2012 Division III NCAA Tournament

[Bengalsrule]

I bring this question from the ODAC board where the lamentations of the RMC fans are plainly read.
I ask the opinions of the readers of this board.
How much home court advantage is there against a team:
that buses less than 3 hours?
more than 3 hours?
is flown to the site?

Not sure if I understand the question but this past weekend Buffalo State traveled "more than 3 hours" to Ramapo and probably had a total of 40 fans (alotted 274 tickets..gave 230 plus back) make the 374 mile trip. This weekend we travel "less than 3 hours", (74 miles to be exact) to Rochester where I am sure our students/supporters will absorb every ticket that we are alotted. Truely a much better scenario for our kids if nothing else.

  Undoubtly U of R. will have their side of the Palestra packed, but I'm hoping that thier fans will support thier fellow Western New Yorkers in the earlier game!

True that when the game starts it's just your 5 vs. their 5, and we did watch a JOHNSON and WALES team beat Ramapo which had 4 times as many fans in the house.

[Ralph Turner]

My bad, I did not make the question clear.

How many points is home court Advantage worth to the home team for those scenarios?

Less than 3 hours?

More than 3 hours?

A plane flight?

[Ethelred the Unready]

I bring this question from the ODAC board where the lamentations of the RMC fans are plainly read.
I ask the opinions of the readers of this board.
How much home court advantage is there against a team:
that buses less than 3 hours?
more than 3 hours?
is flown to the site?

Not sure if I understand the question but this past weekend Buffalo State traveled "more than 3 hours" to Ramapo and probably had a total of 40 fans (alotted 274 tickets..gave 230 plus back) make the 374 mile trip. This weekend we travel "less than 3 hours", (74 miles to be exact) to Rochester where I am sure our students/supporters will absorb every ticket that we are alotted. Truely a much better scenario for our kids if nothing else.

  Undoubtly U of R. will have their side of the Palestra packed, but I'm hoping that thier fans will support thier fellow Western New Yorkers in the earlier game!

True that when the game starts it's just your 5 vs. their 5, and we did watch a JOHNSON and WALES team beat Ramapo which had 4 times as many fans in the house.

It's Spring Break at U of R so the Hive will be empty I imagine.   There may be a good crowd but it will be lots of parents/grandparents w/kids and not as loud as when the students are around

[89Pirate]

If I am reading the schedule for the next round properly, Whitworth plays Marietta at 7:30 EST, but according to the schedule, Wooster and Cabrini play at the same time?  Is this a typo, or are there 2 gyms there???

[frodotwo]

Good teams certainly have a home advantage, Massey rates UWSP home advantage as #1 in D3. Over the last ten years UWSP has posted the following records:

Home 138-16  .896 wp
Away  88-32   .733 wp
Neut   22-2     .917 wp

If you add the Away and Neutral records and compare to Home:

Home court         138-16   .896
Away from home  110-34   .764

Using only NCAA tourney records:

Home 10-2   .833
Away   2-1   .667
Neut    9-2   .818

Home court         10-2   .833
Away from home  11-3   .785

If you base assumptions using UWSP as a very good team over the past decade, you win home games at a slightly higher percentage than on the road. A good team will have a larger gap, & so on.

Comparing a couple of other teams:

Wooster
Home    144-21   .872
Away       88-22  .800
Neut        20-4    .833

Home court           144-21   .872
Away from home   108-26   .806

Randolph-Macon
Home     107-17     .863
Away       79-32     .712
Neut        31-15     .674

Home court           107-17   .863
Away from home    110-47  .700

Based on these arguably small samples, UWSP and Wooster are elite teams capable of winning anywhere. RMC needs to be home. Mind you now, a 70% winning pct away from home is very good, but if your argument is that you would have won this game or that game if at home, your claim to be one of the top teams has a few warts.

[David Collinge]

If I am reading the schedule for the next round properly, Whitworth plays Marietta at 7:30 EST, but according to the schedule, Wooster and Cabrini play at the same time?  Is this a typo, or are there 2 gyms there???

There's a huge Student Wellness Center under construction, but no, there's just the one 3400-seat Timken Gymnasium.  The Whitworth/Marietta game will be at 5:30 EST Friday, followed by Wooster/Cabrini.

[89Pirate]

If I am reading the schedule for the next round properly, Whitworth plays Marietta at 7:30 EST, but according to the schedule, Wooster and Cabrini play at the same time?  Is this a typo, or are there 2 gyms there???

There's a huge Student Wellness Center under construction, but no, there's just the one 3400-seat Timken Gymnasium.  The Whitworth/Marietta game will be at 5:30 EST Friday, followed by Wooster/Cabrini.

Thanks for the clarification, i figured it was an error.  Gives us westerners a SWEET reason to get out of work early!

[magicman]

Pat, How many girls games have flown or MUST fly next weekend?  Anyone?

Next weekend: George Fox would have to fly Illinois Wesleyan/Stevens Point wherever the sectional ends up being.  I think all the other teams are within 500 miles but I don't have an actual milage counter. As for teams that have had to fly already: George Fox & Louisiana college to Chapman, Lewis & Clark and Howard Payne to Coe, and Whitewater to Thomas More were the only flights I've seen on the women's side for the first 2 rounds.

7express,
Just for you, to tuck away in your favorites file, your very own mileage table. The official one of course, for all NCAA schools. Here's the link:

https://web1.ncaa.org/TES/exec/miles

[magicman]

I bring this question from the ODAC board where the lamentations of the RMC fans are plainly read.
I ask the opinions of the readers of this board.
How much home court advantage is there against a team:
that buses less than 3 hours?
more than 3 hours?
is flown to the site?

Not sure if I understand the question but this past weekend Buffalo State traveled "more than 3 hours" to Ramapo and probably had a total of 40 fans (alotted 274 tickets..gave 230 plus back) make the 374 mile trip. This weekend we travel "less than 3 hours", (74 miles to be exact) to Rochester where I am sure our students/supporters will absorb every ticket that we are alotted. Truely a much better scenario for our kids if nothing else.

  Undoubtly U of R. will have their side of the Palestra packed, but I'm hoping that thier fans will support thier fellow Western New Yorkers in the earlier game!

True that when the game starts it's just your 5 vs. their 5, and we did watch a JOHNSON and WALES team beat Ramapo which had 4 times as many fans in the house.

Bengalsrule,
I was hoping I'd have to ask you for 1 of those 274 tickets that you might be alloted if they gave Middlebury the Sectional. But, like I told you on the phone last night, I thought there was a good chance Rochester would be the host. So as much as I wanted them to be in Middlebury, for my own selfish reasons, I'm happy for the Bengal fans who won't have to travel very far. Anyway, it would be just my luck that if Middlebury had been chosen, we'd get hammered with a big snowstorm, like the one that's slamming us right at the moment, and I'd have to miss the game anyways. Just hope that Rochester will have the game on streaming video. They did last weekend for the women's games, so I'm sure they will for the men.

[nwhoops1903]

If I am reading the schedule for the next round properly, Whitworth plays Marietta at 7:30 EST, but according to the schedule, Wooster and Cabrini play at the same time?  Is this a typo, or are there 2 gyms there???

There's a huge Student Wellness Center under construction, but no, there's just the one 3400-seat Timken Gymnasium.  The Whitworth/Marietta game will be at 5:30 EST Friday, followed by Wooster/Cabrini.

Impressive Homecourt.

[7express]

7express,
Just for you, to tuck away in your favorites file, your very own mileage table. The official one of course, for all NCAA schools. Here's the link:

https://web1.ncaa.org/TES/exec/miles

One step ahead of you Magic
As soon as I posted my message I googled "NCAA mileage chart and I bookmarked that same exact page.

[Greek Tragedy]

So it was noted that Stevens Point didn't get a host bid because Augustana was ranked higher.  Was that an overall ranking?  I think Augie was 2nd in the midwest and Point was 3rd in the west.  What about St. Thomas?  They were ranked higher than Point, right?  I would've guessed the Tommies hosting before Augustana.  Not sure what the atmosphere is in Rock Island, but I've heard St. Thomas can be pretty hostile.

[John Gleich]

So it was noted that Stevens Point didn't get a host bid because Augustana was ranked higher.  Was that an overall ranking?  I think Augie was 2nd in the midwest and Point was 3rd in the west.  What about St. Thomas?  They were ranked higher than Point, right?  I would've guessed the Tommies hosting before Augustana.  Not sure what the atmosphere is in Rock Island, but I've heard St. Thomas can be pretty hostile.

Augie had been #2 in the Midwest but moved up to #1 in the Midwest after the conference tournament (Augie won the CCIW tourney, CUW lost in the NAthCon Semi's).

Point was 3rd in the pecking order in the bracket.  If Point had beaten UST when they played, there's a decent chance that SP would have been #2 in the West region and it would have been much more of a head-to-head with Augie and Point.

Augie historically hasn't had great fan support (not perennially a top team in the country... they have averaged about 1000 over the last few years, not anything to shake a stick at, but not gigantic crowds.

Look at their stats over the years: LINK

In their games this weekend, they had 1700 and 1900 (first vs. Webster, second versus Hope).

The CCIW guys would be able to say more about what the atmosphere is like...

[Greek Tragedy]

So, why is Johnson and Wales listed as Wells in the NCAA Championship book?  Not sure if this was covered or not.  Just seems odd to me.

[Michael Bibler]

In the championship book the bracket on page 2 has Cabrini pod winner playing the Williams pod winner and Va Wesleyan pod playing the Wooster pod winner.

Misprint or prior draft by the committee that was later changed to current bracket?