I came across something interesting when reading the latest blog post from ESPN’s Andy Katz.

As we know, the NCAA Tournament will transition from 65 to 68 teams next year, meaning there will be four opening-round games instead of one.

Here is the paragraph from Katz’ article that especially caught my eye.

The consensus seems to be that the opening-round games would remain in Dayton, Ohio. But [St. Joseph’s coach Phil] Martelli said Saint Joe’s athletic director Don DiJulia suggested that they move them to historical buildings like the Palestra in Philadelphia or Phog Allen in Lawrence, Kan., to give the games even more meaning.

I had never heard anything about this, but I think the idea is intriguing. I’m guessing this option would most likely be put in place if the four opening-round games pitted 16 seeds vs. 17 seeds (usually the conference tournament champions of the smaller, one-bid leagues). For those teams, playing an NCAA Tournament game at Allen Fieldhouse would probably be a much better reward than playing in a mostly empty Dayton arena.

http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/blogs/entry_img/2010/May/25/WNIT_Panorama1.jpg

Keep in mind that this would take some cooperation on KU’s part as well. In the last few years, the KU women’s basketball team has hosted quite a few WNIT games in the Fieldhouse, so hosting a men’s NCAA Tournament play-in game might mean KU could lose the opportunity to host one of its own teams’ games in Lawrence.

I would be interested to hear how KU fans would feel about this. Would they be in favor of hosting an NCAA play-in game? Would they attend an opening-round game between two smaller schools that had played their way into the NCAA Tournament? Would the game sell out? Would people care about it? Would some show up just to give the smaller teams the “true” Allen Fieldhouse experience?

Though this change of venues is only one athletic director’s idea at this point, I’d say the possibilities with it are interesting to say the least.