16 teams? if you only had 16 teams, where would all the mid majors go? this isn't college football where you only have 120 schools in division 1. I believe there's over 300 for basketball. no way could you have that few teams in a tournament.
the past 5 years there have been plenty of lower seeds make deep runs in the tournament. the tournament is the best thing going today in sports outside of the super bowl. no way you mess with that. The regular season is just a way for teams to prep for the tournament.