2012 Division III NCAA Tournament

[Titan Q]

How much home court disadvantage does a team have when they are so far from their fan base that the fans can't drive to the tourney?

Good question, Ralph.  As I see it, a road game in the Sectionals is going to be hostile regardless.  If Puget Sound plays Wheaton Saturday night on Wheaton's home floor, it is going be a hugely pro-Wheaton crowd, whether or not UPS has 150-200 there or not.  As far as neutral games, UW-Platteville fans were out-numbered by Hope fans this past Friday at Wheaton...and Platteville won in a blowout.

I really don't think the "far from their fan base" thing is the issue -- it is more just the playing on the road reality.

Then that is just part of the mental toughness that the team brings to the game.

I agree.  In the 2001 Elite Eight, IWU had to beat #1-ranked Chicago on their floor to get to Salem...in 2006 IWU had to beat #1-ranked Lawrence (25-0) in Appleton in the Round of 16.  Then there have been games I have watched IWU not rise to the occasion in the tournament on the road - @ Randolph-Macon in 2003 and @ Wooster in 2004 come to mind.

You're either ready to go or you're not.

[David Collinge]

This year, I am grateful that UTD is getting Capital instead of JCU in the sectional semis.

During the regular season, Capital and JCU split their games, with Cap winning at home in December by 6, and JCU winning at home in January by 8.  They met up again in the OAC final at JCU, where the Streaks won by three when Nate Stahl's trey rimmed out at the buzzer.  Capital has not lost to a non-OAC opponent, and since Dec. 1 neither has JCU.  Both teams were unbeaten at home this season, so it is an advantage to play the "neutral court" team rather than the home team, but otherwise trying to decide between Capital and JCU is a real "pick your poison" scenario.

[Ralph Turner]

This year, I am grateful that UTD is getting Capital instead of JCU in the sectional semis.

During the regular season, Capital and JCU split their games, with Cap winning at home in December by 6, and JCU winning at home in January by 8.  They met up again in the OAC final at JCU, where the Streaks won by three when Nate Stahl's trey rimmed out at the buzzer.  Capital has not lost to a non-OAC opponent, and since Dec. 1 neither has JCU.  Both teams were unbeaten at home this season, so it is an advantage to play the "neutral court" team rather than the home team, but otherwise trying to decide between Capital and JCU is a real "pick your poison" scenario.

I wonder about the match-ups.

Aren't their styles of play significantly different?

UTD plays very good defense.

[usee]

I wouldn't say that Hope fans outnumbered Platteville fans. I thought it was about equal. Saturday night Platteville had a great crowd v Wheaton. I would have guessed about 40% of the gym and their sections were organized and loud. Wheaton had no students, band or cheerleaders but about half the gym was alums and community support.

Platteville also had their band and cheeleaders at both games. It made a big difference I thought.

[sac]

I wouldn't say that Hope fans outnumbered Platteville fans. I thought it was about equal. Saturday night Platteville had a great crowd v Wheaton. I would have guessed about 40% of the gym and their sections were organized and loud. Wheaton had no students, band or cheerleaders but about half the gym was alums and community support.

Platteville also had their band and cheeleaders at both games. It made a big difference I thought.

I wouldn't either.......perhaps it was deceiving since the Hope contingent sat in 4 different places, escentially making a 'U' out of the one of King Arena, while Platteville's group were primarily confined to two areas, a small group behind the bench and floor to ceiling directly across..........and Hope and Wheaton have almost the exact shades of blue and orange.  Many Wheaton fans sat within whatever groups of Hope fans there were, which may add to the confusion.  Platteville's blue was a little lighter.

[KorsairKILLAH]

"No one had us beating them," Bridgewater State coach Joe Farroba told The Enterprise, in Brockton, Mass. "If you'd told me in October we'd be going to the Sweet 16, I'd have asked you what you were smoking."

this guy is the man.

[quaj]

"No one had us beating them," Bridgewater State coach Joe Farroba told The Enterprise, in Brockton, Mass. "If you'd told me in October we'd be going to the Sweet 16, I'd have asked you what you were smoking."

this guy is the man.

Agreed. Too bad that destroyed my bracket but that's probably the best quote I've seen with regards to the tourney.

[Greek Tragedy]

Aside from the Bracket of Death game of Wheaton v Washington U, what other "barnburners" are there?  DeSales (over Ithaca) and Bridgewater State upset two bye teams (in theory, higher seeds), while the other two bye teams advanced.  Texas-Dallas may be an upset over Trinity, even though Texas-Dallas had the bye, because they had to travel to Trinity.  Puget Sound seems like they are the forgotten team in the group of death, maybe because they are only ranked 7th and didn't come from the CCIW or WIAC.  I'm sure St. Thomas feels slighted because they haven't gotten much love in the Bracket of Death even though they're undefeated and #1 in the D3 poll.  They did silence some doubters with a hard fought win over WIAC regular season and tourney champ Stevens Point.  Because I have fantasy league implications, I'll cheer for Wheaton, Richard Stockton, and Mass-Dartmouth to make the Final Four.  For the last entrant, I'll go for Texas-Dallas since they would seem to be the underdog with the usual suspects of Guilford (from the tough ODAC), and Capital and John Carroll (from the usually balanced OAC) as the other three in the group.

[Pat Coleman]

Any readers here who are even thinking they might want to attend the Final Four should enter the City of Salem's contest: Free lodging, free tickets, admission to team banquet and VIP passes:

http://www.d3hoops.com/salemgiveaway/

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Pat... don't forget the most important part... meeting you!!!






OK... not part of the package... but I thought it was worth a try!

[Ralph Turner]

Pat... don't forget the most important part... meeting you!!!

OK... not part of the package... but I thought it was worth a try!

Will Miss Virginia be there?     

[OshDude]

Onion vid: "NCAA Expands March Madness To Include 4,096 Teams"
All NCAA divisions; community, vocational and tech schools; plus some other qualifiers like Duke Intramural Squad, Full Bail University and Tyler Hansbrough Fan Club. The tourney will run through June.

Play opens March 19. Some D-III teams featured in the segment.
Middlebury vs. Williams opens the tourney at 4 a.m.
Gustavus vs. Weber State at 4:06 a.m.
Norwich vs. Johns Hopkins at 4:08 a.m.
Hobart vs. Oklahoma St. at 4:08 a.m.
Geneseo vs. Central Connecticut St. at 4:08 a.m.
Millsaps (#678 seed) vs. U of Liverpool (of the Big 8 Commuter & Remote Schools Conference)
Suffolk vs. Renaissance School of Therapeutic Massage at 4:10 a.m.

I can't wait!

[hopefan]

ok  too much time on my hands (well it is lunchtime) -  do posts on these pages reflect interest  from various schools in their teams???  In many cases, lets hope not

Here are the number of posts in each of the remaining schools conference rooms since the sweet 16 were determined

OAC (Capital, JCU)   27 posts since the evening of March 7
ASC  (Tex Dallas)   6 posts
ODAC  (Guilford)  44
NWC  (Puget sound)  57
MIAC  (St Thomas)  119
CCIW  (Wheaton)  137
UAA  (Wash U)  6    Though the SLIAC room has been hot  (51)

MASCAC  (Bridgewater, Salem)  2  one of them was Pat's Ad regarding the Salem trip

Little East  (Mass Dart)  2    Pat's ad doubled it up here too

Liberty League  (SLU)  19
Sky  (Farmingdale)  14
NJAC  (Rich Stockton)  5
Centenial  (F&M)  24
MACF  (DeSales)  32

I guess many don't find the same pleasures in this site that a handful of us in the midwest do.....

[Greek Tragedy]

I heard from several players from unnamed teams that those players actually decided to play for teams in the midwest area because they knew there were a lot more fans posting on d3hoops about their schools.  They wanted more exposure.  Well, ok, that's not entirely true, or true at all...

[Marty Peretz]

UAA board is unique in that its users aren't familiar with many of the regions that its teams come from...for example, very few Deis fans no anything about Wheaton or St. Thomas, so they're not going to comment on WU vs Wheaton...plus, WU kids are on spring break. Plus, many of our alums (yours truly included) do not live within 1,000 miles of the games and this may follow the squad only very peripherally...That said, we apparently sold out or came very close to selling out our allotment of tickets, an impressive fete considering most of oru support comes from students and our students are on break...Chicagoland alumni and friends of the program stepping up...I'll be doing a game watch in New York City at a fellow recent alum's apartment. Can't wait.