The Jackets have an interesting matchup today.  St. Joseph started their basketball program in 2018.  Jim Calhoun, 3x D1 National champ at UConn, was the first coach.  They quickly got to the top of their conference.  His assistant, at St. Joseph and UConn, Glen Miller took over in 21/22..  Miller made a strong program at Connecticut College (H-SC beat them in the Final Four in '99 when CC was undefeated) before becoming a head coach in the Ivy League at Brown and Penn.  So, it looks like they have good coaching and a lot of experience.  Of course, the ODAC has toughened the Jackets.  They have regularly seen a level of competition SJ can only get in this tournament.  ODAC level defense has to be somewhat shocking to the opposition and will carry the day for R-MC.

The Tigers have Farmingdale State.  They have some quick guards and a very solid forward.  They also have a lot of experience, and they just missed knocking off CNU, by 1, in the first round last year

Geez!! All three ODAC teams advance- HSC and Guilford by large margins but my Jackets had a comfortable lead with about 9 minutes left and then went in a HUGE scoring drought and SJ cut it to 6 before the Jackets finally pulled away at the end! Jackets can't do that and expect to win every game from here on out! The freshmen have been fairly solid  but need to be even more so down the stretch! The emergence of the Santorini kid has been a real shot in the arm for the Jackets from three point land! ON TO NEXT WEEKEND!!

^^^Agree on all points.

RMC should get to host next weekend. It can't be Calvin because that would mean flying the other three teams as all are over 700 miles from Grand Rapids, MI. Unlikely to be Tufts, as they were not "seeded"/ranked high enough. Trinity is the only other option, but RMC was a "#1 seed", so should definitely be us.

Congrats to H-SC and Guilford. H-SC should also get to host next weekend. Tough to know if Guilford will get to host, but my guess is that they will get sent to Keene State. I doubt either CNU or Williams will be tabbed to host.

Jackets get sent to Trinity College in Hartford and Guilford gets to host?? Not exactly fair to us ! RMC is the #1 seed in this region- why are they sending us up there?? We got F•CKED and didn't even get kissed!! The NCAA just didn't want 3 ODAC TEAMS HOSTING and we were the sacrificial lamb over 39 freakin miles of travel distance!!

It's distance.  Tufts winning messed things up.  They've over 500 miles from Ashland, so going to Trinity reduces the flights needed from 2 to 1, saving money.  This is how it's always been.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 03, 2024, 07:56:52 AMIt's distance.  Tufts winning messed things up.  They've over 500 miles from Ashland, so going to Trinity reduces the flights needed from 2 to 1, saving money.  This is how it's always been.

Well, that takes some the fun out of the "evil NCAA" narrative and just reduces it to the "cheap NCAA" narrative. I'd speculated it went like this:

1) H-SC was a lock to host;
2) They didn't want three ODAC schools hosting again;
3) A make-up call for leaving Guilford out of the tournament last season.

Oh, BULL SH•T, Ryan! You and I both know the real reason behind this and that's just the excuse the NCAA is hiding behind -that was the out they had- of the three teams. RMC is the least likely to lose at home! Do you think if the rules were reversed that they would've sent HSC away? No they wouldn't because they couldn't!!... Guilford's the most likely to lose at home of the three of us and somebody on that committee had enough pull and whined loud enough to keep three ODAC teams from hosting that's a long in the short of it, the NCAA has more than enough money to fly two teams ! That's about as bad as the officiating crew they sent to Ashland last night who swallowed their whistles on the least a half a dozen obvious traveling calls by SJ and then call a travel on Daniel Mbangue when he's backing down a kid on the block and hadn't picked up his dribble! The NCAA doesent want three teams from the ODAC in the Final Four and they're doing everything they can "legally" do to stop it!

Interesting post on Twitter/X from RMC broadcaster Andrew Price:

https://twitter.com/StubbyPrice/status/1764288554593661161

"Man I guess the NCAA doesn't realize you've got Breeze Air from Hartford, JetBlue from Boston and a direct flight from Detroit all coming into RIC.  Cheaper than a bus!"

Quote from: y_jack_lok on March 03, 2024, 08:47:04 AM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 03, 2024, 07:56:52 AMIt's distance.  Tufts winning messed things up.  They've over 500 miles from Ashland, so going to Trinity reduces the flights needed from 2 to 1, saving money.  This is how it's always been.

Well, that takes some the fun out of the "evil NCAA" narrative and just reduces it to the "cheap NCAA" narrative. I'd speculated it went like this:

1) H-SC was a lock to host;
2) They didn't want three ODAC schools hosting again;
3) A make-up call for leaving Guilford out of the tournament last season.

4)  The 'evil NCAA' doesn't want a recent National Champion to repeat.

Truly, I'm kidding.  Or, am I??

Now that the disappointment of not hosting has settled in, some additional thoughts.

Seems that CWRU got the same treatment as RMC.  A top seeded quadrant team not hosting this week based on 'cheap NCAA' travel rules.

Even though hosting is gone, just continuing to play is good.  The best revenge to 'evil NCAA' is to win the Trinity pod.

I'm still positive that Jabril gets back and helps this weekend.

At least, we play a neutral site game next, which helps.

I hope the team stays positive and puts this disappointment behind them.  They've had many challenges this year including being a young team, playing through numerous injuries, and winning against very good opponents.  Going to CT is just one more challenge.

GO JACKETS!!  GO ODAC!!

I agree that RMC should be hosting.  Was surprised, but happy, that Guilford gets to host.  Would have been upset if HSC didn't host.  Best of luck to all three teams next weekend!

Quote from: rmc1982 on March 02, 2024, 11:25:09 PMJackets get sent to Trinity College in Hartford and Guilford gets to host?? Not exactly fair to us ! RMC is the #1 seed in this region- why are they sending us up there?? We got F•CKED and didn't even get kissed!! The NCAA just didn't want 3 ODAC TEAMS HOSTING and we were the sacrificial lamb over 39 freakin miles of travel distance!!

Well, I feel your pain, but how do you think 22-6 ranked #13 Guilford felt last year when we were completely snubbed?  Three of our losses were to your #1 Jackets ... and we could have won two of those.  Also, we beat Emory by 15 at Emory and they got in!  Welcome to the vagaries of underfunded Division III hoops.

Quote from: hasanova on March 03, 2024, 12:19:58 PM

Quote from: rmc1982 on March 02, 2024, 11:25:09 PMJackets get sent to Trinity College in Hartford and Guilford gets to host?? Not exactly fair to us ! RMC is the #1 seed in this region- why are they sending us up there?? We got F•CKED and didn't even get kissed!! The NCAA just didn't want 3 ODAC TEAMS HOSTING and we were the sacrificial lamb over 39 freakin miles of travel distance!!

Well, I feel your pain, but how do you think 22-6 ranked #13 Guilford felt last year when we were completely snubbed?  Three of our losses were to your #1 Jackets ... and we could have won two of those.  Also, we beat Emory by 15 at Emory and they got in!  Welcome to the vagaries of underfunded Division III hoops.

We all felt your pain last year and were very supportive of GC.  While I'll never understand the reasoning of the GC snub, (maybe I'm being too picky here) but I don't think it had anything to do with 'the vagaries of underfunded Division III hoops'. 

If GC and RMC keep winning, the GC snub and the RMC hosting issue will be in the rearview mirror.  I'd love to see a GC/RMC final!!!

Quote from: Brian Hamilton on March 03, 2024, 11:01:36 AMI agree that RMC should be hosting.  Was surprised, but happy, that Guilford gets to host.  Would have been upset if HSC didn't host.  Best of luck to all three teams next weekend!

Quote from: hasanova on March 03, 2024, 12:19:58 PM

Quote from: rmc1982 on March 02, 2024, 11:25:09 PMJackets get sent to Trinity College in Hartford and Guilford gets to host?? Not exactly fair to us ! RMC is the #1 seed in this region- why are they sending us up there?? We got F•CKED and didn't even get kissed!! The NCAA just didn't want 3 ODAC TEAMS HOSTING and we were the sacrificial lamb over 39 freakin miles of travel distance!!

Well, I feel your pain, but how do you think 22-6 ranked #13 Guilford felt last year when we were completely snubbed?  Three of our losses were to your #1 Jackets ... and we could have won two of those.  Also, we beat Emory by 15 at Emory and they got in!  Welcome to the vagaries of underfunded Division III hoops.

Hasa and Brian- i feel your pain and I totally agree with you both!! Both HSC AND Your QUAKERS should host.... That totally isn't our gripe! It's the fact that the NCAA doesent want us all hosting- we just happen to be the ones getting  screwed this time and yes, Hasa, it doesent feel too good. That being said, like Macon inferred,the best way to combat that is for ALL OF US To stick it to their a$$es and each WIN OUR PODs! Im through pissing and moaning now- it is what it is!! Nothing we can do about it now but WIN WIN WIN!GO JACKETS, QUAKERS AND ( I can't believe I'm even saying this) TIGERS!!!

This is entirely predictable.  It's how the second weekend has operated for decades.  If the seeds held, RMC was set up to host - in fact, they likely moved the John Carroll pod into this quadrant specifically because it worked out with RMC hosting.  Tufts messed up the geography, simple as that.

If St. Thomas, Trinity, and Worcester State came out of the HSC bracket, they'd be on the road to Texas.  Trine was the planned host over CWRU from the beginning.

And there no "evil NCAA."  The schools in d3 make these rules.  Yes, if the larger body had voted a higher percentage to d3 last year, as was requested, some of these cost savings issues might've gone away.  This is how we work with the limited budget that exists.

Not sure if I'll make it to any of the sites Friday, but if I do, it'll be at Trinity.  Hope to see some of you there!