Top 25 talk

[Smitty Oom]

While exceptions could be made for Belt^TH holders who pulled obvious upsets and then almost immediately lost It^TM, anyone who has successfully defended The Belt^{TM /sup] (sorry - by decree of Just Bill, as long as Carleton can succeed in defense, it shall be known as The Goat BeltTM ) as many times as they have should not just be in the top 25 but probably the top 10!}

The Goat Belt^TM is not getting proper respect!   At least Carleton did rise from 1 point to 8 points.

Could not agree more!! The Goat Belt^TM has been playing some punishing D and rebounding at an unbelievable clip, both things will get you far this time of the year. Interestingly enough Bethel also had 9 votes, topping MIAC foes Carleton with only 8 and St. Thomas with 2.

[txg]

And because I needed to get ahead of things (and the wife could take care of the kids today), here is my blog already done! http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2017/02/20/daves-top-25-ballot-16-17-week-12/

I had to check and make sure Swarthmore didn't change their name, but they are still the Garnet.

True story, back a few decades there was a mild push to change the team name to the Swarming Earthworms, because earthworms is an anagram of Swarthmore.  Fortunately (or perhaps tragically) this never materialized.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

And because I needed to get ahead of things (and the wife could take care of the kids today), here is my blog already done! http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2017/02/20/daves-top-25-ballot-16-17-week-12/

I had to check and make sure Swarthmore didn't change their name, but they are still the Garnet.

True story, back a few decades there was a mild push to change the team name to the Swarming Earthworms, because earthworms is an anagram of Swarthmore.  Fortunately (or perhaps tragically) this never materialized.

Yeah - haven't fixed that, yet... I am struggling with the "S" teams apparently this week more than I realized. LOL

[AndOne]

Waiting to see what #11 Benedictine (21-4) and #13 St. Norbert (19-4) do once they get into the national tournament and have to play teams outside of their very weak conferences. I'm not saying either BU or StN isn't a decent team. However, by playing in the NACC, where 7 of the other 10 teams do not have winning records, BU gets to rack up a high number of basically automatic wins. Likewise, StN enjoys dominating the equally weak MWC where teams are limited to 23 regular season games, and 6 of the other 9 teams will finish at .500 or below. The #3 seed in the Midwest Conference tournament has only a 12-11 record, and will almost assuredly lose it's 1st round game to finish the season at a robust .500.
If either BU or STN played in conferences such as the CCIW, WIAC, or NESCAC, they would be middle of the pack teams, and wouldn't be enjoying national #11 and #13 rankings.

[gordonmann]

Same goes for Neumann. Other than Cabrini and Gwynedd Mercy, the CSAC is even weaker than those two conferences.

[HSHOOP]

While exceptions could be made for Belt^TH holders who pulled obvious upsets and then almost immediately lost It^TM, anyone who has successfully defended The Belt^{TM /sup] (sorry - by decree of Just Bill, as long as Carleton can succeed in defense, it shall be known as The Goat BeltTM ) as many times as they have should not just be in the top 25 but probably the top 10!}

The Goat Belt^TM is not getting proper respect!   At least Carleton did rise from 1 point to 8 points.

Could not agree more!! The Goat Belt^TM has been playing some punishing D and rebounding at an unbelievable clip, both things will get you far this time of the year. Interestingly enough Bethel also had 9 votes, topping MIAC foes Carleton with only 8 and St. Thomas with 2.

Interesting indeed considering St. Thomas beat Bethel twice, has a better record than Carleton and went 5-1 against the top 4 seeds while Carleton went 3-3 against top 4 MIAC Seeds and Bethel went 1-5 against the same top MIAC teams.(St. Thomas seeded 1 in MIAC playoffs)

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (So Far)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	615	Babson	24-1	02/25 vs. Springfield; 02/26 vs. NEWMAC Tournament Finals
#2	610	Whitman	25-0	02/23 vs. George Fox
#3	573	Christopher Newport	23-2	02/23 vs. Marymount
#4	518	Whitworth	22-3	02/23 vs. Linfield
#5	492	Washington U.	20-4	02/25 vs. Chicago
#6	489	UW-River Falls	22-3	02/23 vs. UW-La Crosse
#7	476	Ramapo	24-2	def. Rowan, 110-101; 02/24 vs. #21 New Jersey City
#8	458	Marietta	22-4	def. Heidelberg, 94-80 OT; 02/23 vs. Mount Union
#9	446	Middlebury	22-3	02/25 vs. Trinity (Conn.)
#10	400	Rochester	21-3	02/25 at Emory
#11	374	Benedictine	21-4	02/24 vs. Wisconsin Lutheran
#12	349	Tufts	20-5	02/25 vs. T#35 Williams
#13	326	St. Norbert	19-4	02/24 vs. Lake Forest
#14	252	Denison	22-4	def. DePauw, 85-79; 02/24 vs. Wooster
#15	251	Neumann	24-2	def. Rosemont, 87-69; 02/25 vs. Gwynedd Mercy
#16	240	Hanover	21-3	02/25 vs. TBA
#17	207	Susquehanna	21-5	LOST at Moravian, 69-81
#18	204	Hope	20-5	02/24 vs. Alma; 02/25 vs. TBA (MIAA)
#19	158	UW-Whitewater	21-5	def. UW-Stout, 78-69; 02/23 at UW-Oshkosh
#20	123	Salisbury	19-6	02/23 vs. York (Pa.); 02/25 vs. TBD
#21	86	New Jersey City	21-6	won at TCNJ, 77-69; 02/24 at #7 Ramapo
#22	70	Ohio Wesleyan	20-6	def. Kenyon, 89-81; 02/24 vs. Wittenberg
#23	67	Amherst	17-7	IDLE
#24	50	Augustana	18-7	LOST at Illinois Wesleyan, 77-107; 02/24 vs. North Park
#25	42	Lycoming	22-4	def. Lebanon Valley, 88-64; 02/25 vs. Albright

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	38	Swarthmore	20-5	02/24 vs. Ursinus
#27	36	St. John Fisher	20-5	02/24 vs. Nazareth
#28	31	Endicott	21-5	def. Salve Regina, 110-64; 02/23 vs. Eastern Nazarene; 02/25 at CCC Championship
#29	28	Wesleyan	19-6	IDLE
#30	25	UW-Eau Claire	18-8	LOST to UW-La Crosse, 66-76
#31	21	MIT	19-6	02/25 vs. WPI
#32	18	Guilford	20-5	02/23 vs. Hampden-Sydney
T#33	9	Albertus Magnus	21-4	def. Anna Maria, 92-67; 02/23 vs. Mount Ida
T#33	9	Bethel	19-6	02/23 vs. T#35 Carleton
T#35	8	Carleton	18-8	def. Augsburg, 66-63; 02/23 at T#33 Bethel
T#35	8	Williams	18-7	02/25 at #12 Tufts
T#37	4	Brockport	19-6	02/24 vs. SUNY Oneonta
T#37	4	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	20-4	won at Occidental, 70-66 OT; 02/24 vs. Pomona-Pitzer
T#37	4	Staten Island	20-6	def. (n) Baruch, 71-54; 02/24 at CCNY
T#40	2	Scranton	20-6	def. Catholic, 75-68; 02/25 vs. Moravian
T#40	2	St. Thomas	19-6	02/23 vs. St. John's
T#42	1	Hardin-Simmons	19-6	02/23 vs. East Texas Baptist; 02/24 vs. TBD; 02/25 vs. TBD
T#42	1	Ripon	18-5	02/24 vs. Cornell

[Greek Tragedy]

I still think Benedictine is better than some think. They lost to SNC by 1, to an NCC team with Raridon, by 3, to Menlo by 2 and to conference foe Concordia (WI) by 3. They are a veteran team and I think they'll do well in the NCAAs, if they get the Pool A.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

We are midway through what is always the craziest week of the entire season. Teams are already hitting the at-large bubble and that is already popping some other team's hopes of making the NCAA tournament. Upsets are everywhere and it promises to continue.

Tonight on Hoopsville, Dave not only recaps the crazy week, but looks ahead at what might happen this weekend. Plus, Dave and others will look at the last regular season Regional Rankings and try and start reading the tea leaves. Just who may be safe and who already is in trouble on plans to be playing in March.

Dave will also talk to a few teams making waves. The Union men's program is in their first conference finals in 11 years and helping turn the East Region on its head. Plus the winner of tonight's York (Pa.) at No. 20 Salisbury men's game will join us live to talk about the game. And a few reports from varying areas along with questions from fans.

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. You can watch the show live starting at 7:00 PM ET in the video player above or on our Facebook Live simulcast. If you missed any of the show, you can watch it On Demand or listen to the podcasts located to the right (available after the show is off the air).

We will answer any questions about all of Division III throughout the show. You can also send your questions to the show and have them featured on the Hoopsville Mailbag segment or simply answer immediately on air. Email them to hoopsville@d3hoops.com. You can also tweet them to us.

And please consider helping Hoopsville stay on the air like you might help your public television station. The annual fundraising campaign has less than three weeks remaining, but we are no where close to reaching our goal. Click here for more information:  Hoopsville Fundraising Page

Guests scheduled (in order of appearance):
- Chris Murphy, Union men's coach
- James Wagner, Atlantic Region Report
- Salisbury or York (Pa.) winning coach

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[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I still think Benedictine is better than some think. They lost to SNC by 1, to an NCC team with Raridon, by 3, to Menlo by 2 and to conference foe Concordia (WI) by 3. They are a veteran team and I think they'll do well in the NCAAs, if they get the Pool A.

Benedictine has three fantastic players in Harvey, Blaczyzk, and Reynolds.  I watched them in Salem last year and told Pat and Dave then I thought they could get back, even losing Luke Johnson.  Those guys can play.  Now, obviously, that part of the country makes just about every Final Four run a miracle because of the depth and challenge, so they could just as easily lose first round, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them in Salem again either.

[AppletonRocks]

Ryan,

I have been chastised for thinking being really good in the 2nd half matters.  Take out your calculator, or watch the committee do it, and accept it. The best teams in more than a few leagues, and the country, won't get in the tourney.

I think my Grandpa had a Babson milking machine in his barn in Michigan.

AR

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Ryan,

I have been chastised for thinking being really good in the 2nd half matters.  Take out your calculator, or watch the committee do it, and accept it. The best teams in more than a few leagues, and the country, won't get in the tourney.

I think my Grandpa had a Babson milking machine in his barn in Michigan.

AR

Where is Ryan talking about the second half? No, it doesn't matter as you know... but Ryan certainly knows how this all works. Not sure where the argument is. He is just saying they are a very good team... nothing much else than that.

And yes, good teams won't get in this year for varying reasons... but that even happens in the D1 tournament where they famously take inferior teams from big conferences for no good reason. The fact Syracuse is on a "bubble" conversation is a joke.

[Swish3]

Ryan,

I have been chastised for thinking being really good in the 2nd half matters.  Take out your calculator, or watch the committee do it, and accept it. The best teams in more than a few leagues, and the country, won't get in the tourney.

I think my Grandpa had a Babson milking machine in his barn in Michigan.

AR

Where is Ryan talking about the second half? No, it doesn't matter as you know... but Ryan certainly knows how this all works. Not sure where the argument is. He is just saying they are a very good team... nothing much else than that.

And yes, good teams won't get in this year for varying reasons... but that even happens in the D1 tournament where they famously take inferior teams from big conferences for no good reason. The fact Syracuse is on a "bubble" conversation is a joke.

I don't think it's a joke...the ACC is brutally deep this year.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Ryan,

I have been chastised for thinking being really good in the 2nd half matters.  Take out your calculator, or watch the committee do it, and accept it. The best teams in more than a few leagues, and the country, won't get in the tourney.

I think my Grandpa had a Babson milking machine in his barn in Michigan.

AR

Where is Ryan talking about the second half? No, it doesn't matter as you know... but Ryan certainly knows how this all works. Not sure where the argument is. He is just saying they are a very good team... nothing much else than that.

And yes, good teams won't get in this year for varying reasons... but that even happens in the D1 tournament where they famously take inferior teams from big conferences for no good reason. The fact Syracuse is on a "bubble" conversation is a joke.

I don't think it's a joke...the ACC is brutally deep this year.

Sure, the ACC is deep - on the left side of the conference... but at some point you need to win games. But a .586 winning percentage is considered bubble... you can have the toughest schedule in the country, but if you can't win at least 2/3s or 70% of your games... you shouldn't be rewarded for it. And deep also isn't necessarily a sign of better than others. The MAC Commonwealth may be perennial the deepest conference in Division III men's basketball... doesn't mean the top of the conference is better than the rest. It isn't.

[smedindy]

This is a weird year. There aren't many good mid-majors unless weird things happen in conference tournaments. I really support mid-majors getting into the tourney but this is a year where you have locks like Gonzaga, St. Mary's, and Wichita State. (Not counting the Big East or American). Then Dayton is #31 on Ken Pom so they're probably in. Then Middle Tennessee is 41 and Illinois State is 43, and VCU is 45.

The dilemma is this. NC-Wilmington is 26-5 and leading the Colonial by one game of College of Charleston. Their worst two losses were road conference losses to William and Mary and Elon. The Colonial is a decent league, too. But they really didn't play or beat anyone special in the non-conference (best wins were East Tennessee St. at home and St. Bonaventure on the road). They also played two non-D1 games. So if they don't win the Colonial, they may be out even with that gaudy record.

I'm sure there are many in D-3 land like that.