them in a different conference (with the exact same resume), they would no longer qualify for the tournament?
That doesn't make any sense at all. If a team has a tournament resume, they should be in. It doesn't matter what conference they are in.
The "well they have a losing record in conference" argument is dumb. You are punishing good teams for playing in a better conference. You're saying "you may be qualified, but we already have too many from your group, so we're going to take a less qualified team."
Isn't that the exact same as affirmative action and DEI?