2012 Division III NCAA Tournament

[Ralph Turner]

Augie had home court advantage and could not defend it.

I think that Whitworth was the only travel casualty.  Every other team in and beyond the Sweet 16 would have won on a neutral floor.

I still stand my assessment that Home court advantage in D-III is worth:

3 points for teams 200 miles/3hours or less.

4 points for teams 200 miles to 499 miles.

7 points for teams 500 or more miles.

Only Wooster might have a slight advantage for this tourney because of proxmity ~ 370 miles to Salem.  It will be interesting to see how many Wooster fans attend.

Every one else is flying.

[John Gleich]

I know nothing about this, Point, so this is really just an inquiry.  With the size and nature of the WIAC schools is it more likely the atheletes are recruited to the team as opposed to the school - at least moreso than some of the smaller schools?

Huh? Every D3 school of which I'm aware, be it public or private, large or small, recruits its basketball players. That's why there's a story about Ian Franks of Wooster on the front page -- because the fact that he wasn't recruited by Steve Moore to come to Wooster makes him such an anomaly.

However, if by "recruited to the team as opposed to the school" you are instead implying that coaches at smaller schools are more apt to focus upon the school as a whole rather than strictly upon the basketball program when actively recruiting prospects than are their coaching peers at larger schools, I'm not sure that I agree with that.

I will have to disagree (to some extent).  I thought Hoops Fan made some excellent points.  The larger the school, the more likely the 'jocks' are to be in their own world, with less attachment to other students; the smaller the school, the more likely they have all taken classes together, shared dorms, etc.

As to the recruitment, Dennie Bridges talks much more about 'selling the school'  than about selling the team.  I have no idea whether or not this is 'coachspeak', but it is what he claims repeatedly in A Dunk Only Counts Two Points.

Selling the school is just as much of a part of recruiting at a WIAC school as it is at a private. 

And there are no athletes dorms at any D-III I'm aware of... so the athletes live with the other students for the mandated period (at UWSP, that was 2 years).  The thing is, there are just so many MORE dorms and more classes and more majors, etc, the less... percentage(?) of the student population will have regular AND CONTINUED exposure to the athletes.  Yes, more students will have a class with a basketball player, but they're less apt to have any type of relationship with them because it's just one class and done.  At a smaller school, there are fewer classes, fewer dorms, fewer students in general to fill out the classes, so the percentage of the student population who has class/lives near the athlete will be greater and the regular and continued exposure to the athletes (that statement sounds weird now... hmmmm....) will be greater as well.

So there's much more of a chance that the answer to the question of "What are you doing tonight" will be "blah blah blah with my friends" but the blah blah blah will be attending an athletic event, because the friend is an athlete.


This argument kind of breaks down when you see some of the attendance numbers across D-III... but I think that you still will have stronger more unified student sections even at those schools because the students IN the student section will be pulling from a smaller populace and will likely know each other, listen to each other (i.e. 'everybody yell this when he shoots the free throw!').

[Just Bill]

I've always felt that kids at small, private colleges probably have 100 or so friends and aquaintances that the know and interact with. And kids at large, public colleges probably have 100 or so friends and aquaintances that they know and interact with.

The only difference then becomes the percentage of the student body that they know. I don't think that it ultimately makes a difference in attendance at games. I think there's at least 5-8 other factors that are more important.

[magicman]

Heck of a game between Wooster and Williams, as Wooster comes from 18 points behind to win it 73-71. Wooster was down 63-46 with 8:54 left in the game and went on a  19-1 run to take their 1st lead of the game at 65-64 with 3:35 remaining on a jumper by Nathan Balch. Back and forth action till the final points by Wooster with 25 seconds left. Ephs with several chances to tie the score or win it but came up a little short. Hope the 2nd game is as exciting as this one was.

[magicman]

Tommies up 32-25 over Middlebury at the half. Tyler Nicolai leads all scorers with 12 points. Ryan Sharry leads Middlebury with 7. Panthers led for the 1st 7 minutes by as much as 5 points but the Tommies finally got the lead with 9:39 left in the period. Back and forth action until 2:37 remaining when St. Thomas, down 23-21 ended the half on an 11-2 run. Nicolai with 2 fouls went to the bench only 9:30 into the game but he came back into the game with the Tommies down 21-19 and 3:55 left on the clock. He proceeded to knock down a 3, steal the ball and get a layup and exit the game 1:47 later with the Tommies up 26-23.

[hopefan]

I just went through my Direct TV listing for tomorrow and don't see the D3 championship games listed...
However CBSCHD 613 has something called 'FULL Court Press' on most of the afternoon, as well as some unidentified games in the middle of the night... does anyone know for sure if the 2 championship games are to be televised?

[Ralph Turner]

Officials miss a 3Fg by Nicolai.  It should be 44-42!

[Ralph Turner]

I just went through my Direct TV listing for tomorrow and don't see the D3 championship games listed...
However CBSCHD 613 has something called 'FULL Court Press' on most of the afternoon, as well as some unidentified games in the middle of the night... does anyone know for sure if the 2 championship games are to be televised?

They are streamed online from the NCAA.

[hopefan]

I live in the woods.. no luck with streaming....no DSL available, my satellite is hopeless...

[magicman]

Mid and the Tommies down to the final 2:30 and St Thomas leads by 3 pts,  55-52.


Just under a minute left and the score is 59-57. Tommies have the lead and the ball coming out of a Middlebury timeout. Nolan Thompson just hit a big three for the Panthers to made it only a 2 point deficit.

Middlebury with a steal. 26 seconds left and a timeout.

[magicman]

St. Thomas holds off Middlebury and advances to the Championship Game. Final score 59-57. Middlebury came out of a timeout with 16 seconds to play and had a tough time getting off a decent shot. Nolan Thompson had a decent look at a 3 pointer but he was closely guarded and his shot went off the rim and the Tommies grabbed the rebound and the victory. The Tommies' Tyler Nicolai led all scorers with 15 points. Tommy Hannon had 11 points 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Brady Ervin added 10 points and 5 boards.

Ryan Sharry had a double-double for the Panthers, with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Nolan Thompson led Middlebury with 12 points and Jamal Davis added 10.

[Ralph Turner]

Officials miss a 3Fg by Nicolai.  It should be 44-42!

It did not cost them.

Congrats to the Tommies!

West versus Great Lakes.

[magicman]

Officials miss a 3Fg by Nicolai.  It should be 44-42!

It did not cost them.

Congrats to the Tommies!

West versus Great Lakes.

No, it didn't hurt the Tommies but Tyler Nicolai is my guy, and if I lose the NCAA fantasy league title by 1 or 2 points I won't be a happy camper. I may have to lodge a protest.

[frodotwo]

Curious if any conference can top any of these.  Since 1994, when NESCAC was first eligible to compete in the tourney:

(1) One NESCAC school has made six Final Fours (Williams)
(2) NESCAC has had two teams make the Final Four twice (Amherst/Williams 2004, Midd/Williams 2011)
(3) NESCAC has had five conference schools make the Final Four (Williams x 6, Amherst x 4, Trinity, Conn College, Midd)
(4) Two NESCAC schools have won national titles (Williams and Amherst) (WIAC I know can equal that one)

Since 2003, NESCAC has AVERAGED one Final Four team per year!

I realize that, in some (but certainly not all) years NESCAC teams have an easier path to the Final Four.  No one can claim that this year, as Midd had to go on the road despite earning a top seed, and Williams had to beat two top-ten caliber teams.  But even given that, that is a pretty damn impressive record over the last 17 years, and especially the last 9 years ...

One and done for both NESCAC teams, now 2 for 13, WIAC 9 for 12 (Platteville 4-1, Stevens Point 3-0, Whitewater 2-1, Eau Claire 0-1)

[y_jack_lok]

Really nice streamed broadcasts by the NCAA for both the men and women. Replays and everything.