That's very presumptuous of you, that the other conferences would take
in programs orphaned by the demise of a conference.  Why would the WCHA
want to have Bemidji and Air Force thrust upon them, especially if they
are happy with a 10-team league?  Suppose if the CHA were to go out of
business, would the member universities keep a D-1 program with no
conference to house them?  A program without a conference is a serious
money/scheduling/recruiting problem.

You are correct that it is the number of teams, and not the number of
conferences, that drove the increase to a 16-team tournament.  But
without the conferences, you don't have the programs.  That's a
catch-22, and Rick Comley should understand that.

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-----Original Message-----
From: - Hockey-L - The College Hockey Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of NE Hampton
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 4:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Comley: AH-CHA Play-In Game Needed


On 3/21/07 3:12 PM, "Craig Roberts" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Until the CHA and Atlantic Hockey came along, the NCAA tourney was a 
> 12-team tourney. Because of the schools in those two leagues coming 
> along, the NCAA made it a 16-team tourney. The other four conferences 
> get two more at-large opportunities because of those conferences.
> 

No, I completely disagree with this, it is a worse than wrong
conclusion. There may be correlation, but no causation. The number of
schools is what made the NCAA expand the field from 12 to 16, not the
number of conferences or the number of automatic bids. You eliminate
those conferences and their automatic bids, but keep the number of
schools the same (they become independents or join the other conferences
(for example Bemidji State and Air Force joint the WCHA) and nothing
would be forced to change -- even the 16 team tournament would remain.
The big winner in all of this is the ECACHL
-- they were the ones called weak sisters and poor puppies before
Atlantic Hockey and CHA came along, so now these two conferences take
the heat previously heaped upon ECACHL. But to suggest that Atlantic
Hockey and CHA are in any way, shape or form responsible for the 16 vs
12 team tournament is at best pure fantasy.

Nathan Hampton