CBSSports.com’s Gregg Doyel does a huge takedown of last night’s so-called “First Four” play-in games in Dayton.

I only watched for a few minutes. Since I once was dubbed “the conscience of college football,” I immediately thought of how the “First Four” games make even more of a mockery of the notion of academics and athletics. The winning teams miss an entire week of school with the extra game and travel. Not that anyone cares.

Doyel was on hand in Dayton. He made it seem as if he had the arena to himself. He writes:

For Mount St. Mary’s, the NCAA Tournament started in a half-empty gym and ended in a completely empty locker room. While 60 other teams will start the NCAA Tournamenton Thursday or Friday in energy-filled venues featuring big-name schools and their frenzied fans, Mount St. Mary’s was one of eight teams sent to the play-in tournament, also known as the First Four, where everything is smaller: the arena, the crowd, the energy, the television network, the media throng.

Eight minutes after Mount St. Mary’s season ended Tuesday night, a 71-64 loss to Albany, the media throng was standing outside the Mountaineers’ locker room. And the media throng was one person. Me. Three tournament officials were standing outside the door with me. Why?

“Crowd control,” said one of them, a nice man named Chris. He was smiling, and then he was playfully spinning like a rebounder, blocking me out.

Later, Doyel pointed out the obvious.

But there’s only so much lipstick anyone can put on this pig, this blatant money grab by the power conferences for a few more slices of this $10.8 billion pie. The power and greed waters down the bracket, but that’s not my problem. Look, I’d love to see the field grow to 128. Or 256. The size of the field isn’t the problem. What happened Tuesday night to Mount St. Mary’s — and what will happen Wednesday night to Cal Poly or Texas Southern — is the problem.

But this is nearly a victimless crime. Who weeps for Mount St. Mary’s? Almost nobody. This is me, shouting down an empty well. Hello-o-o-o-o. Can you hear me-e-e-e-e?

Doyel concludes:

What are the players at Mount St. Mary’s going to tell their grandkids? About the time they played Albany in Dayton on March 18, 2014, the day they lost the chance to play in the actual NCAA Tournament?

Yeah, actually, that is the story they’ll tell. And they can mention the slogan:

The First Four — a play-in game, and an insult.

Yet here’s the bottom line. Turner Sports says the North Carolina State-Xaiver game averaged a 1.2 rating on truTV, the highest ever for a First Four.

If people tune in, the First Four will live on.