I know it is the time of year for conjecture about the “Road to the Final Four” and who should be on it. However, at some point, maybe we need to “chill” and see how the current system plays out. After all, changing just to be changing doesn’t work and never did.

I am definitely not about limiting participation in March Madness and I do have a quarrel with an idea I heard bandied about by ESPN analysts Jay Williams (former Duke University star) and Seth Greenberg (former coach at Virginia Tech). Young Mr.Williams was proposing that the defending National Champion should automatically be in the tournament field.

Since when does the past give you special treatment? Coaches with great records get fired all the time because they have a bad year or two. Not that I agree with this but, “What have you done for me lately?” seems to be a basic operating principle for a lot of folks.

There was a proposal made a few years ago that I really liked, the proposal was that we put everyone in the playoffs. Eliminate the conference tournaments, which coaches basically hate, and create regional play to open the tournament. The other part of the proposal was to split the revenue equally amongst all the participants … after expenses, of course.

Since every game day eliminates half the field, we would be down to the “Sweet Sixteen” in a heartbeat. Splitting up the money equally would be a step toward eliminating the “rich get richer.” This would relieve the pressure a little on the coaches. I know, don’t hold your breath that this will happen.

Back to the interaction between Mr. Williams and Mr. Greenberg … the basic principle of their conversation was whether or not the previous year’s champion should get an automatic bid the following year to defend its title. I thought that you only needed to defend that which you could lose?

The 2012 champion is the University of Kentucky. Whether they win a bunch of games now and in the future or none at all they cannot lose that 2012 championship. Therefore they have nothing to defend. Each year all the teams vie for the right to be selected for an opportunity to earn the championship. If you put everyone in, that’s great. If we have a seeding system, that’s great too. But no free passes based on a premise that doesn’t exist.