2012 Division III NCAA Tournament

[John Gleich]

Interesting thought... but you overlook a couple of huge, huge points.  Part of the reason why there are so many more non-West/Midwest teams that make the final four in multiple years is that the competition is much higher in those areas.  Whereas there may be 1 or 2 good teams in, say, the Northeast, there could be 8 in the West and Midwest, and due to geographic constraints, the possibility that the West and Midwest get split up are very small.  Look at 2004.  Amherst and Williams, 60 miles away, end up in different brackets and meet in the final four.  Stevens Point and Lawrence are also about 60 miles away... and they met in the Elite 8 in '04 and the second round in '05.  Also in '04 and '05, Stevens Point met Puget Sound in the Sweet 16.  In '03 and '04, Point met Gustavus Adolphus in the second round.  Last year, Point went to St. Thomas with a Chicago-area team and an IIAC team.  This year, Point is going to St. Thomas, with a Chicago-area team and an IIAC team.

If you take '03 and '04 as prime examples, the winner of the UWSP/Gustavus Adolphus game made it to the National Championship game, with both teams "upset" the other squad on their home court.  What if GAC and Point had been split up into different brackets?  It seems plausible that they would have both made the Final Four, both years.  And there's a chance that Williams would have beaten them both.  Williams was just that good.  But if you look at the rankings, Williams was ranked high all year long.  And there's nothing that says Middlebury won't win it this year.  But they also won't play the same calibre teams to get to Salem.

[Cardinal guy]

I don't think Pat Maloney was on the that all-decade team. That seems fair. He was the best player on our title team but I cannot think he was one of the best players of an entire decade in all of D3.

[Cardinal guy]

Oh, that's Catholic I'm talking about. Sorry!

Catholic had an outstanding player but we won because we were a truly balanced team. It takes more than one player to win a title but I bet outstanding players can get their teams close to titles all by themselves.

[hopefan]

Question to someone who knows.....   The current scoreboard on these pages shows friday night first round games....   less than half of them have links indicating there will be either live stats, audio or video.....

Is the scoreboard the ultimate indication of those links, or do some schools not contact D3hoops, or have not yet contacted d3hoops, and there are actully more of the games that will be available Friday night.....

Trying to decide whether to stay home, or travel.....

[BUBeaverFan]

http://elmhurst.edu/~athletic/Home/M-Basket/09Regional/ncaabasketballregional.html

The Wash U v. Lawrence and Elmhurst v. W-Whitewater games do not have links on the D3Hoops.com scoreboard page but the website set up by Elmhurst indicates live stats and audio links for both games.

I think it was addressed somewhere that D3hoops.com relies on the schools themselves to provide the information regarding live stats, audio and video that may be available.

[hopefan]

Thanks washu33 aka AT fan   -  that's an immediate indication that there will be more out there than is indicated on the scoreboard page - this might be a good place for others to post those types of links.....

[BUBeaverFan]

No problem HopeFan!

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/2009/3/1/MBB_NCAA1.aspx 

Platteville v. Hope
Wheaton v. Fontbonne

http://www.capital.edu/24228/

Wooster v. Gettsburg
Thomas More v. Capital

[Pat Coleman]

Question to someone who knows.....   The current scoreboard on these pages shows friday night first round games....   less than half of them have links indicating there will be either live stats, audio or video.....

Is the scoreboard the ultimate indication of those links, or do some schools not contact D3hoops, or have not yet contacted d3hoops, and there are actully more of the games that will be available Friday night.....

Trying to decide whether to stay home, or travel.....

There will be more. Between now and Friday we will finish those up. My Tuesday and Wednesday is spent arranging for our audio broadcasts, writing the tournament previews and other things, like adding the missing game times and the like.

We will have all the links on the scoreboard. You can post them here if you like but we'll have them out front too. When we get down to 40-some games in a day it's a little easier to pick up links the schools haven't added. For example, those are our own broadcasts at Elmhurst -- you will definitely find them on our site.

[BUBeaverFan]

Question to someone who knows.....   The current scoreboard on these pages shows friday night first round games....   less than half of them have links indicating there will be either live stats, audio or video.....

Is the scoreboard the ultimate indication of those links, or do some schools not contact D3hoops, or have not yet contacted d3hoops, and there are actully more of the games that will be available Friday night.....

Trying to decide whether to stay home, or travel.....

There will be more. Between now and Friday we will finish those up. My Tuesday and Wednesday is spent arranging for our audio broadcasts, writing the tournament previews and other things, like adding the missing game times and the like.

We will have all the links on the scoreboard. You can post them here if you like but we'll have them out front too. When we get down to 40-some games in a day it's a little easier to pick up links the schools haven't added. For example, those are our own broadcasts at Elmhurst -- you will definitely find them on our site.

Thanks Mr. Coleman for all that you folks do!

[Pat Coleman]

Sure thing. Elmhurst/Whitewater does have an audio link on the scoreboard page already, by the way.

[hopefan]

Thanks Pat - you have now tipped me on the side of the fence of surfing the net rather than traveling to Chicago  -  do you by any chance know if there is a broadcast of RPI - Stockton ?

[Pat Coleman]

It's on the list. Dave McHugh for D3hoopsNet/NCAA.com on the call.

[89Pirate]

This question is for the all knowing all important Mr Coleman...

In your tourney preview for the St Thomas bracket, you pick Whitworth as the Cinderella.  I am curious as to why you picked them?

[Pat Coleman]

Because I figured that, among the unranked teams in the bracket, they had the best chance of winning a road game to advance to the Sweet 16.

[89Pirate]

Because I figured that, among the unranked teams in the bracket, they had the best chance of winning a road game to advance to the Sweet 16.

Oh, that makes sense, thanks for the clarification.  I think you are right...the Pirates should be able to beat the Loggers again...and advance...