Top 25 discussion

[Mr. Ypsi]

I had thought that Thomas More had a shot at something totally unprecedented in the D3 Top 25 poll - preseason to final poll as UNANIMOUS #1, but just discovered that some errant voter fell in love with UW-Oshkosh early and gave them a #1 vote in weeks 1 and 2.   Still, if TM wins the title (and that seems almost a foregone conclusion, as no team all season has finished closer than 14 points down) this will have been the most dominant season ever (men or women).

Future opponents are breathing a sigh of relief that Sydney Moss is FINALLY a senior!

Question for anyone who knows - has D3 had any players in the WNBA?  I have little doubt Moss could be a star in that league, but have no clue whether or not she has any interest in going there.

[Darryl Nester]

...
Question for anyone who knows - has D3 had any players in the WNBA?  I have little doubt Moss could be a star in that league, but have no clue whether or not she has any interest in going there.

This post is a little dated, but at the time, the answer was no:

There are a lot of Division III women's basketball alumni in the pro leagues in Europe.

We've never had a D-III player in the WNBA and we didn't in the ABL, either, I'm fairly sure.

There was a minor women's pro league here in the USA that at least one D-III alumni played in (Ronda Jo Miller).

[bballfan13]

Speaking of Thomas More, did anyone see that they have a game scheduled with Shawnee State of the NAIA tonight?  Obviously this game does not count in terms of D3 rankings, etc., but this could prove to be a tough matchup.  I don't know much about Shawnee State but a quick look shows they currently ranked 7th in the country in NAIA and have historically been a really good program in the NAIA.  Should be interesting to see the outcome.

I have seen Thomas More play this year in person (and win the championship last year).  They are the real deal.  I'm guessing they have no problem tonight and keep things moving.  I wonder if they scheduled this game late in the year knowing their conference games would be a cake walk and this would help prepare them again right before the NCAA tournament.  Well done if that's the case.

[sunny]

I had thought that Thomas More had a shot at something totally unprecedented in the D3 Top 25 poll - preseason to final poll as UNANIMOUS #1, but just discovered that some errant voter fell in love with UW-Oshkosh early and gave them a #1 vote in weeks 1 and 2.   Still, if TM wins the title (and that seems almost a foregone conclusion, as no team all season has finished closer than 14 points down) this will have been the most dominant season ever (men or women).

As that was during the part of the season when Thomas More was sitting Moss by choice due to an eligibility question, I can only speculate that the voter was evaluating Thomas More without her and coming to the conclusion that Oshkosh was the better team (TM was a unanimous preseason #1, so it's not as if said voter hadn't put them #1 at full strength). That doesn't make much sense to me - they hadn't done anything to lose their ranking and unless Moss had been ruled out for the season, I don't know how you knock a team for winning games without their best player.

[ronk]

 Just turned on the Thomas More - Shawnee game and there's a stoppage in play; it appears that someone is injured(they've rolled a stretcher across the court but who, what and how haven't been identified by the commentators. The last play on stats has Sydney Moss committing a foul.
Update: it was a Shawnee player who was injured drawing the charge. Described as a scary moment by the commentators. TM 60 - 47 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I had thought that Thomas More had a shot at something totally unprecedented in the D3 Top 25 poll - preseason to final poll as UNANIMOUS #1, but just discovered that some errant voter fell in love with UW-Oshkosh early and gave them a #1 vote in weeks 1 and 2.   Still, if TM wins the title (and that seems almost a foregone conclusion, as no team all season has finished closer than 14 points down) this will have been the most dominant season ever (men or women).

As that was during the part of the season when Thomas More was sitting Moss by choice due to an eligibility question, I can only speculate that the voter was evaluating Thomas More without her and coming to the conclusion that Oshkosh was the better team (TM was a unanimous preseason #1, so it's not as if said voter hadn't put them #1 at full strength). That doesn't make much sense to me - they hadn't done anything to lose their ranking and unless Moss had been ruled out for the season, I don't know how you knock a team for winning games without their best player.

Thanks, I had forgotten that Moss was out (non-injury) for a bit.  (Star player absences have always been a controversial issue for rankings.  IMO, if the player returns and the team is as good as before, mostly ignore any losses during the player's absence.  In this case, there WERE no losses during her absence, so in my mind [since the voter had TM #1 preseason AND after she returned], TM is effectively the unanimous #1 nonstop.)

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (So Far)

(removed, because the complete report immediately follows.)

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (Complete)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	625	Thomas More	25-0	won at Shawnee St., 87-63; won at Chatham, 90-42; def. St. Vincent, 94-46
#2	596	George Fox	25-0	def. Willamette, 78-46; won at Linfield, 71-61
#3	578	Hope	24-1	won at Kalamazoo, 83-47; LOST at #23 Calvin, 77-88
#4	531	Scranton	25-0	won at Merchant Marine, 56-42; won at Catholic, 84-59
#5	506	Texas-Tyler	24-1	def. University of the Ozarks, 89-67; def. Texas-Dallas, 88-69
#6	504	Tufts	22-2	def. Middlebury, 68-36
#7	503	Amherst	24-1	def. Bates, 82-29
#8	433	St. Thomas	22-3	def. St. Olaf, 69-46; def. #36 St. Mary's (Minn.), 89-65
#9	401	Washington U.	20-4	won at Brandeis, 65-49; won at #22 New York University, 66-53
#10	381	Ohio Northern	22-3	def. Baldwin Wallace, 62-43; won at Marietta, 64-48
#11	348	Albright	23-2	won at Alvernia, 95-49
#12	344	Rochester	19-5	won at Case Western Reserve, 75-69; LOST at #33 Carnegie Mellon, 89-95
#13	321	UW-River Falls	21-4	def. UW-Stout, 82-66; def. #14 UW-Oshkosh, 63-56
#14	316	UW-Oshkosh	20-5	def. #17 UW-Whitewater, 60-57; LOST at #13 UW-River Falls, 56-63
#15	259	Muhlenberg	22-2	won at Swarthmore, 75-57; won at Ursinus, 78-52
#16	254	Christopher Newport	22-3	def. St. Mary's (Md.), 58-55; LOST to Marymount, 46-52
#17	226	UW-Whitewater	19-6	LOST at #14 UW-Oshkosh, 57-60; LOST to UW-Eau Claire, 55-68
#18	148	University of New England	22-3	won at Eastern Nazarene, 76-61; def. Salve Regina, 78-60
#19	134	UW-Stevens Point	19-6	def. UW-Platteville, 67-54; def. UW-La Crosse, 70-47
#20	115	Maryville (Tenn.)	21-3	def. Piedmont, 63-53; won at Covenant, 71-52
#21	98	Wheaton (Ill.)	20-5	def. Illinois Tech, 90-10; def. Augustana, 67-57
#22	89	New York University	17-7	LOST to Chicago, 64-76; LOST to #9 Washington U., 53-66
#23	82	Calvin	20-5	def. Alma, 91-56; def. #3 Hope, 88-77
#24	57	Trinity (Texas)	20-5	LOST at Schreiner, 66-75
#25	47	Mary Washington	21-4	def. Southern Virginia, 85-45; won at Penn State-Harrisburg, 67-49

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	45	Birmingham-Southern	21-3	def. Rhodes, 64-52; LOST to Hendrix, 51-55
#27	41	Denison	22-3	def. Hiram, 63-46; won at Allegheny, 55-52
#28	23	Stockton	21-5	LOST at #34 Montclair State, 53-59; def. Rutgers-Camden, 61-54
T#29	22	St. John Fisher	22-3	def. Hartwick, 79-59; def. T#37 Stevens, 75-72
T#29	22	Capital	19-6	won at Heidelberg, 59-44; LOST to Baldwin Wallace, 62-66
#31	18	Bowdoin	20-5	def. Williams, 73-50
#32	12	Bluffton	23-2	def. Earlham, 79-50; won at Hanover, 81-71
#33	8	Carnegie Mellon	18-6	def. Emory, 70-62; def. #12 Rochester, 95-89
#34	7	Montclair State	19-6	def. #28 Stockton, 59-53
#35	6	McDaniel	20-5	won at Washington College, 52-38; LOST to Gettysburg, 64-73
#36	5	St. Mary's (Minn.)	20-5	won at Hamline, 64-48; LOST at #8 St. Thomas, 65-89
T#37	4	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	20-5	def. Pomona-Pitzer, 67-48; LOST at Redlands, 51-58
T#37	4	Stevens	19-6	def. Hartwick, 69-41; won at Nazareth, 75-65; LOST at T#29 St. John Fisher, 72-75
T#37	4	Guilford	19-4	LOST at Emory and Henry, 67-83; def. Virginia Wesleyan, 64-60
#40	3	Rose-Hulman	22-3	def. Anderson, 59-36; def. Defiance, 61-48
#41	1	Washington and Jefferson	21-4	def. Westminster (Pa.), 77-55; won at Bethany, 80-68

[Ralph Turner]

How They Fared (Complete)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	625	Thomas More	25-0	won at Shawnee St., 87-63; won at Chatham, 90-42; def. St. Vincent, 94-46
#2	596	George Fox	25-0	def. Willamette, 78-46; won at Linfield, 71-61
#3	578	Hope	24-1	won at Kalamazoo, 83-47; LOST at #23 Calvin, 77-88
#4	531	Scranton	25-0	won at Merchant Marine, 56-42; won at Catholic, 84-59

Are there the 4 potential Sectional Hosts?

[ronk]

How They Fared (Complete)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	625	Thomas More	25-0	won at Shawnee St., 87-63; won at Chatham, 90-42; def. St. Vincent, 94-46
#2	596	George Fox	25-0	def. Willamette, 78-46; won at Linfield, 71-61
#3	578	Hope	24-1	won at Kalamazoo, 83-47; LOST at #23 Calvin, 77-88
#4	531	Scranton	25-0	won at Merchant Marine, 56-42; won at Catholic, 84-59

Are there the 4 potential Sectional Hosts?

Ralph, let's HOPE so.

[BruinFan]

How They Fared (Complete)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	625	Thomas More	25-0	won at Shawnee St., 87-63; won at Chatham, 90-42; def. St. Vincent, 94-46
#2	596	George Fox	25-0	def. Willamette, 78-46; won at Linfield, 71-61
#3	578	Hope	24-1	won at Kalamazoo, 83-47; LOST at #23 Calvin, 77-88
#4	531	Scranton	25-0	won at Merchant Marine, 56-42; won at Catholic, 84-59

Are there the 4 potential Sectional Hosts?

Let's keep this idea BRUIN in the minds of the committee as it would be a first for GF to host a sectional.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Hate to say it... but George Fox isn't going to be hosting the sectional round unless they get REALLY lucky like Puget Sound (?) did on the men's side a number of years ago. But the chances of that happening are slim and none and slim is heading for the door. It is what it is in this division.

[BruinFan]

Totally agree. However, Whitman women did get to host in 2014.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Totally agree. However, Whitman women did get to host in 2014.

Yes.. similar to my other reference where not a single team could actually bus to the other (Christopher Newport, Thomas More, Texas-Tyler, and Whitman). It was all because CNU upset Ferrum and caused a all-flight bracket. Ferrum wins and the bracket goes to Thomas More no question.

Those are very, very rare and the NCAA (via the liaison and others) pour over those chances before the bracket is even approved in the first place and if they feel the chances are too real or there is a way to solve that by making changes to the bracket... changes are mandated.

Agin, that was a rare, freaky situation that even the NCAA had figured wouldn't happen or there wasn't a reasonable fix early on (based on what teams were in the tournament in the first place). I don't foresee that kind of situation this year where the teams will be coming out of. Furthermore, George Fox will be going up against a lot of other really good qualifying teams that may host instead anyway. Also with women the priority the second weekend to host over men... you won't have accidental or unplanned lost of hosts of those who qualify that weekend.

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (So Far)

Not much action yet -- and a fair amount of "TBA/TBD" in the upcoming games -- but here's the second-to-last report for this season:

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	625	Thomas More	25-0	02/26 vs. St. Vincent
#2	600	George Fox	25-0	02/25 vs. Whitworth
#3	555	Scranton	26-0	def. Susquehanna, 66-38; 02/27 vs. Catholic
#4	522	Tufts	22-2	02/27 vs. Colby
#5	515	Amherst	24-1	02/27 vs. #25 Bowdoin
#6	509	Hope	24-1	02/26 vs. Olivet
#7	506	Texas-Tyler	24-1	02/25 vs. Concordia (Texas)
#8	427	St. Thomas	22-3	02/25 vs. Concordia-Moorhead
#9	403	Washington U.	20-4	02/27 at Chicago
#10	391	Ohio Northern	22-3	02/25 vs. Baldwin Wallace
#11	365	UW-River Falls	21-4	02/25 vs. UW-Eau Claire
#12	364	Albright	24-2	def. Lebanon Valley, 71-62
#13	301	Muhlenberg	22-2	02/26 vs. Dickinson
#14	257	Rochester	19-5	02/27 vs. Emory
#15	253	UW-Oshkosh	20-5	02/25 vs. #17 UW-Stevens Point
#16	223	University of New England	23-3	def. Nichols, 101-35; 02/25 vs. Endicott
#17	185	UW-Stevens Point	20-6	def. UW-Stout, 55-44; 02/25 at #15 UW-Oshkosh
#18	179	Wheaton (Ill.)	20-5	02/26 vs. Elmhurst
#19	178	Calvin	20-5	02/26 vs. Trine
#20	166	Maryville (Tenn.)	21-3	02/25 vs. Meredith
#21	156	Christopher Newport	22-3	02/25 vs. #22 Mary Washington
#22	103	Mary Washington	22-4	def. St. Mary's (Md.), 78-48; 02/25 at #21 Christopher Newport; 02/27 vs. TBA
#23	73	Denison	23-3	def. Ohio Wesleyan, 66-47; 02/26 vs. Allegheny
#24	49	UW-Whitewater	19-7	LOST to UW-Eau Claire, 59-69
#25	35	Bowdoin	20-5	02/27 vs. #5 Amherst

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	33	St. John Fisher	22-3	02/26 vs. Ithaca
#27	30	Bluffton	23-2	02/26 vs. Transylvania
#28	27	Carnegie Mellon	18-6	02/27 vs. Case Western Reserve
#29	23	Trinity (Texas)	20-5	02/27 vs. Winner of Game 1
#30	16	Montclair State	20-6	def. William Paterson, 71-62; 02/26 vs. #33 Rowan
#31	13	Stockton	21-6	LOST at #33 Rowan, 59-70
#32	10	Marymount	21-4	02/25 vs. York (Pa.); 02/27 vs. TBD
#33	8	Rowan	22-4	def. #31 Stockton, 70-59; 02/26 at #30 Montclair State
#34	6	Birmingham-Southern	21-3	02/26 vs. Berry; 02/27 vs. TBD; 02/28 vs. TBD
#35	5	St. Mary's (Minn.)	20-5	02/25 vs. Gustavus Adolphus
#36	4	St. Norbert	19-4	02/26 vs. Ripon
T#37	2	FDU-Florham	20-6	def. Delaware Valley, 68-64
T#37	2	Rose-Hulman	22-3	02/26 vs. Franklin
T#37	2	Washington and Jefferson	21-4	02/26 vs. Waynesburg
T#40	1	Capital	20-6	def. Wilmington, 71-64; 02/25 at Mount Union
T#40	1	Guilford	19-4	02/25 vs. Randolph-Macon
T#40	1	Messiah	19-7	def. Stevenson, 73-66
T#40	1	New York University	17-7	02/27 at Brandeis