Top 25 talk

[Titan Q]

Dave, Thank you for taking the time to share your ballot and your thought process. I think everyone appreciates that!

Agree!

[Titan Q]

At this point, to me, Benedictine has undoubtedly the best resume in the country, but after watching Elmhurst and Augustana, I'm having a hard time thinking Benedictine should be favored over either, even if they're perfectly capable of beating both.

To be fair though, have you watched Benedictine?

[sac]

I'd pay to watch a Benedictine vs Alma quarterfinal game.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

At this point, to me, Benedictine has undoubtedly the best resume in the country, but after watching Elmhurst and Augustana, I'm having a hard time thinking Benedictine should be favored over either, even if they're perfectly capable of beating both.

To be fair though, have you watched Benedictine?

I caught part of one game, but not enough to feel like I saw a good sample.

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (So Far)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	603	Whitworth	13-0	01/15 at Willamette; 01/16 at George Fox
#2	575	Elmhurst	14-1	won at Carthage, 78-58; 01/16 at Wheaton (Ill.)
#3	557	Augustana	14-1	def. #25 North Central (Ill.), 76-49; 01/16 at Carthage
#4	541	Hope	12-2	LOST at T#41 Alma, 75-86; 01/16 vs. T#26 Trine
#5	535	Benedictine	14-0	01/14 at Concordia-Chicago; 01/16 vs. Concordia (Wis.)
#6	521	St. Thomas	12-1	def. Augsburg, 88-77; won at #38 St. John's, 85-73; 01/16 at St. Mary's (Minn.)
#7	475	John Carroll	14-0	won at Otterbein, 94-80; 01/16 vs. #19 Mount Union
#8	449	Ohio Wesleyan	13-1	def. Wabash, 88-76; 01/16 at DePauw
#9	416	Amherst	11-1	01/15 vs. T#41 Wesleyan; 01/16 vs. Connecticut College
#10	363	Marietta	12-2	won at Capital, 78-74; 01/16 vs. Otterbein
#11	354	Susquehanna	15-0	def. Juniata, 60-55; 01/16 at Drew
#12	348	WPI	12-2	LOST to T#39 Babson, 71-75; 01/16 at Emerson
#13	330	Christopher Newport	13-1	won at Mary Washington, 80-62; 01/16 vs. York (Pa.)
#14	286	UW-Whitewater	11-3	LOST to UW-River Falls, 70-75; 01/16 at UW-La Crosse
#15	280	New York University	11-0	won at Hunter, 81-76; 01/15 vs. Emory; 01/17 vs. Rochester
#16	259	Chicago	10-2	01/15 at Carnegie Mellon; 01/17 at Case Western Reserve
#17	197	Franklin and Marshall	11-2	won at Haverford, 87-56; 01/14 vs. Johns Hopkins; 01/16 at Washington College
#18	171	Tufts	11-2	01/15 at Middlebury; 01/16 at Hamilton
#19	148	Mount Union	11-3	def. Muskingum, 94-70; 01/16 at #7 John Carroll
#20	111	Roanoke	12-2	LOST to Hampden-Sydney, 92-100; 01/16 vs. Randolph-Macon
#21	87	Whitman	11-2	01/15 at George Fox; 01/16 at Willamette
#22	80	Lancaster Bible	10-0	01/15 at Cazenovia; 01/16 at Morrisville State
#23	63	St. Norbert	11-2	won at Beloit, 86-60; 01/16 at Knox
#24	50	Scranton	11-4	LOST at Merchant Marine, 65-66; 01/16 vs. Catholic
#25	39	North Central (Ill.)	10-5	LOST at #3 Augustana, 49-76; 01/16 at Illinois Wesleyan

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
T#26	29	Bethel	10-3	def. St. Mary's (Minn.), 79-70; LOST to Augsburg, 62-66; 01/16 vs. Hamline
T#26	29	Trine	12-2	def. Adrian, 69-55; 01/16 at #4 Hope
#28	27	Hiram	11-3	LOST at Wooster, 69-100; 01/16 at Oberlin
#29	24	Texas Lutheran	11-3	01/15 at Trinity (Texas); 01/16 at Schreiner
#30	23	Oswego State	8-3	LOST to Brockport State, 67-77; 01/15 vs. Plattsburgh State; 01/16 vs. Potsdam State
#31	20	Cortland State	9-2	LOST to Geneseo State, 76-77; 01/15 vs. Potsdam State; 01/16 vs. Plattsburgh State
#32	17	Carroll	12-1	def. Lawrence, 84-83
#33	11	Johnson and Wales	13-1	def. T#50 Albertus Magnus, 113-58; 01/16 at Suffolk
T#34	10	MIT	10-3	def. Coast Guard, 70-52; 01/16 vs. Springfield
T#34	10	Northwestern (Minn.)	12-2	01/15 vs. St. Scholastica; 01/16 vs. UW-Superior
T#34	10	Delaware Valley	12-2	def. Manhattanville, 73-52; 01/16 at Wilkes
#37	9	Chapman	8-4	LOST at La Verne, 69-70; LOST at Occidental, 65-71; 01/16 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
#38	8	St. John's	10-3	LOST to #6 St. Thomas, 73-85; 01/16 vs. Augsburg
T#39	7	Babson	9-4	won at #12 WPI, 75-71; 01/16 at Wheaton (Mass.)
T#39	7	Brooklyn	12-3	won at Hunter, 96-89; 01/17 at Keystone
T#41	6	Virginia Wesleyan	9-5	won at Eastern Mennonite, 96-94; 01/16 at Randolph
T#41	6	Wesleyan	12-2	01/15 at #9 Amherst; 01/16 at T#41 Trinity (Conn.)
T#41	6	Alma	10-4	def. #4 Hope, 86-75; 01/16 at Calvin
T#41	6	Trinity (Conn.)	9-4	01/15 vs. Connecticut College; 01/16 vs. T#41 Wesleyan
T#41	6	Washington U.	8-4	01/15 at Case Western Reserve; 01/17 at Carnegie Mellon
#46	5	Colby	10-3	01/15 at Williams
#47	4	Swarthmore	10-3	LOST at Johns Hopkins, 49-60; 01/14 vs. Dickinson; 01/16 vs. McDaniel
T#48	2	Salisbury	11-3	won at Wesley, 66-52; 01/16 vs. Southern Virginia
T#48	2	UW-Stevens Point	8-6	def. UW-Platteville, 60-57; 01/16 vs. UW-Oshkosh
T#50	1	Albertus Magnus	9-3	def. Baruch, 91-89; LOST at #33 Johnson and Wales, 58-113; 01/16 vs. Mount Ida
T#50	1	Oneonta State	9-3	01/15 at New Paltz State
T#50	1	St. Vincent	11-3	won at Washington and Jefferson, 89-67; 01/16 vs. Thomas More

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I can't keep up with much of this thread right now since I am in San Antonio... but Greg, one thing I wanted to clear up. I didn't do NO research on Benedictine in the preseason. The quick research I did apparently didn't entice me and thus I moved on. I know there were four seniors coming back, but something about what I was looking at didn't excite me. Not much more I can say. Furthermore, transfers don't register with me either because I hear promises of transfers all of the time that don't end up working out either on the court or being on the team. You live out there and have a better understanding of how that transfer may change Benedictine, but even where I live I am not going to really understand how a transfer will impact a team. Heck, Ramapo got a transfer from Albright who didn't play at all for the Lions... but has turned into their best weapon at Ramapo. I wouldn't have had a clue that would happen, so I see a transfer information but I just don't put stock in them when I don't understand what the real impact will be. (Did anyone see Duncan Robinson being one of the main reasons Michigan is succeeding this season? Sure, we all know he could play and would contribute, but he's beating teams like Maryland right now).

As for taking stock in Massey... I just don't buy into the math. I am not about to go around and around on this as we have in the past, but it doesn't seem solid for me. I may change my mind in the future, but not right now.

[sac]

I can't keep up with much of this thread right now since I am in San Antonio... but Greg, one thing I wanted to clear up. I didn't do NO research on Benedictine in the preseason. The quick research I did apparently didn't entice me and thus I moved on. I know there were four seniors coming back, but something about what I was looking at didn't excite me. Not much more I can say. Furthermore, transfers don't register with me either because I hear promises of transfers all of the time that don't end up working out either on the court or being on the team. You live out there and have a better understanding of how that transfer may change Benedictine, but even where I live I am not going to really understand how a transfer will impact a team. Heck, Ramapo got a transfer from Albright who didn't play at all for the Lions... but has turned into their best weapon at Ramapo. I wouldn't have had a clue that would happen, so I see a transfer information but I just don't put stock in them when I don't understand what the real impact will be. (Did anyone see Duncan Robinson being one of the main reasons Michigan is succeeding this season? Sure, we all know he could play and would contribute, but he's beating teams like Maryland right now).

As for taking stock in Massey... I just don't buy into the math. I am not about to go around and around on this as we have in the past, but it doesn't seem solid for me. I may change my mind in the future, but not right now.

Massey might look wrong to you because the D3 tournament is seeded wrong by the NCAA.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I can't keep up with much of this thread right now since I am in San Antonio... but Greg, one thing I wanted to clear up. I didn't do NO research on Benedictine in the preseason. The quick research I did apparently didn't entice me and thus I moved on. I know there were four seniors coming back, but something about what I was looking at didn't excite me. Not much more I can say. Furthermore, transfers don't register with me either because I hear promises of transfers all of the time that don't end up working out either on the court or being on the team. You live out there and have a better understanding of how that transfer may change Benedictine, but even where I live I am not going to really understand how a transfer will impact a team. Heck, Ramapo got a transfer from Albright who didn't play at all for the Lions... but has turned into their best weapon at Ramapo. I wouldn't have had a clue that would happen, so I see a transfer information but I just don't put stock in them when I don't understand what the real impact will be. (Did anyone see Duncan Robinson being one of the main reasons Michigan is succeeding this season? Sure, we all know he could play and would contribute, but he's beating teams like Maryland right now).

As for taking stock in Massey... I just don't buy into the math. I am not about to go around and around on this as we have in the past, but it doesn't seem solid for me. I may change my mind in the future, but not right now.

I don't know about others, but I predicted he would be a D1 star once he had a year with Michigan's strength coach.  I only saw him live once (the total destruction of Amherst in Salem in 2014), but the only real weakness I saw in his game was that he was rather 'wispy', even by D3 standards.  I had heard that he had a very good work ethic, so a top-flight strength coach was really the only missing ingredient.

[sac]

Lets go to the files.......

I saw Duncan Robinson in Salem - he is definitely legit!

Right now his only real drawback is a rather slight physique.  But a year of bulking up should solve that.  I see no reason he can't be a solid player, perhaps even a star.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I didn't think he wouldn't succeed at Michigan... I just didn't think in his first year he would be a major contributor. I figured he would grow into the role. I am thrilled for him to say the least. Wispy would be the right description for him in Salem to be sure.

[sac]

I didn't think he wouldn't succeed at Michigan... I just didn't think in his first year he would be a major contributor. I figured he would grow into the role. I am thrilled for him to say the least. Wispy would be the right description for him in Salem to be sure.

Technically he didn't play in his first year at Michigan, this is his second.  He lifted weights and shot 3-pointers all day for a year(probably).

[Mr. Ypsi]

To be honest, I'm pleasantly surprised that he is this good this quickly.  I kinda figured next year would be his break-out season.  I was pretty sure he'd already be in the rotation this season (Coach Beilein sometimes said that DR's 3-point shooting was the missing ingredient from last year's team), but if The Big Ten had a 'newcomer of the year' award (they just have a 'freshman of the year' award), he'd win it hands down.

[Greek Tragedy]

I didn't think he wouldn't succeed at Michigan... I just didn't think in his first year he would be a major contributor. I figured he would grow into the role. I am thrilled for him to say the least. Wispy would be the right description for him in Salem to be sure.

Technically he didn't play in his first year at Michigan, this is his second.  He lifted weights and shot 3-pointers all day for a year(probably).

Apparently. 59-106 from 3, 69-127 overall. I guess 6'8" in D3 makes you an unstoppable foward and 6'8" in D1 makes you a shooting guard, 3-pt specialist. Not sure what his shot totals were in D3.

Edit: 81-179 from 3 at Williams.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

As the basketball spins... there continue to be incredible stories around Division III as we get further into conference schedules. Teams leading conferences that no one suspected, programs finding success with alums at the helm, and Division III making national headlines but not for the obvious reasons. Tonight on Hoopsville, Dave McHugh talks to those still proving people wrong as the season enters the second half.

Dave is in San Antonio for the NCAA Convention, so tonight's show is pre-recorded. Dave talked to most of the guests before some played their midweek games. The pre-recorded show along with podcast will be available starting at 7pm ET here: http://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2015-16/jan14

Guests include (in order of appearance):
- Dr. Oliver Eslinger, Caltech men's coach - NABC Coach's Corner
- Rob deGrandpre, Hilbert men's coach
- Kelly Dunne, Nazareth women's coach
- Zach Filzen, No. 22 Lancaster Bible men's coach (Gordon Mann interview)
- Ashlee Rogers, Marymount women's coach

You can also tune into the podcast(s):
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/hoopsville
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hoopsville/id1059517087

And don't forget you can always interact with us:
Website: www.d3hoopsville.com
Twitter: @d3hoopsville or #Hoopsville
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Email: hoopsville@d3hoops.com
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[David Collinge]

Re: transfers, Wooster got a transfer who had been a contributor (IIRC) at the Air Force Academy but wanted to come home for whatever reason. While he's turned into a nice player after a couple of years in the program, he's not the star you'd think he'd be with that resume. You never know.