We were involved in three of these series and this is my
impression. The Independent bid resulted in a 'conference' team being kept
out. Those teams had a much bigger draw, brought more money to the
tournament, etc. Yes, the Independents, at times, beat some pretty
impressive opponents (both in regular and tournament play), but because
they didn't play quality teams every weekend the overall play really is
mostly non-competitive with conference schools. The nature of the
tournament has changed -- in those days the first two series of games were
played at the respective schools and only after making it through those
rounds were subsequent games played at large, neutral sites. Now, all the
selected teams play at one of the two regional sites and this makes the
'draw' even more important. There's merit is having to excel (proving
oneself) at a conference level before getting a bid. And, even under the
current process some very good teams get left out (i.e. Colorado Collge
the WCHA Champion a three years ago) and an automatic Independent Bid
makes that worse. Also, I think that the current format maybe has
compressed the 'playoff period', thus this process uses less of the
regular season than it use to.
        Bottom line, it's highly unlikely that the Independents could ever
compete past the second round (note that in '91 and '92 the Independent
team lost to either the eventual National Champion or runner up and I
would guess that the seedings would be partially set to diminish the
chances of an Independent making it very far). Basically, the toughness of
a conference schedule and success therein is probably a pretty valid
critera that a national champion team should meet and succeed at.
 
Lowell King
 
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On Tue, 11 Feb 1997 10:11:51 -0500  "Greg R. Berge", wrote (in reply to
another message):
 
There was a bid for independent teams in the NCAA tournament between 1988
(when the tournament was expanded from 8 to 12 teams) amd 1992.  Here's
how
the Indies did over this period:
 
1988 Merrimack def. Northeastern 3-5, 7-3; lost to LSSU 4-3, 0-5.
1989 St. Cloud State lost to LSSU 3-6, 2-4.
1990 UA-Anchorage lost to LSSU 2-6, 3-10.
1991 UA-Anchorage def. BC 3-2, 3-1; lost to NMU 5-8, 3-5.
1992 UA-Anchorage lost to LSSU 2-7.
 
Maybe they should have called this the "Lake State Advancement Rule".  :-)
 
The Indies were a #6 seed in each of these years.  Here's a comparison of
Indy #6 bids vs. non-Indy #6 bids over the period.  (Non-indy #6's: 88
Lowell; 89 Wisconsin; 90 BGSU; 91 Cornell; 92 Wisconsin.)
 
Indies: 7 series, 2-5; 13 games, 4-9.
Non-Indies: 8 series, 3-5; 14 games, 5-9.
 
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