Top 25 talk

[D3RetiredHooper]

To be fair to the pollsters, ranking a Top 25 in D3Hoops is nearly impossible during a regular season due to lack of cross pollination between regions.  Now try making a preseason poll after a COVID season where a large portion of teams did not play and most of those who did play competed only within their conference, GOOD LUCK!

It's not like D1 where there are a lot of cross-country preseason games and teams from the BIG-10 play teams from the ACC or SEC play Big 12.  For the most part, D3hoops is still a very regional sport.  I'd love to see a WIAC vs NESCAC or UAA vs CCIW challenge but budgets don't allow for this.  The D3Hoops Hoopsville Showcase or the Great Lakes Invitational are great but there are not a ton of these type of events. Pollsters usually go with the same regions and conferences because that is what they know but not always accurate.

Look at the 2017-18 season for example.  Going into the NCAA tournament, a full regular season and conference postseason worth of data, the rankings for the Final-4 Teams were Oshkosh (24th), Neb Wesleyan (ORV), Ramapo (No Votes), and Springfield (No Votes).

[Gregory Sager]

It's not like D1 where there are a lot of cross-country preseason games and teams from the BIG-10 play teams from the ACC or SEC play Big 12.

Regular-season games. Those are regular-season games, of the non-conference variety.

Those games take place after the official starting date of men's basketball, depending upon which of the three divisions is involved. They count towards the records of both teams. They affect the selection of who gets into the Big Dance and who doesn't. Same goes with D2 and D3 non-conference games.

Preseason games don't matter. Regular-season games do. And the D1 games that you described ... matter.

[Darryl Nester]

After a long hiatus, I was a little worried, but I'm happy to report that my program still works correctly (once I updated my openssl and wget installations).

How They Fared (So Far)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	618	Randolph-Macon	0-0	11/10 vs. Mary Washington; 11/19 vs. #13 Emory; 11/20 at #3 Marietta
#2	533	Yeshiva	0-0	11/10 vs. Eastern Connecticut; 11/14 at St. Joseph's (L.I.); 11/16 vs. Mount St. Vincent; 11/18 at St. Joseph's (Bklyn.); 11/21 at Sarah Lawrence
#3	496	Marietta	0-0	11/12 vs. T#34 Christopher Newport; 11/13 vs. TBA; 11/19 vs. #58 Wabash; 11/20 vs. #1 Randolph-Macon
#4	463	Illinois Wesleyan	0-0	11/12 vs. TBD; 11/12 vs. Hope; 11/13 vs. TBD; 11/19 at Alma; 11/20 at Calvin
#5	417	UW-Platteville	0-0	11/08 vs. Blackburn; 11/12 vs. #19 Whitworth; 11/13 vs. Gustavus Adolphus; 11/17 vs. Concordia (Wis.); 11/20 at Concordia-Chicago

(There's no reason to list all 64 teams at this point, but I'll post the whole report once a few games have actually taken place.)

Pat (or some other person with this knowledge) - when will the first in-season poll be released?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm not Pat and have no inside info, but I suspect it'll be the 14th. Not enough teams play opening weekend.

[Pat Coleman]

After a long hiatus, I was a little worried, but I'm happy to report that my program still works correctly (once I updated my openssl and wget installations).

How They Fared (So Far)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	618	Randolph-Macon	0-0	11/10 vs. Mary Washington; 11/19 vs. #13 Emory; 11/20 at #3 Marietta
#2	533	Yeshiva	0-0	11/10 vs. Eastern Connecticut; 11/14 at St. Joseph's (L.I.); 11/16 vs. Mount St. Vincent; 11/18 at St. Joseph's (Bklyn.); 11/21 at Sarah Lawrence
#3	496	Marietta	0-0	11/12 vs. T#34 Christopher Newport; 11/13 vs. TBA; 11/19 vs. #58 Wabash; 11/20 vs. #1 Randolph-Macon
#4	463	Illinois Wesleyan	0-0	11/12 vs. TBD; 11/12 vs. Hope; 11/13 vs. TBD; 11/19 at Alma; 11/20 at Calvin
#5	417	UW-Platteville	0-0	11/08 vs. Blackburn; 11/12 vs. #19 Whitworth; 11/13 vs. Gustavus Adolphus; 11/17 vs. Concordia (Wis.); 11/20 at Concordia-Chicago

(There's no reason to list all 64 teams at this point, but I'll post the whole report once a few games have actually taken place.)

Pat (or some other person with this knowledge) - when will the first in-season poll be released?

Tentative date for release is Monday, Nov. 29.

[Pat Coleman]

I'm not Pat and have no inside info, but I suspect it'll be the 14th. Not enough teams play opening weekend.

We have been holding off later in recent years to try to give the first regular-season vote some distance from the preseason poll and limit the anchoring bias.

[Greek Tragedy]

If I understand correctly, the process of the preseason Top 25 poll goes something like this:

Pat and the like send out emails to all the schools asking for information from coaches etc. on their respective teams, mostly, who's returning and who's not, new recruits and possible transfers.

After getting information from the schools who actually send stuff in, Pat and his people put together a huge packet and send it out to the voters.

Based on that information, the voters vote on the Top 25.

My question is: can that packet be available to the general public or posted somewhere, maybe even a link? There are a lot of fans, like me, who speculate who's coming back and who's coming in and we all get excited with anticipation. Even if that info was made available AFTER the preseason poll is released, it would be cool to see that information. Normally, we just have the, "I heard [this player] was coming back/transferring etc.

[Darryl Nester]

Huh. Not that I obsess over it, but sometime this evening I got smite #4. Not quite sure who I offended ...

(Also: Thanks, Pat.)

...
Pat (or some other person with this knowledge) - when will the first in-season poll be released?

Tentative date for release is Monday, Nov. 29.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

If I understand correctly, the process of the preseason Top 25 poll goes something like this:

Pat and the like send out emails to all the schools asking for information from coaches etc. on their respective teams, mostly, who's returning and who's not, new recruits and possible transfers.

After getting information from the schools who actually send stuff in, Pat and his people put together a huge packet and send it out to the voters.

Based on that information, the voters vote on the Top 25.

My question is: can that packet be available to the general public or posted somewhere, maybe even a link? There are a lot of fans, like me, who speculate who's coming back and who's coming in and we all get excited with anticipation. Even if that info was made available AFTER the preseason poll is released, it would be cool to see that information. Normally, we just have the, "I heard [this player] was coming back/transferring etc.

Gordon and I had a few conversations about doing some videos for Patreon where we went through some of that info, but, as you can see, we did not manage to find the time to do it.

[Gregory Sager]

Huh. Not that I obsess over it, but sometime this evening I got smite #4. Not quite sure who I offended ...

If it's any comfort, Darryl, you still possess the best karma ratio on all of d3boards.com, by a huge margin.

And deservedly so, if you ask me. Your weekly top 25 breakdown is a tremendous aid to all serious D3 men's basketball fans.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm at the Swarthmore scrimmage against D2 Wilmington University.  New look for the Garnet. Four guard lineup, lots of man defense. Three freshmen in the eleven man rotation. Lots of work still to do. Wouldn't be surprised with some early losses. Not sure how they'd fare against size, but not sure how much size they'll see until March.

Just glad to be back watching basketball!

[Greek Tragedy]

Huh. Not that I obsess over it, but sometime this evening I got smite #4. Not quite sure who I offended ...

(Also: Thanks, Pat.)

...
Pat (or some other person with this knowledge) - when will the first in-season poll be released?

Tentative date for release is Monday, Nov. 29.

Anyone who smites you should probably be put on double secret probation.

[HOPEful]

Probably a Calvin fan. They're known to throw around smites like candy. And if they're also University of Michigan fans, they were feeling even more smiteful this past weekend...

I've learned to embrace the smite obviously

Huh. Not that I obsess over it, but sometime this evening I got smite #4. Not quite sure who I offended ...

(Also: Thanks, Pat.)

...
Pat (or some other person with this knowledge) - when will the first in-season poll be released?

Tentative date for release is Monday, Nov. 29.

[CNU85]

After a long hiatus, I was a little worried, but I'm happy to report that my program still works correctly (once I updated my openssl and wget installations).

How They Fared (So Far)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	618	Randolph-Macon	0-0	11/10 vs. Mary Washington; 11/19 vs. #13 Emory; 11/20 at #3 Marietta
#2	533	Yeshiva	0-0	11/10 vs. Eastern Connecticut; 11/14 at St. Joseph's (L.I.); 11/16 vs. Mount St. Vincent; 11/18 at St. Joseph's (Bklyn.); 11/21 at Sarah Lawrence
#3	496	Marietta	0-0	11/12 vs. T#34 Christopher Newport; 11/13 vs. TBA; 11/19 vs. #58 Wabash; 11/20 vs. #1 Randolph-Macon
#4	463	Illinois Wesleyan	0-0	11/12 vs. TBD; 11/12 vs. Hope; 11/13 vs. TBD; 11/19 at Alma; 11/20 at Calvin
#5	417	UW-Platteville	0-0	11/08 vs. Blackburn; 11/12 vs. #19 Whitworth; 11/13 vs. Gustavus Adolphus; 11/17 vs. Concordia (Wis.); 11/20 at Concordia-Chicago

(There's no reason to list all 64 teams at this point, but I'll post the whole report once a few games have actually taken place.)

Pat (or some other person with this knowledge) - when will the first in-season poll be released?

Good info! CNU plays #3 on 11/12 and #1 on 11/28. Should be interesting.

[Darryl Nester]

Huh. Not that I obsess over it, but sometime this evening I got smite #4. Not quite sure who I offended ...

Anyone who smites you should probably be put on double secret probation.

I recall times in elementary school when the teacher would punish the entire class for the actions of a few. If we would protest, we were often told, "If you are innocent this time, I'm sure you can think of something else you have done to deserve it."

Even though that was never a particularly satisfactory explanation, it is probably fair in the grand scheme of things, and certainly applies to me now.