MBB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Darryl Nester]

If there ends up a tie between 2 or more teams for first place- how is tournament location decided?

In the past, the HCAC web site listed the details of the tie-breaker procedure.  I don't know if that information is still listed anywhere.

It is possible that the procedure has been altered; for example, I think at some point in the process they now consider in-region opponents' W-L records.  But according to my program (which produced the table above), if the first steps in the tie-breaker process are unchanged, there was no chance of an unbreakable tie for the #1 seed.

If you want to see the procedure, here are the links to those discussions in 2007:
http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=3706.msg677225#msg677225
and 2008:
http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=3706.msg866642#msg866642

[BUBeaverFan]

Transylvania @ Earlham
Anderson @ Manchester          
RHIT @ Hanover       
Franklin @ Mt. St. Joseph       
Defiance @ Bluffton
      
Could be pretty exciting venues tonight!

[zander]

A lot of MUST WIN games tonight! It's hard to believe that with only 2 games left so much is still undecided in the HCAC

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 3 Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/16/ncaa-2011-regional-rankings-week-3/

[BUBeaverFan]

Defiance over Bluffton 66-62 in OT (teams a combined 2-24 from behind the arc)
Transy over Earlham 84-63
Hanover over RHIT 69-66
Manchester over Anderson 81-71
MSJ over Franklin 98-97 in OT

[BUBeaverFan]

Bluffton win over Earlham and Franklin win over Defiance ... Beavers advance.
Bluffton loss to Earlham and Defiance win over Franklin...Defiance advances.
Bluffton loss to Earlham and Franklin win over Defiance...Darryl?
Bluffton win over Earlham and Defiance win over Franklin...Darryl?

[Darryl Nester]

Bluffton win over Earlham and Franklin win over Defiance ... Beavers advance.
Bluffton loss to Earlham and Defiance win over Franklin...Defiance advances.
Bluffton loss to Earlham and Franklin win over Defiance...Darryl?

That final scenario gives the #6 spot to the Beavers*. Here's why:  In that case, BU, DC, and FC would have split with each other, so we begin comparing each team in that group to the team(s) at the top of the standings -- either HC or MC.  All three teams (BU, DC, FC) were swept by Hanover.  Bluffton split with MC, while DC and FC were swept by the Spartans.  That gives the tie-breaker to the Beavers.  (That's the same reason that a two-way tie between BU and DC would be broken in favor of Bluffton.)

*Obligatory disclaimer: ... assuming the tie-breaker system is unchanged, and my interpretation of them is correct.

Team	Overall	Home	Away	Remaining Games
Hanover	14-3	9-0	5-3	@ AU
Manchester	14-3	8-0	6-3	vs. TU
Anderson	12-5	7-1	5-4	vs. HC
Transylvania	11-6	7-2	4-4	@ MC
Rose-Hulman	10-7	7-1	3-6	vs. MSJ
Bluffton	7-10	5-4	2-6	@ EC
Defiance	7-10	4-4	3-6	vs. FC
Franklin	6-11	4-5	2-6	@ DC
Mount St. Joseph	4-13	3-6	1-7	@ RHIT
Earlham	0-17	0-8	0-9	vs. BU

Team	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	#9	#10
Hanover	50.00%	50.00%	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Manchester	50.00%	50.00%	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Anderson	--	--	100.00%	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Transylvania	--	--	--	75.00%	25.00%	--	--	--	--	--
Rose-Hulman	--	--	--	25.00%	75.00%	--	--	--	--	--
Bluffton	--	--	--	--	--	75.00%	25.00%	--	--	--
Defiance	--	--	--	--	--	25.00%	68.75%	6.25%	--	--
Franklin	--	--	--	--	--	--	6.25%	93.75%	--	--
Mount St. Joseph	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	100.00%	--
Earlham	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	100.00%

[BUBeaverFan]

Thanks Darryl!

[cave2bens]

Not sure how the Yeller Jackets can make it more complicated for themselves - losing to MSJ, Bluffton keeping lids on the hoops (2-24 on 3-balls?  ) but eeking out an OT win, and still facing a wounded Griz, trying and draw to an inside flush?  In a year and race as improbable as this has become, wouldn't it just figure that the Quakers would choose a final game to crack their streak?    Oh, and there is the question of which end of Indiana the bus fleets will be headed... 

[Darryl Nester]

For what it's worth, here is the current "official" description of the tie-breaking process.  (I am pretty sure that this is what I implemented in my program, but at some point, I'll have to double-check that.)

Seeding Method and Tie Breakers for Seeding
  a. HCAC standings as established by regular season will determine seeding positions.
  b. When ties in the final regular season standings occur the following steps will be used to break these ties. These tiebreakers are only for seeding purposes and will not affect the standings or the awarding of all-sports points.
    i. Head to head competition. When there are multiple teams tied, this head to head process will apply the total number of wins and losses among these teams in an attempt to break the tie.
    ii. Competition against rank/order of regular season standings
    iii. The NCAA Quality-of-win-index
    iv. Win-loss percentage in-region
    v. If these four steps do not break the tie then a coin toss or lottery will be used.

Tie Breaker Notes:
1) If the final standings have more than one tie then lower ties are resolved first
2) If there are multiple ties for a position the tie breaker process must start from the beginning each time a team is eliminated from the tie.
3) If there are more than two teams in an unbreakable tie than a lottery will be used to determine the seed positions.
4) The commissioner will administer coin tosses or lottery draws

This additional language provides greater detail about the process for multiple ties:
When there are a cluster of teams tied (3 or more), the selection/seeding process will first attempt to separate the tie by using head to head comparisons of the total number of wins and loses among those teams in the tie to emerge (produce a top team) from that cluster of teams. Once a team emerges from the initial tie the process will be repeated starting with head to head comparisons in order to resolve all remaining seeds. (Example: Three teams tied. Within the cluster the records reflect head to head results as follows: Team A 3-1; Team B 2-2; Team C 1-3. Team A would emerge and receive the top seed and the process of comparing head to head records would begin with the remaining ties. When two teams are tied or multiple ties cannot be broken using the aforementioned process the criteria from the specific sports guidelines would be applied and followed to emerge a team. Again, once a team emerges the process would be repeated from the start each time a team emerges until all seeds are resolved.
This process is only used to determine seeding for our A.Q. Tournaments. When a tie occurs the championship points for the Commissioners Cup would be awarded to each of the teams based on the average of the points assigned for each of the place finishes involved in the tie.

[zander]

If Hanover beats Anderson on Saturday would that mean Hanover hosts the tourney since they would have beaten Anderson twice and Manchester only beat them once or does that not factor in?

[dc_has_been]

Cave-DC has shot themselves in the foot too many times this season.  I would love to see them get in with a win over Franklin and a Bluffton loss, which I think would need Bluffton's team to get lost and not make it to the game .
Anyway, I was also excited to see that three teams from the HCAC were still ranked in the regional Midwest rankings.  Still doubt two will get in, one being the tourney champ and the other getting invited in, but it would be nice to see again. 

[Darryl Nester]

If Hanover beats Anderson on Saturday would that mean Hanover hosts the tourney since they would have beaten Anderson twice and Manchester only beat them once or does that not factor in?

That does factor in.  Here's the complete breakdown. First, the obvious cases:

• HC wins, MC loses -- HC is #1
• HC loses, MC wins -- MC is #1

If they end up tied, the tie-breaker rules apply like so:

• HC and MC win: AU is #3, so HC gets the #1 seed because they swept the Ravens.
• HC and MC lose: AU is #3 and TU is #4, but both HC and MC would have split with both of those teams.  RHIT is #5, so MC gets the #1 seed because they swept the Engineers while HC split with them.

[zander]

Thanks! This should be an exciting Saturday!

[BUBeaverFan]

Beavers defeat Earham to secure HCAC tourney spot.  Go Beavers!