Colby's court is regulation.  They could host but I'm guessing that may depend on who ends up winning some of those smaller Northeast conferences.

Yeah, DIII News' pre-season issue is pretty much a joke.  I don't know who runs that thing but I feel like they just throw together a top 25 based on very little information.  I think the regulars on these message boards could put together a more accurate (and more enjoyable) pre-season top 25 and preview.

"Look at this way: They only have to reach the second round to have done better than the rest.  If they just qualify they've done better than Trinity."

Mark, Trinity was 24-3 the year after they won the national title with two losses to a Depauw team that was 25-3.  They got shut out of the tournament when the field was just 48 teams.  It was ridiculous because those two were both ranked in the top ten but what I'm trying to say is that it's a little easier for a good team to qualify now.

Yes, unfortunately, I think if Cowgirl fans want to blame anyone it should be the Southwestern Pirates for finishing at .500.  Remember in 2003-2004, Trinity was left out of the tournament at 24-3, a record including two losses to Depauw when both teams were in the top 10.  That third loss was to McMurry who finished 16-9 that year.  Now granted, it was a smaller tournament field at that time but that was a team that was more than worthy of a bid but it was the one loss in Abilene that kept them out.  Also, the top 25 polls on D3 hoops and on the WBCA site have nothing to do with the NCAA's selection of tournament teams.

Just noticed Lauren Andrews is back on the Trinity roster.  She was the starting point guard for the Sweet 16 team Trinity had a couple of years ago and sat out last year with a knee injury.  She should have a pretty big impact on the Tigers.

That is interesting.  I think that's illegal.  Trinity had its second scrimmage last night against those UT Longhorns.  A 78-29 loss, similar result to two years ago when both programs were in the top 10 in the country.

I gotta admit, I did go 0-2 on predictions last night.  Sounds like Trinity had no answer for Daniels but I don't think many teams in the country do.  I was shocked by the Hardin Simmons win considering there results coming into the NCAAs.  They showed some real character winning that game.  Good luck to both teams in tonight's state championship.

Anyone ready to make any predictions for this weekend?  I got TU over Howard Payne and McMurry over HSU on Friday.  This will set up the first TU @ McMurry game since the Lady Indians shocked the world and knocked off #1 TU a couple of seasons ago.  I think Trinity has enough posts to at least annoy Tarra Richardson (no one can stop her) and the key will be if Trinity's guards can slow the effectiveness of Tuttle.  Can I pick TU to lose when they've never lost to the ASC in the NCAAs?  That's like picking the Colts to beat the Pats in the playoffs, Indy looks like the have the tools but somehow they can't do it.  So, I'll take the Tigers to move on.

You're right McMFan, I would guess losing to Trinity in the playoffs would get old.

I agree that more non-conference exposure would help the ASC's cause in the NCAA tourney.  You can also look to the NESCAC as an example as to how teams should perform in the regular season to avoid meeting in the NCAAs.  The NESCAC got its top 4 teams in (Bowdoin, Bates, Williams and Wesleyan) and if you look at their regular season results, in addition to winning a lot of non-conference games which I already said would help the ASC, they only lost to each other.  None of those four lost to the other six teams in the conference.  I think the top of the ASC hurts itself with bad losses within the conference.  From an outsider's perspective, as is the NCAA, it's hard to tell if every conference game is just that tough (which you can make an argument for road games) or the top team just choked.  Wasn't there talk of splitting up this conference a couple of years ago?

not sure why the word three is in quotes, but on to the actual content of the post, it is unfortunate that, just like in football, the NCAA creates a Texas championship.  However, considering how Hardin-Simmons limped into the playoffs with their recent results, you should just be thankful that you got three teams into the tourney.  And if you look at the draw, you will see that they have it set up for a potential Oglethorpe-Depauw second round game, so they weren't much nicer to the SCAC.

So, no upsets in the first round.  For today's game, I'll take Trinity to beat Oglethorpe in a close game but experience wins out.  And just like in last year's tournament, I don't think Rhodes will have enough in their legs to stay with Depauw, setting up an all-tiger final for the fourth straight year.

Should be an interesting SCAC tournament.  The only certainty is Depauw winning their first round game.  I like Trinity to beat Hendrix but I've always thought of the Warriors as a little underachieving which could make this a better game than the normal 2/7 matchup.  Oglethorpe-Rose-Hulman should be very interesting, the first tournament play for many of these young Petrels and the last in the SCAC for the Engineers.  Does Forsyth have enough to pull this out?  I think so, and this is my upset of the first round.  Rhodes-Southwestern should be the best game, both teams have really improved as the season has gone on.  I like Rhodes here because of the home court, even if this game won't exactly be on their home court.

I forgot about Francouer.  But I think her stats were far and away best in the league while I don't think that is the case for Forsyth.  I just think Forsyth is the best player in the league, I'm not trying to take anything away from Bondi and what she has done for her team.  Clearly, Depauw is tops in the conference and she is a huge part of that.

I think Trinity and Oglethorpe have all but locked up the 2/3 spot in some order.  Both have defeated Rhodes and Hendrix this year so barring a collapse by either team in these last two weekends, they both should be in the bracket opposite Depauw.  Should be a great SCAC tournament.  Both of these teams would have to face an opponent like Southwestern or Rose-Hulman early on (both of whom just beat Trinity).  On the other side, it should be another Rhodes-Hendrix classic in the first round of this tournament with the winner facing Depauw.  Rhodes has played Depauw close both times this year and with the home court and a litte more depth than last year.  The Lynx might have enough to pull off the huge upset.  That's still a few weeks away, should be interesting to see how things wrap up.  And can we go ahead and just give Liz Bondi Player of the Year honors?  She has won Player of the week honors 4 times and the SCAC tends to give the award to the top player on the #1 seed no matter what (see Argetsinger winning last year over Rohde, even though Rohde won the Jostens Trophy and was 1st team All-American).  The only other played in contention is Rebekah Forsyth who is probably the best player but with her team in 6th, she won't win.