At 03:51 PM 2/15/99 -0600, John Knight wrote:
 
>     Before the MAAC starts making any noise about any sort of bid, they at
>     least ought to schedule a game or two against true outside
>     competition.
 
First off, this year Qunnipiac did play two non-MAAC division 1 foes: Air
Force and Army. Not the biggest D1 foes, but non-MAAC, D1 foes nonetheless.
 
Secondly, how do you define "true outside competition?" If you mean that
the MAAC teams need to start scheduling games aginst the Michigan, Maines
and BUs that's fine, but unlikely.
 
In basketball the way the "lesser" teams are able to play the Dukes,
Indianas and North Carolinas is the almighty dollar. Duke will NEVER play a
non-conference foe if it's not profitable enough for them, period. A
majority of those small-versus-huge NC games also come under holiday
tournament umbrellas where the organizers look for a lamb to sacrifice to
the tournament favorites in the first round. Holiday hoops tournament are
even more motivated by the dollar.
 
This doesn't, and probably won't ever happen in college hockey. Holiday
tournaments consist of only four teams, instead of 8 or 16; and most of the
big teams won't accept invitations to the holiday tournaments unless they
feature the best NC competition they can face.
 
The better holiday tournaments feature the better teams. This year's Denver
Cup is a prime example; the weakest team in the tournament was Lake State,
with BC, CC, and DU rounding out tournament. Now although Lake State has
had some rough years, the Denver Cup organizers would choose them (or a
similar D1 team) over a MAAC team year in and year out.
 
As for non-tournament regular season matchups, it's increasingly harder to
schedule NC games with D1 schools. Some schools have so few opportunities
for non-conference matchups -- whether because of NCAA game limits or
long-term, existing agreements with out-of-conference teams, it makes
things very difficult. Boston University for example, has 3 of its
non-conference games already assigned for next year -- the season opener
against RPI and the two Beanpot matches.
 
Throw into the mix the fact that for the most part, playing a MAAC team
will decrease your strength-of-schedule rating, thereby lowering the
all-important PWR and RPI. This means that even middle-of-the-road D1 teams
would likely sneer at the opportunity to play a team in the MAAC.
 
This is why the college post-season tournaments, in any sport, are so
valuable. They offer the best chance for the little guy to make a mark, to
improve the quality of their team, and gain more respect for their program.
 
I say offer the winning MAAC team at least an opportunity for a bid,
whether it be a play-in game, an at-large bid if they meet the NCAA
criteria, or simply as an automatic, 12th-spot berth if a MAAC team wins
both the regular season and their tournament.
 
All it would take would be one good showing by one MAAC team in the
tournament -- for example, Qunnipiac losing by 2 or 3 goals to North Dakota
-- and that would gain them the respect and increase their chances at D1
holiday tournaments and non-conference scheduling. And once one team from a
conference gains a little respect, it begins to spread to the rest of the
conference.
 
If we don't offer the opportunity to the MAAC to expand, then how will
college hockey EVER expand? New teams would simply get lumped into new
conferences, as the existing conferences are crowded enough. Those new
conferences would then be just like the MAAC, and we'd have to wait for the
damned NCAA to vote to allow the tournament to go above 12 teams... which
means adding what, 10 more teams?
 
The MAAC deserves a chance, if not this year then definitely next. What
better way to start off the year 2000?
 
 
greenie
 
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