retained, as we don't add 32 more teams that would pollute the event with mediocre play and have to suffer through first-round 9 vs. 24 games.

• Solves the fan question of whether you'd want to be one-and-done in the NCAAs or win the NIT. Now you could do both.

So, we all agree this would rock? Cool. Now if we could just get rid of the silly play-in game ... Anyway, on to the Bubble Watch.

Remember, records listed are Division I only, per NCAA Tournament selection guidelines. All RPI and SOS data are from Sunday's collegerpi.com RPI report.

Send your very valuable feedback to bubblewatch@gmail.com or to @aglock on Twitter. All submissions are read; polite, fact-based ones stand the best chance of a response. Submissions that claim your team's record is wrong because you failed to read the previous paragraph will be used to wrap the Pac-10.

ACC

Locks: Duke

The Blue Devils picked up a pair of 20-point home wins and continue to push for a No. 1 seed. The pecking order behind them in the league, though, got a shuffle this week.

SHOULD BE IN

Clemson (15-3, 3-1, RPI: 29, SOS: 69) played about 70 minutes of great basketball, enough to crush Carolina and hold on for a road win at N.C. State. Now the Tigers go to mercurial Georgia Tech before hosting Duke, with a hard-fought split being a perfectly fine result. For seeding purposes, Clemson could use a marquee win. The Tigers beat Butler but lost to Texas A&M and Illinois out of conference.

IN THE MIX

Wake Forest (12-4, 2-2, RPI: 27, SOS: 47) was in the game for about 30 minutes at Cameron on Sunday night, but then ate a typical Duke run and that was that. That made the home escape against Maryland in overtime earlier last week very valuable. Next up? A trip to suddenly reeling North Carolina, then home for surprising Virginia and then a trip to volatile Georgia Tech. Not very fun. Gonzaga's surge is making Wake's win look better, and William & Mary is keeping up its RPI bargain after toppling the Deacons.

Lose at Georgia, beat Duke, lose at Virginia, win at UNC? That's what happens when you have two frosh and a soph in your top four scorers, like Georgia Tech (13-4, 2-2, RPI: 33, SOS: 45). Expect to see more of that during the Jackets' very difficult ACC slate. Next four: Clemson, at FSU, Wake, at Duke. There's very little out of conference to excite the committee, so ACC statements are the ones GT will lean on.

Maybe it wasn't so silly to have some reservations about North Carolina (12-6, 1-2, RPI: 55, SOS: 20). The Heels found themselves down by 20-plus in both games last week and couldn't come back against Georgia Tech at home despite Will Graves' heroics. Throw in the loss at College of Charleston, and that's three of four to the bad. Nonleague wins over Ohio State (with Evan Turner) and Michigan State help, and losses to Syracuse (at Madison Square Garden), at Kentucky and vs. Texas in Dallas don't hurt.

Losing at home to N.C. State is a disappointment for Florida State (14-4, 2-2, RPI: 58, SOS: 129), which needs ACC wins given a relative lack of nonleague oomph. The 'Noles still could be favored in four of the next five games, so more slip-ups are not a good idea. FSU edged Marquette for the Old Spice Classic title, but got handled at Florida and Ohio State.

A frantic final-minute rally couldn't save Virginia Tech (13-3, 1-2, RPI: 64, SOS: 195) at FSU, and the Hokies resume their annual position of "good team with a suspect profile." Beating Seton Hall without Malcolm Delaney isn't going to get you into the NCAAs, no matter what the eyeball test looks like. The rest of the resume is undistinguished, with a neutral-site (albeit in Philly) loss to Temple and wins over mediocre (or worse) programs like Georgia, Penn State and Iowa.

Last week, Miami's (14-3, 1-3, RPI: 82, SOS: 264) pending road adventure was noted. Two games in, and results are not favorable as the 'Canes got swept out of the state of Virginia. You can tell by the SOS that Miami's nonleague slate was not sufficient, despite a win over Minnesota, so Tuesday night's home game against BC looks like a very early "just-about-must-win."

Special BW exemption alert! Virginia (11-4, 3-0, RPI: 101, SOS: 167), the league's only unbeaten team, gets a blurb this week as the current auto-bid owner. Tony Bennett deserves credit for getting the Cavaliers going in his first season, but let's see what happens when the Cavs hit the road again, like in upcoming games at Wake and UNC. The nonleague schedule hurts more than it helps, but the UAB win is solid.

Big 12

Locks: Kansas, Texas, Kansas State

You don't need to wait for Kansas-Texas for a UFC-style manhood check in the Big 12. Just tune in at 9 p.m. ET tonight when Texas heads into the octagon of K-State's Bramlage Coliseum. The league continues to have two clear No. 1 NCAA seeds and K-State is a protected seed, too. After that? It's still very open.

SHOULD BE IN

None

IN THE MIX

Texas A&M (11-5, 1-2, RPI: 36, SOS: 22) did everything but win at Texas on Saturday, leaving a huge marquee victory on the table. Combined with the big whiff at K-State, it was a disappointing week for the Aggies. They already have neutral-site wins over Clemson and Minnesota, and close losses to West Virginia and New Mexico (both neutral, although the New Mexico game was in Houston) and at Washington aren't bad, but A&M would be wise to take advantage of home dates this week with Oklahoma and Colorado, both of whom are playing pretty well.

Baylor (13-2, 2-1, RPI: 26, SOS: 101) may end up ruing the loss at Colorado, as the next three in league play are at Kansas, vs. K-State and at Texas. Out of league, a neutral-site defeat of Xavier and road wins at Arizona State, Arkansas and South Carolina are worth something, but it won't look as comfortable in 10 days or so if the Bears are sitting at 2-4 in Big 12 play. Call me intrigued, for now.

A split at Texas Tech and Oklahoma? Privately, Missouri (14-4, 2-1, RPI: 48, SOS: 113) probably would have taken it, but with a chance to get to 3-0, the close miss in Norman hurts. Still, the slate remains doable for the near term and the Tigers also get home dates with Texas and Kansas in the final six games to provide late-season statement-win opportunities. Nonleague play was very mixed. Forget what was said last week about the Oregon win. Beating Illinois is "fine." The Tigers also lost to Richmond in South Padre Island and at Vanderbilt and Oral Roberts.

An overtime loss at home to Missouri coupled with a blowout defeat at Kansas pushes Texas Tech (12-5, 0-3, RPI: 51, SOS: 62) into serious must-win territory with home games this week against Iowa State and Oklahoma. Given that Tech has lost by 55 points in its two league road games, and trips to Texas and Texas A&M are up after these two at home, a 1-6 Big 12 start -- and very dicey NCAA hopes -- would be a real possibility. The best of nonleague, an overtime win over Washington, still looks so-so.

As thanks for making Oklahoma State (13-4, 1-2, RPI: 37, SOS: 78) last week's final team in the bracket, the Pokes dumped two on the road. Despite reasonable computer numbers, their profile is pretty barren at this point.

Oklahoma (11-6, 2-1, RPI: 77, SOS: 58) beat Oklahoma State and Missouri at home this week, its two best wins of the season. The Sooners will need a good deal more of them to make up for a nonleague slate that "features" a couple of so-so wins and a larger helping of disappointing losses.