> That would seem to dilute the NC$$ tournament, and serve (in many ways)
> to potentially de-emphasize the Conference tournaments. Part of what
> makes the conference tournaments exciting is the fact that some of the
> teams are fighting for berths. If the tournament is larger, that will not
> be as true.
 
 
This is an excellent, excellent point.  One of the truly lame aspects of
NCAA squeak is how bogus the major conference tournaments are.  As I have
commented before, because of rivalries and such, the ECAC title is what
really matters as to ECAC fans and I suspect even players.  The NC$$ title
is just sugar on top.
 
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