Too bad they don't listen to you Mike! In all but one case you mention, I wish they would do the same things. Some brief comments and elaborations. >IF IT WERE UP TO ME... > >seeding. And if two teams from the same conference happened to meet >in the first round, that's the way it goes. You get seeded where you >belong. This is where I have a slight disagreement. This is how the basketball committee puts things together (yes, I am aware of what the round ball folks do; I hope you all forgive me). They seed the teams 1-64, and then lay them out as follows: Region 1 Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 1 2 3 4 8 7 6 5 9 10 11 12 16 15 14 13 17 18 19 20 24 23 22 21 etc. Notice the pattern. However, they will make adjustments for two reasons. One is to spread the teams from the same conference out as much as possible, so they don't tend to play each other until very late. I like this because these teams have already spent the whole season beating on each other in the regular games and conference tournaments. This can skew the ratings system a bit (can we say Colorado College?). This way, if teams from the same conf. really are the best of the best, this will prove it, and they will meet way down the road where they should (can we say LSSU and Michigan?). The second change is to AVOID (opposite of hockey) having teams play on their home court. This is not always accomplished, especially since they do try to keep the 4 number one seeds within their region, but they try to. >..the DivIII final four would have to alternate regions from year to >year. I don't know when the last time was that it was held in the >Boston area, for example - and the area around Boston has the largest >concentration of DivIII teams in the nation. I heard this is being considered -- having more pre-determined host sites. >I also would like to see >a DivIII championship game played immediately preceding the DivI game, >possibly in a format like Hockeyfest was, to get those players the >exposure they deserve - but I don't think that's likely. And that >DivIII championship should be on tv, even on tape delay in the middle >of the night at least. This I would love to see -- I think. My worry would be that the Div. III teams get forgotten in the media/press coverage. I would think the format would be simple. Div. I semis on Thursday, Div. III semis on Friday (doubleheader, only one ticket needed), and the finals as a doubleheader on Saturday night. However, this would take tickets away from the general public. There would have to be reserved numbers for 8 teams in the tournament instead of 4. They certainly will not take from the allotment of the 4 Div. I teams. It would have to come from the general public's. Another issue would be attendance on Friday. Would a large arena take the chance and expenses of an event with possible little attendance? In general, I would like to see this. In fact I can just fantasize about my dream finals night -- Potsdam in the Div. III final followed by Clarkson in the Div. I final. That would be euphoria! >..there would be a split of DivIII into DivIII-A and DivIII-AA, so >that teams who aren't of the caliber of Stevens Point, Plattsburgh, >RIT, etc. and who don't aspire to be of that caliber, can still have >the opportunity to play for a national title. I.e., much of the ECAC >North/Central/South and perhaps some of the MIAC teams. This was already done this way in the past. When I was at Potsdam, all of the SUNY/ECAC West and East as well as some Western schools competed on the Div. II level for hockey while the ECAC North/Central/South and I assume some Western schools competed on the Div. III level. It wasn't until the NC$$ decided to be more strict as to what level you should be at did it make all these schools, most of them actually Div. III schools, compete at that level. This essentially shutout the then Div. III schools. (I like to call them IIIA and IIIB levels, but that's nitpicking sementics.) Personally, I would like to see Div. II/III designation abandoned for most sports. Way, way back, there use to be just a University division and College division. Then they split the College division into Div. II/III. This made sense for some sports like basketball and football. But, in a lot of smaller sports, it was ridiculous. Lacrosse has long ago gotten rid of Div. II, and allowed the schools to decide to move up or down for that sport only. A lot of sports should be re-organized into a University and College division including hockey. The difference between what a Div. II school is allowed to do versus a Div. III school I don't believe really makes that much of a difference in the smaller sports. Does a Mercyhurst and a Bemidji dominate their leagues any more than a Plattsburgh, Salem State, or Stevens Point does? No, they don't. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Russell Jaslow | Official Contact - Potsdam College Hockey|My employer Eastman Kodak Company | Potsdam Bears - 1981 and 1986 NCAA Div. |has nothing Rochester, New York | III National Basketball Champions and |to do with [log in to unmask] winners of 60 consecutive games! |my drivel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------