Bill Fenwick writes:
> Hmm... I wonder, if Lowell does win next year's tournament, if the NCAA
> might extend the automatic bid to the runner-up, rather than eliminating it
> entirely.  A somewhat similar situation occurred in Division III this year,
> when Middlebury defeated Babson to win the ECAC East tournament but could
> not accept the automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs; they are in the New
> England Small College Athletic Conference, which forbids its members from
> playing in postseason games.  The NCAA simply gave the bid to Babson, rather
> using it as an at-large bid to select another team (Salem State or Geneseo
> might have gotten the bid in that case).
 
I hate to split hairs, but I just want to clear this up in my own mind if
something has changed.  If memory serves, winning the ECAC East or West
tournament does _not_ mean an automatic berth to the nationals.  In the
Eastern region, of the four bids awarded to the NCAAs, only the winner of
the SUNYAC gets an automatic bid.  Granted, it is tough for the committee
not to award the ECAC winners bids but it is their option if they don't
feel they should.
 
Of course, I didn't expect the NCAA to go with the Final Four format for
the division III playoffs, either.  Oh well...
 
Rob Springall