By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

One reason the NCAA Div. I basketball tournament could be called “March Madness” is because of the teams, not chosen among the 34 at-large teams, are left mad.

That process and reaction could be mild compared to March of 2009 when the field is set for the NCAA Div. I wrestling tournament when a committee may have to choose over 200 at-large wrestlers.

For that will be the first tournament in which historical data — how many national champions and All-Americans produced by qualifying conferences or tournaments — will not be used in determining what 330 wrestlers will have a shot at ten individual championships.

“There was a mandate from the NCAA and the Championship Cabinet to move away from using historical data in determining the number of qualifiers in each conference,” said Mike Moyer, the executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association. “We are working with the NCAA committee to see if we can develop tools in the tool box, if you will.”

Currently, the 11 qualifying conferences and tournaments have a certain number of qualifiers, based on how their individuals performed in past tournaments. Among those qualifiers are the ten champions and a certain number of at-large selections to fill out their allotment.

That will not be the case in the future.

“Right now, it looks like the champion in each weight class in each conference will automatically qualify,” Moyer said. “There are 220 additional qualifiers that need to be determined through a combination of some type of RPI-like system and there will also be a ranking committee.”

RPI stands for Ratings Percentage Index, as competitors are rated by statistical data, including head-to-head meetings against others and how many quality or nationally-ranked foes they meet in a given year.

If the NCAA wrestling committee does adopt such a method, will it work in a sport where results have been hard to find and where some wrestlers do not compete for an entire season.

“One of the challenges with an RPI system is what do you do if you have a wrestler injured three-fourths of the season,” said Moyer.

“Another thing is that we do not want to eliminate the incentive for Div. I programs to compete against Div. II and III programs. In some geographic parts of the country, it’s crucial that continues to happen because the schools are so spread out.

“We also want to make sure there is a balance of strong teams competing against strong teams and some of the middle-level and low-level programs being able to get top-tier programs on their schedule. ”

The biggest argument in determining qualifiers in past tournaments is how do you choose the best wrestlers and still get a regional selection of wrestlers to help the sport grow.

“It’s going to be quite a balancing act,” admitted Moyer. “What we are trying to do is come up with something that honors the directive coming out of the NCAA. Two of the guiding principles is that we want to maintain broad-base regional representation, but also maintain the balance of getting the best wrestlers to the NCAAs.”

At last summer’s NWCA Convention, a proposal was made to increase the field of competitors in the Div. I tournament to 360 wrestlers, which would give more opportunities among the 88 Div. I schools. But there has been some hesitation by the NCAA to do that, suggesting that the current rate is higher than most Div. I sports.

“Bringing in more qualifiers would be the route that I’d like to see us going,” said Michigan coach Joe McFarland. “Right now, I would consider us an endangered sport. If the NCAA really wants to help our sport, it is something they should consider. Then we can give more qualifiers to conferences that really need them.”

Assuming the number stays at 330 and a selection committee will be asked to determine who wrestles and who doesn’t, the coaches want to make sure the committee is made up of people familiar with wrestling.

“I’m hoping that some of the decision-making process is left in the hands of the coaches,” said Central Michigan coach Tom Borrelli. “I’d rather the coaches determine which kids from their conference get those qualifying spots.”

Borrelli pointed out that coaches are among a committee that selects seeded wrestlers for the national tournament and understands how political that process can be.

“The majority of us coaches have been on the seeding committee at the NCAA tournament and that is a monumental task if you don’t try to be influenced by all the rankings that are out there. They need to look at all the results and do the right thing for the kids,” Borrelli said.

“We try to seed 160 guys (16 guys at ten different weights) and get all the information from their season records. It takes about two days to do one weight class. I couldn’t imagine a committee doing it for 220 guys.”

Could the NCAA be creating a Pandora’s Box of problems?

“It is,” admitted Moyer. “If you are sitting on the Championship Cabinet, I’m assuming some of those administrators know something about wrestling and some may know very little about our sport.”

Moyer said the NCAA committee hopes to make a decision by next spring on how the qualifiers will be allocated.

“We do have an opportunity to look at things from a different way,” Moyer said. “Personally, I haven’t resigned myself that we’re not going to come up with something that is better than what we currently have.”

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