Auto-Bids: Regular Season or Tourney Champs?

[siouxinminny]

I am a fan of the regular season championship being the determining factor of the auto-bid. A 25-30 game round-robin regular season would be a better way to pick the conference's representative.

[MikeAnderson]

Keeping in mind, please, that the NCAA does not mandate how the auto-bid is handed out, but rather leaves it to the conferences to make that decision. If Hockey East wanted to, they could give Merrimack the auto-bid every year, and the NCAA would welcome them into the field of 16.

[Brenthoven]

If the reg season champ was that good, they SHOULD (stress that word) have no prob winning the tourney. And, the major conferences' reg season champ will prob make it anyway. :cool:

[St. Clown]

When does it kick in that the WCHA tourney champ won't technically have the auto-bid? If you remember, there was an article someone posted here talking about how not enough WCHA schools are Div 1 in enough sports for the league to be granted the auto-bid.

That said, I'm sure that the Final Five champions will be in the national tourney; the league is just too good for the winner not to get a bid.

[moose97]

Originally posted by St. Clown
When does it kick in that the WCHA tourney champ won't technically have the auto-bid? If you remember, there was an article someone posted here talking about how not enough WCHA schools are Div 1 in enough sports for the league to be granted the auto-bid.


You must have missed the follow-up article about the WCHA (and the CHA, for that matter) being grand-fathered in to the ruling. As a result, neither will lose their auto-bid.

Moose

[St. Clown]

Ah, I did miss it. Thanks.

[Rhett]

Originally posted by siouxinminny
I am a fan of the regular season championship being the determining factor of the auto-bid. A 25-30 game round-robin regular season would be a better way to pick the conference's representative.

Then 8 of the 18 teams still playing this weekend would fill few seats at the games... since winning the tourneys would do little to salvage their seasons. It is about selling tickets, and keeping more schools alive deeper into the year, does just that. There are also the 'our best teams will get in anyways' logic in the big-4 conferences (with the odd exception of this year's ECAC), so why not spice of the tournament with a big reward for the struggling teams (not to mention the fact that it will slet the conference swipe another bid). With the two smaller conferences, it guarantees that the 'hottest' team will go, and although they are not always the 'best' team, there's the hope that they have a better chance at staying hot and pulling off the major upset.

[GOPHER FREAK]

I like the fact that every team has the chance to make the NCAA tournament with the tournament champion auto-bid. Take UAA for example, In final five they were still playing for a NCAA bid. Had they won the tournament, They would have earned their bid IMO.

[amherstblackbear]

To me, this question only matters for the CHA and AHA. Let them decide how to determine their representative.

For the major conferences, I can't imagine a RS champ NOT qualifying at-large. So why waste an autobid on it?

Answer: to maximize the number of true 'at-large' bids.

But I don't like it. I like the added excitement of a team being able to peak at the end of the year and qualify for the tournament. Honestly, even though Harvard had an uneven year, and even though CC plays in a tough league, I think Harvard is a more exciting team to have in the tournament.

And that's the difference this year. Take away the conference champ autobid and the first team out (CC) replaces the upset winner Harvard. Not to mention that UMass's run in the HEA tournament would have lost a bit of its urgency.

Nope. Keep it the way it is for the major conferences. Give the autobids to the tournament champs.

edit: okay, so there was a conference winner that didn't qualify: Colgate. But they aren't overly compelling. They didn't help themselves out very much out of conference, nor did they help themselves by losing to Clarkson in the ECAC semis. So the real difference is that Colgate - not CC - gets in over Harvard. That still doesn't seem like an improvement.

[WiscoDoz]

In line with amherst's comment, think about a team like Nevada this year in college basketball. I understand that there are a lot more bids and a lot more conferences, but hey, they DID definately add excitement to the tourney. And I'd say Harvard sure did by almost knocking off Maine. And as much as I love the WCHA, there isn't room for 6 teams from one conference in a field of 16, where that's not a big divot in a field of 64.

GO RED

[jen]

Originally posted by amherstblackbear
To me, this question only matters for the CHA and AHA. Let them decide how to determine their representative.

For the major conferences, I can't imagine a RS champ NOT qualifying at-large. So why waste an autobid on it?




I am sure Colorado College cared in 1994 when they sat at home after winning the WCHA. That is why the rule was added.

[amherstblackbear]

Originally posted by jen
I am sure Colorado College cared in 1994 when they sat at home after winning the WCHA. That is why the rule was added.

True, but I think today's 16-team field makes a repeat of that much more unlikely.

[Bobo]

The RS winner should get it. Harder to do, more of a test.

I'd like to see the CCHA, ECAC, HE, and WCHA get two auto bids. One for RS and one for tourney.

Then the scrubs, AH and CHA get one, and can give it to whatever $uck*** team they want.

Then take the next 6 teams using KRACH.

[RoyalTea]

if the regular season champion gets the autobid, then why even have a conference tournament?

[Batemanskater]

As someone who loves every minute of every game I can attend each season, I do wonder whether the college hockey season is simply too long. Maybe not for us fans, but for the players? This is college after all, not juniors. Perhaps the student/athletes should have more time during their academic year to simply be college students.

In this light, why not eliminate the conference tournaments and give the conference auto-bid to the regular season champions? This would reward the team that played the best over the course of the entire season. It would also shorten the season by 2 weeks. And it might help make every regular season game that much more significant. As for those teams "out of the running" for the league lead, they would still be motivated to finish well due to the NCAA at-large bids. (Perhaps the PWR ought to include a "last 16 games" criteria so as to reward teams that started slow and finished well.)

[shrader]

I'm late on getting into this poll, but if they gave the auto-bid to the regular season champ, then no surprise teams would make the field. Where's the fun in that? You can't have cinderella stories. What if Minnesota's slow start this season had been even slower? They could've come on strong at the end of the year but then not even make the NCAA's.

[sprig]

. What if Minnesota's slow start this season had been even slower? They could've come on strong at the end of the year but then not even make the NCAA's.

What's the problem with that? Sounds like a welcome scenario to me.

[bigclean]

Should be both

[Slap Shot]

What's the problem with that? Sounds like a welcome scenario to me.

Meh - I'd rather see as many WCHA teams make the tourney as possible.

[bigclean]

Same here, stop watering it down w/ these east coast schools.