The Division II Men's Basketball Committee is making plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its championship.

The 2006 Elite Eight will be in Springfield, Massachusetts. To commemorate the golden milestone, the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield will feature an exhibit honoring the history of Division II basketball.

There also are preliminary plans to hold a Division II all-star game for seniors next spring. Two players from each of the eight regions -- with the exception of the host Northeast region, which will have four players in the game -- will be selected to play in the contest. Honorary coaches also will be chosen.

"We think it will be well-received not only by the student-athletes, but also to promote Division II basketball," said committee Chair Mike Hall, athletics director at the University of South Carolina Upstate. "We're going to let the region chairs on the basketball committee, along with members from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, select the teams. It's an NABC event, and we're going to work together with them."

Another plan calls for the selection of a 10-player all-time Division II men's basketball team. Twenty nominations will be chosen before the start of the upcoming season, and the public will be allowed to vote for players on NCAAsports.com.

"We're also going through sports information directors (CoSIDA), the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NABC," Hall said. "We'll use all the technology we have available."

Championship selection criteria

In addition to planning the 50-year celebration at its annual meeting June 6-9 in San Diego, the committee also recommended changes to the criteria used to select championship teams.

Committee members agreed that the opponent's winning percentage will become one of the primary criteria used in the selection process for the 2006 championship. The 2005-06 season will be the last that the "quality of wins" component will be a primary factor. Accordingly, only games against Division II competition will count in that category.

Beginning in 2006-07 season, the quality-of-wins component will be viewed as secondary in the selection process.

The 2005-06 season also will be the last for bonus points to be awarded for playing more than the required 16 games against in-region opponents.

The committee recommended the changes in criteria in case there is a transition to use a Rating Percentage Index (RPI) similar to that used in Division I (see related story, page 1).

"We would like to use an RPI, but the issue isn't so much about men's basketball as it is for all sports in Division II," Hall said. "Can all sports live with an RPI? Would it be a true RPI?"

Regional rankings

Another change for the upcoming season is when regional rankings will be announced. Normally the first rankings are published the first week of January, but that will be delayed until January 18 for the upcoming season.

"We have Christmas vacation and the NCAA Convention, and we always skip that week to make the rankings," Hall said. "We wanted to make sure that all the teams in the region had played several games before we had the regional rankings tabulated. We didn't want just nonconference games picked up in the rankings. We wanted to have a good start on regional play as well."

The committee recommended another timing change -- that of when the regional championship trophies will be awarded to participating institutions.

Under the committee's plan, all eight regional champions will receive their trophies at the site of the regional final. Currently, regional championship trophies are shipped to the institutions at the end of the tournament. Even then, only six trophies are sent to the teams who do not reach the championship game.

The national champions and the national runner-up receive trophies signifying their respective finish, but they do not receive a regional championship trophy.

"A lot of times at the regional, there is all this hoopla and celebration and they cut down the nets and that's the end of it," Hall said. "There is no trophy presentation. We want to create more excitement for the teams and the fans. Unfortunately, not as many people are able to go to the Elite Eight site, so we think it would be positive to give the regionals more of a championship atmosphere."