Pool C

[Gregory Sager]

If those games count as non-conference, I would think they count in the ncSOS. A few years ago (could be 10 or more), Stevens Point played a rare non-conference game against Oshkosh and then played them twice in conference and then again in the WIAC tournament.

In 2007 Calvin and Hope played each other in a non-conference tournament, then twice in the regular season, then once in the MIAA tournament, then once in the NCAA Tournament. That was... not great.

I believe I am correct in remembering that they played 9 times between the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Oh, but we got to file into Aurora's Thorton Gymnasium for the season's 5th rivalry game. A smaller, not quite as nice, much further away gym than say... Caledonia High School

Hey, I had fun at that game. A bunch of us CCIW fans got together and claimed the seating section in Thornton in between the Hope and Calvin sections. We called ourselves "Switzerland". At the time we figured that it was the best chance most of us would ever have to witness a Rivalry game, although the best game of the weekend by far ended up being Calvin's 69-68 squeaker over the host Spartans.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Not a whole lot of bubble games tonight. Keene State and Nichols both get through must-win games. Illinois Wesleyan loses their regular-season finale to North Central, and looks a lot less safe now.

IWU and NCC battle again on Friday in the conference semis. If IWU loses, they're out. If NCC wins again, they may jump in at the end of the Regional Rankings next week.

There is no next week, Greek.  Just tomorrow's regional ranking, and then Selection Sunday.

I believe North Central will jump into the Central rankings tomorrow.

Technically, there is another one though, just released after the brackets are announced? Also, are they moving the selection process back to Sunday or is it still Monday?

The selection process has always been carried out on Sunday, but the announcement of the bracket has been on Mondays for quite some time now. That has not been moved. The thought of shifting it back to Sunday seems to have died down a bit probably because we no longer have Thursday games (costs of getting teams to their destination in enough time; less time more costs).

[sac]

If those games count as non-conference, I would think they count in the ncSOS. A few years ago (could be 10 or more), Stevens Point played a rare non-conference game against Oshkosh and then played them twice in conference and then again in the WIAC tournament.

In 2007 Calvin and Hope played each other in a non-conference tournament, then twice in the regular season, then once in the MIAA tournament, then once in the NCAA Tournament. That was... not great.

I believe I am correct in remembering that they played 9 times between the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Oh, but we got to file into Aurora's Thorton Gymnasium for the season's 5th rivalry game. A smaller, not quite as nice, much further away gym than say... Caledonia High School

Hey, I had fun at that game. A bunch of us CCIW fans got together and claimed the seating section in Thornton in between the Hope and Calvin sections. We called ourselves "Switzerland". At the time we figured that it was the best chance most of us would ever have to witness a Rivalry game, although the best game of the weekend by far ended up being Calvin's 69-68 squeaker over the host Spartans.

Over a 46 game stretch Hope played Calvin 9 times or 1 out of every 5 games.  For Calvin it was almost 1 out of every 4 games.

It was too much.  That also came in the middle of a stretch of 11 years where Hope/Calvin also met in the MIAA tournament.  So 3 games per yer for 11 years, plus  two NCAA games and a holiday tournament game.

Funny thing was the Holiday Tournament match-up had the possibility of happening something like 7 times in 11 years and never did.  Then it happened and everyone was like, "nah".

[HOPEful]

If those games count as non-conference, I would think they count in the ncSOS. A few years ago (could be 10 or more), Stevens Point played a rare non-conference game against Oshkosh and then played them twice in conference and then again in the WIAC tournament.

In 2007 Calvin and Hope played each other in a non-conference tournament, then twice in the regular season, then once in the MIAA tournament, then once in the NCAA Tournament. That was... not great.
I believe I am correct in remembering that they played 9 times between the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Oh, but we got to file into Aurora's Thorton Gymnasium for the season's 5th rivalry game. A smaller, not quite as nice, much further away gym than say... Caledonia High School

Hey, I had fun at that game. A bunch of us CCIW fans got together and claimed the seating section in Thornton in between the Hope and Calvin sections. We called ourselves "Switzerland". At the time we figured that it was the best chance most of us would ever have to witness a Rivalry game, although the best game of the weekend by far ended up being Calvin's 69-68 squeaker over the host Spartans.

I was there for all three games. Us in the Dew Crew were really hoping Chad Trudo's desperation 3 would have fallen to pull off the come from behind win. And I remember talking a few "citizens" of Switzerland at half time of that game

[WUPHF]

Hey, I had fun at that game. A bunch of us CCIW fans got together and claimed the seating section in Thornton in between the Hope and Calvin sections. We called ourselves "Switzerland". At the time we figured that it was the best chance most of us would ever have to witness a Rivalry game, although the best game of the weekend by far ended up being Calvin's 69-68 squeaker over the host Spartans.

This is where I post my annual appeal for you to write the book on the history of Division III basketball.  Maybe someday...

[Greek Tragedy]

I don't really have too many memories of that Regional, but I made it down there for Friday's double-header. Point didn't play until Saturday, so I had a night available.

[HOPEful]

I don't really have too many memories of that Regional, but I made it down there for Friday's double-header. Point didn't play until Saturday, so I had a night available.

The following weekend I was at Point. Hope lost to Wash U, sadly, in what otherwise was a very good game.

[sac]

I don't really have too many memories of that Regional, but I made it down there for Friday's double-header. Point didn't play until Saturday, so I had a night available.

The following weekend I was at Point. Hope lost to Wash U, sadly, in what otherwise was a very very good frustrating game.

fixed it for you

[HOPEful]

I don't really have too many memories of that Regional, but I made it down there for Friday's double-header. Point didn't play until Saturday, so I had a night available.

The following weekend I was at Point. Hope lost to Wash U, sadly, in what otherwise was a very very good frustrating game.

fixed it for you

Thank you. Your version is indeed accurate. I can't decide if it was Van Solkema's 3 for 13 shooting, Vanderheide's 6 turnovers, or the whole team's inability to guard Sean Wallis that made the game so very very good

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The NCAA men's basketball regional advisory committees released their third set of rankings, and as expected, the Atlantic Region was among those getting shuffled. Here's the full list: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/men-regional-rankings-third

[Gregory Sager]

Hey, I had fun at that game. A bunch of us CCIW fans got together and claimed the seating section in Thornton in between the Hope and Calvin sections. We called ourselves "Switzerland". At the time we figured that it was the best chance most of us would ever have to witness a Rivalry game, although the best game of the weekend by far ended up being Calvin's 69-68 squeaker over the host Spartans.

This is where I post my annual appeal for you to write the book on the history of Division III basketball.  Maybe someday...

The Calvin vs. Aurora nailbiter featured one of my all-time favorite players, Larry Welton of the Spartans. Not only was he a pretty amazing player -- he scored over 2,000 points, was a three-time d3hoops.com All-American, and is AU's second-leading scorer all-time -- but he was a pretty amazing guy as well. He was a cancer survivor who'd hardly ever received playing time for his high school team, and I think that AU's James Lancaster was probably the only coach in the Chicagoland area who'd given him the time of day. The first time I saw Welton play was two years before the Rivalry came to Thornton; I saw him in a game against the University of Chicago, when he was a freshman, and I was pretty impressed by him. I next saw him play in the Lee Pfund tournament, Wheaton's annual season-opening tourney, at the start of his sophomore season (November, 2005). Welton had a 30 and 11 performance in an Aurora win over McMurry on Friday night, and then, in the championship game on Saturday, he had 12 and 8 as Aurora edged host Wheaton by a point.

It's pretty pro forma in the Pfund, as it is in most tourneys, to award the MVP of the tourney to the most outstanding player on the tourney's championship team. Before they gave the award to Welton, the Wheaton P.A. guy announced that the Pfund MVP award would hereafter be known as the Will Landry Memorial Award, named after a recent Wheaton player who had passed away two months earlier, and who had been known for how well he used to perform in the Pfund. When they announced Welton's name as the recipient of the award, he took it from Mr. and Mrs. Landry, who were on hand to present it, and carried it back to campus with him.

As the Around the Nation article about the incident continued:

When Welton got back to campus, he was puzzled by something. He didn't understand why he had been awarded the MVP when it was clear that he had been outplayed by Wheaton's Tony Bollier (who scored 56 points in the tournament's two games). Welton was told that the trophy always goes to a player from the winning team. Welton still felt strongly that Bollier was more worthy, and after learning that Bollier had played with Landry, Welton decided to do what he viewed as the right thing. He sent the trophy back to Wheaton, with a note saying that it truly belonged to Bollier this year.

It was one of the best acts of sportsmanship I've heard about in D3.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-04-01/sports/0504010210_1_comeback-award-cancer-research-lymph-system

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

That is awesome sportsmanship. Wow.

[fantastic50]

Looking at the new regional rankings, my first impression is that the CCIW caught a big break, with all four tournament teams staying regionally-ranked.  This should help IWU (and perhaps North Central) on the bubble, because they will now have more wins vRRO to count in the final rankings, even if Wheaton falls out of the top 8.

[fantastic50]

Looking at the new regional rankings, my first impression is that the CCIW caught a big break, with all four tournament teams staying regionally-ranked.  This should help IWU (and perhaps North Central) on the bubble, because they will now have more wins vRRO to count in the final rankings, even if Wheaton falls out of the top 8.

Also, UW-O and UW-SP get hit hard by the WIAC losing their 4th regionally-ranked team.  However, Wartburg's inclusion in the West region top eight turns Nebraska Wesleyan (now 3-1 vRRO) into a potential Pool C candidate, despite an awful non-conference schedule.

[fantastic50]

Locks & near-locks
100% (C#1) Hamilton (22-3, 7-3 NESCAC, SOS 0.567, 6-2 vRRO, NE#1) 22% A, proj. 0.846 / 0.573 / 7-3
100% (A) UW-Platteville (20-3, 12-2 WIAC, SOS 0.574, 4-1 vRRO, CE#2) 68% A, proj. 0.840 / 0.578 / 5-2
100% (C#2) Wesleyan (20-5, 7-3 NESCAC, SOS 0.583, 7-3 vRRO, NE#2) 18% A, proj. 0.769 / 0.590 / 8-4
100% (C#3) Williams (19-5, 7-3 NESCAC, SOS 0.587, 6-4 vRRO, NE#4) 29% A, proj. 0.760 / 0.596 / 6-5
100% (A) Whitman (24-0, 16-0 NWC, SOS 0.509, 4-0 vRRO, WE#1) 76% A, proj. 0.962 / 0.524 / 6-1
100% (A) Augustana (20-5, 12-4 CCIW, SOS 0.566, 6-3 vRRO, CE#3) 49% A, proj. 0.778 / 0.571 / 7-4
100% (A) Wittenberg (23-2, 16-2 NCAC, SOS 0.524, 5-1 vRRO, GL#1) 62% A, proj. 0.889 / 0.532 / 5-2
100% (C#4) Wooster (21-5, 14-4 NCAC, SOS 0.559, 4-2 vRRO, GL#2) 19% A, proj. 0.778 / 0.566 / 5-3
100% (C#5) Marietta (21-5, 14-4 OAC, SOS 0.557, 4-4 vRRO, GL#4) 35% A, proj. 0.786 / 0.568 / 6-5
100% (C#6) Middlebury (19-6, 7-3 NESCAC, SOS 0.585, 4-6 vRRO, NE#5) 0% A
100% (C#7) New Jersey City (19-7, 13-5 NJAC, SOS 0.568, 6-4 vRRO, AT#2) 0% A
100% (A) Cabrini (22-3, 16-2 CSAC, SOS 0.530, 2-1 vRRO, AT#1) 53% A, proj. 0.846 / 0.538 / 3-3
100% (A) John Carroll (21-5, 14-4 OAC, SOS 0.534, 5-2 vRRO, GL#3) 49% A, proj. 0.786 / 0.544 / 7-3
100% (C#8) Johns Hopkins (21-4, 15-3 CC, SOS 0.525, 4-3 vRRO, MA#4) 36% A, proj. 0.808 / 0.536 / 4-4
100% (A) Swarthmore (21-4, 15-3 CC, SOS 0.528, 3-3 vRRO, MA#5) 42% A, proj. 0.815 / 0.538 / 4-4
100% (A) Christopher Newport (20-5, 14-4 CAC, SOS 0.534, 3-1 vRRO, MA#2) 52% A, proj. 0.769 / 0.543 / 5-2
99% (A) Eastern Connecticut (22-3, 13-1 LEC, SOS 0.530, 4-1 vRRO, NE#3) 71% A, proj. 0.852 / 0.536 / 4-2
99% (A) St. John's (22-2, 19-1 MIAC, SOS 0.518, 3-1 vRRO, WE#2) 62% A, fin 100% C, semi 99% C
99% (C#9) York (Pa.) (21-4, 14-4 CAC, SOS 0.523, 3-1 vRRO, MA#1) 26% A, fin 100% C, semi 99% C

Strong contenders
98% (C#10) Emory (20-4, 11-2 UAA, SOS 0.523, 3-2 vRRO, SO#1) 0% A
98% (C#11) Whitworth (22-3, 14-2 NWC, SOS 0.514, 1-3 vRRO, WE#3) 18% A, fin 99% C, semi 95% C
90% (A) Albright (19-5, 12-4 MACC, SOS 0.542, 3-1 vRRO, MA#3) 53% A, fin 99% C, semi 82% C
88% (C#12) St. Olaf (19-6, 15-5 MIAC, SOS 0.535, 3-2 vRRO, WE#4) 15% A, fin 99% C, semi 80% C
80% (A) Plattsburgh State (20-4, 17-1 SUNYAC, SOS 0.520, 3-3 vRRO, EA#2) 60% A, fin 98% C, semi 60% C

Bubble-in
77% (C#13) Franklin and Marshall (20-5, 14-4 CC, SOS 0.523, 3-3 vRRO, MA#6) 16% A, fin 100% C, semi 70% C
76% (A) Hobart (21-4, 16-2 LL, SOS 0.525, 1-2 vRRO, EA#1) 69% A, fin 83% C, semi 66% C
69% (C#14) Illinois Wesleyan (19-6, 12-4 CCIW, SOS 0.547, 3-5 vRRO, CE#6) 19% A, fin 100% C, semi 54% C
67% (C#15) UW-Oshkosh (19-6, 9-5 WIAC, SOS 0.548, 2-3 vRRO, CE#4) 11% A, fin 100% C, semi 68% C, qtr 24% C
62% (A) Ramapo (19-6, 15-3 NJAC, SOS 0.538, 4-5 vRRO, AT#3) 51% A, fin 99% C, semi 32% C
62% (C#16) Loras (19-6, 12-4 IIAC, SOS 0.542, 2-3 vRRO, WE#7) 30% A, fin 79% C, semi 13% C
60% (A) Springfield (18-7, 12-2 NEWMAC, SOS 0.556, 4-2 vRRO, NE#6) 43% A, fin 83% C, semi 35% C
51% (C#17) UW-Stevens Point (17-8, 11-3 WIAC, SOS 0.604, 3-6 vRRO, CE#5) 14% A, fin 75% C, semi 27% C
51% (A) LeTourneau (22-3, 16-2 ASC, SOS 0.498, 2-2 vRRO, SO#4) 33% A, fin 88% C, semi 41% C, qtr 4% C
50% (A) Randolph-Macon (18-7, 12-4 ODAC, SOS 0.549, 3-3 vRRO, SO#2) 38% A, fin 85% C, semi 41% C, qtr 7% C

Bubble-out
47% (C#18) Gwynedd Mercy (20-5, 15-3 CSAC, SOS 0.512, 2-3 vRRO, AT#4) 25% A, fin 84% C, semi 6% C
39% (A) Salem State (22-3, 12-0 MASCAC, SOS 0.509, 1-2 vRRO, NE#10) 72% A, fin 53% C, semi 24% C
39% (C#19) MIT (20-5, 10-4 NEWMAC, SOS 0.528, 2-3 vRRO, NE#9) 34% A, fin 67% C, semi 13% C
39% (C#20) Brockport (19-6, 14-4 SUNYAC, SOS 0.530, 3-3 vRRO, EA#3) 28% A, fin 57% C, semi 5% C
33% (A) Amherst (17-7, 7-3 NESCAC, SOS 0.565, 4-5 vRRO, NE#7) 31% A, fin 70% C, semi 11% C
29% (A) Maryville (Tenn.) (18-5, 14-2 USAC, SOS 0.525, 1-2 vRRO, SO#6) 51% A, fin 64% C, semi 17% C, qtr 5% C
23% (A) Nebraska Wesleyan (21-3, 13-3 IIAC, SOS 0.500, 3-1 vRRO, WE#5) 57% A, fin 46% C, semi 4% C
23% (C#21) Sul Ross State (19-4, 14-3 ASC, SOS 0.510, 1-1 vRRO, SO#3) 32% A, fin 64% C, semi 8% C, qtr 2% C
21% (C#22) Keene State (18-8, 11-3 LEC, SOS 0.563, 2-5 vRRO, NE#8) 21% A, fin 33% C, semi 2% C

Fringe contenders
19% (C#23) Tufts (17-8, 6-4 NESCAC, SOS 0.581, 2-7 vRRO, NE#11) 0% A
14% (A) Nichols (23-3, 16-2 CCC, SOS 0.509, 0-1 vRRO, NE) 61% A, fin 20% C, semi 8% C
7% (C#24) Ripon (17-6, 14-4 MWC, SOS 0.525, 1-2 vRRO, CE) 30% A, fin 19% C, semi 2% C
6% (C#25) Augsburg (18-7, 13-7 MIAC, SOS 0.526, 3-3 vRRO, WE#6) 7% A, fin 47% C
5% (C#26) North Central (Ill.) (17-7, 11-5 CCIW, SOS 0.545, 3-4 vRRO, CE#7) 25% A, fin 13% C

Longshots
2% (C#27) Baldwin Wallace (18-8, 11-7 OAC, SOS 0.545, 3-5 vRRO, GL#6) 6% A, fin 10% C
1% (C#28) UW-River Falls (16-8, 7-7 WIAC, SOS 0.576, 2-6 vRRO, CE) 4% A, fin 12% C
1% (C#29) Methodist (17-5, 12-4 USAC, SOS 0.515, 0-1 vRRO, SO#8) 18% A, fin 3% C