Violins playing in Pittsburgh

[bgbill]

http://cityofchampionssports.com/2015/0 ... -the-cold/

crybaby

[rood]

The worst part is that none of his suggestions even make sense. If a league's autobid doesn't go to the tournament champ, what is the point of playing a tournament? And they finished 25th in the pairwise, adding 4 more teams to the field wouldn't get them in either. You know what dude? Schedule tougher schools and beat them. They were 0-2-1 against schools ahead of them in the final pairwise (and that tie was in the swimming pool at our outdoor game). Doesn't sound like a team that deserves a special exception invite to the national tournament.

[pdt1081]

The worst part is that none of his suggestions even make sense. If a league's autobid doesn't go to the tournament champ, what is the point of playing a tournament? And they finished 25th in the pairwise, adding 4 more teams to the field wouldn't get them in either. You know what dude? Schedule tougher schools and beat them. They were 0-2-1 against schools ahead of them in the final pairwise (and that tie was in the swimming pool at our outdoor game). Doesn't sound like a team that deserves a special exception invite to the national tournament.

AHA is a "cost containment" league. They are allowed 13 scholarships (maybe 14) instead of the full 18 like everybody else. There's a reason there's chatter about more conference realignment. Bob Morris wants to go full scholarships. Niagra and Canisius have expressed similar thoughts.

Oh, and I believe each conferece has the choice of who gets the automatic qualifier, the regular season or tournament champion. All leagues choose to award it to the tournamnet champion.

[Lord_Byron]

RIT is zero scholarships. I'll probably get this wrong, but the NCAA changed the rule for schools that have mixed divisions for sports. When the rule was changed, all the current operating schools were grandfathered in and could continue offering scholarships (Ex: Marquette; St. John's) but those that upgraded a program after had to abide by the rules of the lowest division they played in.

Since RIT upgraded only hockey after the rule was in effect, their scholarships are limited by the D3 rules.

[BG84]

Good grief. So many things to say, but none top Bob's whine.

* There should be some wiggle room!
NCAA: Bob, I'm sorry. BG's RPI was only 0.0002 behind yours, and we think BG is more deserving than you. You're out and BG is in.
Bob: No way! We tied BG! (and lost)

* We were screwed by opinion and discrimination against AHA! We need something more objective! How about KRACH? Oh. We're 38th? The system is rigged! It's too rigid!

* Put every team in the tournament! There are fewer D1 hockey programs than in the D1 basketball tournament, so there should be no problem. Everyone gets a trophy!

[apollo]

I don't see Robert Morris, Canisius, or Niagra bringing anything to a conference besides location. I think more than anything you'll see some Big 10 and Hockey East teams push for some changes to the pairwise formula. I think you'll see some complaints about playing bottom feeder teams.
For example BG played 3 teams in the bottom ten the pairwise. BG was penalized for losing 2 of the 8 games they played against those teams... However most college sports rpi formulas will penalize you a little even if you win, because simply put, you're beating bad teams. The pairwise doesn't penalize BG for winning 6 games against bad teams. Long story short I think you'll see some push to put more emphasis on the SOS and beating quality teams.
Whatever conference BG ends up in, they'll want to make sure they end up with some other good teams.