2 Interpretations:
2002:
When positions 24 & 25 were determined during the 2002 selection process Ohio State had 5 wins and University of Michigan had 6 wins. The 6 wins were the most of any of the 18 teams under consideration at that point in the selection process. The push rule was not used here because the committee determined that Ohio State had enough wins (5) that they would get into the meet on their own merit in later rounds.
If the push rule had been applied to give The Ohio State University their 2002 NCAA berth instead of the merit of their 5 wins, they could not have been counted as a win for other teams (i.e. Texas) and the field changes considerably.
2003 (WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED):
Virginia being added to the meet now gives both Miami & Washington 3 wins.
Now we compare Washington, Colorado State & Miami. Colorado State has 3 wins with a head to head over Miami.
Miami has 3 wins with a head to head over Washington.
Washington has 3 wins with no wins over Colorado State or Miami.
Position 27: Colorado State earns their bid based on their head to head win over Miami.
Position 28: Miami earns their bid based on their head to head win over Washington.
Now we consider the teams and their wins for final 3 spots:
Butler 1 win Indiana
Notre Dame 3 wins Michigan/Providence/Villanova
Washington 3 wins Virginia/Minnestoa/Arizona
Oregon 6 wins Georgia/Arizona (twice)/Providence/Miami/Minnesota
Princeton 1 win Minnesota
Position 29: We now compare Notre Dame's 3 wins to Washington's 3 wins. Why do we not consider Oregon with 6 wins? We would consider them if Washington did not have a chance to make the meet on their own merit and it was required for them to be pushed in, but there is not a scenario that REQUIRES them to be pushed into the meet.
Therefore, we still do not consider Oregon. This is based on the precedent explained above where Ohio State was able to make the meet on their own merit and therefore were not pushed into the meet by Michigan in 2002.
So now we compare Notre Dame with Washington. Both have 3 wins and neither have head to head wins over each other. We now apply rule 2. e where common opponents are compared. Notre Dame has wins over Michigan (ND Invite) & Villanova (Big East) and a loss to Arizona (Pre Nationals). Washington has wins over Arizona (PAC 10) and losses to Michigan (Pre Nationals) and Villanova (Pre Nationals). We do not consider Notre Dame's loss to Oregon (Pre Nationals) because Oregon is still not being considered at this point. We also do not consider Washington's win over Oregon (Regionals) for the same reason.
Because Notre Dame has 2 wins over common opponents to Washington's 1 win over a common opponent, Notre Dame pushes Butler into the meet. Therefore spot 29 is awarded to Butler.
Position 30: Notre Dame
Position 31: Washington