Posters' Poll

[magicman]

Seven ballots are in.  I'd really prefer at least ten, but the final ballot is always our lowest turnout.  Any more ballots coming if I hold off?

I'm going to be sending one in in about an hour.

[magicman]

My poll is in. Thanks for doing this again this year Mr. Y. Plus k

[Mr. Ypsi]

And magicman makes eight - any more?  In 2010, the final poll had 9 voters; last year we had 10.

I'll post before the night is out unless I hear from anyone requesting time.

[Mr. Ypsi]

No requests, so here goes:

2012 Final Posters' Poll:

1. UWW    200 (unanimous)
2. MIT      184 (2,2,3,3,3,3,4,4)
3. Cabrini   181 (2,2,2,2,2,2,6,9)
4. Hope     163 (4,4,4,5,5,5,9,9)
5. IWU      161 (3,3,4,4,5,8,10,10)
6. Va Wes  159 (3,5,6,6,6,7,7,9)
7. Whitworth 146 (4,5,7,7,9,10,10,10)
8. F & M      145 (5,6,6,6,7,7,10,16)
9. Amherst   142 (5,7,7,8,8,8,9,14)
10 Midd        134 (3,8,8,9,9,10,13,14)
11 Wooster   113 (6,10,11,11,11,13,15,18)
12 Wittenberg 96 (11,11,12,12,14,15,18,19)
13 Wheaton    92 (8,8,11,13,18,19,19,20)
14 NCC          86 (12,13,13,13,15,16,20,20)
15 E. Conn     81 (12,12,14,14,15,19,20,21)
16 UMHB        77 (13,13,15,15,15,17,17,-)
17 CMS          64 (11,14,14,16,18,19,-,-)
18 Scranton    56 (12,12,16,17,18,25,-,-)
19 Staten Isl.  50 (16,18,19,20,21,21,21,22)
20 Oswego      47 (14,15,16,18,22,24,-,-)
21 Albertus M   39 12,17,19,22,23,24,-,-)
22 WashU        30 (17,18,21,22,23,25,-,-)
23 Hobart        28 (11,19,22,24,-,-,-,-)
24 St Thomas   24 (17,20,21,23,25,-,-,-)
25 UWRF         17 (16, 23,23,25,-,-,-,-)

26 Willy Pat      14 (17,24,24,25)
t27 UWSP         10 (22,22,24)
t27 NYU           10 (17,25)
t27 Trinity TX    10 (16)
t30 RIC             6 (20)
t30 Transy         6 (20)
t32 Birm-S         5 (23,24)
t32 St. Mary's    5 (21)
t32 WPI            5 (21)
35 Lake Forest   4 (22)
t36 W. Conn       3 (24,25)
t36 Becker         3 (23)
t36 Capital        3 (23)
39 Hartwick       1

[NCF]

How do you get into the poll?

[Mr. Ypsi]

How do you get into the poll?

I wish you had asked this about 10 weeks ago!

The standards are mentioned at the beginning of every season, but, bottom line, I have no standards!   I seek as much diversity as I can get, and reserve the right to reject ballots that are clearly too 'homerish' (but have never so far rejected a ballot).  I seek voters who honestly follow ALL of d3, not just their team/conference/region.

[Gregory Sager]

bottom line, I have no standards!

Chuck, I do believe that you have finally found the perfect signature line for your profile.

[Mr. Ypsi]

bottom line, I have no standards!

Chuck, I do believe that you have finally found the perfect signature line for your profile.

I blush!

[Gregory Sager]

It's even got a double meaning, since the sig is the literal "bottom line" on every post.

[Mr. Ypsi]

My final ballot (with notes):

1.  UWW - duh!  (Actually, I am not of the school that champions automatically are also #1 in the final poll (I would make exceptions for Villanova and NCSt in d1 bball, and after IWU won the 2010 WS, despite my green blood, posted something to the effect of: I seriously doubt they are overall the best team in d3, but they were the best for 5 days in May and June; that is good enough for me, and we don't plan to return the trophy!  I have so far never felt a d3 champion was unworthy of also receiving the #1 vote, though I might have made an exception in 1996 on ethical rather than athletic grounds - all true d3 fans believe the title game that year should have been Hope vs. IWU, rather than the Prop 48 transfers for Rowan!)
2.  Cabrini - I had doubts (due to their schedule) all year, but saw them play twice - they're legit.
3.  MIT
4.  IWU - the general consensus of those in Salem to see both teams live seems to be that IWU would beat MIT, but I'm giving deference to their incredible overall record (and how often do MIT or Caltech get accolades for athletics?!)
5.  Hope - #1 going in, and it took IWU 2 OTs to dispatch them (definitely the best game, and atmosphere, I have EVER seen live in d3!)
6.  Va Wes - seemingly no argument here - I'm in the middle of the voting!
7.  F & M - like Cabrini, I had doubts; they dispelled them
8.  Amherst - again, I'm in the middle
9.  Whitworth - see above; casualties of the west coast island: hard to assess
10. Wooster
11. Wheaton
12. Wittenberg
13. NCC - 2-0 over IWU, but lost to Witt; IWU beat 'em by 21
14. Midd - probably deserves higher, but unsure who to displace
15. UMHB - lost in their first game, but what a season overall
16. Scranton
17. Albertus Magnus
18. CMS
19. E. Conn.
20. St. Thomas
21. Staten Island
22. UWSP - a nod to their overall season (they DID beat the national champions twice!); I saw them first-hand in Holland against IWU and, quite frankly, without Ty Tillema they were NOT a top 25 team, but I thought they deserved some credit
23. WashU
24. W. Conn.
25. UWRF

[Gregory Sager]

I have so far never felt a d3 champion was unworthy of also receiving the #1 vote, though I might have made an exception in 1996 on ethical rather than athletic grounds - all true d3 fans believe the title game that year should have been Hope vs. IWU, rather than the Prop 48 transfers for Rowan!)

Not true, Chuck. I don't consider what John Giannini did to be an ethical violation. He scrupulously obeyed the rules when he brought those Prop 48 players into the Rowan program. How can he be blamed for taking advantage of a perfectly-legal loophole that he didn't create?

The fault was with the NCAA for leaving open that loophole in the first place. not with Giannini and Rowan for using it. Frankly, I've always been surprised that more schools didn't take advantage of it. If they had, Rowan wouldn't have appeared to be such a glaring outlier.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I'm of the school of thought that the tournament determines the champion... but the poll is for ranking the best teams. And those two things are not identical... I almost had Cabrini #1 (two losses all year, one on the road in OT by 2 and the championship by 3) but upon stringent examination before submitting my ballot I ended up putting UWW at the top.

1 WI-Whitewater (Not simply because they won the title but had a solid season as well)
2 Cabrini (2 losses by a total of 5 points... a very close 2nd)
3 MIT (would have been #1 had they won the tourney)
4 Hope (my #1 all season long)
5 Whitworth

6 Franklin & Marshall
7 Virginia Wesleyan
8 Middlebury
9 Amherst
10 Illinois Wesleyan (They lost a quarter of their games this year but a tough schedule combined with weak showings by the following four teams manage to squeak them into the top 10... 5 other teams lost at least 7 games on my ballot but the best was 18th)

11 Claremont-M-S
12 Albertus Magnus
13 Mary Hardin-Baylor
14 Oswego St
15 Wooster

16 Staten Island
17 William Paterson
18 Wheaton (IL)
19 Wittenberg (second of four teams to enter my poll)
20 North Central (IL)

21 E Connecticut (third of four to enter my poll)
22 Lake Forest (didn't get in the tourney and dropped 7 spots on my ballot)
23 St Thomas (MN)
24 Birmingham Southern
25 Scranton (fourth team to enter my poll)

[Pat Coleman]

Frankly, I've always been surprised that more schools didn't take advantage of it. If they had, Rowan wouldn't have appeared to be such a glaring outlier.

Maybe they did and we just didn't know about it. No national coverage in 1996 to spread the news.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I have so far never felt a d3 champion was unworthy of also receiving the #1 vote, though I might have made an exception in 1996 on ethical rather than athletic grounds - all true d3 fans believe the title game that year should have been Hope vs. IWU, rather than the Prop 48 transfers for Rowan!)

Not true, Chuck. I don't consider what John Giannini did to be an ethical violation. He scrupulously obeyed the rules when he brought those Prop 48 players into the Rowan program. How can he be blamed for taking advantage of a perfectly-legal loophole that he didn't create?

The fault was with the NCAA for leaving open that loophole in the first place. not with Giannini and Rowan for using it. Frankly, I've always been surprised that more schools didn't take advantage of it. If they had, Rowan wouldn't have appeared to be such a glaring outlier.

In my mind there is a clear distinction between what is legal and what is ethical (oftentimes the greatest disgrace is what IS legal).  Rowan did nothing against the rules.  To me, at least, what they did was definitely against what d3 is all about (which was seemingly confirmed by the swift passage of the 'Rowan Rule').

[NCF]

bottom line, I have no standards!

Chuck, I do believe that you have finally found the perfect signature line for your profile.

You beat me to the punch, however, I thought about using that one myself