1-AA bracket is a lesson in economics

The tournament is a money loser, according to Dennis Pope, managing director of football and baseball for the NCAA. And after finishing with a net loss of $538,000 last year, the NCAA is attempting to limit expenses.

"The top four teams are seeded and given hosting opportunities as long as they continue to win," Pope said yesterday. "After that, the committee has a fiscal responsibility and makes the pairings based on the following criteria: quality and availability of facilities; attendance and revenue potential; proximity of schools.

"We apply that to each bid and look at those criteria while still trying to pair teams which are close geographically, as long as they are not in the same conference."

Pope said the presence of another Atlantic 10 team in the tournament hurt UMass's chances of playing at home in the first round. Southern Illinois was in a similar situation, since four teams from the Gateway Conference qualified, forcing the Salukis to travel to Delaware.

"We want to create as many bus trips as possible," Pope said. "Not just because of costs, but for moms and dads and boyfriends and girlfriends to be able to get to the game. Some of this is an offshoot of 9/11. We felt we were flying a lot of young kids across the country and we wanted to reduce that.

"If teams were close enough [for a bus trip], we would reduce transportation costs, and also reduce the time away from school."

Pope said the NCAA pays $100 per diem per person ($115 for the championship game) for 100-person traveling parties, plus transportation costs. Last year, per diem and transportation costs were $1.2 million.

UMass coach Mark Whipple complained strongly when the Minutemen were not among the host teams for the first round when the pairings were announced Sunday. A UMass spokesman confirmed last night that the school could host a second-round game if things break right.

Southern Illinois also expected to play a first-round game at home, but coach Jerry Kill was philosophical about the perceived snub, noting that Western Kentucky began on the road last year and won the championship.

"You just never know with the NCAA," Kill told the Southern Illinoisan. "There are a lot of factors, sometimes it has to do with money."

Colgate coach Dick Biddle hopes to capitalize on the situation.

"We have been on the other end of it," Biddle said. "We have gone to Illinois State and Georgia Southern in the past. In 1997 we were seeded 16th out of 16 teams and we had to play the No. 1 seed.

"The seeds are regional, not to say that one area is better than another, and the Atlantic 10 has some premier teams -- they all happen to be from the same area. But if we were playing away, it wouldn't matter. We played a lot of away games this year. We have played teams from the Atlantic 10 before and we have been competitive with them. We expect to give it a shot. We have a great chance."

Colgate concluded a 12-0 regular season with a 45-38 win against Holy Cross Saturday.

"This [tournament] is not for the coaches, it's for the players, and we are glad to be here," Biddle said. "UMass is a very good team and this will be a very tough game for us. But we are excited to be in this position. We will approach it the way we approach any game -- just relax and play.

"I look at this as an opportunity and not as the end of the world if you lose. You have to look at this as a reward for going 12-0. You play better that way, rather than being so tight.

"We have good players, we are pretty well-balanced. We have been able to pick up if one part of our game is not going well -- we had some games where the defense might have struggled and the offense picked them up. We have had some tight games but that should help us stay level-headed against UMass, because there are going to be ups and downs in this game."