Mere hours before Pre-NCAA contest entries were due, the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), in conjunction with the NCAA, inexplicably changed conference rules to let four teams that were ineligible to compete in the NCAA tournament nevertheless compete in the SWAC tournament. For whatever reason, SWAC officials declined to contact our contest commissioners to give us a heads up.
Perhaps predictably, the part of this news that surprised many of our contestants was not that these four ineligible teams, including SWAC regular season champion Southern University, would be allowed to compete in the SWAC tournament, but rather that the four teams were ineligible in the first place.
Admittedly, we indulged in a bit of hyperbole when we suggested in a previous post that more than half our entrants foolishly chose an ineligible team to win the SWAC -- that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it? In fact it was only 46% of our contestants (including at least one commissioner) who picked Southern to represent the SWAC in the NCAA tournament. So you see, we're not as dumb as some think we are.
The NCAA, in its collective wisdom, has declared that the SWAC's NCAA tournament representative will be the furthest-reaching eligible team (taking the higher-seeded team in the case of a tie). And if it's good enough for the NCAA, then it's good enough for us. So the SWAC team that participates in the NCAA Tournament will be the team for which we award the 5 points for SWAC champion.
Anyone who disagrees with the above decision is welcome to lodge an official protest with the commissioners. And to show how magnanimous we are, we'll even hold off on denying any such protest until after it is made.
Have a great day.
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