BB: ASC: American Southwest Conference

[tloc14]

If Booher was below 82 on average, something is definately wrong.  I remember seeing Holland and Booher throw last season and both were mid-upper 80s atleast.  Booher threw slightly harder than Holland, but Holland had better control.

Holland's velo is probably down because its early in the season, but Booher being so low is not a good sign at all.  Maybe he got out of shape in the offseason, but it does sound like he is having some arm problems unfortunately.

[indian4life]

Any word on how HSU looks this year?

And PS: Monkey I love chicken e!!!!

[TexasBB]

Just an overall observation. The ASC in general  does not have much pitching depth with the possible exception of UTT. Even UTT will be suspect if Booher is hurt and cannot play in May.  The lack of depth means the non-weekend games all season long will be unpredictable. It also likely means that teams will have so so in region records and thus will hae played themselves out of any pool play consideration. If so then they will have have placed all of their eggs into the conference tournament basket, a very risky proposition in a winner take all tournament environment. 

[yuckmonkey]

Just an overall observation. The ASC in general  does not have much pitching depth with the possible exception of UTT. Even UTT will be suspect if Booher is hurt and cannot play in May.  The lack of depth means the non-weekend games all season long will be unpredictable. It also likely means that teams will have so so in region records and thus will hae played themselves out of any pool play consideration. If so then they will have have placed all of their eggs into the conference tournament basket, a very risky proposition in a winner take all tournament environment. 

I agreed with most of what you said, I will add that I think alot of the teams are pitching freshman and sophs during the week.  Maybe someone steps forward there.  I think last year was a perfect example of how the post season is a crap shoot.  utt was ranked all last year in the top 15/10 and did not get an at large bid.  I think the biggest reason is the east is weak top to bottom even though utt maybe the cream of the crop in the entire ASC.  Even the polls are in my opinion like all other polls bias(east & north).  IF Booher is hurt then utt will have to move a weekday starter to his spot or pull someone out of the bullpen either way that may change the outcome of some of their week day games.

ps indian leave some tenders, piglet

[hatbaseball]

We're new to D3 and I'm trying to figure out how the post season works.  My son is a freshman, although playing quite a bit and doing quite well    I understand how the conference tournament works and that the winner of that gets an automatic bid to the Regional tournament but what I don't understand is the talk I hear of at-large bids and Pool C, etc.  Can someone please enlighten me.  Where do the at-large bids go and how are they determined?

[yuckmonkey]

We're new to D3 and I'm trying to figure out how the post season works.  My son is a freshman, although playing quite a bit and doing quite well    I understand how the conference tournament works and that the winner of that gets an automatic bid to the Regional tournament but what I don't understand is the talk I hear of at-large bids and Pool C, etc.  Can someone please enlighten me.  Where do the at-large bids go and how are they determined?

I would try but I would just confuse both of us.  Ralph T or Just some guy will need to answer your question about at large bids.

[baseballfan24]

Pool A bids are automatic qualifiers
Pool B bids are independent
Pool C bids are at large bids

I think there are 14 at large bids for the whole nation.  Of those 14 the ncaa committee will rank each team's in region ranking, in this case all west region games won-loss pct. 

With that, I think they also compare difficulty of schedule by taking the records of opponents and their opponents records.  This develops the RPI.  From there I guess they take the highest RPI's in the nation and give them at large bids.

This may not be entirely accurate, but it is essientially how it works.  It is kind of a crap shoot because the people doing the voting can't possibly see all of the teams and who they play against.  They can only go on win-loss pct. and in-region rankings. 

So long story short, the best way to get an at large bid is to play teams in your region and beat them.

I hope this helped.

[TexasBB]

Go the website's main page and then to "Freequently Asked Questions" and the topic NCAA tournament.

[hatbaseball]

Go the website's main page and then to "Freequently Asked Questions" and the topic NCAA tournament.

Thanks.

[TexasBB]

Region question -

MC and LC are both physically located in the South region but play in the ASC which teams are predominantly located in the West region.  If MC played say Rust College, also located in Mississippi is that game considered in region for both one or none. Rust is an independent.  Can MC be eligible for consideration in both the South and West regions?  I would think not but it does present an interesting situation.

[Jack Parkman]

Region question -

MC and LC are both physically located in the South region but play in the ASC which teams are predominantly located in the West region.  If MC played say Rust College, also located in Mississippi is that game considered in region for both one or none. Rust is an independent.  Can MC be eligible for consideration in both the South and West regions?  I would think not but it does present an interesting situation.

That is agreat question.  Here is what I think... If the ASC tourney winner is from Texas, they will go to the West regional.  If they are from outside of TX, they will go to the South.  The regional being in Oregon will really hurt the chances for a team other than the tourney winner getting into a regional.  I believe the SCIAC will get 2 teams in, the NWC will send 2 teams, Chapman will get in no matter what (based on reputation and location).  That leaves one spot open.  Would the NCAA consider another Texas school?  Maybe, maybe not.  Would the NCAA consider a team from the mid-west getting shipped to Oregon?  Who knows.  It is going to take 4 flights to fill the West regional.  No matter how you look at it, it's going to be very expensive.

My picks for the Western Regional are (in no order)

McMurry, Chapman, Cal Lu, Pomona-Pitzer, Pacific Lutheran, Linfield

[baseballfan24]

Region question -

MC and LC are both physically located in the South region but play in the ASC which teams are predominantly located in the West region.  If MC played say Rust College, also located in Mississippi is that game considered in region for both one or none. Rust is an independent.  Can MC be eligible for consideration in both the South and West regions?  I would think not but it does present an interesting situation.

Mississippi College won the ASC tournament in 2003, I think.  It could have been 2002.  They then hosted a regional in Mississippi, which consisted of other south teams.  They are considered in the west region, but would probably play in a south regional should they or La College win conference.

[Blackcat00]

Concordia Won it in 2002 and Mississippi won it in 2003 and hosted

[TexasBB]

 

UTT won tonight against Hendrick and Booher pitched. This is a quote off the UTT write up of the game:

"Senior Blake Booher (Hurst, Texas) went seven innings on the mound for the Patriots and allowed only one unearned run off of six hits with five strikeouts. With the win, Booher improved to 4-0 on the year."

I have no idea what happened in the game against McM when he was pulled in the first inning after walking 2 batters. The fact that he came back so soon and went 7 innings shows that it was not an injury. It looks like Vilade did not like what he saw when Booher was pitching and just pulled him. All we can do is speculate but the good news for UTT is that he appears to be fine.

[Dawgsdad]

Another productive day down in Sequin today for Macklin and the Bulldogs of  TLU... Macklin continues to stay hot going 5 for 7 today at the plate, adding 5 RBI to his totals, scoring twice and swiping a base along the way to a 3- 20 win over DeSsales, PA.

Macklin now improves to .574 and 35 RBI in 12 games this season.  CTX comes calling on Friday – should be a good match up with several top players squaring off this weekend... 

It will be interesting to see how these batting averages of these top players hold up once conference play begins in earnest...

http://www.tlu.edu/athletics/mens_athletics/mens_baseball?newsid=5657

http://www.d3baseball.com

http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2009/03/04/players-post-impressive-performances.html