The Atlantic conference in 1999 returned to a 6-team single knockout tournament, as usual held at Halifax Metro Centre. It was not uncommon to see a #5 or #6 win the previous night then come out and flatten the #1 or #2 seed after sharpening their shooting eye in the Metro Center. GPAC in 1999 reverted back to its 3-team format from its 1998 experiment when all four teams made the playoff. Now they are back to four. WIth the addition of a 7th team, Canada West in 2000 began a new 6-team format with Quarterfinals.

Wild cards came about because of a need to make the national championship a fairer tournament. Using only the six conference winners creates an imbalanced draw. One conference champ may have to play 3 games to win the event. Another may reach the final with only a single victory. Adding two more teams creates a balanced, fair draw.

The last two teams accepted into the Final Eight are Wild Cards selected from the best of the remaining teams. This is done by a special CIAU committee who hold their final discussions and announce a decision on the Sunday evening prior to the Final Eight. Some conferences are still playing that afternoon, deciding their representative. The selection committee also seeds the teams into the championship draw. Contrary to popular opinion, the selection committee is not the same committee that isssues weekly polls over the course of the season. It is a brand new committee.

Teams must actually apply to be considered as wild cards. A top team that does not formally apply will not be considered. This dates from the old days when a team might not be able to afford or choose to travel to the championship, or simply chose not to play. But, since the Final Eight found a permanent home in Halifax 15 years ago, the tournament has generated more than enough revenue to help deserving teams get there. This reminds us of the situation years ago when the NCAA actually had to force its top teams to play in its own championship. They did much better financially by going to the NIT in Madison Square Gardens in New York. It took legal action to make the top teams play in the NCAA Championship.

An obvious choice for a wildcard is a team that has been winning all season, has been high in the rankings, has led its league, but is unexpectedly upset in a sudden-death playoff game. But, if four such dominant teams are upset in conference playoffs, the committee has a bad problem.

Less common is for 6 season-long favorites to win their conference berths in the Final Eight. Then, the committee must decide between the next cluster of lesser teams ranked 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Teams are chosen on merit. But where there is a toss-up the committee has the option to lean in the direction of selecting a wild card applicant from the home conference. It is felt this helps boost attendance and the revenue so necessary to maintaining the Final Eight as a prestige event.

Notes by 1999 Committee Member James Hillis:
Based on criteria laid out by the NABCC, teams that apply for a wild card berth are ranked 1 through 6 (or 1 through whatever) on each of the ten criteria below. Six points for 1st rank, 5 points for second etc. After all teams are ranked on all criteria, a tally is done. The low team on the list is dropped. The ranking occurs again. Low team is dropped again .....and so on until two remain. The process is purely objective, with no allowance for interpretation by the committee (one coaches' rep from each conference plus a chair). Thus, criticize the system if you will, but no basis for comments of politics etc. The process itself will be reviewed at the upcoming NABCC meetings.

The Voting Criteria
1. Final regular season conference record and standing
2. Playoff Performance
3. Games vs other conference champions (regular season)
4. Games vs other teams under wild card consideration.
5. Team results in the last 10 games of conference play.
6. Game results non-conference (vs CIAU opponents)
7. Game results non-conference (vs CIAU opponents outside of own conference)
8. Final CIAU top ten ranking
9. Total number of weeks as a top ten team.
10. Position in the top ten over last 5 weeks of the ranking