MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

Even though we all saw it coming, leaving Wittenberg out of the tournament draw is as big a "snub" as leaving out any number of other teams.  The Tigers finished the year with a record of 22-5, and among those 22 wins were defeats of the champions of the NCAC (Wooster), OAC (Capital), HCAC (Transylvania), and CUNYAC (York NY) conferences.  They had another in a seemingly endless series of great seasons, and I congratulate the Tigers on their success.

I think the Witt fans who frequent this forum have handled this news with considerable grace and dignity, especially when compared to fans of certain other "snubbed" teams.  Kudos to you all. 

[pennstghs]

Thanks David-i will have a memorandum of the year later on, while i am disappointed certainly......we had a chane to prove we belonged and make it a tough tough decision for the committee and balked at that opportunity

[David Collinge]

Tonight's Wooster victory drops Kenyon to 6-5 at home this season.  The Lords' prior four losses at Tomsich Arena (to Grove City, DePauw, Wittenberg, and Wabash) were by an aggregate of 18 points, and one of those went to overtime (Witt.)  Wooster beat them by 25, and it could easily have been worse.  It's only the second time this season that the Lords have lost by more than 10 points.  The other time was when they lost by 35...at Wooster.

It's not just Kenyon.  Hiram's worst loss: 111-57 at home vs. Wooster.  Wabash's worst loss: 96-52 at Wooster.  Denison's worst loss: 96-67 at Wooster.  Cabrini? 128-71 at Wooster.  Mt. Union? 85-60 at Wooster.  There may be others, but you get the point.  Sure, these are not good teams (no offense intended), but it's not like Wooster is the only good team they've played (well, it's the only good team Cabrini played .)

It's just too bad they don't give out trophies to the team that causes the most "worst-losses" for other teams.   

...now we can add Ohio Wesleyan to this list.  Their loss at Wooster last night, by 35 points, was their worst loss of the season, eclipsing by four touchdowns their previous worst loss, a 7 point loss to...Wooster (and Witt, each beat the Bishops by 7.)  Prior to the NCAC final, OWU had lost 9 games by a grand total of 38 points, and two of those were OT losses. 

[David Collinge]

Before posting that, I knew that Ohio Wesleyan had a good season, but I am just now beginning to realize just how good it was.  They finished with a record of 16-10, but they beat Capital (OAC champs) by 10 points; they beat Penn St.-Behrend (19-7 and the only D3 team to beat Lake Erie) by 20 points; and they beat Wittenberg by 22 points.  Of their 10 losses, three were to Wooster (the first two by 6 and 7 points), and another was to DePauw (by 6 points); both Wooster and DePauw are playing next week.  They lost to Wittenberg, a top 10 team, by 7; they lost twice in OT; and otherwise by margins of 3, 3, and 2 points. 

In other words, they were in every game except the last one, including 5 games against teams ranked in the current top 25.  The Bishops were just a few baskets here and there from a great season.  Congratulations to Mike DeWitt and the Battling Bishops on a terrific under-the-radar season. 

[Gregory Sager]

Lastly, IMO Witt not getting a spot in the tourney is a shame but if the CCIW only gets one team in the tourney after having 3 or 4 teams in the top 25 all year that is a pure disgrace and there is no way I would consider the winner of the tourney "National Champions". Ofcourse this is only MY opinion.

Every year there are teams that 'deserve' to make the tourney, but not everyone can get in.  There are only so many spots available.  IMO, to belittle the tourney as a whole because you disagree with the last couple of at large bids seems a little extreme.

The reality is that those one or two last at-large teams are rarely ever legitimate title contenders, anyway. I don't think that their exclusion invalidates the final result.

Li'l Giant and cmhscots,

Great points.  To make a comment such as the one roadtrip made is a bit short sighted to say the least.  To say that you won't recognize whomever wins the National Championship because the 3rd or 4th best CCIW teams didn't get in just doesn't make sense.  Like those Pool C bubble teams are seriously in cosideration for making a run to Salem? 

Elmhurst wasn't the "3rd or 4th best CCIW team", ScotsFan. The 'jays finished second in the CCIW, and second in the CCIW tourney. They beat Augustana once in three tries (CCIW champs, CCIW tourney champs), they beat UW-Oshkosh (2nd place WIAC), UW-Whitewater (4th place WIAC), and took two out of three from the CCIW's third-place team, Wheaton. They're currently ranked 14th in the nation. That's not marginal.

I've seen Elmhurst numerous times this season. They would've had a legitimate chance at making a Salem run.

[Gregory Sager]

I wouldn't be too sure that teams barely left out of pool C are not title contenders (though with 18 teams rather than 5 just a couple years ago, it is less likely now).  Just last year Illinois Wesleyan may well have been the last pool C (they had the lowest regional win % of any C) and made the Final Four.  Same thing in 2001, when they finished 3rd in the CCIW and barely squeezed in, yet finished 3rd in the country.

This year, Elmhurst and Witt (among others) have basically a zero chance of getting in, but I wouldn't bet too strongly against either getting hot and going to Salem if they had the opportunity.

I wouldn't put this year's Emhurst or Wittenberg squads in the same class as last year's IWU squad.  From what I remember, IWU hit a bit of a funk during the regular season.  It was almost as if they became bored during the regular season and turned the switch back on for the post season.

That isn't what happened at all. I can assure you that Illinois Wesleyan's mid-season struggles last year were not the result of boredom. They were the result of sharing a league with three other very strong teams in 2005-06.

[Gregory Sager]

Of course the tourney was never designed to have the 59 'best' teams (nor is the d1 tourney designed to have the 'best' 65).  I have no bone to pick with Pool A - they won their conference, they deserve a shot.  Many of them are little more than a first-round speed bump to vastly stronger teams (see d1 1v16 and 2v15), but the occasional David beats Goliath (no 16 has ever won, but a few have given a major scare; I think 2 15s have ever won) is a key part of what makes it 'March Madness'.  We DO suffer a bit in getting top teams in since we have 37 AQs for a 59-team tourney (d1 only has 20-something for a 65 team tourney), leaving a lot less wiggle-room for discretion.

But it is the lack of discretion used in selecting Bs and Cs that grates on me.  Using regional criteria to select a national tournament is nuts!  True, once at the table, teams are compared nationally, but using criteria where the damage has already been done.  Comparing (regional) QOWI, regional winning percentage, even record against regionally ranked teams, makes any logical sense only if you use the untenable assumption that all regions are equal.  A team in a strong region with a 9.5 QOWI and .7 winning % is in all probability a better team than a team in a weak region with a 10.5 QOWI and a .8 winning %.  But the 10.5, .8 team is a 'lock', the 9.5, ,7 will be going home.

Pool C consists of the next 18 teams best at meeting the regional criteria.  It should not be confused with being the next best 18 teams.

Exactly!

[imderekpoe]

Good draw for the Scots!

Wooster gets its chance to avenge last year's loss to Transy at Timken on Friday.  Centre and Capital are the other teams travelling to Wooster this weekend.

On the other side of the bracket John Carroll hosts Westminster on Thursday with the winner playing at Lake Erie on Saturday.

[smedindy]

Elmhurst was my second highest team not making it, behind Oshkosh. Witt was the third best team not making it. All three of those teams could have made a deep run, IMHO.

[woosterbooster]

Wooster doesn't have game times posted yet, but the Capital website claims that Friday's first game, Capital vs Centre, is at 6 PM.  That probably puts Transylvania playing at 8 PM.

[pennstghs]

wow Wooster fans got a tremendous draw, Transy should be a relatively decent chance at a win and I don't know a lot about Centre, but Capital could give them problems, but Wooster at home should prevail. I was looking forward to a Hope/Wooster matchup...........

[Witt4ever]

 Wooster fans better be thanking your lucky stars you were not rated #1 in the region.

What a system!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ScotsFan]

Elmhurst wasn't the "3rd or 4th best CCIW team", ScotsFan. The 'jays finished second in the CCIW, and second in the CCIW tourney. They beat Augustana once in three tries (CCIW champs, CCIW tourney champs), they beat UW-Oshkosh (2nd place WIAC), UW-Whitewater (4th place WIAC), and took two out of three from the CCIW's third-place team, Wheaton. They're currently ranked 14th in the nation. That's not marginal.

I've seen Elmhurst numerous times this season. They would've had a legitimate chance at making a Salem run.

Well, maybe if Emhurst would have found a way to beat Millikin at home, we wouldn't be having this conversation.  Same goes for Witt and their loss at Allegheny.  With the margin of error being so small especially when factoring the high number of conference tournament upsets, there is really no one to blame but themselves for not getting the job done against far lesser teams.

I'm not trying to defend the current selection process by using this QoWI nonsense.  Thank goodness changes are being made for next season and I hope they work out better than the current sytem that is in place.  The point I was trying to make was that it isn't fair to say that whomever wins the national championship isn't a true national champion because the 59 best teams aren't in the field as Elmhurst's coach was quoted as saying in the front page.  I'm sorry, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for them.  As I said, they really have to look no further than that home loss to Millikin to figure out why their season is over.

[sac]

Wooster should be licking their chops.

[ScotsFan]

It looks as though Transy, Westminster and Centre were the lowest regionally ranked teams in their respective regions, therefore they would be the lowest seeded teams in this regional.  Transy and Westminster weren't ranked and Centre was 7th in the South Region, but I'm sure moved up after winning the SCAC tournament this past weekend.  So I guess it was a toss-up between Westminster and Transy as to who Wooster's 1st opponent would be.  As far as JCU most likely having to travel to LEC in the 2nd round, that's the only part I find confusing.  The Blue Streaks look to be the #3 seed in this regional behind LEC and Wooster despite losing to Cap which would explain their getting to host in the 1st round.  I guess the NCAA saw fit to reward JCU with a home game as the 3 seed against 6th seeded Westminster, but then had them go on to play the #1 seed in the 2nd round whereas Wooster gets to host their regional against what would appear to be the 7th seed in Transy while #4 Cap plays #5 Centre.

Wooster fans better be thanking your lucky stars you were not rated #1 in the region.

What a system!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Personally, I think that JCU got the most favorable draw.  They host Westminster, who isn't very good, in the 1st round and then they are on the road to face LEC, which no one really knows anything about except that they lost by 36 last year to Witt in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament and I really wouldn't be surprised to see JCU handle them pretty easily as well even with the game being played at LEC.

Wooster, on the other hand has to play Transy in the opening round.  While they don't appear to be as good as last year's team that knocked out Wooster in the 2nd round, I would still say that they are a better team than Westminster.  And then Wooster gets the winner of the Cap v. Centre matchup.  I would expect Cap to win that one, but Centre has been on quite a roll here to close out the season having not lost since January 26th.  They have won their last 9 games of the season by an average of just over 20 ppg including a 32 point drubbing of Pool C selection DePauw.  So, if Wooster can get past Transy, the winner of the Cap-Centre game will be IMHO a far tougher opponent than JCU will be facing in LEC. 

Looking past the regionals, I like the Sectional draw as a whole.  If Wooster can get through this regional, it looks like they should have a pretty solid argument at hosting the Seciontal and as sac so eloquently point out, should be 'licking their chops'!