The NC$$ has already initiated a conflict by deciding to award automatic
bids to the four conference tourney winners.  This goes against the idea of
selecting the 12 best teams overall, because as was suggested, a poor team
can suddenly put three good games together (in HE) and get a bid to the
NC$$ tourney, thereby denying a team that has had a much better season.
 
The idea of awarding these bids automatically is a recent one.  The committee
has stated in recent years that performance over the entire season is
important.  But it wasn't so long ago, in the four-team tourney, that a team
could have a fantastic season, run away with its league and lose the
tourney - and not get invited.  BG fans know this well.
 
The committee has also stated that conference tourney games are to be treated
like any other game for purposes of selecting teams.  For example, Michigan
lost out on a bid two years or so ago to BG even though it beat BG in the
consolation and finished higher, I believe, in the regular season standings.
But the committee pointed out that the consolation win by UM did not eclipse
BG's 3-1-0 regular season record against UM.  (The two teams were extremely
close in the standings and had nearly identical overall records.)
 
Yet, clearly the conference *championship* game is more important, especially
if it involves a heavy underdog, because an automatic bid is awarded to the
winner!
 
The point is that even the NC$$ itself is wishy-washy, in trying to invite
the best teams possible yet bowing to outside pressure in instituting the
rules that provided for the automatic bids to tourney winners, the automatic
independent bid, and the required two bids to each conference.  The NC$$
tourney is supposed to be separate from the conference tourneys, yet it
relies heavily on the outcome of those tourneys in determining which teams
are extended bids.
 
It would be nice if the NC$$ either said it was eliminating all of these rules
and would just try to invite the 12 most deserving teams, or said that it
was also interested in spreading the bids around and inviting all sorts of
different teams.  The rules point to the latter, but we constantly hear about
the national tourney involving the "top 12 teams in the country".  If the
NC$$ were a human being, it would be sent away for psychological evaluation.
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Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com