This is a 'scorecard' by conference for 1997, the fifth year of data I have. I thought this might be useful info since the regionals are a major source of inter-conference and inter-region play that helps determine the relative strength and hence future seedings of teams from various regions and conferences.
Here is the 'histogram' of the success rate for the 1997 NCAA regionals.
------ wins ------
Conference Number 0 1 2 3+ champ comments ...
========== ====== === === === === ===== -----------------
SEC 6 1 1 4 SEC W uber alles
Pac-10 5 3 2 truly awesome !
ACC 4 1 2 1 mediocre year
Big-12 4 3 1 crash and burn
Big-West 3 2 1 deserved its bids
TransAmerica 3 3 horrid
WAC 2 1 1 got the good SWC team
SunBelt 2 1 1 So.Ala. impresses
Mo-Valley 2 1 1 Wichita St. disappoints
Conf USA 2 1 1 So.Fla. does well
Ind - Miami,FL 1 1 to CWS as independent
Ivy 1 1 playin (beat #1 seed)
West Coast 1 1 playin (beat #2 seed)
Southland 1 1 automatic bid (good)
Atlantic-10 1 1 automatic bid
Southern 1 1 automatic bid
Colonial 1 1 automatic bid
Big-South 1 1 automatic bid
Ohio Valley 1 1 automatic bid
Big-East 1 1 automatic bid (wasted)
Big Ten 1 1 automatic bid (wasted)
MAC 1 1 automatic bid (wasted)
America East 1 1 playin
Northeast 1 1 playin (good effort)
Mid-Continent 1 1 playin
Midwestern Col 0 -playin loser
SWAC 0 -playin loser
Patriot 0 -playin loser
Metro Atlantic 0 -playin loser
MEAC 0 -playin loser