Tom Rowe writes:
 
> I would love to see a change in the selection process (PWR or RPI or
> anything else they may decide to use) that will not penalize a team for
> choosing to play a (probably) poor team for the first two years of that
> team's Div I status.
 
Actually, the NCAA does that with the "emerging programs" stipulation
that means that not only is Nebraska-Omaha not eligible for the
tournament this year, games against them do not count for selection
purposes.  The same was true of Niagara last year.  The problem with
the MAAC is that most of the teams have been nominally Division I for
years and so are going through no probationary period.  The exception
is Quinnipiac, who got an exemption to be allowed to be eligible for
the tournament this year.  If the fear of taking a hit in the RPI is
really keeping major conference teams from scheduling MAAC opponents,
that exemption is actually counterproductive, since the lack of
MAAC-big four games effectively keeps Q from having a shot at the
tourney this year anyway.
                                          John Whelan, Cornell '91
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                                     http://www.amurgsval.org/joe/
 
"We've got a whole mess of penalties"  -- Cornell PA Announcer
   Arthur Mintz, after the Cornell-Union brawl 1998 December 4
 
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