MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I know he doesn't necessarily need the money, but that job has got to pay less than either of his last two.  The job listing said $110-130k.

[pointlem]

I gather the new Sunday-scheduled DIII championship game was, from the NCAA's perspective, a success? I'm curious: Would some DIII schools that don't schedule Sunday games, like Yeshiva not scheduling games after Friday sundown, be reluctant to play a championship Sunday game (think Chariots of Fire)? If so, would the NCAA accommodate? Would the team forfeit or be replaced? Or...?

[ziggy]

I gather the new Sunday-scheduled DIII championship game was, from the NCAA's perspective, a success? I'm curious: Would some DIII schools that don't schedule Sunday games, like Yeshiva not scheduling games after Friday sundown, be reluctant to play a championship Sunday game (think Chariots of Fire)? If so, would the NCAA accommodate? Would the team forfeit or be replaced? Or...?

There are still probably some Sunday prohibitions out there (isn't BYU always at a Thursday-Saturday site when they make the tournament?) but fewer than there were. I believe in 2010 the women's volleyball championship match was scheduled for a Sunday but was then pushed to Monday when Calvin qualified, and ultimately won, the program's first national title. My understanding is that Calvin would now play on a Sunday in that scenario, or at the very least in a special scenario like the combined championship weekend that just took place.

However, there is still evidence of a documented institutional preference to not play on Sunday and a willingness by the NCAA to accommodate. Just this past fall Calvin women's soccer hosted a Friday-Saturday pod in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament when all other pods, including at Messiah, were Saturday-Sunday.

I'm not sure we would ever see Calvin CHOOSE to play on a Sunday, and I'm sure they (along with what I assume is a similar stance at Hope) have enough pull in the league that I doubt we start to see MIAA tournament championship games pulled to Sunday, but things have relaxed enough that making a run to a combined championship weekend at the D1 site wouldn't throw a wrench into the NCAA's plans.

[Patrick Coleman]

Yes, there are still schools reluctant to play on Sunday, as Ziggy notes, and yes, some of those schools would play in a national title game on Sunday.

I suspect the number of schools who would refuse to play in a national title game on Sunday in this specific scenario would be very small, but if it were the case, then the NCAA would accommodate them and not make them forfeit.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

From what we understand, there was a contingency for a Monday afternoon final if either the D2 or D3 final contained a team with a policy against playing on Sunday.

As Pat said, most of the schools who do not generally play on Sundays make some exceptions for postseason play where it can't really be helped.