BB: ASC: American Southwest Conference

[SandGnats]

ASC gets short changed in the Regionals. Here are my views.

1) Base on the number teams in the ASC they should get 2 bids not one.
As mentioned before splitting the conference into 2 conferences could solve this issue. Conferences with less than 7 teams should not get AQ. Conferences with 7 to 12 should get 1 AQ and 13 and over 2 AQ based upon the ratios now 55 teams out of 359 this year(6.5 ratio)

2) The 2 rounds of playoffs I believe takes too much out of the teams before they even have played one regional game and could be a possible reason why they have not fared as well in recent regionals. One week instead of 2 weekends for a conference tourney with only 4 teams not 8.

I could be wrong with my statements but I throw this out for discussion purposes.

The ASC will never split into two conferences.  Here's a few reasons why: 1) Not all sports have enough enough participation from the ASC schools to promote two separate conferences.  2) There are not enough football teams to make two conferences, which would severely hurt those left out of the side that has enough.  3) If you split the conference, the ASC would still remain, however the "new" conference would have to go through a waiting period for postseason qualification, which again would hurt those schools that left to start a new conference.

It's not an option.  There are no proponents for it around the ASC.  There are too many cons.

[golden_dome]

One reason that i know has hurt UTTyler in the past, is that when you have a conference tournament, you must add 2 losses to any pool C eligibale team from your conference. If you are in the SCIAC, Redlands can win their last 10 games and be a pool C team since there is no tournament.

I believe this is a real disadvantage, especially considering:

1. How close the races are - 2 losses will turn the tables in terms of committee selections

2. The ASC tournament is organized so possible pool c teams could pick up 3 losses, instead of 2, if they lose a game in the first round. Even Mississippi college is not a shoe-in. If they lose 3 games, they are suddenly at 10 losses. UTTyler was left out in 2008 at 36-9, and Curry was left out in 2009 at 34-7 (ridiculous).

You really need under 5 losses headed into conf. tourny time to really be a lock.

I agree that MC is not a shoe-in because nothing surprises me with the selection process guidelines anymore. But MC is 28-4 against Regional competition, have the 2nd most regional wins in the nation and the 8th fewest regional losses. The absolute worst they could finish is 28-6 or 30-7, which would be a strong resume.

With the extra 3 pool c bids this year, I think Tyler (26-9) and TLU (26-11) could find themselves closer to the bubble than MC should they not win the AQ.

[swbaseball3]

The selection committee only has 23 letters in their alphabet.  The missing three are T, L and U.  You can bet your house that if the Bulldogs don't win the conference that they are going home.  This year it might be deserved that they go home if they don't win but there have been years where they should have been a shoe-in.  Nope.

[Ron Boerger]

The selection committee only has 23 letters in their alphabet.  The missing three are T, L and U.  You can bet your house that if the Bulldogs don't win the conference that they are going home.  This year it might be deserved that they go home if they don't win but there have been years where they should have been a shoe-in.  Nope.

13 losses (which TLU would have if they don't win the ASC tourney) will have that effect.   

[Just_Some_Guy]

The selection committee only has 23 letters in their alphabet.  The missing three are T, L and U.  You can bet your house that if the Bulldogs don't win the conference that they are going home.  This year it might be deserved that they go home if they don't win but there have been years where they should have been a shoe-in.  Nope.

This year I think they definitely have to win the ASC to get in. If you sweep U. Dallas and Schreiner like you should and you're 32-8 then I think you're right on the cusp if you lose in the ASC championship.

I believe only Hull and Nokelby made the trip with the '07 team so TLU might not be as battle tested as a team like Tyler if they get past McMurry in the 1st round.

When, in the last few years or so have TLU been royally screwed besides 03?

This thing is going to come down to arms and I don't know if anyone in the ASC really has the depth (maybe Mississippi). I think we might see some 16-14 games before it's all said and done the weekend after next.

JSG

JSG

[BigTex]

Its a shame that we cant have two teams from the ASC but if it didnt happen from past teams then I dont believe it will happen this year either. On the the first round of playoffs who do yall have going to the championship round? Any upsets or surprises?

[dp643]

I have a weird feeling that UMHB and Miss. College will be a closer series than most will think. Both teams are very familiar with eachother. UMHB played and pitched very well down the stretch. If they continue to pitch and play good defense, I think this one could go down to the last inning of game 3.

I never make UMHB predictions, but Ill predict the outcome of the other 3 series.

HSU over Louisiana in 2
UTD upset over TLU in 3 (HSU hosts the 2nd round)
Tyler over McMurry in 2

[golden_dome]

I have a weird feeling that UMHB and Miss. College will be a closer series than most will think. Both teams are very familiar with eachother. UMHB played and pitched very well down the stretch. If they continue to pitch and play good defense, I think this one could go down to the last inning of game 3.

I just hope we have games because this weekend looks bad. We might be able to beat the rain with a game Friday, but Saturday and Sunday are both questionable.

[dp643]

What happens, if for example, UMHB wins Friday night and the games Saturday and Sunday are rained out? Will they go all the way out to Monday?

Might be pretty similar to two years ago Chris with the scattered rain on Saturday and pulling the tarp about 20 times.

[golden_dome]

What happens, if for example, UMHB wins Friday night and the games Saturday and Sunday are rained out? Will they go all the way out to Monday?

Might be pretty similar to two years ago Chris with the scattered rain on Saturday and pulling the tarp about 20 times.

It's my understanding that if we play on Friday we have until Sunday to conclude the series. I'm 90% sure that the Friday game has been moved up to 2:00 to beat the rain, I'm about to double check. But you're right, I could see the weekend similar to a few years ago where we are piecing innings together.

[yuckmonkey]

I have a weird feeling that UMHB and Miss. College will be a closer series than most will think. Both teams are very familiar with eachother. UMHB played and pitched very well down the stretch. If they continue to pitch and play good defense, I think this one could go down to the last inning of game 3.

I never make UMHB predictions, but Ill predict the outcome of the other 3 series.

HSU over Louisiana in 2
UTD upset over TLU in 3 (HSU hosts the 2nd round)
Tyler over McMurry in 2

I have been lucky enough to see all of the playoff teams in action except LC and MC.  So here you go:

TLU over UTD, UTD does not have enough pitching
HSU over LC, not sure about pitching staff depth on HSU
MC over UMHB, best matchup by far, may come down to defense and that may be the CRU's downfall
UT over McM, playing for the coach but if McM gets to Willard and wins game one it could be a dogfight just like last year(upset???)

[dp643]

What could be very interesting in the UMHB/MC series is the fact that theres a chance only one game gets completed.

[swbaseball3]

The selection committee only has 23 letters in their alphabet.  The missing three are T, L and U.  You can bet your house that if the Bulldogs don't win the conference that they are going home.  This year it might be deserved that they go home if they don't win but there have been years where they should have been a shoe-in.  Nope.

13 losses (which TLU would have if they don't win the ASC tourney) will have that effect.   

A few years back, TLU was 37-6.....and your reasoning is?

[swbaseball3]

I'm on a roll.  In 2003, TLU was #1 in the nation for 14 weeks.  They were 28-0 or something like that.  Love to hear the logic of them not making the regions then?  I believe that was the year they went 36-4.

[Ralph Turner]

The selection committee only has 23 letters in their alphabet.  The missing three are T, L and U.  You can bet your house that if the Bulldogs don't win the conference that they are going home.  This year it might be deserved that they go home if they don't win but there have been years where they should have been a shoe-in.  Nope.

13 losses (which TLU would have if they don't win the ASC tourney) will have that effect.  

But what was the in-region record?  Games versus Huston-Tillotson, other NAIA's, D-2's and non-region D'3 must be excluded for us to comprehend the thinking of the committee as it tries to follow the guidelines in the Handbook.

A few years back, TLU was 37-6.....and your reasoning is?

There were only three Pool C bids to give, not the 14 bids that we have under the most recent (not the new) March Madness D1 contract.

Here are the teams that earned the Pool C bids.

http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/NCAAChampionship/2003/Regionals/participants.html

Christopher Newport ( and I don't know whom they played as in-region games and other criteria)
Ripon
UW-Oshkosh.

Each of those schools can schedule good quality in-region D-III opponents that look good to the committee.

TLU picked up 2 in-region losses in the ASC Tourney, and did not even make it to the finals.  UTD lost 2 games on the last day of the ASC tourney to Mississippi College.

I believe that the NCAA was not counting games versus teams in the Administrative Region as in-region in 2003.

Here is the TLU schedule that year.  The non-conference, in-region games for TLU that year were Trinity (1-1) and Southwestern (2-0).

http://www.ascsports.org/custompages/baseball/2003/tlu.htm

I count the in-region record as 25-6 (24-4 going into the ASC Tourney). Games versus Huston-Tillotson, Prairie View A&M, Concordia Neb, UW-Stout,  St Olaf, Kansas Wesleyan and Doane did not count in the primary criteria viewed by the committee.

For that matter, TLU suffered losses to UTD and Miss College in the ASC Playoffs.  The East was stronger than the West.

We can thank the March Madness Contract for the money for the extra Pool C bids.