If life has taught me anything, it’s to not mess with a good thing.

And the NCAA tournament is damn near perfect.

The NCAA announced this week it will research the possibility of expanding its men’s basketball tournament from 65 to 96 teams. I think an expansion of that magnitude would be a colossally idiotic mistake.

The way the tournament stands now, three weeks of action works for the short attention spans of the American public. The best part of a one-game elimination tournament is there’s no need to keep track of who is winning the series – just who you have in your bracket.

With 65 teams, every team has a fair shot to win a game. There are no byes for higher seeds and there is just enough parity to keep things interesting. Expanding to 96 teams would likely mean the top eight seeds in each region would get to skip into the second round.

Could you imagine teams like Clemson, Richmond, or UNLV getting into the second round without beating anyone?

Yesterday’s bubble teams are tomorrow’s favorites.

To be honest, I don’t care who the ninth-best team is in the Big East, but I know if a 96-team bracket were pushed through, it would matter for my bracket.

Expansion would also destroy any meaning for the regular season and conference championship tournaments.

Just imagine the six-overtime classic between Syracuse and UConn in 2008 without the meaning it had. Both teams were headed to the tournament win or lose, but a conference championship goes a long way into seeding the tournament.

I would even venture to say if expansion happens, it would cheapen the first round. It would add the National Invitational Tournament, which nobody watches anyway, to the current setup. This means teams like North Carolina, which did not deserve to be in the tournament, would get a chance in the 96-team structure.

If expansion is so needed, why stop at 96? Why not just give everyone a chance?

There are 347 Division I teams in the NCAA. Why not throw them all in there?

Syracuse, which was a No. 1 seed in the tournament this year as well as my pick to win it all, lost to Division II Le Moyne. Why not put divisions 1-14 in the tournament?

It’s ridiculous that a classic case of over-thinking could jeopardize something so wonderful and perfect.

It already takes me a good hour-plus to fill out my bracket. Imagine how long it would take to figure out who would win in a match up between Sam Houston State and Troy?

Expansion would hurt the interest in the tournament, not help. Fewer people would fill out brackets because of its complexity.

A lot of the appeal of the tournament is the simplicity of the bracket. If a team wins, you fill in its name. With a 96-team bracket, you would have to pull out the slide rule to calculate who goes where.

I care a lot about this tournament and every March, it warms my heart knowing basketball will be at the forefront of my mind during the month. I just worry about overindulgence.

Ross Coleman can be reached at rcoleman@statehornet,com