2012 Division III NCAA Tournament

[fcnews]

Wall to Wall media coverage on the Victorious Bears in the STL.

[Pat Coleman]

Good coverage on the games on CSTV, the only thing I don't like is that the time is not displayed on the screen.  can someone bring that to the attention of the CSTV powers to be...

The NCAA's production of the semifinals and third-place games was limited, to be sure. Score bar was about as good as we were going to get.

[Marty Peretz]

Pat, when will the results of the Bracket Challenge be announced?

[mark_reichert]

Wall to Wall media coverage on the Victorious Bears in the STL.

If by wall to wall, you mean everybody mentioned it, yes, but some spent about 30-45 seconds on it, or so it seemed.

[HopeConvert]

My comment was tongue-in-cheek, by the way.  But considering he was one of their best players and they did have to adjust without him the whole year, I think it is an accomplishment and can't be ignored (and I guess can't be repeated constantly either). 

The same goes for Wallis "not showing any disappointment on not being on the floor"...he had no choice, so he, too, had to adjust with life without being on the floor. 

Rob Perry of Whitewater was the same way.  He was the biggest cheerleader on the bench.  I think a lot of WIACers think it was a pretty big feat when Whitewater lost Perry, but they still won the WIAC regular season and conference title. 

He had no choice about whether to be on the floor, but he did have a choice about how he would respond to that. I've seen players sulk in those situations, or hold some of themselves back with a tinge of bitterness. Sean didn't do that.

[Gregory Sager]

I have to say first off, congrats to Wash U, they had an outstanding season, but I also have to say I am sick of the "and without Sean Wallis" that follows everything and has this season. I have also had to hear it for "without Steve Deluca" for Brandeis, and I just do not think it is right.

I think that you have a good point here. All the space that gets devoted to talking about Wallis is space that isn't devoted to talking about one of the players who actually got the team to the national championship. Nevertheless, the fact that the team somehow won the national championship without the services of its third-team preseason All-American is too compelling a story to pass up.

First off, who knows what would have happened had Wallis been in the line up every night this year, same result - maybe, probably even but still we will never know.

True ... but isn't idle speculation half the fun of being a sports fan?

Second off, I feel it takes a small bit away from the accomplishment of the other players who were on the floor for the championship game.

I don't agree with you at all about that. In fact, I think that the absence of Wallis greatly adds to their accomplishment. The loss of their star point guard presented yet another hurdle that the Bears had to overcome -- and that can only add to their sense of achievement in hindsight.

AND FINALLY, and I think most importantly, Wash U was not WITHOUT Sean Wallis. This season as you saw in his blog, he was there every practice, and every game. His role changed but he was still very much with the team. Perhaps he was not dishing passes and driving the lane to score, but he was there.

Sure, he was there, and I have no doubt that his presence and his constant encouragement was a big boost to his team. But it wasn't even a fraction of the boost that he would've given to Wash U had he been in uniform, knocking down treys and dishing out assists. There's just no comparison between having Sean Wallis in a shirt and tie on the sidelines and having Sean Wallis on the floor in a Bears uniform.

Next year perhaps we will say wow Wash U accomplished ______ without Sean Wallis.....as an assistant coach.

Don't hold your breath.

[Greek Tragedy]

Back in Stevens Point's 2nd championship season, senior starting point guard Tamaris Relerford broke his hand in the 1st half of the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament against Lawrence.  Yes, we had Jason Kalsow and Nick Bennett, but he was still our starting point guard.  In came a little known freshman guard named Steve Hicklin who averaged around 6 minutes a game and took over the starting point guard job and helped us to the National Championship that year.  Granted, losing Relerford probably wasn't as crucial as losing Wallis (Relerford was just 5th in scoring on the team), but he was still a very important part of the team and though he wasn't big in the stat categories, he ran our team very well.  But, to have a freshman guard come in, basically, with cold feet, and play against a solid defensive team like Lawrence and then play against the full-court press of Puget Sound and come out with flying colors is pretty extraordinary.

So, I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing the "without Sean Wallis" statement, and while it may seem like it takes away the accomplishments of the other players (or the spot light), it can't be understated what an important part Wallis is, just like Relerford was for our whole season until that NCAA tournament game.

[John Gleich]

Back in Stevens Point's 2nd championship season, senior starting point guard Tamaris Relerford broke his hand in the 1st half of the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament against Lawrence.  Yes, we had Jason Kalsow and Nick Bennett, but he was still our starting point guard.  In came a little known freshman guard named Steve Hicklin who averaged around 6 minutes a game and took over the starting point guard job and helped us to the National Championship that year.  Granted, losing Relerford probably wasn't as crucial as losing Wallis (Relerford was just 5th in scoring on the team), but he was still a very important part of the team and though he wasn't big in the stat categories, he ran our team very well.  But, to have a freshman guard come in, basically, with cold feet, and play against a solid defensive team like Lawrence and then play against the full-court press of Puget Sound and come out with flying colors is pretty extraordinary.

So, I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing the "without Sean Wallis" statement, and while it may seem like it takes away the accomplishments of the other players (or the spot light), it can't be understated what an important part Wallis is, just like Relerford was for our whole season until that NCAA tournament game.

I totally agree... though TRel didn't have eye popping offensive stats, he still took care of the basketball and distributed it to his teammates... but he was also HUGE on the defensive end.  He and Eric Maus were the two defensive anchors for Point, with everybody else just flying around making plays.

When Tamaris got hurt, it was a blow to our team... but it certainly provided an opportunity for other guys to step up.  Hicks did this, and I really think it helped to propel his carreer.

Wash U hasn't had Wallis for quite some time this season.  I really do feel for him, not being able to have an active, playing roll, but look at the weekend that Aaron Thompson had... especially when Ruths had to sit with foul trouble in the second half against Hope.  Though Wallis wasn't available, it provided an opportunity for another player to step up, which Thompson did.

[hopefan]

Was wondering if any tournament records were broken this year, team or individual?

For a more trivia related question - has anyone scored more than Troy Ruth's 63 points in a final four?

[Wydown Blvd.]

Wall to Wall media coverage on the Victorious Bears in the STL.

If by wall to wall, you mean everybody mentioned it, yes, but some spent about 30-45 seconds on it, or so it seemed.

No truly wall-to-wall:

http://bearsports.wustl.edu/releases/08NCAAHits.html

This does not include other media hits such as the 3 radio stations that interviewed Coach Edwards yesterday.

[Titan Q]

Was wondering if any tournament records were broken this year, team or individual?

For a more trivia related question - has anyone scored more than Troy Ruth's 63 points in a final four?

The Division III Final Four record is 71 points by Greg Grant (Trenton State, 1989).

http://www.odaconline.com/hoopchamp/ncaarecords.htm

[hopefan]

Doggonned Crabtree nipped him in Free throws too !!

[pabegg]

With some time to look back on the tournament, now that it's over, I've got a few observations on the selection process that someone might have some answers for.

1. Millsaps was the "home" team in their game versus Mary Hardin-Baylor. Was that just because Millsaps was the actual host to that regional, or that they were the better seed? It's hard to imagine Millsaps making up that much ground in the regional rankings in the final week, especially since MHB didn't lose.

2. UW-Whitewater must have been the #1 ranked team in the West (over St. Thomas). Under normal circumstances, they should have gotten the UW-Stevens Point as the #2 seed in their regional rather than Lawrence, as Lawrence would have been ranked higher than UWSP. Was that bracketing due to keeping the 2 UW schools in separate regionals? I can't see geography as an issue here.

3. I looked at what the selections might have been if the old QOWI/SOSI system was still in place. Remarkably, only one selection would have changed. Emerson would have been in, and UWSP would have been out. Oddly enough, none of the other near misses (such as Cal Lutheran) were materially different in the two systems. There might have been some differences in the seeding (possibly Wooster ahead of Capital, or St. Thomas ahead of UW-Whitewater), but overall, the 2008 tournament was not as affected by the change as we might have expected.

[Ralph Turner]

The corollary question in the standard bracket is, "Was Maryville TN the #4 seed and Fontbonne the #3 seed?" 

IMHO, Millsaps was a #2 seed that got to host because they had "geographic proximity".

[pabegg]

The corollary question in the standard bracket is, "Was Maryville TN the #4 seed and Fontbonne the #3 seed?" 

IMHO, Millsaps was a #2 seed that got to host because they had "geographic proximity".

(Slapping side of head) Yeah, that was actually the best piece of evidence that MHB was #1, because there is no way that Fontbonne was seeded ahead of Maryville TN.

And yes, there's no question that the regional was at Millsaps due to the geography issue.