John Hauessler writes:
>NCAA ADDS MORE BERTHS TO TOURNEY
>Both regular-season and tournament champions will
>receive invitations.
>by Dan Gretzner II
...
>  Before the new rule, the four major Division I leagues could
>choose either the regular-season champ or the playoff
>winner for the league's automatic NCAA bid.  The WCHA
>and Central Collegiate Hockey Association opted for the
>playoff champion.
 
So did the ECAC and HE, btw.  But, note that while conferences did
retain the right to decide how the auto bid would be awarded, this
decision had to be made at some point before the playoffs and I
believe even before the season.  In other words, a conference could
*not* wait to see what happened in its tourney and then decide whether
its auto bid would go to the tourney or reg season champ, which is
what I think John was asking about.
 
>  The new rule says both the regular-season and playoff
>champion from each of the four leagues will get an automatic
>berth.  That only leaves four at-large berths available unless
>the same team wins both titles in a league like Michigan did
>last season.
 
This is not true.  The way I understand it, each conference STILL
receives only one automatic bid and those bids will once again go to
the tourney champ.
 
However, this year, the committee has agreed that in the case that any
of the four regular season champs do not win their tourneys, then the
committee will take the reg season champ in addition to the tourney
champ.
 
If the tourney and reg season champ is the same, then there is no
berth guaranteed to a specific second team from the same conference,
although I believe the two-teams-from-each-conference "rule" will
still hold this season.  (Keith?)
 
As a result, there will be at least 4 at-large bids left to be decided
(if none of the four reg season champs win their tourneys) and as many
as 8 (if all four RS champs win their tourneys).
 
>  "First place teams should get an automatic bye into the
>NCAA," U-M coach Red Berenson said.
>(end quoted material)
 
I strongly disagree with Red.  The last thing we need in this process
is to start giving automatic byes, too.  The regular season champs are
getting in, even if they don't deserve to; isn't that enough?
 
For an easy example of how ridiculous this would turn out, look at the
latest RPICH.  BU and Maine are far and away 1-2 not only in the East
but in the country.  If Maine went on to finish first in HE, BU would
get bumped out of the second bye for a weaker ECAC champ.  Brown, the
ECAC leader and highest ECAC team in RPICH, is 9th - behind the third
best HE team, UNH.
 
This is certainly no knock on Brown, but the Bears are just not as
deserving of a bye (at this point) as BU and Maine are.
 
Another example: BG leads the CCHA but is 10th in RPICH.  Michigan is
3rd but would not get a bye for the same reasons as BU.  Interesting
that Red voices the above opinion when as it stands, it is his team
that would suffer because of it.  Does he know, I wonder?
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93