Pool C

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Yes... plenty more to come in late January, early February (we are planning to have the committee chairs back on during the Hoopsville Marathon tentatively scheduled for Feb. 1 this year).

Thank you for the update. I have not had time to look for the manuals of late.

[deiscanton]

The men's version of the pre-championship manual was released today, and I got a comment from KnightSlappy on the definition of regionally ranked opponent.

I just wanted to point out that the application of the definition was of great help to his women's basketball program last season, so I found it interesting to read that he hated the change of definition. 😉

By his most recent posted comments in the men's Pool C board, I am getting the impression that he thinks that the women's basketball committee got it wrong by ranking Calvin ahead of Carnegie Mellon in the final rankings and then picking Calvin over CMU based on Calvin's 2 wins v RRO (Hope ranked #5 in Great Lakes, Kean not in final Atlantic ranking but ranked in the ranking immediately preceding it.) vs Carnegie Mellon's victory over #3 in East Rochester.  KnightSlappy, by his argument, would have selected Carnegie Mellon for the Pool C bid last season. Thanks very much.😅

Update: Yes, I know that RAC input to the national committee is always taken into account at selection time as well.  So, perhaps Calvin could have used that as well in the final determination of the selection.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Remember... RAC's "advise" the national committee. Ultimately, it is the national committee who is responsible for ranking all the teams in each region. They take the advise and adjust accordingly if they feel it right.

[deiscanton]

Hoopsville Marathon tips at 10 AM Eastern.

Bobbi Morgan, the d3 National Women's Basketball Committee chair, is the first guest out of the gate.  She is scheduled to be interviewed at 10:15 AM Eastern.

Since unreleased mock rankings are being done this week, it will be interesting to hear how the RACs and the National Committee will, in more detail, analyze teams for Pool C and bracketing. 

1st published regional rankings come out Wednesday Feb. 7.  Results through Sunday, Feb. 4 will be the results reflected in those rankings.

[deiscanton]

Regarding Trinity (CT) women-- because someone asked d-mac on Hoopsville this morning:

1.). Trinity currently has an SOS of .564, which is good.  However, the women's committee doesn't really emphasize SOS as much as the men's committee. 
Remember, Calvin got a Pool C bid last year with an SOS of .512.

2.). The women's committee does care about results-- particularly results vs RRO.  Trinity does have wins over E.Connecticut, Westfield State, and Stevens.  These teams were regionally ranked last year-- will these teams be ranked on Feb. 21?

Also, NYU finished just above .500 last year and in last place in the UAA, but still had 5 wins over RRO.  Trinity is only 4 games above .500 right now.

3.). Of concern to me is the 1-5 mark in NESCAC play.  Only NESCAC win is over Colby.  Trinity has not proven that they can beat any of the NESCAC Big  3 (Amherst, Bowdoin, Tufts). Trinity still has Tufts to play before conference tournament.

4.). My conclusion, as of now:  Trinity Bantams need to win NESCAC tournament to get in.

Update-- My conclusion stands.  Between E. Conn St, Westfield St, and Stevens, only Westfield State stands a chance to crack the regional rankings board on Feb. 21, and it will probably be in a low position in the Northeast regional rankings at best, IMO.

[deiscanton]

February 7 regional rankings have been released on NCAA.com

D3Hoops.com should put them up shortly.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Here they are: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/women-regional-rankings-first

[Rofrog]

Question?On the women's side it has Scranton 20-1 in region and 17-4 for Wheaton in region how is that a in region game?

[mailsy]

Question?On the women's side it has Scranton 20-1 in region and 17-4 for Wheaton in region how is that a in region game?

If it's in D3 it's in region.

[Rofrog]

So no more 250 miles?Thank you!

[deiscanton]

So no more 250 miles?Thank you!

The 70% in-region requirement is for scheduling purposes only-- once that is met, all d3 games count in the primary criteria for selection.

For scheduling purposes only , a game is in region if at least one of these conditions are met:

(1). Both d3 teams are in the same defined evaluation region,

(2). Both teams are within 500 miles of each other,

(3). Both teams are in the same NCAA geographic region, or

(4). The game is a conference game-- For example, all UAA games are in-region.

BTW, the distance used to be 200 miles many years ago; it got expanded to 500 miles.

BTW, the NCAA defines a game vs an opponent that must have their games counted in the primary criteria as either a game vsan opponent who is a fully active d3 member, or an opponent who is in the third or fourth years of provisional/reclassifying status for d3.

In your case, Scranton vs Wheaton (IL) is out-of-region and cannot count to the 70% in-region scheduling requirement. However, because both teams met their 70% in-region scheduling requirement, the game counts in the primary criteria for purposes of selection.

[deiscanton]

Question?On the women's side it has Scranton 20-1 in region and 17-4 for Wheaton in region how is that a in region game?

Correction-- the data sheet has Wheaton(IL) at 15-4 for primary criteria and 17-4 for overall. Wheaton(IL) 's games vs Rochester (Michigan) and Trinity Christian do not count in the primary criteria as neither Rochester(Michigan) or Trinity Christian is a d3 opponent.

With the win over Illinois Wesleyan last night, Wheaton(IL) has updated their record to 16-4 in the primary criteria and 18-4 in the secondary criteria.  That new game gets included in the Feb. 14th regional rankings.

[deiscanton]

To clarify--

The NCAA now uses the term in division record when referring to the record used for primary criteria.

This is to make clear that the terms "in region" and "out of region" are only to be applied when one is talking about the scheduling requirement, not when you are talking about selection.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The first regional rankings are out which in itself brings on a lot of conversation, but the jockeying and positioning contines in conferences around the country for teams trying to keep their seasons going into March.

On Thursday's edition of Hoopsville, Dave talks to a number of high-ranking squads about the pressure to stay atop their respective conference races while also positioning themselves well in the regional rankings.

Dave also welcomes a coach who has played in DIII, coached in both DII and DIII, and coached both men and women. He talks about the road, possibly, less traveled in the "WBCA Center Court" segment.

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. You can watch the show LIVE starting at 7:00 p.m. ET here: http://bit.ly/2EROVeC

If you have questions, be sure to interact with the show on social media (see below) or email us your questions (hoopsville@d3hoops.com).

Guests include (in order of appearance):
- Ryan Gould, No. 7 Trine women's coach
- Michelle Ferenz, No. 5 Whitman women's coach
- Charlie Just, Spalding women's coach (WBCA Center Court)
- Landry Kosmalski, No. 11 Swarthmore men's coach
- Tom Curle, Plattsburgh State men's coach

If you enjoy the show via the podcasts instead, you can get access to them or subscribe one of the three following ways (click on the images when necessary):
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/hoopsville



Don't forget you can always interact with us:
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[gordonmann]

Ryan Scott takes you inside the committee process that builds the NCAA Tournament bracket in this week's Around the Nation column:

http://d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-nation/2017-18/ncaa-tournament-committees