Carleton led by 29 early in the second half tonight and proceeded to lose to Puget Sound by one.  That was something to see.

Interesting.  I have to say, I'm not a fan.  I don't think whatever additional chance this creates for at-large NCAA berths (pretty small) is worth unbalanced conference schedules.

For this strategy to work, everyone has to crush their non-conference schedules, which is possible in the northeast where there are a ton of D3 teams to choose from, but out here there are only so many schools to play without traveling far.  The WIAC is much better, the ARC is better, and the UMAC is worse.  I don't see it.

I guess you can go to more in-season tournaments if you have the budget now.

Not disagreeing with your overall thesis, but you said "you can't cherry pick games to make a point", and then you did exactly that for a paragraph.

Bummer.

Quote from: bball1122 on February 28, 2023, 10:28:33 PM
I'll just say it - the new awards are terrible.   No conference player of the year is absurd.  No one wanted an offensive player of the year.  And not having a clear separation of the all conference teams waters down the accomplishments of the players that had the best seasons.  I'd love an all first-year team to return as well.  MIAC - make this a one year change and return to normalcy next year.  Signed, everyone.

They are almost comically bad.  They made like 5 changes and all of them for the worse.

I also miss the all-defensive team.

The MIAC awards are out.  bball1122 pretty much nailed them.  The only difference was Ba got defensive player of the year instead of Holt.

I don't understand why there aren't first/second/third teams anymore.  Seems silly.

The honorable mentions that bball1122 didn't have in his post were Banovetz and Gibbens from Carleton, and Kobe Kirk from St. Olaf.

There is also an all-tournament team.  Beckler snuck on there somehow, along with his teammates Luke Harris and Matt Banovetz.  Thissen and Vaughn from the runners-up.  And from the non-finalists, Cimperman, Caleb Williams, Kirk, and Breyton Buysman from SMU.

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on February 24, 2023, 05:02:22 PM
Ok, but sag still has St. Mary's, Macalester, St. Olaf and Hamline with 6 NCs. Maybe I'll go through their schedules of I have time. No big deal.

They had only 5.  The extra games were the playoff games from Tuesday.

The MIAC has had 9 at-large berths in the last 10 tournaments.  So it is possible even with a 20-game conference schedule.

For Carleton it might come down to that away game with 2-24 Martin Luther.  If that was a .500 team instead, I think their SOS would be more like .515-.520.  That might have been enough to get them some consideration at least.

The consensus seems to be that Carleton has no shot for a Pool C bid if they lose the tournament.  Strength of schedule is too low.

The title game will be in Northfield unless both the Johnnies and the Pipers win.  The Oles will have to play way, way better offensively to have a chance.  Connor Martin had 7 turnovers.  (Though he did a great job defending Williams in the second half.)

Great picks bball1122.

It looks like the favorite for the playoffs is Mother Nature, with over a foot of snow forecast between Tuesday night and Thursday night.  Maybe they will push the starting time for the Tuesday games up a couple of hours, have the semifinals on Friday, and the finals on Sunday afternoon?

Quote from: bball1122 on February 15, 2023, 10:56:56 PM
Someone smarter than me - if Carleton wins tomorrow,  is the playoff field set?  Not the order, but the teams.   CAR, SJU, MAC, SMU, STO, HAM?  I don't think GAC gets in on the 3 way tie-breaker with STO and HAM even if they win Saturday.

That's correct.  St. Mary's and St. Olaf are in.  Hamline is also in unless Concordia wins out.  GAC is eliminated.

The Carleton - Concordia game has been postponed until tomorrow due to weather.

Yes, I agree with that.  I have that specific scenario as the only one where St. Olaf doesn't make the playoffs with a win.  And, as I mentioned, I have Concordia in the playoffs if they win out.  Basically, St. Olaf and Concordia do well in the second tiebreaker, having gone .500 against the teams above them.  (Concordia hasn't gone .500 yet, but would with a win against Carleton.)

I also have Concordia with a path to hosting a playoff game!  They win out, Hamline beats GAC, GAC beats St. Mary's, and Bethel beats St. Mary's.  Then there is either a 4-way or 5-way tie for fourth at 10-10 (depending on whether St. Olaf wins).  Concordia would have the best record in games among those teams and get the #4 seed.

I could be wrong, but I think Concordia would get in at 10-10 regardless of other results.  They don't need St. Olaf to lose.