On Mon, 12 Mar 2001, Eeyore wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Weise <[log in to unmask]>
>> I disagree with the way the automatic/guaranteed bid has changed this
>> year. I would rather see the "Colorado College rule" in place (believe me,
>> I didn't just think of this after last night's Vermont-Clarkson result). I
>> just feel that this gives more credit to a team that worked hard all year
>> long than one who got hot in March.

> I agree with you, but you can't blame the NCAA for this; all they say is
> that each conference gets one automatic berth.  It's the conferences
> themselves that decide to award it to the tournament champion; they could
> just as easily declare that it would go to the regular season champ, to the
> team that finishes eighth, or the third team in an alphabetical listing.

Of course, what you can blame the NC$$ (dollar signs back in honor of
the 65-team squeakball hype-o-rama) for is reducing the number of
autobids for established conferences from two to one.  Apparently,
they felt they couldn't give the MAAC only one autobid without putting
the Big Four on the same footing.
                                          John Whelan, Cornell '91
                                                 [log in to unmask]
                                     http://www.amurgsval.org/joe/

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