The Division III Men's Basketball Committee, meeting July 28-29 in Key West, Florida voted to require championship hosts to videotape all tournament games. The decision addresses situations in which a team scores an upset victory and did not tape that game, and thus has no video to provide to its opponent for scouting in the next round's game.

The committee also will issue rankings in only the four weeks directly preceding the tournament rather than using the weekly polls that began in January in previous years. Additionally, the committee will base the number of teams it ranks in each region upon the total number of teams in the region divided by the bracket ratio (7.56 in 2003).

Previously, the committee ranked six teams in each region; however, since those teams' strength of schedule is included in the selection formula and because that component includes "record versus ranked teams," schools from the smaller regions have a better opportunity to play more ranked teams. With the change, the committee expects that five teams will be ranked in the East, four in the Atlantic, seven in the Mid-Atlantic, seven in the South, seven in the Midwest, nine in the Northeast, five in the Great Lakes and eight in the West.

Another change the committee will undertake next year affects the way evaluations of officials' championship performance will be distributed. Previously, only coaches and NCAA representatives received copies of the evaluations. With the change, officiating assignors also will receive copies.

The committee also recommended to the Division III Championships Committee that the officials who work sectional and final-round games receive a higher fee than officials in the preliminary rounds next year. Previously, the fee for all games was $200. Under the proposal, working the sectional would earn an official $250; and working any of the final-session games would earn an official $300. Currently, all officials receive $200 per game regardless of the round worked.

In another action, the committee granted automatic qualification to the same 36 conferences whose champions received an automatic championship bids this past season.