Playing on an away court may actually be beneficial to Mary Washington. They must be prepared mentally for a hostile environment and the expected explosiveness of the underdog opponent. Playing at home sometimes brings a comfort and false sense of security to a team with a great record. But it depends on if they have that road warrior mentality of great teams. But only their game vs. Marymount is away anyway.

UMW was in good form 2/13/06   

Quote from: mwcsid on February 13, 2006, 07:10:21 PM
UMW 92, Frostburg 56
Senior guard Jenn Olinger poured in a career-high 21 points to lead the fourth-ranked University of Mary Washington women's basketball team to a 92-56 win over Frostburg State University on Monday at Goolrick Gymnasium. The Eagles improve to 23-0 overall, and remain the only undefeated team in NCAA Division III women's basketball.
UMW jumped out early, leading 50-22 at halftime. The Eagles were 8-12 on three-pointers in the opening frame, and 10-11 from the free throw line. Frostburg made just five field goals in the first half.
Olinger scored her career high 21 points on 8-11 shooting from the floor, including 4-6 on three pointers. Also in double figures for the Eagles were Debbie Bruen and Leigh Kampman with twelve points each, while Liz Hickey scored eleven points and added 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots, and Ashton Mitchell added ten points.
Frostburg was led by Stephanie Watts' 16 points, and Kristin Hargrove's 13.

Interesting talking to FSU's coach afterward... Scranton beat Frostburg by eleven earlier in the year...

USA TODAY/ESPN/WBCA DIVISION III TOP 25 COACHES' POLL for week 11 (February 14, 2006) is now posted:

http://www.wbca.org/DIIICoachesPoll.asp

23 of the D3Hoops top 25 are also in the ESPN poll.  Williams and Puget Sound didn't make ESPN's top 25, while George Fox and the University of Rochester (NY) did.

George Fox, ESPN's # 22, didn't even get any votes - not one - in the D3Hoops poll.  How can this be?    I think the answer is on the face of the ESPN poll: It lists George Fox as having an 18-4 record, but George Fox lost its fifth game (and third in a row) on Feb. 3.   

(George Fox dropped from the D3 Top 25 in late January and stopped getting any votes after it lost the 3 in a row.)

Once again, a tip of the hat to D3Hoops 

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 07, 2006, 03:26:35 PM
I understand you like the one that ranks you higher, but the one I cite is the one with the proven track record.

PC, I agree ...

My perception is that unless an organization studies and follows D3 sports they have little, if any, context to rate and rank teams.

Quote from: eaglemaniac on February 07, 2006, 06:41:53 AM
You pick your ratings.........I'll pick mine...........

Hey Rookie,

Don't piss off Pat.  He should be respected for all he does for us.  I'll admit that at eighty posts I did not understand the debt I owed this man for bringing DIII athletics back into my life.  So, understand this, Pat is the man and you're just a fan.


P.S.  Pat,  I apologize, I know you don't need me to defend you, I just couldn't stay quiet.

Quote from: coocooforcoekohawk on February 19, 2006, 07:59:27 AM

...I'll admit that at eighty posts I did not understand the debt I owed this man for bringing DIII athletics back into my life.  So, understand this, Pat is the man and you're just a fan.


P.S.  Pat,  I apologize, I know you don't need me to defend you, I just couldn't stay quiet.

+1, kohawk!!! 

Good luck to the Coe men in the IIAC tourney!

I appreciate it anyway.

Just came to this page to share something relating back to a previous discussion where a NESCAC fan was favoring the coaches poll, I guess based on the WBCA's delay in anointing Southern Maine No. 1.

Millikin's women's basketball media guide lists the Big Blue's ranking week by week from the 2004-05 season. In the 11 weeks where D3hoops.com and WBCA each released a poll, D3hoops.com ranked Millikin higher on every single occasion, an average of 7 spots higher.

Of course, this is just one team, but it was the 2005 national champion. With the smaller voting body of the WBCA poll, there are inherent conference biases. Our poll represents three conferences per region, theirs represents just one. And in fact, a couple years ago, the eight coaches represented just seven conferences -- the UAA had two voters.

The CAC championship game between Mary Washington and Marymount will be broadcast by D3hoopsNet on Saturday afternoon. Pregame show at 1:45. Pat Coleman and Dave McHugh on the call from Goolrick Hall.

http://www.d3hoops.com/audio/

D3hoopsNet broadcasts require Windows Media Player and are streamed by Broadcastmonsters.com.

Sigh.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 19, 2006, 03:38:37 PM
Just came to this page to share something relating back to a previous discussion where a NESCAC fan was favoring the coaches poll, I guess based on the WBCA's delay in anointing Southern Maine No. 1.

Assuming you were referring to this NESCAC fan, again my favoring of the coaches poll stems from its fluidity. USM lost in the fourth (I believe) week of the poll and there were at least three other undefeated teams in the country. The WBCA poll reflected this fact, but USM didn't budge from number 1 in the D3H.com poll. Should a poll reflect what is actually happening from week-to-week, or should it be the pollsters best guess what will happen at the end of the season?

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 19, 2006, 03:38:37 PM
Millikin's women's basketball media guide lists the Big Blue's ranking week by week from the 2004-05 season. In the 11 weeks where D3hoops.com and WBCA each released a poll, D3hoops.com ranked Millikin higher on every single occasion, an average of 7 spots higher.

I'll assume this one-team sample somehow validates the D3H.com poll.

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 19, 2006, 03:38:37 PM
With the smaller voting body of the WBCA poll, there are inherent conference biases. Our poll represents three conferences per region, theirs represents just one. And in fact, a couple years ago, the eight coaches represented just seven conferences -- the UAA had two voters.

As I've written before, your pollsters supposedly include SIDs (I wouldn't know for sure, as there is no transparency of voters in the D3H.com poll, like there is with the WBCA poll). An SIDs sole purpose is to garner publicity for their schools. If your poll includes SIDs, bias is the rule -- regardless of whether you "keep your eye on them." In order not to marginalize SIDs (for whom I mostly have great respect), let's just say it's a matter of quality over quantity, in heavy favor of the WBCA.

As I said:

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 19, 2006, 03:38:37 PM
Of course, this is just one team,

Sigh your damn self!

I love the "quote" feature. It allows you take anything out of context...

Quote from: feces monkey on February 26, 2006, 03:02:13 AM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 19, 2006, 03:38:37 PM
Millikin's women's basketball media guide lists the Big Blue's ranking week by week from the 2004-05 season. In the 11 weeks where D3hoops.com and WBCA each released a poll, D3hoops.com ranked Millikin higher on every single occasion, an average of 7 spots higher.

I'll assume this one-team sample somehow validates the D3H.com poll.

Quote from: feces monkey on February 26, 2006, 04:18:12 AM
I love the "quote" feature. It allows you take anything out of context...

That was apparent from your last post. You didn't need to repeat it.

feces monkey,

And coaches' DON'T have biases??!  They have a natural incentive to inflate the ranking of opponents - makes them look better if they win, less bad if they lose!

In general, coaches' polls should always be taken with many grains of salt.  While they obviously know bball better than nearly all others, during the season they have no time (or reason) to pay attention to any teams not on their schedule.  I dare say the average multi-board poster has a better picture of the national scene than the average coach, and I GUARANTEE that Pat's voters have more knowledge about teams OVERALL than do the 8 (some weeks, 5!) voters in the coaches' poll.

I'll take the coaches poll with a grain of salt.

You can take the D3H.com pool while continuing to drink the Kool-Aid...

VERY well-reasoned rebuttal - you refuted every point I made!

I suppose I shouldn't expect intelligent discussion from someone with such a classy monikor.

BTW, I have no idea how it is with the d3 WBCA coaches' poll (or, for that matter, with the d3 men or d1 women), but it has been well documented that the d1 men's coaches' poll is RARELY voted by the coaches - it is left to grad assistants or (gasp!!) SIDs.