Some of us are old enough to remember.
Way back then, some conferences determined who went to the NCAAT by a tournament; for the rest it was the regular season winner. Over time, every conference (?) added a tournament.
Also back in those days, there were a bunch of independent teams - not a member of any conference. Some of those got into the NCAAT, too, but I forget how that worked. It looks like the last independent was NJIT in 2015.
Thinking of that got me wondering how many regular season conference champs would have been displaced this year if the Highlander Rule ("There Can Be Only One") were still in place.
Here are a few examples this time around....
Duke would still be in but Auburn would be out.
Houston would still be in but MSU would be out.
St John's would still be in but New Mexico would be out.
Which is to say that HALF of the regular season winners in the top 6 conferences would miss the NCAAT under the old rules.
[Not trying to make some deep point here; I just thought it was interesting.]
