njlincolnlion:

so basically Lincoln is looking for a Bethany win over Westminster that will most likely drop them down and allow Lincoln to move into the 3rd and final spot.....i have seen some talk about Lincoln possibly getting a Pool C bid if one of the PrAC teams would get the nod ahead of them - do you know the chances of this happening

Westminster and Bethany clash on Saturday with the first place seed on the line....there is also a good chance the two teams could meet again in the tourney championship.....if a PrAC team would get one of the three bids do you think they would have to sweep the next two meetings....i think Westminster is in the drivers seat as of right now, but what are the chances if any that Bethany will jump over Lincoln if they beat Westminster and win their tourney?

     -- also to be noted is that Bethany has two wins over a common opponent of PS-Altoona which Lincoln lost to

i think these are the top 5 pool B teams right now with a few others on the outside looking in:

Aurora             NAthCon  13-1 / 11-1
Westminster   PrAC         10-5 / 9-1
Lincoln            Ind            12-5 / 8-2
Maryville         GSAC         11-4 / 11-3
Bethany          PrAC          11-4 / 9-3

looks as if the PrAC will sort things out in conference play most likely only leaving one team worthy of a B bid........do you think Aurora may be worthy of a pool C bid which would allow four of these teams in? any comments on who may be on the bubble?

any input on how pool B seems to be shaping up going into early january?  who are the front runners, and who the sleepers may be?

can we get back to talking about other pool B teams besides Lincoln.......anybody have any perspectives on how Pool B is shaping up early on???

What does everyone think of the Transylvania vs Bethany; Randolph-Macon vs Wooster, first and second round games? Along with Hope, Calvin, Wittenberg, CMU, BW, and Lake Erie all being in the same bracket?  i believe this is one loaded section.

What does everyone think of the pool B's matchups in the opening rounds???

Christopher Newport @ Lincoln 
     Lincoln beat Chris. Newport in OT the only time they played this season and it just seems like Lincoln is and will be the better team on Friday...i also think Alvernia will pull out a victory over Messiah and Lincoln should also be able to get by them at home on Saturday stepping right on in to the sweet sixteen.


Villa Julie @ Baruch
     i am going to have to go with Baruch most likely winning easily at home and Villa Julie going home after the first round.


Bethany @ Transylvania
     i think this one should be a tight game with Bethany bringing a better product to the tournament this year.  i believe this game will come down to the final 2 minutes and maybe even the final seconds.  the winner most likely gets Wooster on Saturday.


Maryville (Tenn.) vs Trinity (Texas)   @ Miss. College
     i also think this will be a tight game as well.  i think i am going to go with Trinity in this one mainly due to how Maryville has been playing down the stretch.



i think there is a good chance for two B's to get a round one win (maybe even three), and two may also make it to the Sweet Sixteen.

what do you think the most likely matchups could be for thursdays games and who do you think should get the byes?

i think after last nights affairs, things seem to be shaping up in Pool B....Nebraska Wesleyan goes down, Maryville goes down, Clarke and Bethany get big wins.....i think he four deserving teams are Lincoln, Bethany, Huntingdon, and Clarke (if they would happen to put two GSAC teams in i think it is in place of Clarke which would be really messed up by the NCAA)

as of right now it looks like it sould be Lincoln, Bethany, the GSAC champion (Maryville or Huntingdon), and either Nebraska Wesleyan/Chapman/NIIC Champion...with the NIIC champion i think getting the nod

well Fisk goes down to Huntingdon...do you think this takes them out of consideration and puts Maryville in the drivers seat to control their own destiny, and does Huntingdon now have a chance to sneak in if they can win the GSAC?

it may be possible for prediction two to be correct, especially with a Clarke loss.  however, even with a Clarke win it could still show correct as long as Maryville defeats Fisk. that would most likely put the final bid between Bethany and Clarke

here is my analysis on the teams in the hunt for a pool B bid (with lincoln being a lock):

Fisk QOWI 9.714 (tied-42), 10-4 in region (.714); 19-6 overall
     they have a win over Randolph-Macon and split with Maryville; two losses that hurt them are Huntingdon and LaGrange. they are 5-5 in their last 10 and can possibly earn two more wins in their tourney with a possibly key championship against Maryville.

Nebraska Wesleyan  QOWI 9.714 (tied-42), 6-1 in region (.857); 9-16 overall
     no real key victories that i saw.  they did take Whitworth to OT.  they are 2-8 in their last 10 and may possibly have a match up with Chapman in their tourney.  they do play a limited in region schedule but seems to have no affect on their ncaa tourney consideration if i took that the right way from previous posts.

Bethany  QOWI 9.304 (69), 19-4 in region (.826); 22-4 overall
     key wins at Muskingum (15-8 in region and OAC member), Keystone (20-6 overall with wins ove VJC, Baptist Bible, and Keuka), also DII power Wheeling Jesuit (has no affect on their consideration for the tourney but does show they can play at an elevated level this year; whereas last year they lost to DII power West Liberty and went on to get blown out in the first round), have key losses to a poor Marietta team and an average Case Western team.  they did take CMU to the buzzer losing by 2 and have a 17 game win streak entering their conference championship.  even though they have a weak conference they do have a chance to run the table (14-0) which is very hard to do at any level no matter what level of competition you play. they also average margin of victory in their conference of 20+.  they also have a Jostens Finalist in Matt Drahos.

Maryville(TN)  QOWI  9.300 (70), 14-6 in region (.700); 19-6 overall
     they split with Fisk and Oglethorpe.  key losses to Huntingdon and Sewanee. they are 6-4 in their last 10.  can possibly get two more wins in their conf. tourney and may match up against Fisk in the championship.

Villa Julie  QOWI 8.850 (106), 16-4 in region (.800); 18-7 overall
     have a win over Keuka and at Hood, also losses to Catholic, Keystone, and St. Mary's.  they are 8-2 in their last 10 and plays Keuka tonight.

Clarke  QOWI 8.714 (110), 14-7 in region (.667); 16-10 overall
     split with Aurora, win over UW-Stevens Point, key loss to Marian and are 8-2 in their last 10.  they play Aurora in the conf. championship on saturday.

Chapman  QOWI (not in top 120), 8-4 in region (.667); 18-7 overall
     have two big wins over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and also have a Jostens finalist in Zach Wheatley.  they are 9-1 in their last 10 and may face Neb. Wes. in their tourney.

Keuka  QOWI (not in top 120), 13-4 in region (.765); 16-8 overall
     win over Baptist Bible but key losses to Keystone (twice) and Villa Julie.  plays VJC tonight.


the way i look at it is Lincoln is in and there are a couple of other ways the commitee could look at things.  i don't think Keuka has much of a chance even if they do beat VJC tonight.  they have three losses to teams Bethany beat by an average of 32 points.  if VJC wins tonight there hopes are still alive pending a Bethany loss on saturday.  so the loser of tonights VJC/Keuka game is pretty much out of the running with the winner still on the outside looking in.  if Clarke losses to Aurora on saturday they are done, but a win puts them in contention with the Nebraska Wesleyan/Chapman winner if they meet in the tourney.

here is one prediction

Pool B #1:  Lincoln
Pool B #2:  Fisk/Maryville winner if they meet (or the winner of the GSAC tourney)
Pool B #3:  Bethany (assuming they win their conference championship on saturday)
Pool B #4:  Clarke (with a win over Aurora in the NIIC championship saturday)

prediction two

Pool B #1:  Lincoln
Pool B #2:  Fisk
Pool B #3:  Maryville
Pool B #4:  Bethany
       *assuming Bethany wins and Fisk and Maryville meet in the GSAC championship with a Maryville victory and maybe even a Clarke loss

prediction three

Pool B #1:  Lincoln
Pool B #2:  Maryville/Fisk winner
Pool B #3:  Bethany
Pool B #4:  Nebraska Wesleyan (assuming they face and beat Chapman; and Clarke loses to              Aurora


i think for VJC or Keuka to get in or be considered they need a Bethany loss.  For Neb. Wes. to get in they a Clarke loss and need to face and beat Chapman.  Chapman definetely needs a Clarke loss and a win over Neb. Wes.  Clarke needs to win and probably a Maryville loss to get in, and hope the commitee doesn't bring two GSAC teams in.  Bethany needs a win.  Fisk and Maryville both need the GSAC crown to be a lock (the other may get left behind).


all responses to this are encouraged...let me know if you think differently or have any other situations that i might have missed.

i think that if they give a bid to Nebraska Wesleyan it will take away a bid from either Maryville or Fisk.  i think those three teams are fighting for two spots and Bethany and Villa Julie are battling for one.

i would first like to say Lincoln is a lock for the first pool B bid; however, i feel like the other three bids could be between Maryville, Fisk, Bethany, and Villa Julie.  i think the winner of the Fisk, Maryville tourney game will get a bid and Bethany should get a bid over VJC if they give both Maryville and Fisk a bid.  they have one common opponent, Keystone. Bethany handled Keystone fairly easily 103-89.  VJC lost to Keystone 82-56.  just by looking att his game it seems Bethany shoud get the nod over VJC along with their in-region winning percentages and the way Bethany is playing down the stretch with a chance to run the table in the conference and the conference tourney.