“That’s the goal, to win a championship again and go to March,” Minor, a 6-foot-8 forward, said after posting 19 points and 7 rebounds in the victory. “I’m just grateful. We can’t control whether or not we go this year, but next year we may be eligible. So I’m just blessed.
Eleven schools, including Merrimack, are currently in a transition phase to Division I and subject to the decades-old transition rule. But why isn’t a team good enough to win its conference tournament allowed to compete in sport’s biggest event? The reason for this rule, an NCAA spokeswoman said in an email, is to allow these schools to meet Division I standards for facilities, scholarship requirements and other aspects of their sports programs.
“Originally, the NCAA Division I membership instituted a two-year reclassification process, but this process was doubled when teams began to make the jump and were unable to maintain their membership in Division I because they made the move too soon and couldn’t keep up financially,” said spokeswoman Meghan Durham. “This is intended to prevent universities from taking on expenses beyond their capacity.”
Merrimack coach Joe Gallo led the Warriors to an NEC regular season championship in 2019-20, when they became the first team to win a conference title in the first transition season to Division I Since joining the NEC, the Warriors have won a league-best 64 percent in their regular season conference games. Their win over Fairleigh Dickinson was their 11th in a row, and they could increase that total if they chose to participate in the College Basketball Invitational, which is not hosted by the NCAA, but Gallo said, “I think we’re done. “
Needless to say, Gallo is not a big fan of the NCAA transition rule.
“I hope that moving forward, for the sake of the children, something will be done about it, because for four years what you’re doing is taking a child’s entire career away from it. “equation,” Gallo said heading into the conference title game. “You’re basically telling a kid, ‘You can’t make the playoffs for your entire career.'”
