In the world of sports, there are few events that compare to March Madness – college basketball’s quest for the national championship. Every year, 327 college teams play in the hopes of being one of 65 teams to participate in the NCAA tournament and compete for a national title.

Wait a minute, there are 65 teams in the tournament?

Oh yeah, that’s right. Remember a few years ago when the NCAA implemented the stupidest idea ever, and called it the “Play-in Game?”

Just the name itself means that two teams aren’t really in the tournament yet, although the NCAA would want you to think otherwise.

And do you know what the worse part of it is?

The two teams picked to play in the game for a No. 16 seed in the tournament may not be the strongest in the field, but have actually earned their trip to the NCAA tournament by winning their respective conference tournaments.

This year’s winner of the Play-in Game between UNC-Asheville and Texas Southern have the privilege of being the No. 16-seed in the South Region and have a date with No. 1-seed Texas.

I use the word privilege in this case because getting to the NCAA tournament isn’t something that happens for every team every year. Of course there are the traditional teams like Arizona, Duke and Kentucky in the mix every year, but teams like UNC-Asheville and Texas Southern don’t have that luxury.

Why take the “actual” berth away from them? And if the NCAA continues to use this stupid Play-in Game, why not have two of the so-called “bubble teams,” who got into the tournament through the back door, play in the game?

If the decision to who gets in or out is so difficult, let them play for the right to go.

Teams that were ranked in the Top-25 and have fallen off the map still make the tournament because they are in a power conference: They should have to earn their bid.

Teams like Alabama, Purdue, Colorado, Arizona State and others should be playing in the Play-in Game, not small schools that earned their way to the dance. That’s what the NIT is for.

The winner of this year’s Play-in Game will probably get trounced by Texas when they meet, but I feel, as strange as this sounds, that both of the teams should have the right to get trounced in the tournament.

After all, they earned it.

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