I don’t have a firm answer about this but, at the very least, there was seemingly a lot less squawking and a lot less politicking.

So, from the time I was in 4th grade through the end of high school—1963-1971—the NCAA hoops tourney essentially operated in the same manner: it was a tournament of conference champions and top-ranked independents.  The number of teams selected ranged from 22-25 and they were split up into four regions which were indeed based, in large part, on the locations of the colleges.

Interestingly, there were seemingly a lot more conferences back then; plus, there were some big name schools other than Notre Dame that were independents with no conference affiliation.

The downside to this: if you finished second in the Big Ten or the Atlantic Coast Conference, you might well have been one of the top handful or so of teams in the country yet you had no chance to compete for the national title.

The upside: it was a true tournament of champions—plus top independents—and it made for some compelling sports drama that basketball fans around the country by and large seemed happy with.

I’m not saying this model would work for the CFP because the circumstances are so different now.  But I think this was one that fans and the participants were pretty much satisfied with at the time—and one that made the regular season extremely relevant. 

The current NCAA hoops format—while much more inclusive—I think diluted the importance of regular-season play and resulted in fans caring less about it.

The bottom line: I hope the CFP can figure out something that strikes the right balance as it seeks to expand.