Butler playing for a National Championship is good news/bad news for all Division One coaches. The good news is that anyone can play for a title. The bad news is that all the excuses for not succeeding just left the building.

Sure, Hinkle Field House might seem like Madison Square Garden compared to the gym in Hickory (or Milan to be exact). But it's not the Dean Dome and the Horizon league is not the ACC.

A.D.s across America can be heard saying "if Butler, BUTLER!... can play for the title, surely you can find a way to get into the tournament!"

Especially a 96 team tournament.

I'm now heavily in favor of expansion. Those who say "if it's not broken don't fix it" are missing the point. The dance will be even more terrific. We'll still have the chase to be top seeds and instead of arguing about 65 vs. 66, yes we'll be arguing about 96 vs. 97.

But there will also be a whole new bubble of teams who get the bye or not. teams 25 through 40 will be scrutinized in a whole different way and that will make late regular season and conference tournament games more meaningful.