Paul Barber writes:
>In the championship of the Mariucci Clasic, BU scored at 7:02 of
>OT.  I was wondering if the NCAA will consider this a tie since it
>was beyond the normal 5 minute OT period?  How will this affect
>the various computer rankings?
 
The game goes into the books as a win for BU and a loss for Minnesota,
both in the teams' overall and NC$$ records and in the RPI rating and
other factors affecting NC$$ tournament selection.
 
I am guessing that the question arises because last season there was a
smokescreen put up by the committee which led us to believe that games
which lasted beyond 65:00 in the regular season would be counted as
ties.  But this was determined to be just that, a smokescreen.
 
The rule book says that overtimes shall last no more than 5 minutes
unless the game has to have a winner to determine who advances in a
bracket - i.e., an in-season tourney or a post-season playoff game.
You do not *have* to play beyond 5 minutes, however, and some tourneys
have a shootout if the game is tied after 65:00.  In that case, the
game counts as a tie.
 
The only question I have had is on extended overtimes in consolation
games.  The rule book seemed (to me, anyway) to disallow more than 5
minutes of OT in such games, but that was just my interpretation.  It
is not completely clear.  Rather, the interpretation which has been
followed would seem to argue that determining places in a tourney is a
type of advancement in a bracket, and I am not going to argue.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93