Note: even though I disagree with Richard on every point below, it's
nothing personal.
 
 
>  The question really comes down to whether or not you want to grow the
sport.
>  If you do,  then give the new league an immediate single automatic bid.
 If
> not,  then don't.
 
First, this doesn't follow.  Getting an undeserved auto bid and losing 11-1
every year won't help the new conference, while if 1+ members of the new
conference qualify by PWR (or whatever system the NC$$ is then using) all
well and good.  I don't think anyone is suggesting that the new teams be
*barred* from the tournament.  That would be cause for complaint; denial of
an auto-bid to an unproven conference with no history of competitiveness
against the established teams is reasonable.
 
Second, once more into the breach: growth is not *necessarily* progress.
We now return you to Baseball Tonight to watch my cat come out of the Mets'
bullpen as their set up man because he's left-pawed...
 
(Don't laugh -- from the litter box evidence at least *he* remembers to
"cover first"...)
 
 
 
>  Btw,  a bid for the new league would shortly draw scholarships into the
> programs when the administrations of the member schools see the
possibilities
> for national exposure.   If that happens at only a few schools,  then it
will
> have a ratchet effect on the others who will have to do likewise to stay
> competitive.
 
One would think this logic would have occurred to the current
non-scholarship schools?  Some schools have chosen not to have athletic
scholarships, even though this puts them at a recruiting disadvantage.
 
 
> I think it would be very short sighted to deny the new league a
> bid.   How else are we going to eventually get to 16 teams in the NC$$'s?
 
And I would rather watch better hockey for 29 games a year and suffer a
possible (and slight) reduction in my team's chance of making the
tournament.
 
 
Somewhat off topic:
 
At the moment we effectively have a four team tournament, since it takes a
measure of bad luck or incompetence to turn a bye into a quarterfinal exit
against a tired, lower-seeded team.
 
I suggest that if you want to truly "expand" the tournament, reign it back
to 8 teams.
 
 
>         Also,  btw,  let's not be too dismissive of the schools' sporting
> reputations.   I know that UConn is one of the schools talking about
joining.
>  Consider that BOTH UConn's men's and women's hoop teams outdrew EVERY
college
> hockey team this last season.   Both had more national TV exposure than
any
> college hockey team too.   So let's not get too carried away from the
> isolation of our own cocoons.
 
Why am I not surprised to find that because I disagree with the poster I am
"isolated" as well as "short sighted"..?
 
North Carolina outdrew UConn in both mens and womens hoops.  Let's give the
Tarheels an auto bid to the NCAA hockey tournament.
 
 
Greg R. Berge
Cornell University
1995-96 and 1996-97 Ivy League and ECAC Champions
 
please direct all flames to my home page at
http://usgovt/irs.net
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.