Top 25 talk

[Mr. Ypsi]

Even though they were 'only' #3 and #11 in the final regular season poll, hats off to d3hoops.com for pre-season #1 facing pre-season #2 in the title game! 8)

Now we'll see if they got the order right?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Props to WashU for rebounding from the loss of an incredibly talented point guard to make the final.  They have a great team all-around, but losing the PG is a tough one to adjust to; they've done well.

A shame we won't get to see Olson and Wallis going head to head, but I expect a good game anyway.

[Greek Tragedy]

I think the D3hoops.com heirarchy have every right to toot their own horn on the front page as preseason #1 and #2 go head to head for the title tonight.  I think everyone can agree, going into the tourney, that it was very wide open.  Amherst may not be too much of a suprise, but to see Washington U. come out on the other side of the bracket shocked many.  It was a tough year and it's quite amazing that those two teams, picked at the beginning of the year as the best, will prove it tonight.  Congrats to Pat Coleman and the boys.

[Titan Q]

Well, I submitted my preseason ballot for the D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll today.  This is always the toughest ballot by far.  I'm interested to see how the poll comes out.


1 Washington U.
2 Amherst
3 Brockport State
4 Capital
5 Brandeis
6 Guilford
7 UW-Stevens Point
8 Lewis and Clark
9 Williams
10 Virginia Wesleyan
11 Augustana
12 Aurora
13 Elmhurst
14 Calvin
15 Rochester
16 Puget Sound
17 Baldwin-Wallace
18 Wooster
19 UW-Whitewater
20 Hope
21 Worcester Polytech
22 Mary Hardin-Baylor
23 Loras
24 Keene State
25 Grinnell

Well, this was my first ballot from way back in late October.  Some good, some bad...but at least I agreed with my peers on #1 and #2! 

- Q, from courtside at the Salem Civic Center

[atn alum]

by the way...last yr's final was a preseason no. 1 (V Wes) vs preseason No. 3 (Amherst)

We know what we're doing

[David Collinge]

HOW THEY FARED (postseason edition)       
      
#   1   Hope (28-4) received a bye, def. #20 Capital 92-72, def. Ohio Wesleyan 71-63, def. Wheaton (IL) 83-70, lost to #11 Washington U. 89-74 at Salem, VA, and def. #16 Ursinus 100-86 at Salem, VA
#   2   UW-Whitewater (24-5) lost to Loras 71-70 season complete
#   3   Amherst (27-4) received a bye, def. John Jay 96-74, def. Richard Stockton 85-77 at Plattsburgh St., def. #5 Brandeis 65-55 at Plattsburgh St., def. #16 Ursinus 84-58 at Salem, VA, and lost to #11 Washington U. 90-68 at Salem, VA
#   4   Centre (26-3) def. Franklin 75-61 and lost to Ohio Wesleyan 82-65 season complete
#   5   Brandeis (23-6) def. Lasell 80-59, def. Bowdoin 68-53, won at #7 Plattsburgh St. 74-63, and lost to #3 Amherst 65-55 at Plattsburgh St.; season complete
#   6   Augustana (23-6) def. Aurora 72-61 and lost to #11 Washington U. 70-67 (OT) season complete
#   7   Plattsburgh St. (27-3) received a bye, def. King's 83-77 (OT), and lost to #5 Brandeis 74-63 season complete
#   8   Guilford (24-5) lost to St. Mary's (MD) 89-77 season complete
#   9   UW-Stevens Point (23-7) def. #22 Chicago 67-53 and lost to Buena Vista 54-53, both at St. Thomas; season complete
#   10   Mass.-Dartmouth (25-4) received a bye and lost to Coast Guard 50-47 season complete
#   11   Washington U. (25-6) def. #17 Wooster 79-74 at Augustana, won at #6 Augustana 70-67 (OT), def. Buena Vista 85-77 (OT), def. #14 Millsaps 57-46, def. #1 Hope 89-74 at Salem, VA, and def. #3 Amherst 90-68 at Salem, VA
#   12   Mary Hardin-Baylor (26-4) def. Fontbonne 65-62 at Millsaps and lost at #14 Millsaps 57-56 season complete
#   13   Rochester (22-6) def. Middlebury 56-43, def. Penn St.-Behrend 65-56, and lost to Coast Guard 57-48 at Ursinus; season complete
#   14   Millsaps (28-4) def. #19 Maryville (TN) 80-72, def. #12 Mary Hardin-Baylor 57-56, def. St. Mary's (MD) 82-73 at Washington U. (St. Louis), and lost at #11 Washington U. 57-46 season complete
#   15   Lawrence (22-3) lost to Wheaton (IL) 93-83 (OT) at UW-Whitewater; season complete
#   16   Ursinus (29-4) def. Baptist Bible 94-76, def. #21 Virginia Wesleyan 70-64, def. Gettysburg 79-55, def. Coast Guard 82-76 (OT), lost to #3 Amherst 84-58 at Salem, VA, and lost to #1 Hope 100-86 at Salem, VA
#   17   Wooster (23-5) lost to #11 Washington U. 79-74 at Augustana; season complete
#   18   St. Thomas (23-5) lost to Buena Vista 72-70 season complete
#   19   Maryville (TN) (24-3) lost at #14 Millsaps 80-72 season complete
#   20   Capital (24-6) def. Bethany 92-70 and lost at #1 Hope 92-72 season complete
#   21   Virginia Wesleyan (23-7) def. Worcester Polytech 80-75 at Ursinus and lost at #16 Ursinus 70-64 season complete
#   22   Chicago (18-8) lost to #9 UW-Stevens Point 67-53 at St. Thomas; season complete
#   23   UW-Platteville (19-7) season complete
#   25   Occidental (22-6) def. Pomona-Pitzer 52-51 and lost at Whitworth 83-75 season complete
#   25   Trinity (CT) (21-7) lost to Coast Guard 70-65 season complete

Congratulations to the Washington U. Bears!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Even though they were 'only' #3 and #11 in the final regular season poll, hats off to d3hoops.com for pre-season #1 facing pre-season #2 in the title game! 8)

Now we'll see if they got the order right?

My hat is off - even the order was right!

How scary would Wash U have been if Sean Wallis stayed healthy?  (On the other hand, they lost to Calvin before he was hurt - is it possible the other players rallied in ways that they were even better without their All American? )

[Gregory Sager]

Even though they were 'only' #3 and #11 in the final regular season poll, hats off to d3hoops.com for pre-season #1 facing pre-season #2 in the title game! 8)

Now we'll see if they got the order right?

My hat is off - even the order was right!

How scary would Wash U have been if Sean Wallis stayed healthy?  (On the other hand, they lost to Calvin before he was hurt - is it possible the other players rallied in ways that they were even better without their All American? )

The point's moot, Chuck. Wash U couldn't have done any better with Wallis than it did without him. The only difference is that the Bears might've won the UAA as well, and they might not have been taken to overtime in two of their tournament games. Without him the Bears walked the razor's edge, but they still prevailed -- and, in a very real sense, made his absence on the floor ultimately irrelevant.

I've said this before, and I know that it was reiterated by others in today's postgame show, but sometimes a team finds a way to compensate and persevere when an important player goes down. People change roles a bit, the coaches make adjustments, and the team succeeds in spite of the loss.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Curious to hear what people think about who gets ranked #2 in the final poll - Hope or Amherst?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Good question.  I fear that too many voters will go with the easy "Amherst finished #2, Hope finished #3" answer, but that is merely a factor of scheduling.  HOPEfully, they'll look at two factors:

Amherst was hammered even worse than Hope.  (And both hammered Ursinus beyond any reasonable comparative scores analysis.)

Hope was higher ranked than Amherst going in.  I didn't see any reason to change that ranking in the tourney.

I made a similar analysis for the women's tourney - I believe that Hope should finish with two #2s.  (And for the women, perhaps even a 1a.)

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I didn't know what to make of Hope as I was assuming Amherst would take care of WashU.  After the game today, it's been an easier decision.  I think Hope is a solid #2, although I would be surprised if they got enough votes to actually get that spot in the poll.

[Titan Q]

I submitted my final ballot this morning.  My top 5 was:

1 Washington U.
2 Amherst
3 Brandeis
4 Augustana
5 Hope

[HopeConvert]

Even though they were 'only' #3 and #11 in the final regular season poll, hats off to d3hoops.com for pre-season #1 facing pre-season #2 in the title game! 8)

Now we'll see if they got the order right?

My hat is off - even the order was right!

How scary would Wash U have been if Sean Wallis stayed healthy?  (On the other hand, they lost to Calvin before he was hurt - is it possible the other players rallied in ways that they were even better without their All American? )

The point's moot, Chuck. Wash U couldn't have done any better with Wallis than it did without him. The only difference is that the Bears might've won the UAA as well, and they might not have been taken to overtime in two of their tournament games. Without him the Bears walked the razor's edge, but they still prevailed -- and, in a very real sense, made his absence on the floor ultimately irrelevant.

I've said this before, and I know that it was reiterated by others in today's postgame show, but sometimes a team finds a way to compensate and persevere when an important player goes down. People change roles a bit, the coaches make adjustments, and the team succeeds in spite of the loss.

Not only in the sense that they couldn't have finished any higher, but I'm not sure they could have played any better than they did. They did, after all, have 5 guys on the floor, and Ross Kelley was very solid at the point in both games. He protected the ball well, while also breaking down the defense off the dribble. I thought he played really superb defense, doing a good job staying in front of a very quick Andrew Olson (who had double his average turnovers per game). Additionally, it's hard to imagine that WashU could have shot any better than the 70% they shot in the second half against Amherst, or the 65% in the second half against Hope. Would they have scored more than 57 points in the half against Hope with Wallis in the lineup rather than Kelley? I kind of doubt it. A team that shoots 48% on the season shoots 58% on the weekend. Simply stated: they played great.

[scottiedawg]

Percentage of offense graduating

Millsaps 73%
Rochester 72%
Occidental 70%
Amherst 67%
Heidelberg 65%
Hope 65%
Plattsburgh St. 63%
Trinity (Conn) 62%
Ohio Wesleyan 62%
Coast Guard 61%
Brockport St. 60%
Guilford 56%
Bowdoin 55%
Brandeis 51%
UMD 49%
VA Wesleyan 49%-2
Wooster 48%
Albion 47%
Richard Stockton 45%
St. Mary's (Md) 45%
Loras 44%
Whitworth 44%
WashU 42%
Nazareth 41%
Ursinus 41%
Wheaton 39%
Augustana 38%
Maryville 37%
Chicago 36%
Centre 35%
Middlebury 34%
Lawrence 34%
UW Whitewater 29%
Mary Hardin Baylor 29%
Buena Vista 28%
Capital 26%
Ill Wesleyan 25%
Puget Sound 22%
Calvin 20%
Elms 19%
UW Stevens Point 16%
Randolph Macon 16%
St. Thomas 14%
Elmhurst 14%
Gettysburg 10%
UW Platteville 2%
Rhode Is College 0%

The teams in bold graduated a player who contributed 20% or more of his team's offense.  VA Wesleyan graduated two.  I included Kent Raymond and Rob Perry as graduating (I realize there are questions surrounding each). 

[Titan Q]

Augustana 38%

Note that Augustana senior Jordan Delp, their leading scorer through the 7 games he played (16.1 ppg), will return as a medical redshirt.  Delp suffered a ruptured achilles on Dec. 8.

Augie will be one of the candidates for preseason #1 next season.