Bumblin' B's

[njlincolnlion]

wilburt:

Nice to see a fellow HBCU on the board.  I believe you have a guard from NJ on your squad.

[Ralph Turner]

This is my first chance to review the Handbook for Pool B's for 2005-06.

Pragmatically, I have broken conferences out of their Regional designations.

NEAC--9 teams  (Bard, Cazenovia, D'Youville and Keuka from the East; Polytechnic from the Atlantic and Baptist Bible, Chestnut Hill, Phila Bible and Villa Julie from the Mid-Atlantic plus provisionals Keystone and PSU-Berks, active in 08-09 and SUNY-Purchase, active in 09-10.)

Pres AC-- 7 teams  Should be active as Pool A in 07-08 season.

Northern Illinois-Iowa Conf -- 6 teams (4 going to the "new" Lake Michigan Conference, Eureka to the SLIAC and Clarke rumored to go independent.)

Great South AC-- 5 teams  Not an official conference because there are only 5 men's teams.  There are currently 7 women's teams in the conference and Spelman becomes active next as the 8th women's.

Upper Midwest AC -- 3 teams (appears to have declared for the NCAA this year.  This conference has provisionals Crown and UM-Morris active in 08-09, Northwestern MN, Presentation and Bethany Lutheran in 09-10.)

True Independents (9):

Mid-Atlantic Region:  (1) Lincoln

Northeast Region: (2) Newbury and St Joseph ME

South Region: (2) UDallas, Rust

West Region: (4) UC-Santa Cruz, Chapman, Colorado College and Neb Wesleyan.

[wilburt]

Hey njlincolnlion fellow HBCU.

The guy from NJ  was a PG we had on the team graduated after last season.  He was a bright kid (graduated Top 10% of his high school class and I think cum laude from FISK).

It has been a few years since Lincoln played FISK, but it would be nice if both schools made the NCAA tourney this season.  Both teams came close last season but tapered off towards the  end of the season.

Wm Burton aka wilburt

[njlincolnlion]

wilbert:

Perhaps our respective AD's could possibly look into a holiday tournament that both Lincoln and Fisk could play, and possibly meet.  Lincoln lost two close close games to New Jersey City University (formerly Jersey City State) that sealed the Lions NCAA's fate.  Lincoln has an All American guard Kyle Myrick coming back, so hopefully we'll make the NCAA tournament this year.  Our schedule is tough with many games on the road, so it will be a daunting task.

Good luck to FISK this year.

[wilburt]

Hey njlincolnlion:

Fisk last played Lincoln during the 2002-03 season during a Holiday tournament.  Fisk has all of their starters back this season from a 16-10 team, so we expect to compete for a NCAA tourney bid as well.

Like Lincoln our schedule is tough as well. In November and December, Fisk plays our annual rivalry game with D1 Tennessee State, and on the road against #2 ranked Mississippi College and on the road against Randolph-Macon (defending regular season ODAC champs) in the Holiday tourney.  If we can make it through the non-conference schedule at .500, I'll be happy! 

Good Luck to Lincoln as well!

[Coach C]

hey wilburt -

We try not to use bogus rankings around here like the S&S BS ranking.  Wait a week and you can see what the D3 hoops community thinks of the teams on the schedule when the D3hoops.com poll comes out.

[wilburt]

I'm curious to see what the D3 community thinks of Fisk and Lincoln in the rankings.  They both have outstanding teams returning from relatively successful seasons last year.   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Lincoln may get some play; they had a really top-notch squad last season, but Fisk will probably have to prove it through the season.  They never have the schedule to get pre-season props and they haven't done well enough against d3 comp recently.  However, they do always have talent and now some good returning experience.  I don't want you to think I'm putting them down, but I'm not sure you can expect much love from the voters.  I do like MC on the schedule though; its a solid d3 non-con for Fisk.

[njlincolnlion]

Hoops Fan:

Do you think Lincoln's "Anyone, Anyplace, Anytime" 2005-2006 scheduling mentality will hurt them?  They are playing an awful lot of teams on the road, and it's not like it's the Northeast region.  If the Lions do well, it should help come post season time if they make it.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I love the mindset that an "anyone, anywhere, anytime" schedule puts on a team.  If the coaching staff is really promoting an "us against the world" mentality, I think it can improve the team, especially one looking for contributors to step up.  The loss of Kearse scares me, but they still have a great leader in Myrick and enough talent to fill the gaps.  I'll be rooting for lincoln, but there are so many tough factors in the schedule.

The travel is going to take its toll early on.  Those of us from established conferences have to get used to seeing a schedule where 80% of the games are done by the start of second semester.

They have that stretch of 4 games in 4 days (in two locations) and 6 games in 10 days.  Those teams are far from pushovers.  If they can survive that stretch, I think they are a serious contender regionally.  And they get to find out for sure when they get back from break with a rediculous patch of tough games against the big names.

It's nice to finish out with easy teams, but with so few games in the crucial late-season stretch and really no challenges to speak of, can they keep their level of play high enough to do damage in the post-season?  And can they even get to the post-season with such a loaded schedule?

I don't think the road games matter, especially as an independent.  They're less of a known quantity and the coaches can play that angle up.  Also, the games they needed to try and schedule at home (Messiah, Lebanon Valley) I assume are over Christmas break.  So any fan coming could easily drive to York and be supportive.

It's the life of a independent, but its a good one if you can maintain a schedule like Lincoln's.  It has to help with recruiting, to be able to produce quality opponents and give the team a chance for success.  There shouldn't be any complaints about the QoW number if they do their job.

[njlincolnlion]

Salisbury's football season is over (as far as post season play) so it's on to support my alma mater in Basketball.

             Go Lincoln  [/color] [/glow] Go Lions[/color][/glow]

[njlincolnlion]

Looking at Lincoln's pre-season analysis, the Lions seemed to be loaded in the back court, however the front court may be the "achilles heel" for the team.  It's too bad 7'2" 320lbs John Bunch (transferred to D1 Monmouth) is not around.  With that said, the front court will just have to play smart this year and avoid the "foolish fouls".

[hopefan]

To someone who knows - I was curious regarding a couple of the B Pool candidates - Does a B pool team whose schedule is predominanantly non NCAA D3 still have a legit chance to qualify for the tournament? 
IE Chowan plays mostly D2 schools (only 5 games vs D3), and Nebraska Wesleyan plays an NAIA conference schedule (7 games vs D3).  I see the rule in the D3 manual about 50% of games against in region D3 teams, but that is offset by a request for waiver provision.  In reality, the B pool could be stronger than normal this year given NIIC candidates (historically Aurora, Benedictine and Rockford have been strong).

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

You hit it right on the head... the request for waiver provision gives the NCAA any out they want.  The NIIC thing will make it very tough for Pool B teams.  I think you have to assume 2 of the bids are gone to the NIIC already, based on recent history.  That leaves only two others for the likes of Maryville and Lincoln and Fisk.  Just be glad NJCU is back into the Pool A fold; there's one less troublemaker.

[njlincolnlion]

I "second" the fact that NJCU is not a "B" candidate, unfortunately, it comes a year too late for Lincoln  .  Last year Lincoln was in the mix up to the end of the season except for the two loses to NJCU.

I hope Lincoln has a great year, and the NIIC becomes a non factor for their selection to NCAA post season play.