>Have I been out of the loop for awhile?  When I was a student (briefly)
>at College Square in 1989, the Crusaders were a cellar-dwelling DivII
>team.  Have they moved up?  Or am I mistaken?
 
 
You had a Division I team there but it "looked" like a Division II
team, played like a Division II team (and so on), so everyone just
called a Division II team. TECHNICALLY, they are Division I. Why?
Because Holy Cross is a Division I SCHOOL, so all of its varsity
sports must compete at the Division I level (except for maybe some
grandfather cases). Basically, the NCAA does not want the big time
schools to "drop down" and compete at lower levels--it is not fair
to the other schools. (It is more lenient in letting lower division
teams compete "up".)
 
So, the implication is that Holy Cross cannot compete for the NCAA
Division II or III championship. They must play 20 games against other
D1 teams to qualify for the D1 tourney (they will only play 5 this year).
 
So the effect is that they do not qualify for NCAA post-season
competition. No big deal for them. They are happy playing other teams
in the ECAC East and gunning for a league title. They play other similar
D1 teams (UConn), true Division II programs (AIC) and true D III'ers
(like Connecticut College) in their league. This is fine, because the
ECAC East is not recognized as an "official" conference that garners
an automatic NCAA bid. Even if the Crusaders win their league, their
season will end at that point.
 
Now, if Coach Cavanaugh has his way, Holy Cross will be playing in a
league with other Division I schools. They can get their 20 games against
the likes of Canisius and Fairfield. They can qualify for the "Big
Dance". Maybe someday their conference can get an auto-bid to the
tournament.
 
But not today.
 
Keith
PS A special TCHCR will be coming out next week. Crusader fans, keep
an eye out for YOUR team........