On Tue, 14 Mar 1995, Richard D. Valente wrote:
> Apparently the NCAA selection committee announced yesterday that any
> team that wins both its league title and the playoffs will get a bye.
> Then if Clarkson wins the ECAC tournament, either Maine or B.U. (or
> C.C. or Michigan) will have to play the first game at the regionals.
 
  Can anyone else confirm this ??  Is this the "1995 wrinkle" that the
NC$$ Selection Committee has thrown into the mix, a follow-up to the
"1994 wrinkle" that resulted in RPI playing at home in Albany rather
than being sent west to play LSSU as their place in the RPICH rankings
would otherwise have dictated ??  Wisconsin will likely benefit *this*
year from the application of the latter "wrinkle," while this new rule
seems patently unfair to teams like Michigan, CC, Maine, and BU that
have earned a bye through a long season of consistent Top-4 play; 4
good games over two week-ends by Clarkson shouldn't be enough to negate
4 *months* of consistent play.  Kansas lost in the Big-8 Conference
semi-final this past weekend in B-Ball, yet still retained a #1 seed
for the NC$$ Tournament based on their RPI ratings.  Shouldn't the
same hold true for college hockey ??  I have no problem with Regular
Season Champions getting a "committee courtesy bid" (as Keith puts it).
This is the so-called "CC-rule" though it should really be termed the
"Harvard-CC Rule" since The Crimson were earlier victims of the same
slight.  But to say that a RS and Tourney Champion should *automatically*
get a "bye" is something else altogether ....
 
Just my $0.02 from Maryland - Jim