FB: American Southwest Conference

[wally_wabash]

I get that the essence of D3 is somehow embedded in the structure of the tournament, but really, isn't it going against that same essence when conferences or schools are placed at a disadvantage year in and year out?

What is UMHB's disadvantage?  Exactly- what is it? 

Every year UMHB lives in this bracket where every team that they play for four rounds has to travel 1,000+ miles to play them.  You know who travels like that in D3?  Nobody.  Ever.  In a game where routine is so important, nobody gets thrown out of their weekly routines harder than every team that has to go to Belton.  For as much as you whine about how the bracket is unfair to UMHB, from this angle, I don't know if anybody in the field gets a bigger advantage every single year than UMHB does.

In my previous post, I was speaking more to the ASC and HSU. Even Pat and Keith see it as a detriment when the committee bounces one Texas team early when you have the championship in Texas. I think also if you go back and look at other posts, I haven't been whining as you put it. You know, for someone who is looked as an aficionado of sorts, you do a lot of name calling and mud slinging towards people. I don't really respect that very much. Your point about UMHB having a bigger advantage than, say, Mt. Union is laughable. Show me a bracket consistently year in and year out that has the toughest road given to anyone but the ASC. Let UWW play Oshkosh in the first round, UMU play John Carrol in the first round, and so forth, consistently over the years, and let me know how you feel then. The ASC routinely has the toughest opening or second round matchup.

Apologies to you, sir, as I have mixed your nondescript "umhb###" handle up with another nondescript "umhb###" that was much more unreasonable about all of this.  UMHB often gets a disproportionately difficult Round 1 or 2 game.  No denying that.  But they also get those games at home, against teams that have to travel 1,000+ miles, which is not a regular thing in D3 and is undoubtedly disruptive.  Mount Union has been on the road in the playoffs before, which I believe netted three road wins and a semifinal loss...in Belton.  Also a semifinal road win last year in Wisconsin.  UWW has also been on the road when they didn't have to be and things turned out alright for them as well. 

I think I'm off the idea that UMHB getting HSU in the first round is a raw deal.  UMHB has the pink slips on HSU at this point.  The Crusaders had all of 7 first downs on Saturday and at no point were ever in danger in that game.  That's full ownage.  It's tough for Hardin-Simmons, yes, but with all of their experience against UMHB, they're best equipped to figure out a way to beat them, and can't do it.  If there was literally anybody else in Division III within 500 miles of Hardin-Simmons, this game wouldn't happen.  But there isn't, they know it, and it shouldn't be a surprise or offensive to anybody at this point when that pairing hits the board.

[wally_wabash]

As I've said before, it's an obvious attempt to eliminate an "island" team as early as possible in order to limit the long trips that you just mentioned. Is that really so difficult to believe, considering the kind of unfairness and inequitability that they already OPENLY engage in to save a few almighty dollars. There's no rational explanantion other than that, and certainly no rational explanation that could justify it.

Seriously, do you work for the NCAA, or are you friends with/related to someone who is? That's the only reason I can think of for your constant, strident attempts to defend the NCAA's indefensibly inequitable practices when it comes to D3 football.

Oh, there he is! 

I'm only defending sanity, dude.  The NCAA isn't doing anything here that they didn't tell you they were going to do at the start of the process.  So please stop acting like the system is unfair or they pulled the rug out from under you or that the NCAA hates Texas or whatever other nonsense you spew when you get going.  None of this is new.  None of this is pleasant.   All of this is necessary given the dollars available to sponsor this tournament.  This is the reality.  Why let what you know is going to happen ruin the fun? 

[Toby Taff]

I get that the essence of D3 is somehow embedded in the structure of the tournament, but really, isn't it going against that same essence when conferences or schools are placed at a disadvantage year in and year out?

What is UMHB's disadvantage?  Exactly- what is it? 

Every year UMHB lives in this bracket where every team that they play for four rounds has to travel 1,000+ miles to play them.  You know who travels like that in D3?  Nobody.  Ever.  In a game where routine is so important, nobody gets thrown out of their weekly routines harder than every team that has to go to Belton.  For as much as you whine about how the bracket is unfair to UMHB, from this angle, I don't know if anybody in the field gets a bigger advantage every single year than UMHB does.

in 2015 UMHB won @ HSU had a home game vs Huntington then lost @ Linfield. You say every year everyone travels 1000 miles to play here, but clearly not. Maybe for the past couple of years UMHB has been talked about that way, but it hasn't been like that for very long.

[UMHB03]

As I've said before, it's an obvious attempt to eliminate an "island" team as early as possible in order to limit the long trips that you just mentioned. Is that really so difficult to believe, considering the kind of unfairness and inequitability that they already OPENLY engage in to save a few almighty dollars. There's no rational explanantion other than that, and certainly no rational explanation that could justify it.

Seriously, do you work for the NCAA, or are you friends with/related to someone who is? That's the only reason I can think of for your constant, strident attempts to defend the NCAA's indefensibly inequitable practices when it comes to D3 football.

Oh, there he is! 

I'm only defending sanity, dude.  The NCAA isn't doing anything here that they didn't tell you they were going to do at the start of the process.  So please stop acting like the system is unfair or they pulled the rug out from under you or that the NCAA hates Texas or whatever other nonsense you spew when you get going.  None of this is new.  None of this is pleasant.   All of this is necessary given the dollars available to sponsor this tournament.  This is the reality.  Why let what you know is going to happen ruin the fun?

So it would have cost the NCAA money to switch Saint Thomas and Bethel? Ofcourse not. They knew that Saint Thomas would have a better chance of eliminating UMHB, thus saving them a flight in the next round. As you say, the NCAA is very open about their priorities - money, money, and money. If fairness and integrity don't stop them from trying to get one Texas team eliminated in the first round to save money, why would it stop them from trying to get the other Texas team eliminated shortly after for the same reason?

[umhb2001]

I get that the essence of D3 is somehow embedded in the structure of the tournament, but really, isn't it going against that same essence when conferences or schools are placed at a disadvantage year in and year out?

What is UMHB's disadvantage?  Exactly- what is it? 

Every year UMHB lives in this bracket where every team that they play for four rounds has to travel 1,000+ miles to play them.  You know who travels like that in D3?  Nobody.  Ever.  In a game where routine is so important, nobody gets thrown out of their weekly routines harder than every team that has to go to Belton.  For as much as you whine about how the bracket is unfair to UMHB, from this angle, I don't know if anybody in the field gets a bigger advantage every single year than UMHB does.

In my previous post, I was speaking more to the ASC and HSU. Even Pat and Keith see it as a detriment when the committee bounces one Texas team early when you have the championship in Texas. I think also if you go back and look at other posts, I haven't been whining as you put it. You know, for someone who is looked as an aficionado of sorts, you do a lot of name calling and mud slinging towards people. I don't really respect that very much. Your point about UMHB having a bigger advantage than, say, Mt. Union is laughable. Show me a bracket consistently year in and year out that has the toughest road given to anyone but the ASC. Let UWW play Oshkosh in the first round, UMU play John Carrol in the first round, and so forth, consistently over the years, and let me know how you feel then. The ASC routinely has the toughest opening or second round matchup.

Apologies to you, sir, as I have mixed your nondescript "umhb###" handle up with another nondescript "umhb###" that was much more unreasonable about all of this.  UMHB often gets a disproportionately difficult Round 1 or 2 game.  No denying that.  But they also get those games at home, against teams that have to travel 1,000+ miles, which is not a regular thing in D3 and is undoubtedly disruptive.  Mount Union has been on the road in the playoffs before, which I believe netted three road wins and a semifinal loss...in Belton.  Also a semifinal road win last year in Wisconsin.  UWW has also been on the road when they didn't have to be and things turned out alright for them as well. 

I think I'm off the idea that UMHB getting HSU in the first round is a raw deal.  UMHB has the pink slips on HSU at this point.  The Crusaders had all of 7 first downs on Saturday and at no point were ever in danger in that game.  That's full ownage.  It's tough for Hardin-Simmons, yes, but with all of their experience against UMHB, they're best equipped to figure out a way to beat them, and can't do it.  If there was literally anybody else in Division III within 500 miles of Hardin-Simmons, this game wouldn't happen.  But there isn't, they know it, and it shouldn't be a surprise or offensive to anybody at this point when that pairing hits the board.

First, UMHB 2001 is my handle cause that is when I graduated from there the first time. So, that's that. Secondly, I've said this before, that the only way this gets better is if Trinity can get in the field. I was not for the SCAC coming over to the ASC for precisely this reason. I wanted them to find more football playing schools and for UMHB to get a couple schools to join so that we could have two viable conferences here. That would make things a bit easier for scheduling that first round and possibly 2nd round game.

[wally_wabash]

So it would have cost the NCAA money to switch Saint Thomas and Bethel? Ofcourse not. They knew that Saint Thomas would have a better chance of eliminating UMHB, thus saving them a flight in the next round. As you say, the NCAA is very open about their priorities - money, money, and money. If fairness and integrity don't stop them from trying to get one Texas team eliminated in the first round to save money, why would it stop them from trying to get the other Texas team eliminated shortly after for the same reason?

Ok.  Take the tin foil hat off long enough to at least know who is actually playing in the 2018 tournament. 

Once you're back on board, know that if the NCAA really wanted to eliminate Texas schools as fast as humanly possibly, they wouldn't have invited Hardin-Simmons in the first place.  Hardin-Simmons didn't qualify.  They got invited.  There's a big difference and if the committee didn't want them in the field, they didn't have to put them in the field. 

[UMHB03]

So it would have cost the NCAA money to switch Saint Thomas and Bethel? Ofcourse not. They knew that Saint Thomas would have a better chance of eliminating UMHB, thus saving them a flight in the next round. As you say, the NCAA is very open about their priorities - money, money, and money. If fairness and integrity don't stop them from trying to get one Texas team eliminated in the first round to save money, why would it stop them from trying to get the other Texas team eliminated shortly after for the same reason?

Ok.  Take the tin foil hat off long enough to at least know who is actually playing in the 2018 tournament. 

Once you're back on board, know that if the NCAA really wanted to eliminate Texas schools as fast as humanly possibly, they wouldn't have invited Hardin-Simmons in the first place.  Hardin-Simmons didn't qualify.  They got invited.  There's a big difference and if the committee didn't want them in the field, they didn't have to put them in the field.

Yeah, Saint John's. It's easy to get the "Saints" mixed up, especially when we played Saint Thomas last year.

As to the second statement, the NCAA didn't have to invite HSU, but they did because it gave them a free first round game. If they hadn't invited HSU, they would have had to pay for someone to fly to Belton. They made the match up because it would be free for the NCAA in the first round, and only one of the teams would emerge to play and cost them money. Then they could try to remedy that by placing the #3 team in the country in their path shortly after. This is not a "tin foil hate" theory, it's right in line the NCAA's established modus operandi when it comes to division 3- save money, even at the expense of fairness and integrity.

[crufootball]

So it would have cost the NCAA money to switch Saint Thomas and Bethel? Ofcourse not. They knew that Saint Thomas would have a better chance of eliminating UMHB, thus saving them a flight in the next round. As you say, the NCAA is very open about their priorities - money, money, and money. If fairness and integrity don't stop them from trying to get one Texas team eliminated in the first round to save money, why would it stop them from trying to get the other Texas team eliminated shortly after for the same reason?

Ok.  Take the tin foil hat off long enough to at least know who is actually playing in the 2018 tournament. 

Once you're back on board, know that if the NCAA really wanted to eliminate Texas schools as fast as humanly possibly, they wouldn't have invited Hardin-Simmons in the first place.  Hardin-Simmons didn't qualify.  They got invited.  There's a big difference and if the committee didn't want them in the field, they didn't have to put them in the field.

Wally, your go-to defense of this system is pretty much "hey it could have been worse, the NCAA could have done x, y or z." and then you usually mix in a form of belittling the person you are talking to which seems to acknowledge that the system isn't ideal.

Perhaps at this point we can agree to disagree on this matter? You are right that this was the system that all island teams signed up for but I would hope/think you could at least see why we don't love the results as fans of those teams.

You are welcome to keep up the good fight but it just seems like this is going to be an annual thing and we seem to bug you as much as the system bugs us.

[wally_wabash]

So it would have cost the NCAA money to switch Saint Thomas and Bethel? Ofcourse not. They knew that Saint Thomas would have a better chance of eliminating UMHB, thus saving them a flight in the next round. As you say, the NCAA is very open about their priorities - money, money, and money. If fairness and integrity don't stop them from trying to get one Texas team eliminated in the first round to save money, why would it stop them from trying to get the other Texas team eliminated shortly after for the same reason?

Ok.  Take the tin foil hat off long enough to at least know who is actually playing in the 2018 tournament. 

Once you're back on board, know that if the NCAA really wanted to eliminate Texas schools as fast as humanly possibly, they wouldn't have invited Hardin-Simmons in the first place.  Hardin-Simmons didn't qualify.  They got invited.  There's a big difference and if the committee didn't want them in the field, they didn't have to put them in the field.

Yeah, Saint John's. It's easy to get the "Saints" mixed up, especially when we played Saint Thomas last year.

As to the second statement, the NCAA didn't have to invite HSU, but they did because it gave them a free first round game. If they hadn't invited HSU, they would have had to pay for someone to fly to Belton. They made the match up because it would be free for the NCAA in the first round, and only one of the teams would emerge to play and cost them money. Then they could try to remedy that by placing the #3 team in the country in their path shortly after. This is not a "tin foil hate" theory, it's right in line the NCAA's established modus operandi when it comes to division 3- save money, even at the expense of fairness and integrity.

Do you invent nonsensical conspiracy theories to suck every ounce of joy out of every part of your life, or is it limited only to small college football?  I hope you get some help because this isn't healthy. 

So it would have cost the NCAA money to switch Saint Thomas and Bethel? Ofcourse not. They knew that Saint Thomas would have a better chance of eliminating UMHB, thus saving them a flight in the next round. As you say, the NCAA is very open about their priorities - money, money, and money. If fairness and integrity don't stop them from trying to get one Texas team eliminated in the first round to save money, why would it stop them from trying to get the other Texas team eliminated shortly after for the same reason?

Ok.  Take the tin foil hat off long enough to at least know who is actually playing in the 2018 tournament. 

Once you're back on board, know that if the NCAA really wanted to eliminate Texas schools as fast as humanly possibly, they wouldn't have invited Hardin-Simmons in the first place.  Hardin-Simmons didn't qualify.  They got invited.  There's a big difference and if the committee didn't want them in the field, they didn't have to put them in the field.

Wally, your go-to defense of this system is pretty much "hey it could have been worse, the NCAA could have done x, y or z." and then you usually mix in a form of belittling the person you are talking to which seems to acknowledge that the system isn't ideal.

Perhaps at this point we can agree to disagree on this matter? You are right that this was the system that all island teams signed up for but I would hope/think you could at least see why we don't love the results as fans of those teams.

You are welcome to keep up the good fight but it just seems like this is going to be an annual thing and we seem to bug you as much as the system bugs us.

I think what grinds my gears about this is that there is a population in here that thinks that the committee is hell bent on screwing over the teams from Texas.  Like, they go out of their way to do it.  Even though everybody associated with the process says otherwise every single year.  The committee does the best they can do with the constraints they have to work with.  Those people- colunteers, btw- deserve thanks, not ridicule and attack.  Or at the very least they deserve respect.  I'll defend that group of people from habitual line-steppers without hesitation. 

[bluestreak66]

So it would have cost the NCAA money to switch Saint Thomas and Bethel? Ofcourse not. They knew that Saint Thomas would have a better chance of eliminating UMHB, thus saving them a flight in the next round. As you say, the NCAA is very open about their priorities - money, money, and money. If fairness and integrity don't stop them from trying to get one Texas team eliminated in the first round to save money, why would it stop them from trying to get the other Texas team eliminated shortly after for the same reason?

Ok.  Take the tin foil hat off long enough to at least know who is actually playing in the 2018 tournament. 

Once you're back on board, know that if the NCAA really wanted to eliminate Texas schools as fast as humanly possibly, they wouldn't have invited Hardin-Simmons in the first place.  Hardin-Simmons didn't qualify.  They got invited.  There's a big difference and if the committee didn't want them in the field, they didn't have to put them in the field.

Yeah, Saint John's. It's easy to get the "Saints" mixed up, especially when we played Saint Thomas last year.

As to the second statement, the NCAA didn't have to invite HSU, but they did because it gave them a free first round game. If they hadn't invited HSU, they would have had to pay for someone to fly to Belton. They made the match up because it would be free for the NCAA in the first round, and only one of the teams would emerge to play and cost them money. Then they could try to remedy that by placing the #3 team in the country in their path shortly after. This is not a "tin foil hate" theory, it's right in line the NCAA's established modus operandi when it comes to division 3- save money, even at the expense of fairness and integrity.

Do you invent nonsensical conspiracy theories to suck every ounce of joy out of every part of your life, or is it limited only to small college football?  I hope you get some help because this isn't healthy. 

So it would have cost the NCAA money to switch Saint Thomas and Bethel? Ofcourse not. They knew that Saint Thomas would have a better chance of eliminating UMHB, thus saving them a flight in the next round. As you say, the NCAA is very open about their priorities - money, money, and money. If fairness and integrity don't stop them from trying to get one Texas team eliminated in the first round to save money, why would it stop them from trying to get the other Texas team eliminated shortly after for the same reason?

Ok.  Take the tin foil hat off long enough to at least know who is actually playing in the 2018 tournament. 

Once you're back on board, know that if the NCAA really wanted to eliminate Texas schools as fast as humanly possibly, they wouldn't have invited Hardin-Simmons in the first place.  Hardin-Simmons didn't qualify.  They got invited.  There's a big difference and if the committee didn't want them in the field, they didn't have to put them in the field.

Wally, your go-to defense of this system is pretty much "hey it could have been worse, the NCAA could have done x, y or z." and then you usually mix in a form of belittling the person you are talking to which seems to acknowledge that the system isn't ideal.

Perhaps at this point we can agree to disagree on this matter? You are right that this was the system that all island teams signed up for but I would hope/think you could at least see why we don't love the results as fans of those teams.

You are welcome to keep up the good fight but it just seems like this is going to be an annual thing and we seem to bug you as much as the system bugs us.

I think what grinds my gears about this is that there is a population in here that thinks that the committee is hell bent on screwing over the teams from Texas.  Like, they go out of their way to do it.  Even though everybody associated with the process says otherwise every single year.  The committee does the best they can do with the constraints they have to work with.  Those people- colunteers, btw- deserve thanks, not ridicule and attack.  Or at the very least they deserve respect.  I'll defend that group of people from habitual line-steppers without hesitation.

Bwahaha! That post wins!

[UMHB03]

Do you invent nonsensical conspiracy theories to suck every ounce of joy out of every part of your life, or is it limited only to small college football?  I hope you get some help because this isn't healthy.

It's not a nonsensical conspiracy theory when it is in line with the NCAA's stated goals and priorities, and not in conflict with their oft-demonstrated lack of concern for fairness and equitability. My frustration over the fact that the kids who are playing for my almamater are being shafted out of the seeding benefits that their hard work and on-field results have earned, is completely justified.

I think what grinds my gears about this is that there is a population in here that thinks that the committee is hell bent on screwing over the teams from Texas.  Like, they go out of their way to do it.  Even though everybody associated with the process says otherwise every single year.  The committee does the best they can do with the constraints they have to work with.  Those people- colunteers, btw- deserve thanks, not ridicule and attack.  Or at the very least they deserve respect.  I'll defend that group of people from habitual line-steppers without hesitation.

I don't think they are set on screwing Texas teams because they are anti-Texas, but their goal is to save money, whether that means pitting Texas schools together in the first round to limit flights, or increasing the odds of the surviving Texas team getting eliminated as soon as possible to limit flights later on. As I mentioned earlier, the NCAA proved this beyond any reasonable doubt by placing Saint John's as UMHB's 3rd round opponent rather than Bethel, which would have somewhat mitigated the first round screw job by providing a less formidable opponent in the third round, while avoiding any additional flights (Saint John's and Bethel would both require a flight from Minnesota).

Why wouldn't the NCAA do that? It's obviously not about penny pinching on travel costs for that round (again, a flight from Minnesota either way), but about increasing the odds that they'd be able to eliminate a flight in the following round with a Saint John's/Whitewater match up, rather than a Whitewater/UMHB match up. This isn't rocket science. The NCAA's extreme money consciousness, and the lack of concern for fairness and authenticity that results from it, makes this a no brainer from their perspective. Why WOULDN'T they take that approach?

[CruFrenzy]

I get that the essence of D3 is somehow embedded in the structure of the tournament, but really, isn't it going against that same essence when conferences or schools are placed at a disadvantage year in and year out?

What is UMHB's disadvantage?  Exactly- what is it? 

Every year UMHB lives in this bracket where every team that they play for four rounds has to travel 1,000+ miles to play them.  You know who travels like that in D3?  Nobody.  Ever.  In a game where routine is so important, nobody gets thrown out of their weekly routines harder than every team that has to go to Belton.  For as much as you whine about how the bracket is unfair to UMHB, from this angle, I don't know if anybody in the field gets a bigger advantage every single year than UMHB does.

Wally, I don't think by any means the NCAA is biased. I'm on the same page with you there, although you have to acknowledge that UMHB has one of if not the toughest road to the Stagg Bowl out of probably any 1 seed maybe in the history of the tournament!

If you follow @hansenratings I think he has so posts about it

Playing at home is an earned advantage, having to play UWW, HSU and probably the best St. John's team since 2003 qualifies as a disadvantage I would say

[wally_wabash]

Do you invent nonsensical conspiracy theories to suck every ounce of joy out of every part of your life, or is it limited only to small college football?  I hope you get some help because this isn't healthy.

It's not a nonsensical conspiracy theory when it is in line with the NCAA's stated goals and priorities,

What are their stated goals and priorities?  Source that from somewhere other than your own rantings and we'll get back to it. 

[wally_wabash]

I get that the essence of D3 is somehow embedded in the structure of the tournament, but really, isn't it going against that same essence when conferences or schools are placed at a disadvantage year in and year out?

What is UMHB's disadvantage?  Exactly- what is it? 

Every year UMHB lives in this bracket where every team that they play for four rounds has to travel 1,000+ miles to play them.  You know who travels like that in D3?  Nobody.  Ever.  In a game where routine is so important, nobody gets thrown out of their weekly routines harder than every team that has to go to Belton.  For as much as you whine about how the bracket is unfair to UMHB, from this angle, I don't know if anybody in the field gets a bigger advantage every single year than UMHB does.

Wally, I don't think by any means the NCAA is biased. I'm on the same page with you there, although you have to acknowledge that UMHB has one of if not the toughest road to the Stagg Bowl out of probably any 1 seed maybe in the history of the tournament!

If you follow @hansenratings I think he has so posts about it

Playing at home is an earned advantage, having to play UWW, HSU and probably the best St. John's team since 2003 qualifies as a disadvantage I would say

And my point is that nobody's home field advantage is bigger than UMHB's.  Not so much because I think crowds at this level influence games- they don't.  But the abnormal travel to Belton for anybody that has to go there is incredibly disruptive.  Nobody else's opponents get thrown out of whack the way UMHB opponents do. 

I like Logan's stuff- his analyses are really interesting.  The gross imbalance that I think you guys perceive here comes from the first round only.  HSU is light years better than Eureka or Denison or Martin Luther.  No denying that.  If HSU doesn't get invited, you all get to toy with C-M-S in a 72-0 game.  But I just don't know how much of a big deal it is for you to play HSU in the first round at this point.  They aren't beating UMHB.  It just isn't happening.  They have the dudes to keep UMHB from scoring 80, but there's no real danger here in losing to them.  The outrage over St. John's being in this quadrant is misplaced.  They were ranked #2 in their region, so they were going to be a #2 seed somewhere.  Your South #2 (Hopkins) didn't really fit in this quadrant geographically, so the #2s got rotated around a little bit and St. John's ended up here.  That's not conspiratorial, that's just how it worked out this year.  The quarterfinals are supposed to be hard. 

[bluestreak66]

I get that the essence of D3 is somehow embedded in the structure of the tournament, but really, isn't it going against that same essence when conferences or schools are placed at a disadvantage year in and year out?

What is UMHB's disadvantage?  Exactly- what is it? 

Every year UMHB lives in this bracket where every team that they play for four rounds has to travel 1,000+ miles to play them.  You know who travels like that in D3?  Nobody.  Ever.  In a game where routine is so important, nobody gets thrown out of their weekly routines harder than every team that has to go to Belton.  For as much as you whine about how the bracket is unfair to UMHB, from this angle, I don't know if anybody in the field gets a bigger advantage every single year than UMHB does.

Wally, I don't think by any means the NCAA is biased. I'm on the same page with you there, although you have to acknowledge that UMHB has one of if not the toughest road to the Stagg Bowl out of probably any 1 seed maybe in the history of the tournament!

If you follow @hansenratings I think he has so posts about it

Playing at home is an earned advantage, having to play UWW, HSU and probably the best St. John's team since 2003 qualifies as a disadvantage I would say

Agreed on this account. It is a very hard road to the championship. But that was more by chance than an effort to screw over UMHB.