Conference tournament play-in proposal defeated

Significant news in the CCIW...

http://www.cciw.org/news/Playin_Decision.php

CCIW Presidents Defeat Play-in Proposal for Men’s Basketball Tournament

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Presidents Council, on Tuesday, defeated a proposal from the men’s basketball coaches that would have created a play-in date to determine the four teams who would play in the CCIW men’s basketball tournament. The proposal, supported by the conference athletics directors, would have taken effect during the 2008-09 season.

“For a variety of reasons, the presidents agreed that the proposed format would impact the conference in a negative manner and chose to defeat the play-in date proposal,” CCIW Commissioner Chris Martin said. “The ultimate authority for the operation of all facets of the conference rests with our chief executive officers and, in this case, the group disagreed with the coaches and athletics directors.”

By defeating the proposal, the tournament participants and seeding will continue to be based on the double round robin regular season men’s basketball schedule. The top four teams from the regular season standings will earn the right to play in the conference tournament, which will be held at the site of the regular season champion.

The 2008 CCIW Men’s Basketball Tournament is scheduled for February 29 and March 1 at the site of the regular season champion. The 2008 tournament will be the third such tournament in the history of the CCIW. North Central won the 2005-06 version while Augustana was last year’s champion. The winner of the conference tournament earns the CCIW’s automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
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The Presidents Council decision is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Remember, if the "play-in" proposal passed, it was not going to be called an 8-team tournament - it was going to be a 4-team tournament with a 4-team play-in. This made no sense to me since the play-in game would not be "exempt" and thus, each school would have to drop one non-conference game to meet the 25 game rule (ie go from 11 non-conference games to 10).

I am in favor of an 8-team tournament that is called an 8-team tournament. If the league won't support that though, I'd rather have it as-is (a 4-team tournament).

The press release makes it sound like the coaches were pushing the play-in. I don't think that was the necessarily the case...at least towards the end. I think last year the coaches pushed for an official 8-team conference tournament, but for some reason the league is not willing to have a different tournament structure for the men and women (and the women don't want an 8-team tourney). So somehow the play-in concept was developed. Once the coaches realized, however, that the extra game wouldn't be exempt, they wanted no part of it. At least that is the impression I've had in talking to coaches - I haven't talked to one yet that was in favor of the play-in. Most want an official 8-team tournament.

So, my guess is that we are going to have a 4-team tournament for years to come. I don't see this changing.