Hockey sends 12 of 45 DivI teams to the tourney, or 26.7%.  Basketball sends
64 of somewhere between 250 and 300 teams (21.3-25.6%); I thought it was
254 or 264.  At any rate, hockey is currently sending a larger percentage of
its DivI teams to the NC$$ tourney than hoop.
 
Expanding to 16 teams won't solve anything.  The controversy would just switch
to being between #16 and 17.  Some said that expanding from 8 to 12 would
eliminate the controversy then, and it is clear that it hasn't been
eliminated at all.  So this is not a good reason for going from 12 to 16
teams, IMO.
 
Not that I agree with this...but how about an open tournament?  With 45 DivI
teams this season, give byes to the top 19 and let the remaining 26 play a
single-game first rounder.  That gives us 32 teams left.  Send 8 teams to
each of four regional sites and you can determine a regional winner in one
weekend, maybe four days:
  Thur: 8 vs 1, 5 vs 4
  Fri:  6 vs 3, 7 vs 2
  Sat:  8-1/5-4 winners, 6-3/7-2 winners
  Sun:  regional final
Regional winners advance to the final four the next weekend.  This or some
variation can be done in three weekends.
 
But, you STILL have the problem of how to seed teams...
 
 
- mike