UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Here is a 'scorecard' by conference for 1991. This has been constructed using regional results supplied by Craig Gowans that filled in a gap in my records.
The reason I first assembled a histogram like this was that regional play is a source of inter-conference and inter-region games unaffected by the vagaries of early-season matchups (some teams have been playing longer than others) and mid-week games. They offer an indicator of the actual strength of the conferences as measured on the field at the end of the season, and could affect how the NCAA views future seedings. There have been years where a lame showing in the regionals seemed to result in one less bid the next year, and vice versa.
Here is the 'histogram' of the success rate for the 1991 NCAA regionals.
------ wins ------
Conference Number 0 1 2 3+ champ my comments
========== ====== === === === === ===== -----------------
SEC 4 . . 1 1 2 strong showing
ACC 3 . . 1 1 1 .
Six-Pac 3 2 1 .
Big-8 3 1 . 1 1 . .
SWC 3 1 . 2 . . .
Sun Belt 3 1 2 . . . pretty bad
Mo-Valley 2 . . . . 2 deserved more?
Big-West 2 . . . . 2 deserved more?
Metro 2 1 . . . 1 FSU leaves Metro on top
ind(Miami,CSN) 2 . 1 . 1 . .
WAC 2 1 . . 1 . .
Big-10 2 . 1 1 . . .
Big-East 2 1 1 . . . lame
East Coast 2 1 1 lame
Amer. South 1 1 .
ECAC 1 . . . 1 . .
Pac-10 N 1 . 1 . . . .
Colonial 1 1 .
Southern 1 . 1 . . . .
MAC 1 1 .
Big-South 1 1 . . . . .
Ohio Valley 1 1 .
West Coast 1 1 .
Atlantic 10 1 1 . . . . .
Southland 1 1
EIBL 1 1 .
Trans America 1 1 . . . . .
Mid-Cont 0 left out
MEAC 0 left out
Midwest Coll 0 left out
SWAC 0 left out
Play-in series started in 1994.
There were 26 conferences that automatically qualified a team for regional play. The Association of Mid-Continent Universities, MEAC, Midwestern Collegiate, and SWAC did not qualify for automatic bids nor did they qualify any at large teams.
ECAC is the old Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, consisting of many divisions that are now split into many conferences (Metro Atlantic, Northeast, Patriot League, etc). EIBL is the old Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League, made up of the Ivy League and some Patriot League teams.