National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

July 20, 1998

II men's basketball adjusts team criteria

The Division II Men's Basketball Committee formed recommendations for team selection criteria and for hosting regional competition at its June 28-July 1 meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

As a result of discussion, the committee will recommend to the Division II Championships Committee that it be permitted to eliminate won-lost record in the last 10 games of the season as a criterion. The strength-of-schedule criterion also would be adjusted under the recommendation such that it would be assessed on a 15-point scale. This scale would take into account only games against Division II opponents, and would include whether the game was home or away and the winning percentage of the opponent.

These factors would be totaled and divided by the number of games played to arrive at the strength-of-schedule index, with 15 being the optimal score.

Determination of minimum criteria for hosting regional competition after 1998-99 has added significance because after that season, the rule that requires the committee to arrange the pairings strictly by geographical proximity (to save travel costs), rather than by seed, expires. That change means that the highest seeded team in a given region would likely host, provided it meets the minimum hosting criteria; therefore, the change also gives the seeding process itself added importance.

The committee is recommending the changes in team selection criteria and the minimum criteria for hosting regional competition for the 1998-99 season.

The committee also is making changes in the way in which it will rank teams this season, increasing the number of such teams from six to 10 per region. Under the plan, the criteria for computing these rankings would include overall won-lost record, strength-of-schedule index, Division II won-lost record within the region, head-to-head competition and results versus common opponents. The regional rankings will begin on December 16 and continue through February 24, except for December 30 because of the holidays and January 13 because of the NCAA Convention.

The committee also will recommend various adjustments to the minimum regional hosting requirements for lodging for all championships competition. Under the recommendation, team hotels will have to be within 20 miles of the competition site, with 15 rooms allotted to each team. The room price for all teams must be within $10 if separate properties are used. The host also will be required to reserve six rooms for officials at a hotel different from the team hotels.

With regard to the arena itself, a prospective host must have the ability to close all practices to the public. If the arena is at a site other than on the campus of the host, at least one practice on the court on which the games will be played must be available for each participating team. The committee recommended eliminating the minimum seating requirement because it was redundant when combined with the minimum financial guarantee.

In addition, a minimum of 100 tickets each must be made available to each participating team. Also, the media workroom for a qualifying arena must be separate from the interview area and hospitality area.

Although the NCAA is not permitted to fund a sit-down banquet for all participants, the committee will highly encourage each future regional host to conduct such a function. The committee's rationale is that since regional competition is the only championship participation for 40 of the 48 competing teams, it wants to make the experience as memorable as possible for those participants who do not advance to the Elite Eight.

With regard to Elite Eight sites, the committee announced that it will solicit bids this fall to host in years after the 1999-2000 championship, which is the final year of the contract with Louisville, Kentucky. Sources by which requests for bids will be disseminated include an announcement in The NCAA News, mailings to Division II conference commissioners and a list of civic sports commissions. The deadline for submission will be May 1, 1999.

The committee will select agencies from these bids to make in-person presentations at its summer meeting that year, although, depending on the number of bids received, it may be necessary to do an initial screening. The committee will be flexible in awarding the championships -- although it looks to rotate the championship among regions, it will consider bids of single or multiple years.

Other highlights

Division II Men's Basketball Committee
June 28-July 1/Hilton Head, South Carolina

Reacted to a survey on the seating capacities of arenas in the respective regions and a historical look at how the eight regions have done financially by recommending that the financial guarantee for the South Central region be decreased from $18,000 to $16,000 and that the figure for the Great Lakes region be increased from $11,500 to $14,000.

Met with Art McAfee and Jim Seward of the National Association of Basketball Coaches to discuss team selection criteria, among other issues.

Voted to extend automatic qualification to all 21 conferences. There were 22 conferences last year, but the Northern California Athletic Conference disbanded. The committee discussed what to do if the Division II Championships Committee changes the formula for championship financial distribution so that success in the championship is not a factor. The committee discussed whether it should continue to have automatic qualification if such a change were made, but took no formal action.

Noted the service of departing committee members Jack Doyle, director of athletics at the University of South Dakota, and Ralph Burns, associate professor of physical education and health at Fayetteville State University. Chip Polak, director of athletics at New Hampshire College, was voted chair for 1998-99.

Reviewed a patron analysis study conducted by the University of Memphis.

Changed the video policy for regional sites, requiring that host schools be responsible for filming all games. The host must provide each team with a copy of the games in which it competes. If a team wins, it is to be provided a videotape of its opponent's game.

Voted to improve communication about the championship among regional participants by requiring that each regional chair conduct a conference call with each of the teams that will participate in that regional championships on the Monday after the selection show.

The committee also forwarded the following recommendations to the Division II Championships Committee:

That it be permitted to meet at a site other than Kansas City, Missouri, or Indianapolis next summer in order to be able to meet in conjunction with the Division II Women's Basketball Committee.

That the travel party be increased from 20 to 22 for the 2000 championship.

That individuals who will join the committee after September of every annual meeting have their expenses paid to attend that summer meeting to become familiar with how the meetings are conducted.