COLUMN: Ivy League tournament would be a hoops disgrace

Jordan Smith, Commentary The Ivy League's representative in all this was, of course, Princeton. Having won all their games in the conference this season, the Tigers certainly deserved a moment in the sun. And that's what is so frightening about recent trends in college basketball. In an effort to generate (what else) additional revenues, both the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences have decided to implement year-end conference tournaments, which the NCAA will honor with automatic bids to its lucrative tournament. Such actions will the leave the Ivy League as the only Division I conference in the country that distributes its automatic berth based on regular-season record. That's the way it should be, especially in the Ivies. With a forgettable, fourth-place year winding down, Penn coach Fran Dunphy was repeatedly asked whether he'd like a chance for the Quakers to fight their way into the Big Dance at season's end. His typical answer, to the effect of, "It's bad for one team and good for seven" -- a tacit approval -- was hardly reassuring. When one considers Columbia's Armond Hill and Cornell's Scott Thompson nearly turned cartwheels at the mere mention of an Ivy tourney, it is clear there is some sentiment for change. The real powers, the Ivy League athletic directors and presidents, have been quiet on this issue. But what happens when they find the Ancient Eight standing alone? Some in media circles were appalled by the playoff game Penn and Princeton used last year to determine the bid to the NCAA tourney when both teams finished 12-2. They thought the team which had won the season series (Penn) should have gotten the nod. New York sports radio host Mike Francesa, a former CBS commentator, sarcastically chalked it up to the Ivy League "being smarter than everyone else." And what of the "exposure" coaches so crave? A postseason tournament would allow the Ivy League to get into ESPN's "Championship Week" lineup, a pretty attractive offer considering no league games were shown on national TV during the 1996-97 season. The only time an Ivy school sees the boys from Bristol is when that team plays a top squad, like when Princeton challenged North Carolina in December. The more exposure, the more to sell to potential recruits. It never hurts to sell more tickets to the only serious money-maker in the schools' athletic departments, they could argue. That's all well and good, but these supposed selling points miss the real issue. The Ivy League has done what no other conference will -- create an environment that is fair. Every team gets seven games at home and seven on the road. There are no excuses, and one off night can not ruin an entire season. Assuming the team with the best record is actually the best team, that means the league is always sending its very best representative to face the nation. Compare that to a conference with a similar quality of play, such as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The MAAC's 1997 representative in the NCAA tourney, thanks to the conference tournament, was Fairfield -- a small, private university in Connecticut. They drew a No. 16 seed and, despite a spirited effort, had no chance against Final Four-bound North Carolina. The other seven schools, all of whom finished ahead of the sub-.500 Stags in the regular season, could only look on in agony. Is periodically sending a sacrificial lamb to the Big Dance really worth a gaudy "Ivy League Championship Game" and a TV spot between the Southland and Trans America conferences? It's been nine years since an Ivy League team got blown out at the Big Dance. It's hard to believe the league could make that claim if it let the Cornells and Yales slip into the tourney on the basis of a good weekend. It is understandable for Thompson and Hill to push for a tournament -- they run programs that trail Penn and Princeton in hoops history. But the Quakers and Tigers have worked hard to generate continual success. For anyone -- especially Dunphy -- to aid the pro-tourney crowd is a crime. Ivy League basketball is an example of sports done right. Leave well enough alone.