Why are there 65 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament?
by 
Wayne Aldridge
ANSWERS: 1
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According to http://www.dimeoschneider.com/ncaatrivia.htm (or, rather, the google cache of the page): Since 2001, the NCAA men's basketball tournament had an odd number of teams, 65. Here's why: For years, the tournament included 30 conference champions and 34 invitees. A new conference, the Mountain West, was formed in 1999, and received an automatic bid. Rather than reduce the number of invitees - most of which come from the big and powerful conferences - the NCAA added an "opening round" game between the two weakest conference champs for a spot for the sacred 64. The winner gets an extra cut of tournament revenue - and a date with a No. 1 seed in the next round. So far, that's meant defeat every year. (courtesy of The Wall Street Journal 2004)
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