Here's the selection process as I understand it. This has been
explained to me several times by Phil Buttafuoco at the NCAA, so I
think I have everything right by now.
The only new rule this year (the "CC rule") is 2.5.
1. Each of the 4 leagues (CCHA, ECAC, HEA, WCHA) is given 1 automatic
bid to award any way they want. They have to specify how the
auto-bid is awarded at the beginning of the season. In theory, they
could say the last place team gets the auto-bid, but that would be
kind of dumb. The only two logical choices are the regular season
winner or the play-off winner. All 4 leagues have always chosen the
play-off winner.
2. The season ends and the four auto-bids are determined.
2.5 If any conference regular season champion did not receive an
auto-bid, they are selected as an at-large team. This is not so
much an official rule that you will find in a book somewhere, but
is a statement made by the current selection committee, declaring
what will happen. This not quite like the auto-bid, so I call it
a "courtesy bid". Out of courtesy for the regular season champion,
the committee will select them over some other team in the conference.
3. Each conference is guaranteed two teams, so at this point, if a
conference only has 1 team selected, another is chosen from that
conference. The selection criteria of RPI, head-to-head, common
opponents, record in last 20 games, and record against teams under
consideration are used to select teams. (You can find these criteria
listed in some NCAA handbook.) Again, this two-team-minimum is just
an announcement by the selection committee that this is what they
will be doing. Again, this is a courtesy bid--out of courtesy to
each conference, the committee will select a second team, even
if the numbers do not indicate that it is deserving.
4. The remaining at-large teams are truly at-large, since they can come
from any conference (and the independents). There will always be 4
of these teams. They are chosen based on the same criteria in #3.
5. The 12 teams are seeded.... (won't get into that right now)
What is important, and what is often misunderstood, is that:
--the conference has to decide BEFORE THE SEASON how it determines
the auto-bid
--if the same team wins both the regular season and play-offs, the
LEAGUE does not get to pick a second team (the committee does)
In essence, with the addition of rule 2.5, the committee is saying that
they will pick the regular season winner as your second team, if it did
not win the play-offs. They will ignore the RPI and the other criteria
in this instance.
So, in my own lingo, you have:
automatic bids (4 teams)
regular-season-champion-courtesy bids (0-4 teams)
conference-courtesy bids (0-4 teams)
true-at-large bids (4 teams)
Keith
|