2012 Division III NCAA Tournament

[woosterbooster]

Pat -

Aw, c'mon, we all know that it's you and your henchmen that make these decisions and then inform the NCAA what to do. You can tell us, we'll keep a lid on it and go along with the NCAA's charade as they pretend to be in charge. 

[Pat Coleman]

Ha... Well, this is what I anticipate: Amherst, Virginia Wesleyan, Hope, Augustana. But we'll see.

[mab]

The Appleton Post Crescent this morning has quotes from Steve Larson, the chairman of the NCAA D3 championship committee, who was at the Lawrence/St. Thomas game last.  He said Lawrence has a "very good" chance of hosting their sectional.  It also says there have been talks about clearing the gym out between semi-final games to allow more fans to attend.  Here is the link:

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060305/APC0201/603050576/1892/APCsports

[dothedew]

Hope is headed to Witt


The Flying Dutchmen will travel to Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio for the NCAA Division III Sectional Tournament next Friday, the NCAA has announced. Hope (28-2) will play the host Tigers (27-3) in the second game of Friday's doubleheader at a time to be announced. The first game will pit Mississippi College (28-1) against Transylvania, Ky. (26-4). Friday's winners will meet on Saturday at a time to be announced.

[Dark Knight]

To get a feel for how well the remaining teams did in the NCAA tournament games they've played so far, I computed an average Massey power rating for the games played, taking into account the result, the power rating of the opponent, and a home court advantage. Here's what I came up with:

Wittenberg     34
IL Wesleyan    29
Amherst        24
Hope           22
Miss Coll      21
Wm. Patterson  21
Transylvania   19
Tufts          15
Lincoln        13
Augustana      11
Lawrence        9
St John Fisher  9
Utica           9
Widener         9
Puget Sound     6
VA Wesleyan     6

Of course, there's lots of variability when you look at the results of two, or in some cases only one, game, but Wittenberg, and to a lesser extent Ill. Wesleyan, really stand out from the crowd.

[diehardfan]

I feel the Sears Tower swaying all the time.... I never even notice it anymore.

Greg... read this again and tell me if you think it makes any sense. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I know I'm going to offend some here, but it seems like the NCAA bracketing has struck again.  In every region the two strongest (in my opinion) teams are matched against each other.

IWU-Lawrence
Amherst-Tufts
Hope-Wittenberg
VA Wesleyan-Lincoln

I'm guessing the final four comes from these four games, no matter the outcome.  It's quite interesting to note.

[Knightstalker]

William Paterson has only given up 93 points in two games so far.  Granted they weren't offensive powerhouses but WPU did hold both to more than twenty less than their season average.  They are an athletic, well coached defense first team.  It appears that Jose has them well prepared and we will see if it continues.  It would not shock me to see WPU come out of VA Beach with a trip to the final four.  They should be able to win against Widener and I think they will make it hard on either VW or Lincoln.

The other school that I think deserves a little recognition is Farmingdale State.  From the game story it sounds like they really gave Lincoln a game.  I think the seniors on this years Farmingdale State team are the first class to go through as four year students, they have only been D3 for a few years and to win their conference and win a first round game in their first trip to the NCAA's ever is a pretty good acomplishment.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I did some research as a result of a question on the Pool B board.  I think its applicable here too.  For right now it only goes back to 1998, when the tournament was reduced from 64 teams.

Maryville (TN) is now at 8 years and counting having won at least one game in the tournament.
Amherst is now at 7 and counting.

The next highest active streaks are:
Wooster-4
Lawrence, Puget Sound, and St John Fisher at 3
Calvin, Miss Coll, VA Wes, WPI, and York (PA) are all at 2

The longest consecutive streaks since 1998:

Maryville-8 (99-present)
Amherst-7 (00-present)
Catholic-5 (98-02)
Wooster-4 (03-present)
Rochester-4 (02-05)
Hampden-Sydney-4 (01-04)
Lawrence-3 (04-present)
Puget Sound-3 (04-present)
St John Fisher-3 (04-present)
Hamilton-3 (98-00)
William Paterson-3 (99-01)
John Carroll-3 (03-05)
Salem State-3 (03-05)
Randolph Macon-3 (02-04)
Williams-3 (02-04)
Franklin-3 (98-00)
Gustavus Adolphus-3 (01-03)
Lewis & Clark-3 (00-02)

[Ralph Turner]

I know I'm going to offend some here, but it seems like the NCAA bracketing has struck again.  In every region the two strongest (in my opinion) teams are matched against each other.

IWU-Lawrence
Amherst-Tufts
Hope-Wittenberg
VA Wesleyan-Lincoln

I'm guessing the final four comes from these four games, no matter the outcome.  It's quite interesting to note.

Rather, I applaud your ability to assess quality in the various regions and you predicted the 8 best remaining teams!

[Rhodes Scholar]

Knightstalker: You're right about Farmingdale State. The Rams do deserve some  recognition. They actually had a seven-point lead against Virginia Wesleyan with 6:15 remaining in the game, but they couldn't get it done in crunch time. Not bad for a Skyline team on the road against the #7 team in the country.

[Knightstalker]

Rhodes, I have watched them play NJCU for the last four years at least and they have gotten better each year.  They are building a nice program there.  They also do not seem afraid to play tougher competition.  It would be nice to see them add another north Jersey NJAC team to their schedule.

[Rhodes Scholar]

knightstalker: Their top three scorers are seniors so they'll have a void to fill next year. But from what I've heard, their coach is ambitious and a good recruiter. It'll be interesting to see what happens next year. He's certainly done a good job since taking over the team.

[Knightstalker]

He has some good recruiting ground, I think there is probably a lot of D3 talent on long island that has been overlooked by many schools.

[Gregory Sager]

I feel the Sears Tower swaying all the time.... I never even notice it anymore.

Greg... read this again and tell me if you think it makes any sense. 

Sure it does. Most of the stimuli that activate our sensory organs do not register within conscious thought. Think of walking down a busy sidewalk in Chicago or Washington DC. You see hundreds of people, and the vast majority of them will never so much as make a dent in your conscious perception. Or think of the background noise in a crowded room. You continue to hear it while you carry on conversation with someone, but your brain filters it out.