What would a 351-team NCAA Tournament look like?
Leave it to the fine folks at LostLetterman.com to give us an idea.
Over the tournament's 77-year history, the field has changed several times. The tournament jumped from 53 to 64 teams in 1985, added one in 2001 and three more in 2011.
This year's field is at 68 teams, which isn't satisfying for everyone -- ask Colorado State Coach Larry Eustachy how he's feeling about his Rams being left out.
Lost Letterman posted a 351-team NCAA Tournament bracket, which includes every Division I program a shot to win a national championship.
The website has four regions of 64 teams, which multiplied by four is 256, not enough spots for the entire tournament. So the website has made seeds 41-64 in each region a play-in game, except in the Midwest, where Cal Poly went to the round of 256, keeping the total number of teams at 351, not 352.
Kentucky (34-0) would get either Florida A&M (2-27) or Grambling State (2-27).
"John Calipari should play the whole game with just the last five players on the bench (hell, the last four), just to see if they could win," Lost Letterman's Jordan Rabinowitz wrote.
So who would the five Division I schools in Arkansas play?
m Arkansas (26-8), a No. 5 seed, would play the No. 60 seed, either Longwood or Idaho State, in the West Region.
m UALR (13-18), a No. 49 seed in the South Region, would be in a play-in game against Tulane. The winner would face 16th-seeded North Florida.
m Arkansas State (11-18), a No. 57 seed in the South Region, would face Saint Louis in a play-in game. No. 8 San Diego State would await the winner.
m Arkansas-Pine Bluff (12-20), a No. 61 seed in the East Region, would meet Presbyterian, with the winner playing fourth-seeded Louisville.
m Central Arkansas (2-27) was one of the final eight teams in the bracket. The Bears and San Jose State would meet in a play-in game between No. 64 seeds, with the winner getting top seed Villanova in the East Region.
(It should be noted, though, that UAPB and UCA were both ineligible for this year's NCAA Tournament. UAPB violated NCAA rules for playing ineligible players from 2007 to 2012, while UCA had low Academic Progress Rate scores.)
The four No. 1 seeds in the Lost Letterman bracket are Kentucky (Midwest), Wisconsin (West), Villanova (East) and Duke (South), similar to the actual field.
"So when you're done filling out your paltry, weak 68-team team bracket, feast your eyes and give your time to making sense of our monstrous, unprecedented 351-team bracket," Rabinowitz wrote. "A bracket so huge that not even Warren Buffett's net worth would be a prize large enough for picking every game correctly.
They said it
From the satirical sports website sportspickle.com:
• "Sam Bradford tears ACLs after getting struck by errant Tim Tebow pass"
• "John Calipari: 'We're just 12 injuries away from being underdogs' "
• "Video: Half-court shot for $1 million falls just 15 feet short"
SPORTS QUIZ
When was the last NCAA men's Final Four held in the Pacific time zone?
ANSWER
1995 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Arkansas lost to UCLA in the national championship game.
Sports on 03/17/2015