Ah ha!!!  The following is for all of those who said they doubted my
statement that conferences don't necessarily have a lifetime lock on
automatic postseason championship participation, at least in Division I
basketball. ;-)
 
Thus spake the keyboard of Mike Machnik (quoting the NCAA manual):
 
>* 18.5.1 says that a conference can receive an automatic qualification
>into a DivI championship if it has at least 6 members classified in
>DivI in that sport, as long as it meets criteria in 31.3.4 which is
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>long and convoluted. :-)  Other divisions must also have conferences
>meet the criteria in 31.3.4.  An example is 31.3.4.1-(e), which says
>that competition in the sport "must be of sufficient quality to
>warrant automatic qualification...won-lost record and strength of
>schedule of both the conference as a whole and its individual member
>institutions...".
>
Ah, justification . . . :-)
 
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 *  Steve Christopher, NMU  [log in to unmask]    GO 'CATS!!!         *
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