wgdsr wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:33 am
jhu08 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:01 am
2020-21 NCAA Division 1 Manual
§31.3.4.7.1 Team Sports Other Than Men's Basketball.
In team sports, per Bylaw 31.3.4.6-(a), excluding football and any team sport in which automatic qualification is not offered, the sport committee must award,
if a sufficient number of applications for automatic qualification exist,
at least 50 percent of the championship field to conferences that meet automatic-qualification criteria and provide play-in criteria. In sports other than men's volleyball, men's water polo and women's water polo,
the remaining 50 percent of the championship field shall be reserved for at-large teams.
-
The wording is clunky here in a way that the only the NCAA can accomplish, but I 100% promise that this statement when taken in totality means that At-Larges must be at least 50% of the NCAA tournament field (therefore At-Larges >= AQs). For those who are not familiar with dealing with the NCAA's ponderous legalese, this probably isn't super clear from the statement above, but the actual composition of some of the D1 tournament fields that I posted a couple posts up illustrates my interpretation of their bylaw.
ha. i would say it's more than possible that i had it backwards.
however... the wording in red above might be messing with your numbers? what if with all the 12-16 schools per conference for certain sports is skewing what you're looking at? (vs the 6-9 in lacrosse) because yes, it does say "if" in red and then "at least" in purple. and then the nc$$ puts in high teens to mid-20's % (a guess) of all teams into a tournament. based on demand and expenses, likely.
i need an nc$$ compliance manager at the front desk.
Like I said above, the NCAA's wording here is really really confusing. The statements that you highlight of "if" and "at least" working in conjunction with each other are the crux of that problem. It's why I bolded the last part of the bylaw "the remaining 50 percent of the championship field shall be reserved for at-large teams", because I think it's the key to interpreting the bylaw as a whole.
I'll take a shot at explaining the other part of the bylaw that is so confusing though. Again, don't take my quick explanation to the bank as the absolute law of what the NCAA thinks, but it'll be pretty close I think.
-
I'll use lacrosse as an example first to explain one potential scenario. 2019 tournament format: 8 at-larges, 8 (really 9) AQs, with a play-in game:
NCAA bylaw, the part that you highlighted: "The sport committee must award, if a sufficient number of applications for automatic qualification exist, at least 50 percent of the championship field to conferences that meet automatic-qualification criteria and provide play-in criteria"
In the case of D1M lacrosse, the NCAA-recognized tournament field size is 16. In the case here, a "sufficient number of applications for AQs" to award to at least 50% of the field do indeed exist. There are 9 AQ applications for 8 potential AQ spots, since the NCAA bylaw also states "the remaining 50 percent of the championship field shall be reserved for at-large teams." The NCAA then must "provide play-in criteria" (our beloved play-in game) since there are too many applications for the available AQ spots. Final tournament field size: 16 = 8 AQs, 8 at-larges
-
Now the alternate scenario. I'll use D1 baseball this time to illustrate. 2019 tournament format: 31 AQs, 33 at-larges
Again, the part of the NCAA bylaw in question: "The sport committee must award, if a sufficient number of applications for automatic qualification exist, at least 50 percent of the championship field to conferences that meet automatic-qualification criteria and provide play-in criteria"
In the case of D1 baseball, the NCAA-recognized tournament field size is 64. In the case here, "a sufficient number of applications for AQs" to award to at least 50% of the field do not exist. There are 31 applications for 32 potential AQ spots. In this case, there is no need for play-in criteria. All qualified AQs are awarded and the field can be rounded out by at-large teams to meet the requirements of the bylaw. Final tournament field size: 64 = 31 AQs, 33 at-larges (if another qualifying conference for baseball was created, the split would be 32/32)
-
The application of the above bylaw also is intrinsically connected to the NCAA-recognized tournament size for that sport, which is defined by individual committees for each sport. Baseball is a sport with much larger conference sizes than lacrosse, which makes it a pretty good example for the alternate scenario you mentioned. What would happen if the size of lacrosse conferences started growing larger (as in more schools added the sport) is that the NCAA sport level committee would likely expand the size of the tournament to accommodate.
Reading back my explanations of the NCAA's applications of their bylaws, I realize that I sound sort of patronizing with how I laid it out. Please don't take it that way! I'm trying to do it piece-by-piece with quotes interspersed from the NCAA's bylaw to show their interpretation/how they are getting the tournament fields that they are. It's a convoluted mess, and that's why I broke it down like I did.
I hope that what I have above makes some sense at least.