National Collegiate Athletic Association

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The NCAA News -- October 12, 1998

Division II -- Championships Committee shifts attention to field sizes

Now that Division II has expanded bracket sizes in team sports, it is turning its attention to field sizes in individual-team championships.

At its September 20-22 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, the Division II Championships Committee recommended that specific criteria be established to use when reviewing the allowable number of participants for individual-team championships. Under the committee's proposal, those criteria would be:

  • The ratio of regular-season student-athletes to championship participants.

  • The number of institutions sponsoring the sport on an intercollegiate varsity basis.

  • Whether the number of participants provides for a legitimate championship format.

  • A review of the division's resources to determine if expansion is appropriate.

    The division currently uses sponsorship guidelines to determine brackets in team sports. For example, team sports with sponsorship of 95 to 100 percent have 48-team brackets, while team sports with sponsorship of 80 to 95 percent have 32-team brackets, and so on.

    However, no such guidelines exist for individual-team sports in Division II. The Division II Championships Committee has used the more general approach of providing for viable championships while giving consideration to cost.

    The Championships Committee believes that developing more specific criteria would help individual-team sports committees as they consider appropriate field sizes for their sports.

    The Division II Management Council will consider the Championship Committee's recommendations at its October 19-20 meeting.

    The Management Council also will consider a Championships Committee recommendation on the "Sunday competition rule."

    The action relates to recent changes in Division I. That division recently amended its policy to require that a championship schedule must be adjusted to accommodate an institution that has a written policy against competition on a particular day for religious reasons. The policy also provides for a waiver opportunity for such a requirement if the governing sports committee concludes that such an accommodation would disrupt the orderly conduct of the championship.

    The change is effective immediately in Division I. However, the change -- if approved by the Division II Management Council and Presidents Council -- would not take effect until the 1999-2000 academic year in Division II.

    In another action, the committee recommended that its oversight authority over playing rules per NCAA Bylaw 21.7.6.2.2.(c) be expanded to include rules that affect an institution's ability to administer regular-season competition and/or the ability of a governing sports committee to administer NCAA championships competition.

    The issue had been remanded to the Championships Committee by the Management Council.

    Divisions I and III already have expanded the oversight responsibility for the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet and the Division III Championships Committee to address situations in which an institution's ability to administer competitions or the ability of a governing sports committee to administer NCAA championship competition might be affected.

    Other highlights

    Division II Championships Committee
    September 20-22/Kansas City, Missouri

  • Recommended that the Championships Committee be permitted to conduct meetings with the chairs of team governing sports committees and individual-team governing sports committees in alternate years.

  • Reviewed current field sizes with the chairs of the individual-team governing sports committees and will request that the track and field and wrestling committees submit proposed formats to possibly expand the field sizes in their respective championships. The committee noted that, if legislation passes in Division III to establish a women's golf championship, Division II would automatically receive a women's golf championship according to the provisions of NCAA Bylaw 18.2.6. Accordingly, the committee requested information regarding an appropriate field size for a women's golf championship.

  • Recommended that the watches provided to the second-place teams in the Division II Men's and Women's Basketball Championships be eliminated, effective with the 2000 championships. The change would make the awards for basketball consistent with other Division II sports.

  • Recommended a women's softball rules change to require that all catchers wear a protective helmet when fielding their position.

  • Recommended a women's track and field rules change to require that the maximum distance from the tip of the metal head of the javelin to the center of gravity be 0.92 meters.

  • Agreed to request information from specific governing sports committees about how regional berths are being assigned and how teams are being aligned within regions according to conference affiliation.