Reclassification postseason bans aren't perfect. But they're not crazy either.

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On Tuesday, the Bellarmine Knights made history, winning their first ASUN Men's Basketball Tournament championship. The Knights had to knock off a game Florida Gulf Coast squad, a top-seeded Liberty, and one of the best Jacksonville teams in recent memory to take home a well-earned tournament title.

Typically, the team that wins a conference tournament is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament. But Bellarmine won't be going. This is only Bellarmine's second season as a D-I program, and NCAA bylaws stipulate that schools that are reclassifying from D-II cannot play in NCAA postseason events for four seasons.

So the Knights can play in any postseason that isn't operated by the NCAA, like a conference tournament, the CBI, or the CIT. But no March Madness for a few more seasons.

A similar situation happened back in 2020. The Merrimack Warriors, in their first dang season of D-I play, went 19-11 and finished in first place in the NEC. Seeking to avoid exactly this kind of problem, the NEC prohibited the Warriors from participating in theIR conference tournament.

Why on earth does this rule exist?

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