BB: ASC: American Southwest Conference

[CUAfan]

I get your point, TexasBB, but it doesn't matter a bit what your total runs, RBI's, etc are.

I really don't see how they justify not having one of the UTT/CTX/UO trio in the tourney somewhere.

[Ralph Turner]

Two pretty good indications of how the West Region is viewed can be gleaned by Linfield being shifted out of the West and getting a #5 seed when George Fox, which finished behind them, gets the #2 in the West.
Even more so is the treatment of Rose Hulman.
First they get in as a pool C and then they get a #4 seed with a 32-13 record.
Rose Hulman was in the SCAC for 8 years and never once made it to the SCAC Championship game.  Several years they came in ranked in the top 25 and left early.  Two years ago they pulled out of the SCAC because they could not compete at the top level with Millsaps, Trinity, Rhodes and Southwestern.
So, we are to either assume that in 2 years Rose Hulman improved so much that they are now superior to teams they could not beat over the prior 8 years, or we are to accept that the top ASC and SCAC teams are superior to Rose Hulman, which is very likely, but suffered from the blinders that would get Linfield the #5 seed and  a team that wasn't in the top 4-5 in the SCAC's a pool C.
Pretty tough to understand, or accept, if you are from UTT or Concordia or Millsaps or Rhodes.

Please remember that GFU beat Linfield 3 of 4 games, but fell short by one game to earn the NWC AQ.  (No Tourney in the NWC.)

George Fox had been in the Regional Rankings;  Linfield had not.  George Fox played a stronger in-region schedule.

Linfield was 28-9 in the West (25-7 in NWC play).  Linfield lost 2 of 3 to CSU-EB and played weaker Puget Sound and Whitman (NWC schools in non-conference games).  Linfield was not regionally ranked in the West (7th or worse) and so they got slotted in another region (to break up multiple conference bids where travel allowed it).

George Fox was 27-11 in the West. (24-8 in NWC play).  GFU won 2 of 3 vs McMurry but lost 2 of 3 to CSU-East Bay.  Going 3-3 versus West Region Ranked teams got GFU the Pool C bid, and the #2 West Region Rankings.  The games versus in-region ranked opponents is a key criterion.  As for

As for RHIT, I did not have the other data to see that they had climbed in the Mideast Region rankings in the last weekend.  Please understand that the difference that we are talking about is less than 2 games on a 40-game season.  This is proverbial "less than a car length at Darlington", to borrow a NASCAR metaphor.

Take home lesson for next year...if there is a game that you should not have lost, then that game may cost you a tourney bid.

[Ralph Turner]

In the D3 top 10 only one school did not receive a bid and it is an ASC school UTT. In fact it was the only school in the top 19 that did not get a bid. Of the top 25 two ASC teams did not get bids adding Ozarks. Of the total top 25 only 4 schools did not get bids so 1/2 of those were in the ASC. The only ASC team to get a bid was McMurry which was not ranked in the top 25 but did win the conference tournament. Why is it that the conference got so slighted?  George Fox was not rated in the top 25 but it got a pool C bid? I realize rankings do not mean anything in so far as selection but these rankings are voted on by coaches. How can the selection be on with others and so far off with one team?  Are the wise men making the selection more knowledgable than the coaches that vote. What about stats look at NCAA Div III leaders in runs, rbi's, BA, ERA, W-L all of those UTT is ranked in the top 10. Something is rotten in Denmark.

I think that the ASC was given much love in the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA)/D3baseball.com poll all year.  Just to get into the Top 16 in the playoffs means that you are playing in the regional finals, all regions being equal.  The ASC is a strong well-balanced conference, but most ASC teams do not get around the country to show how good they are.  Neither the NBCWA/ D3baseball.com poll 25 baseball writers and D3veterans nor the ABCA poll (8 coaches) have any impact.

The job of the selection committee is to apply the criteria in the Handbook to the data that is collected relevant to the Selection process.  That is all that it is.  If you want to look at the best job of "coaching" in the strategic part of the job, then I think that Lee Driggers did that this year.

Coach Driggers played the best teams in the Region...Chapman (3), GFU (3), UTT (1), Trinity (1), Southwestern (SCAC tourney contender two games), ASC-West.  Even Marietta that lost the OAC pool A bid in the final game of the OAC tourney!

If UTT wants to take it to the next level, then that means that your AD, President and Coach Vilade needs to play harder non-conference (in-region) games that mean something.  If you want to see good teams, then bring some WIAC schools down here, or go to the Metrodome and play the WIAC schools there in early March.  They would love to have some fresh meat that time of the year.  Those would be national games of the week.

Are there some inequities across the system?  Yes, among 351 schools, but every school knew what it needed to do to get into the tourney.

[Ralph Turner]

I get your point, TexasBB, but it doesn't matter a bit what your total runs, RBI's, etc are.

I really don't see how they justify not having one of the UTT/CTX/UO trio in the tourney somewhere.

The committee justifies it by looking at the in-reigon record and seeing that there were bad losses that knocked out those teams.  UT-Tyler had an ugly ASC tourney!  CTX lost a game to Schreiner (or HPU) that it couldn't afford to lose.  Ozarks?  Finished 3rd in the ASC-East regular season!

IMHO, CTX was on the table when the last playoff bid was given, and I think that CTX was one in-region win away from a Pool C bid!  Of course one less loss in the ASC-West (an in-region game) and you host the tourney!  Do you (CTX) win the Pool A bid (the ASC tourney) if you host the tourney?

That is how close it is!

Get the Handbook.  Learn the Handbook. Study the other teams' records.  The process requires some work, but I can understand how we got the 14 Pool C teams.

[OshDude]

In the D3 top 10 only one school did not receive a bid and it is an ASC school UTT. In fact it was the only school in the top 19 that did not get a bid. Of the top 25 two ASC teams did not get bids adding Ozarks. Of the total top 25 only 4 schools did not get bids so 1/2 of those were in the ASC. The only ASC team to get a bid was McMurry which was not ranked in the top 25 but did win the conference tournament. Why is it that the conference got so slighted?  George Fox was not rated in the top 25 but it got a pool C bid? I realize rankings do not mean anything in so far as selection but these rankings are voted on by coaches. How can the selection be on with others and so far off with one team?  Are the wise men making the selection more knowledgable than the coaches that vote. What about stats look at NCAA Div III leaders in runs, rbi's, BA, ERA, W-L all of those UTT is ranked in the top 10. Something is rotten in Denmark.

I think that the ASC was given much love in the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA)/D3baseball.com poll all year.  Just to get into the Top 16 in the playoffs means that you are playing in the regional finals, all regions being equal.  The ASC is a strong well-balanced conference, but most ASC teams do not get around the country to show how good they are.  Neither the NBCWA/ D3baseball.com poll 25 baseball writers and D3veterans nor the ABCA poll (8 coaches) have any impact.

The job of the selection committee is to apply the criteria in the Handbook to the data that is collected relevant to the Selection process.  That is all that it is.  If you want to look at the best job of "coaching" in the strategic part of the job, then I think that Lee Driggers did that this year.

Coach Driggers played the best teams in the Region...Chapman (3), GFU (3), UTT (1), Trinity (1), Southwestern (SCAC tourney contender two games), ASC-West.  Even Marietta that lost the OAC pool A bid in the final game of the OAC tourney!

If UTT wants to take it to the next level, then that means that your AD, President and Coach Vilade needs to play harder non-conference (in-region) games that mean something.  If you want to see good teams, then bring some WIAC schools down here, or go to the Metrodome and play the WIAC schools there in early March.  They would love to have some fresh meat that time of the year.  Those would be national games of the week.

Are there some inequities across the system?  Yes, among 351 schools, but every school knew what it needed to do to get into the tourney.

What Driggers did took a lot of guts, and it paid off. I hope the McMurry schedule is the blueprint for others to follow. It sure would be nice for fans like me to see watch teams like St. Thomas, St. Scholastica (when the UMAC gets a Pool A) and the WIAC threesome battle the better SoCal and Texas teams in March with bids on the line. Tell me where I can buy tickets and I'll be there.

Many Midwest teams are slowly leaning that way, although not to McMurry's extreme. For example Oshkosh played exclusively in-region games this year, including a few testers like St. Thomas and St. Scholastica in addition to the yearly Whitewater and Stevens Point testers. I like seeing the bullets fly right away instead of seeing great matchups – like Ithaca, ECSU, Kean and Marietta out west (I think) – that don't mean much besides two great teams playing each other. I'd rather see Stevens Point and the like replace the east coast teams. But I think everyone is a bit gun shy (to carry out the metaphor) of possibly having their fates decided by April 1 (for Pool C, that is). Not only having their fates decided, but also possibly securing the fates of their opponents.

Some of it comes down to good guesswork by the coaches. There's some variance among the mid- to top-ranked regional teams. A noncon in-region game with Marietta didn't turn out like some people may have thought. And there's only one Chapman out there that guarantees (practically) you OWP/OOWP, so Chapman holds a lot of cards in that situation being an independent that wants to schedule tough enough to make it, but not tough enough that it faces Oshkosh, St. Thomas and Tyler in 10 days or whatever.

Rest assured y'all are welcome to come up to the Dome and gamble your money, though. You may beat us, but I'd rather not see the same Midwest schedules every single year. If more coaches like Driggers had guts (and guessed right), we wouldn't need any more criteria than in-region record, head-to-head and record vs. common opponents.

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks for the post, dude.

The specific working in the handbook is "results".

I need to ask Coach Driggers if going 2-4 versus Chapman and GFU has value because that is "6" games, "6 results", whether splitting a series is valuable.  Yeah, getting swept might not be good, but losing 2 of 3 means you ventured something that another team did not.

If getting strong in-region games against CSS, the WIAC's, St Thomas, St Olaf and other MIAC schools is beneficial if you play strong, then that might be a good road trip to make!

[OshDude]

Thanks for the post, dude.

The specific working in the handbook is "results".

I need to ask Coach Driggers if going 2-4 versus Chapman and GFU has value because that is "6" games, "6 results", whether splitting a series is valuable.  Yeah, getting swept might not be good, but losing 2 of 3 means you ventured something that another team did not.

If getting strong in-region games against CSS, the WIAC's, St Thomas, St Olaf and other MIAC schools is beneficial if you play strong, then that might be a good road trip to make!

Let's all agree to split DH's and sleepwalk to regionals! Deal?

[hsusid]

Whatever McMurry's schedule was is a moot point, they won the league's AQ. Playing Chapman and George Fox had nothing to do with getting in and doesn't, unless you beat them. If they don't win the tournament they have at least 19 losses and they are in no consideration for a Pool C.   

I think that McMurry got to play what arguably could have been the eighth, seventh and sixth best teams in the ASC to win the conference title on their home yard. Hats off to them they beat who they had to beat to win the tournament and got into the NCAAs.

Now they have another advantage in the fact they have played three of the teams in their regional, so it should be no surprise to them. They have a good team that can hit with anyone. If they pitch like they did in the ASC tournament, I think they have a chance to win the regional.

I think it would be great to continue the great run by the ASC this year. A NCAA champ for the first time in HPU, semis in football and a trip to the World Series in softball for the first time.

As much as the rest of the traditional teams don't want to hear this - the ASC is coming and is coming strong. It took over a decade to figure this Division III thing out, but several schools and teams have and it is a matter of time. I think a lot of it has to do with more schools making the commitment to get better in their total sports program. The facilities are better, teams are spending more on travel and recruiting, and you can tell in the level of play.

I honestly think that UT-Tyler has brought a different approach to the league. They have come in and said we want to win national titles and have made that known from the administration on down. They have the resources, academic standards, facilities and right tuition prices to get that done.

The other coaches in the league have too much pride to get their teeth kicked in by Tyler. Just talking to our coaches they say this year has been the most competitive year as far as going after kids. It used to be you were fighting with three or four schools for a kid and now it is seven to 10.

When everybody is better in the league it makes it a lot more fun, than when 75 percent of your schedule is an automatic W.

Good luck to the Ind..... err McMurry baseball team this weekend. You are representing the whole league now.

[fungoman]

It sounds so easy to just sit here and say that you need to play a stronger in region schedule. There are many obstacles to overcome to play the teams from Cali. First off is finding a weekend to play them. Not everyone from the ASC can play Chapman and GFU every year. Another issue is travel. How much of the budget would be soaked up through flying 25 players, having hotel rooms for 2 days, and a bus? I agree playing the likes of trinity and southwestern would benefit, but not really. It sure didnt help MHB who swept trinity in 3 games this year.

The schedule is what it is, and chapman cant afford to fly here twice a year, or possibly even us go there.

[Blackcat00]

I beleive you still get more comp out of NAIA teams such as Texas Weslayan, Lubbock Christian, and Houston Baptist when they were not D1, and as far as the D3 route, Trinity and Southwestern always have competive programs. I dont see why you would spend the money to fly accross the country when you can get the same or bettter quality competive programs right here in TX. It woudl be nice to travel, but D3 schools dont really consider spending money on traveling for preseason games.

[itsd3baseball]

I think everyone is going too far with the scheduling thing here.  Its not necessarily flying to Cali that is just gonna get you in automatically.  (And by the way, why do so many in here think that Cali schools are so much better than any other schools around here. )  The point is, just DONT schedule: HEndrix, Sul Ross, JArvis, Schreiner, Northwood,  or (lose 1 to) Austin College as this does not help.  It doesnt help either losing in the ASC Championship tournament.

[Jack Parkman]

I think everyone is going too far with the scheduling thing here.  Its not necessarily flying to Cali that is just gonna get you in automatically.  (And by the way, why do so many in here think that Cali schools are so much better than any other schools around here. )  The point is, just DONT schedule: HEndrix, Sul Ross, JArvis, Schreiner, Northwood,  or (lose 1 to) Austin College as this does not help.  It doesnt help either losing in the ASC Championship tournament.

I don't think everyone on here thinks the California schools are so much better than everyone.  If the SCIAC didn't have an automatic bid would they have sent anyone?  I don't know, but Chapman has showed they are by far one of the best programs in the country.  Looking at LaVerne coming in with 16 or 18 loses does not show what had to happen for them to get in.  Pomona Pitzer CHOKED in the last two weekends and went from first to fourth by getting swept twice.  If Cal Lutheran does not sweep Pomona, the LaVerne/Pomona series might have been different.  Redlands choked on the last day and lost two to Claremont M-S which is one of the reasons they are not in the tournament.  Redlands had been beating everyone all year and one bad weekend and their season is done. 
I don't feel people think the CA schools are better any more than people thinking the TX schools are better.

[itsd3baseball]

I gotcha Mr. Park-I agree as well that some on here think that Texas (D3) baseball is king and that is more ridiculous than that of the California backers due to the lack of even 1 championship if I am correct.  Just seems to me that Vilade was right for once all season in this article saying that its just not feasable monetarily to send the kids West-  "First, we want the kids staying in class as much as possible," he said. "Secondly, we're not in a position with our budget where we can leave for California or Hawaii. I think we've lost the entire spirit of Division III sports."  (http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20080513/SPORTS06/805130305/-1/SPORTS)- The "kids in class "statement is brutal, but even Vilade with all his power at the school cant ask for that much money!
But like many have stated-all they had to do was win the tourney!

[The U For Life]

Driggers was smart by scheduling the teams he did.  We all knew Chapman would be here and after playing George Fox, we knew they would be as well.  Driggers scheduled the way he did because, "This is the best team, we have had since I've been here."  That is what he said and Josh Lee(Ass. Coach and also played on the 2001 and 2004 ASC Champ team) he has even stated that we were better than them.  Driggers has been preparing us for this all year.  Whats funny is after the series against Chapman the first week, we were walking through the line to shake their hand and this is what a couple of players said from each team, "We will see you at regionals."  They knew that they would be here just as we knew that we would make it.  Dont let our record fool you on what type of team we have.  We have had so many injuries all year that we havent ever been able to put it all together.  Were still not completely 100%, but we have started to play some pretty good ball as of late.  Dont know what will happen tomorrow or this tournament, but we will try and represent the ASC well.  Also i think it was bullcrap what happened to Concordia and UTT.  I knew UTT wasnt going to get in, even though they deserved it, but i was pretty sure Concordia would. 

[Blackcat00]

Best of Luck to McMurry, and I will def keep up with the tourny at work tommorow. McMurry did a great job of announcing and a great gamelog and tracker.