Bumblin' B's

[Hugenerd]

Maybe you non-Southeastern posters with pull at D3 schools can encourage coaches to schedule Maryville so the Scots will be better prepared to represent the Bumblin's in post season....

Nobody seems all that anxious to play MC in TN so the Scots wind up playing (and beating) all the neighboring NAIA and D2 schools, nono of which counts for anything except experience and local bragging rights.

Its a no win situation for any teams to schedule a Pool B team that can legitamately knock them off.  It could hurt their in region rankings/record and if they don't win their conference tourney, essentially hurt their Pool C chances. 

If I were a coach of a team that has the potential to get in the tourney, no way I would schedule an in region game with a pool B that has the potential to beat me.

Cost is another issue, there is a lot more distance between D3 schools in the south, it seems, than other regions.

[dahlby]

Reads like Chapman University in Southern California has the same situation regarding scheduling that Maryville is encountering.

[scottiedoug]

Are there D3 teams near Chapman that are any good that could schedule them but will not? 

Distance is an issue for Maryville but there are D3 schools near enough geographically but apparently unwilling to take the chance of getting beat.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Are there D3 teams near Chapman that are any good that could schedule them but will not? 

Distance is an issue for Maryville but there are D3 schools near enough geographically but apparently unwilling to take the chance of getting beat.

Aside from fellow independents La Sierra and UC Santa Cruz (who are both terrible, and Chapman takes abuse for playing them several times each; plus La Sierra is only provisional so I'm not even sure if they count in regional record), there is only the SCIAC.  Chapman does play (and usually beat) several of them; there is some dispute as to whether the ones they don't play are ducking them.  And once SCIAC conference play starts, that source of games disappears.

[Ralph Turner]

LaSierra is still in its 3rd year of provisional status, altho' that is under review.  Therefore, I think that their games still count.

LaSierra has not made satisfactory progress to date in the provisional pipeline.

We will see where they stand this summer.

As for Maryville, the SCAC schools are in conference play in the second semester.  What good it is for SCAC teams, that have horrible travel schedules, to schedule a hard game in the midst of conference play, would be a tough question for a coach to answer.  The SCAC plays 16 conference games.

Besides, those SCAC teams can choose from one of several GSAC teams.  Maryville is a challenge.

[dahlby]

The SCIAC also plays their conference games after the first of January.  So Chapman's schedule is filled with whatever teams from that conference will play them before the conference season.  Other than that, unless they can pick up a few tourney games against the midwest or northwest teams before the holidays, they are left with La Sierra, Santa Cruz and the U Dallas for the balance of the year. In addition, Chapman will schedule non D3 contests whenever they can.

[David Collinge]

Chapman does play (and usually beat) several of [members of the SCIAC]; there is some dispute as to whether the ones they don't play are ducking them.

Before this gets out of hand, I'd like to note for the record that Chapman played seven of the 8 SCIAC members this season, and six of them last season, and that accounts for all eight SCIAC schools.  There is no evidence that anyone is "ducking" anyone else.

[scottiedoug]

Maryville does manage to play several USASouth teams regularly and often one or two ODAC teams before their league play begins.  We can only hope the conference alignments in the southeast do some shifting, perhaps motivated by current travel costs.  Maryville has managed to get Pool B invitations regularly but success in the NCAA would be more likely if their schedule in the last half of the year included some NCAA-caliber teams.  They did manage to play Centre, Averett, Transy, Webster, Wabash, Emory, Oglethorpe, and Greensboro (all of which will likely have winning seasons) and get spanked by Guilford.  That kind of lesson is useful later!

[dahlby]

I was at La Sierra for Chapman's game tonight against U Dallas and heard that La Sierra will be going NAIA next year.

[Ralph Turner]

I was at La Sierra for Chapman's game tonight against U Dallas and heard that La Sierra will be going NAIA next year.

That could mean any of these things.  They had been stuck in the third year of the provisional process.

That they were unable to maintain the minimum number of sports.

That there were various compliance issues and hoops to jump thru for the NCAA that are not present in the NAIA.

That it will be easier to schedule games in the Golden State Athletic Conference than as a D-III independent.

[dahlby]

I was told that it was because they could not get in to the SCIAC, which would help scheduling and that they also would now be able to offer scholorships to get better athletes.

[OxyBob]

Chapman does play (and usually beat) several of [members of the SCIAC]; there is some dispute as to whether the ones they don't play are ducking them.

Before this gets out of hand, I'd like to note for the record that Chapman played seven of the 8 SCIAC members this season, and six of them last season, and that accounts for all eight SCIAC schools.  There is no evidence that anyone is "ducking" anyone else.

All you have to do is look at Chapman's schedules since 2002 as posted on D3hoops and you'll see that Chapman has played every SCIAC school multiple times. The only thing that's for certain is that Chapman is not ducking La Sierra.

As for the completely uninformed, gratuitous crack "there is some dispute as to whether the ones they don't play are ducking them," there's something else that's for certain: As usual, Ypsi doesn't know what he's talking about.

OxyBob

[Mr. Ypsi]

My statement about 'some dispute' was incorrect.  I apparently misremembered that OxyBob and oldchap had had an argument about that.  It was neither a 'crack' nor 'gratuitous'.

What IS a gratuitous crack is OB's comment about Chapman and La Sierra - once the SCIAC conference schedule begins, who exactly would you suggest Chapman play?  Or should they just shut down the program on New Year's Day and hope for the postseason?

[oldchap]

What IS a gratuitous crack is OB's comment about Chapman and La Sierra - once the SCIAC conference schedule begins, who exactly would you suggest Chapman play?  Or should they just shut down the program on New Year's Day and hope for the postseason?

Well said. When Conference plays starts, no SCIAC teams wants to play Chapman and I don't blame them by the way. We're left with West Coast Independents (La Sierra, UC Santa Cruz) and non D3 teams who agree to play us. That's slim pickings because you either have NAIA DI and Chapman will usually play the bottom of the GSAC (Hope, Vanguard, etc.), the top teams considering that it would not be "worthy" competition in the middle of their conference, plus the risk of injury. The rest is NAIA DII and "others" which is much inferior competition.

My statement about 'some dispute' was incorrect.  I apparently misremembered that OxyBob and oldchap had had an argument about that.  It was neither a 'crack' nor 'gratuitous'.

I maintain that this year, Oxy refused to play Chapman. Too bad because they appear to be the second best (or perhaps the best?) team in the SCIAC this year: it would have helped Chapman's OWP and would have given Oxy a worthy non-conference opponent, as opposed to the teams they played: West Coast Baptist, La Sierra (twice) and American Sports University (what??).

Maybe Occidental College didn't digest their loss at Chapman from last year and staring at the prospect of 5 returning starters, preferred to pass so as not to hurt their chances in case of a Pool C bid....

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thanks oldchap.  While I overstated the issue, I'm glad to know I wasn't crazy in remembering that you and OxyBob had a dispute concerning 'ducking'.