Bumblin' B's

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Finlandia and Pine Manor for the bid?  I could see the winner of that game getting it.  Tough call, though.

[deiscanton]

Finlandia and Pine Manor for the bid?  I could see the winner of that game getting it.  Tough call, though.

That is just the first of the ACAA semifinals.  The other semifinal is SUNY-Canton vs Valley Forge.  Valley Forge is the only Pool B team currently above .500, according to the data sheets.

Also, last April, the DIII Women's Basketball Committee wanted to impose a .500 or better requirement for all Pool B candidates, but the Championships Committee turned it down a few months later at the June 2017 meeting.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Finlandia and Pine Manor for the bid?  I could see the winner of that game getting it.  Tough call, though.

That is just the first of the ACAA semifinals.  The other semifinal is SUNY-Canton vs Valley Forge.  Valley Forge is the only Pool B team currently above .500, according to the data sheets.

Also, last April, the DIII Women's Basketball Committee wanted to impose a .500 or better requirement for all Pool B candidates, but the Championships Committee turned it down a few months later at the June 2017 meeting.

Yeah, I was thinking Valley Forge's SOS would doom them, but a head to head like that could prove important.  Maybe it'll just be whoever wins the ACAA.

[gordonmann]

Guess we found Amherst's first round opponent.

[mailsy]

Ouch. Lol

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Guess we found Amherst's first round opponent.

Unless its Finlandia; then they'd have to fly.

[Rofrog]

Don't be so quick gordonmann on thinking Amherst will get that first round.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Don't be so quick gordonmann on thinking Amherst will get that first round.

Why not? At this rate, it's a pretty good indication. Most of the schools mentioned are near Amherst... and even if they lost, I don't think they will suddenly be no longer the top team in that part of the bracket.

[Rofrog]

Why so: Is Amherst the only team playing!You dont know with the Ncaa just like the year they sent Penn State Abington all the way out to George fox!

[Ralph Turner]

Why so: Is Amherst the only team playing!You dont know with the Ncaa just like the year they sent Penn State Abington all the way out to George Fox!

Rofrog, I believe that George Fox was the #1 seed in the region, deserving of hosting in the first round AND was a travel orphan. Since someone had to travel to Oregon, PSU-Abingdon may have been an economical choice.

The other side of that bracket in 2015 was Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (another travel orphan) versus Puget Sound.


Finalist (32-1) GFU may have been the #1 seed in the country, but they had to fly to Calvin for rounds #3 & #4.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Rofrog, you are taking into account an exception when there were two teams on the East Coast that needed to take on a top team. It was actually 2015 (http://static.psbin.com/7/b/vxs16v9q2jz2f6/womens-basketball-bracket-final-2015.pdf) Go look at who Tufts played that year. You can swap the Tufts v Pine Manor game with GFU v Abington... the result is the same. Someone had to go fill in at GFU and they chose Abingyon. It easily could have been Pine Manor. The point remains the exact same.

I don't see a reason, right now, where Amherst wouldn't be given the Pool B choice simply because it looks more and more like it will be an East Coast team. IF it isn't that choice. If it is Finlandia or maybe someone on the West Coast (doubt it), then it changes things and most likely they send them to Whitman (or whoever is actually hosting).

BTW - I don't feel they will fly a team from the east coast to the west coach (or visa versa) in the first weekend again. I don't think some thought that was a good idea, though I didn't hear any complaints from the team themselves.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Rofrog, you are taking into account an exception when there were two teams on the East Coast that needed to take on a top team. It was actually 2015 (http://static.psbin.com/7/b/vxs16v9q2jz2f6/womens-basketball-bracket-final-2015.pdf) Go look at who Tufts played that year. You can swap the Tufts v Pine Manor game with GFU v Abington... the result is the same. Someone had to go fill in at GFU and they chose Abingyon. It easily could have been Pine Manor. The point remains the exact same.

I don't see a reason, right now, where Amherst wouldn't be given the Pool B choice simply because it looks more and more like it will be an East Coast team. IF it isn't that choice. If it is Finlandia or maybe someone on the West Coast (doubt it), then it changes things and most likely they send them to Whitman (or whoever is actually hosting).

BTW - I don't feel they will fly a team from the east coast to the west coach (or visa versa) in the first weekend again. I don't think some thought that was a good idea, though I didn't hear any complaints from the team themselves.

Not to mention, isn't there a mileage limit for commercial travel?  After a certain distance the NCAA has to spring for a charter.  If I recall, they had a geographic outlier in the midst of the heavily populated east.  There were the exact right number of teams for the MW hosts or something like that.

It wasn't that they just chose Abingdon at random - someone from the east coast had to go, because there weren't other options.  I don't think they'd do it again unless they absolutely had to.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Rofrog, you are taking into account an exception when there were two teams on the East Coast that needed to take on a top team. It was actually 2015 (http://static.psbin.com/7/b/vxs16v9q2jz2f6/womens-basketball-bracket-final-2015.pdf) Go look at who Tufts played that year. You can swap the Tufts v Pine Manor game with GFU v Abington... the result is the same. Someone had to go fill in at GFU and they chose Abingyon. It easily could have been Pine Manor. The point remains the exact same.

I don't see a reason, right now, where Amherst wouldn't be given the Pool B choice simply because it looks more and more like it will be an East Coast team. IF it isn't that choice. If it is Finlandia or maybe someone on the West Coast (doubt it), then it changes things and most likely they send them to Whitman (or whoever is actually hosting).

BTW - I don't feel they will fly a team from the east coast to the west coach (or visa versa) in the first weekend again. I don't think some thought that was a good idea, though I didn't hear any complaints from the team themselves.

Not to mention, isn't there a mileage limit for commercial travel?  After a certain distance the NCAA has to spring for a charter.  If I recall, they had a geographic outlier in the midst of the heavily populated east.  There were the exact right number of teams for the MW hosts or something like that.

It wasn't that they just chose Abingdon at random - someone from the east coast had to go, because there weren't other options.  I don't think they'd do it again unless they absolutely had to.

No.. I don't believe that is true. The charter comes into play with some other things, but I don't think mileage is the trigger. I will check on that to be sure.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The NCAA released the third set of women's basketball regional rankings with few changes from last week's version. This is the final set that we'll see before the Tournament bracket is released on Monday. Full list here: http://d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/women-regional-rankings-third

[monsoon]

Guess we found Amherst's first round opponent.

Unless its Finlandia; then they'd have to fly.

Finlandia could bus to Wartburg.