South Region playoffs

[Bill McCabe]

I'll take it! SOLD. 

[Ralph Turner]

How about

W&L to Wesley
Millsaps to UMHB
W&L to HSU
W&J to CMU

Dickinson to the East.

That's TWO flights.

I'll take it! SOLD. 

Okay!  It's official!

Washington & Lee Varsity goes to Wesley!
Washington & Lee "B" Team goes to HSU!

8)

[Ralph Turner]

On the Pool C board, I gave Pool C bids to Cortland State, St John Fisher and Hobart!

That means that the East will have those 3 Pool C's plus Pool A bids from NJAC, E8, LL, NEFC and the MAC.

IMHO, CMU goes to the North Region.

The North Region will have OAC, NCAC, MIAA, HCAC, CCIW, IBFC, Capital and Wheaton as a Pool C's and CMU, as a Pool B.  I am not sure whom they send to the West. (IBFC or Wheaton are geographically the closest.)

The South has Pool B's Wesley and W&J.  The Pool A bids are  USAC, ASC, SCAC, ODAC, Centennial.  HSU is the Pool C bid.

Out West, I see Pool B Whitworth, plus WIAC, MIAC, MWC, SCIAC, and IIAC.  St John's is the Pool C.  One team gets moved into the West.

[BDTartan]

Does CMU get a home game in the north?

[ADL70]

Ralph is it proximity rather than ranking that gets CMU to the Mt Union bracket?

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph is it proximity rather than ranking that gets CMU to the Mt Union bracket?

cwru70, IMHO, yes.  As we have seen in Texas in all sports, including the National champion Trinity Men's soccer team playing every game past the first one on the road in about 2003 to #5 UMHB going to #4 Trinity in the first round football playoffs 2002, it is about Travel budget!

I also think that CMU has its best chance to catch a "weak" #5 at home as a #4 seed.  The geography is pushing CMU westward and not to the south and east.

As I read the opinions of other fans, I see the decision between a 3rd Pool C bid in the East (Cortland St?) vs. UW-Lacrosse getting a second Pool C bid in the West for the final Pool C bid as what determines the bracket in which CMU is slotted.  If there are only 7 bids given to East Region teams, then I think that Dickinson goes East.  If there are 8 East bids, then I think that CMU goes to the North.  (After all, the UAA is as much a North Region conference (CWRU and UChicago) as a South Region one (CMU and Wash StL).

In the North, does an undefeated CMU get the second first round home game for the eastern side of the region, a #4 vs. #5 and the winner going to MUC?  In the North, how is Capital slotted?  MUC, North Central, Wheaton, Witt, Capital, Concordia WI, MSJ, Hope?  Hope to North Central and MSJ to Wheaton; Capital to CMU and Witt to MUC?  That is the only way I can see CMU hosting a game in the North Region, but there are many other bracketologists who are better than I.

In the South, I can see W&J going to CMU as a 4/5 and playing the winner of the Wesley/CNU game.  Also I see UMHB hosting Millsaps and W&L going to HSU.

Just my opinion...   (One other comment, I am not trying to force my opinion on others.  I do enjoy discussing the process, and I beleive that we fans have figured out as much of the process as we can know over the last 6-8 seasons.  It is clearly easier to "seat" the teams now than it was 5-7 years ago.  I just propose these thoughts for others to consider and I greatly respect the carefully considered arguments of my fellow posters.)

[CNU85]

there's a lot of talk about CNU going on the road. I'd like to see the reasoning behind it. CNU has 1 region loss, a region win against UMHB and the only non region loss was to Rowan....I  think that deserves a home game.....a trip to UMHB (a team we beat) just doesn't seem to be the right thing to do.  A trip to Wesley doesn't seem right for round 1....W&L should go to Wesley....but what do I know?

i am a little biased in my thoughts.

[Ralph Turner]

there's a lot of talk about CNU going on the road. I'd like to see the reasoning behind it. CNU has 1 region loss, a region win against UMHB and the only non region loss was to Rowan....I  think that deserves a home game.....a trip to UMHB (a team we beat) just doesn't seem to be the right thing to do.  A trip to Wesley doesn't seem right for round 1....W&L should go to Wesley....but what do I know?

i am a little biased in my thoughts.

CNU85, You have a good question, but I think that you are trumped by geography.  Geographic proximity is the main (under-appreciated and not-formally listed but frequently mentioned) criterion.  You have 3 bids that are a plane flight away from your part of the bracket.  They do not like to play conference members (UMHB and HSU) in the first round.  Millsaps must fly everywhere, so send them as the #8 to Texas and fly another low seed (W&L?) to HSU.  If Dickinson is sent East, then undefeated Carnegie-Mellon and W&J are twenty miles apart.  You are left with Wesley on the road or a plane flight to Texas.

IMHO, that is a bracket that is determined by geography!

[exmajor]

Just an FYI, Millsaps did submit a bid to host a first round game.  I realize a three loss team is not the first choice for the NCAA, but the facilities are excellent and Jackson has a fairly accesible airport.  I know it is likely they head somewhere in Texas, but I'll take it seeing as Trinity has been in the last 9 years.  A very exciting day for Millsaps!

[ADL70]

As you say Ralph, a lot depends on who gets the last C slot.  The whole regional rankings concept perplexes me when a team is moved out of region (well it makes no sense to me in any regard, but especially in this situation).  Does the dreaded QOWI decide who hosts betwen teams paired by in differenct regions (but of course that index is based only on regional results)?  If so, then maybe CMU @ Cap, if CMU goes N?

[Ralph Turner]

As I understand the Regional Rankings and then the National Selection, they rank the 4 regions and put them out on the table.

Then they pull out the Pool A's.
Then they pull out the Pool B's.

Every other team in the country (facetiously speaking, but really only those in the Regional Rankings) remains.

The Pool C bids are then filled.

Best remaining team from the four regions.
Next best remaining team from the four regions.
Next best...
Next best...
Down thru the 7th bid.

I wish that I could help you understand what is happening behind those dooors, but I don't even fell confident enough to post where CMU is going.

My two best guesses depend on the 7th Pool C bid.
If the West gets 2 Pool C bids, then I think that Dickinson goes East to fill that bracket and CMU hosts W&J.

If the East gets 3 Pool C bids, then CMU is farthest West and closest to the North (MUC) bracket.

[Bob.Gregg]

And if the NORTH gets three C's, Dickinson goes East, Concordia Wisc goes West and CMU hosts W&J.

[Bob.Gregg]

Here's my new South Region rankings and how they'll matchup in first round:

1.  Wesley
2.  UMHB
3.  HSU
4.  CMU
5.  W&J
6.  Dickinson
7.  CNU
8.  Millsaps
9.  W&L

W&L @ Wesley
Millsaps @ UMHB
CNU @ HSU
W&J @ CMU

Dickinson to the East.

[Josh Bowerman]

Just back from the HSU game, so this is my first chance to weigh in.

Bob, your projected South bracket is exactly the same as mine, because I do believe that Millsaps is within the driving distance parameters for a game at UMHB--at least based on the way I mapped it.  It seems pretty cut and dried--at least to me.

[Bob.Gregg]

Here's my brackets, just for the fun of it:

I'm projectingHobart, St. John Fisher, Hardin-Simmons, Wheaton, Capital, Franklin and UW LaCrosse as the Pool C's.

Wesley, Whitworth, CMU & W&J as the Pool B's.

South (exporting Dickinson to the East):
Washington & Lee at Wesley
Millsaps at UMary Hardin-Baylor
Christopher Newport at Hardin-Simmons
Washington & Jefferson at Carnegie-Mellon

East (importing Dickinson from South):
Curry at Wilkes
Dickinson at Springfield
Hobart at St. John Fisher
Union at Rowan


North (exporting Concordia Wisconsin to the West):
Hope at Mt. Union
Wittenberg at Capital
Franklin at Wheaton
Mt. St. Joseph's at North Central


West (importing Concordia Wisconsin from the North):
St. Norbert at UW Whitewater
Bethel at Central
Occidental at Whitworth
UW LaCrosse at Concordia Wisc.