Pool C

[Ralph Turner]

Greg - not saying they need to start handing them out... just stating that it becomes a strong option due to the fact that D3 doesn't hold them back. Just an observation... don't parsec it otherwise .

But I do point out that I have had two guests on Hoopsville this season alone that have been former coaches at NWU that have stated they have made efforts to join a D3 conference and been denied. I believe that NWU wants to get out of the NAIA league and be a full member of D3... and the SCAC seems to make sense to me.
As for teams with low levels of regional games... Maine-Presque Isle is in a similar boat as NWU... they would probably apply for a waiver.

Also, per Hope... they can solve that easily. I have been frustrated with their schedule for years... and the reasons giving for why they can't get more D3 opponents is hard to keep listening to... when their women's team seems to get plenty of opponents in non-conference action, each year. Some of these schools need to buck up and figure it out... and not hide behind reasons that just sound more hollow then usual.

Respectfully, the SCAC is quaickly coming around to a nice "compact" conference.

I am waiting for Colorado College finally to move to D-II. They will have home for their scholarship men's hockey and really cut down their travel. CC has the block system where students only study one course at a time.  Travel had to be a real problem to Danville KY and Conway Arkansas.

The only thing that the SCAC needs after CC leaves will be for LeTourneau (whom may observers wondered if they did not get "feelers" to join).

Travel partners could be:

Trinity - Texas Lutheran  -- 40 miles apart
Southwestern - Schreiiner -- 90 miles apart and no traffic
UDallas - Austin College -- 60 miles apart
Centernary -LeTourneau -- 60 miles apart.

Football will take care of itself. The rest of the athletic programs will greatly benefit by many fewer nights on the road, if they decide to go with a Thursday/Friday or a Friday/Saturday format from the current formats in the ASC and the SCAC.

Nebraska Wesleyan just is not a match, unless they and Colorado College bring Football teams.

[Ralph Turner]

Also, per Hope... they can solve that easily. I have been frustrated with their schedule for years... and the reasons giving for why they can't get more D3 opponents is hard to keep listening to... when their women's team seems to get plenty of opponents in non-conference action, each year. Some of these schools need to buck up and figure it out... and not hide behind reasons that just sound more hollow then usual.

But even you can admit it's ridiculous that five of the closest twelve (non-conference) D3 schools are out-of-region for Calvin.

Going out to 300 miles, Calvin could find 17 in-region games, and 13 out-of-region games. Only 57% of the closest 30 schools are in-region!

Only two non-con GL region teams are within 250 miles (but 13 MW region schools are).

... which brings us back to the "adjacent state" solution as we have in D-II.

[Gregory Sager]

Ralph, I thought that Concordia of Austin was the next ASC school in line to get poached by invited into the SCAC, not LeTourneau?

[Just Bill]

Maranatha Baptist really doesn't have a good excuse; it seems to play most or all of its non-con games against Bible schools every year rather than local D3 competition. (This is true in other sports as well.) It's not that hard for a team in central Wisconsin to find D3 games outside the circuit. I don't think that Maranatha schedules Bible schools for easy wins; I think it's more of an institutional kinship thing. Maranatha always strikes me as a school that values its NCCAA membership a lot more than it does its NCAA D3 membership.

I can give you an answer on Maranatha Baptist. They have no interest in trying to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Their main focus is the NCCAA Tournament. Their membership in the NCAA is mostly a matter of scheduling convenience and travel cost savings. In order to be elgible for the NCCAA Tournament they have to play a certain number of games against Christian schools so that eats up their non-conference schedule. By being in the NCAA and the NathCon, they get an automatic 16 games scheduled per year, which are generally close and tougher competition than they face from many Christian schools. In fact, in the NCCAA power rating systems, they get credit just for playing D-III's even if they don't beat them. It's often why MBBC can be 10-16 overall and end up a #3 seed at the NCCAA Tournament.

Easier scheduling, less travel money spent, competition which makes them better, accumulate a resume toward the NCCAA Tournament. So win-win-win all the way around for MBBC. If someday they actually won the NathCon Tournament, I'm not sure what they'd do. They might actually decline the bid.

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph, I thought that Concordia of Austin was the next ASC school in line to get poached by invited into the SCAC, not LeTourneau?

CTx might jump if they were asked.  I think that LeTU was only the early list...no sources from anyone that people might assume from me tho'.

The break-up of the ASC into a more manageable size may help this part of the country.

I think that CTX is more likely to add football than LeTU.

[hickory_cornhusker]

Maranatha Baptist really doesn't have a good excuse; it seems to play most or all of its non-con games against Bible schools every year rather than local D3 competition. (This is true in other sports as well.) It's not that hard for a team in central Wisconsin to find D3 games outside the circuit. I don't think that Maranatha schedules Bible schools for easy wins; I think it's more of an institutional kinship thing. Maranatha always strikes me as a school that values its NCCAA membership a lot more than it does its NCAA D3 membership.

I can give you an answer on Maranatha Baptist. They have no interest in trying to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Their main focus is the NCCAA Tournament. Their membership in the NCAA is mostly a matter of scheduling convenience and travel cost savings. In order to be elgible for the NCCAA Tournament they have to play a certain number of games against Christian schools so that eats up their non-conference schedule. By being in the NCAA and the NathCon, they get an automatic 16 games scheduled per year, which are generally close and tougher competition than they face from many Christian schools. In fact, in the NCCAA power rating systems, they get credit just for playing D-III's even if they don't beat them. It's often why MBBC can be 10-16 overall and end up a #3 seed at the NCCAA Tournament.

Easier scheduling, less travel money spent, competition which makes them better, accumulate a resume toward the NCCAA Tournament. So win-win-win all the way around for MBBC. If someday they actually won the NathCon Tournament, I'm not sure what they'd do. They might actually decline the bid.

They'd have to make the decision before that. Their NCCAA regional tournament was Thu-Sat this past weekend. The NAthCon semifinals would conflict with it. Every year I wonder what they would do if they qualified for the NAthCon Tournament.

[Gregory Sager]

Maranatha Baptist really doesn't have a good excuse; it seems to play most or all of its non-con games against Bible schools every year rather than local D3 competition. (This is true in other sports as well.) It's not that hard for a team in central Wisconsin to find D3 games outside the circuit. I don't think that Maranatha schedules Bible schools for easy wins; I think it's more of an institutional kinship thing. Maranatha always strikes me as a school that values its NCCAA membership a lot more than it does its NCAA D3 membership.

I can give you an answer on Maranatha Baptist. They have no interest in trying to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Their main focus is the NCCAA Tournament. Their membership in the NCAA is mostly a matter of scheduling convenience and travel cost savings. In order to be elgible for the NCCAA Tournament they have to play a certain number of games against Christian schools so that eats up their non-conference schedule. By being in the NCAA and the NathCon, they get an automatic 16 games scheduled per year, which are generally close and tougher competition than they face from many Christian schools. In fact, in the NCCAA power rating systems, they get credit just for playing D-III's even if they don't beat them.

Easier scheduling, less travel money spent, competition which makes them better, accumulate a resume toward the NCCAA Tournament. So win-win-win all the way around for MBBC. If someday they actually won the NathCon Tournament, I'm not sure what they'd do. They might actually decline the bid.

If Maranatha Baptist ever won the NAthCon tourney, the Crusaders wouldn't have to worry about whether or not to accept the D3 tourney bid -- because such an outcome would mean that the End Times would be upon us, and the entire team and coaching staff would have been Raptured at the final buzzer of the NAthCon championship game.

Seriously, though, thanks for the 411, Bill. It appears that MBBC does indeed have a good excuse for scheduling the way it does. It's just not a good excuse as far as D3 is concerned.

Ralph, I thought that Concordia of Austin was the next ASC school in line to get poached by invited into the SCAC, not LeTourneau?

CTx might jump if they were asked.  I think that LeTU was only the early list...no sources from anyone that people might assume from me tho'.

The break-up of the ASC into a more manageable size may help this part of the country.

I think that CTX is more likely to add football than LeTU.

That would make sense. As a Christian tech school, LeTourneau fits a pretty specific niche, and it might be hard to recruit in such high numbers as football requires, given that niche. Also, LeTourneau's small ($10m) endowment makes me wonder if the school would have a hard time meeting the start-up costs involved with creating a football program.

[Just Bill]

By the way, using NathCon reminded me that the Northern Athletics Conference is considering changing their name to avoid confusion with the North Atlantic Conference. I'm hopeful they might just keep the full name, but adopt the term "NathCon" as an everyday use name, but I have a feeling they'll do something not as interesting and add another letter or something.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

By the way, using NathCon reminded me that the Northern Athletics Conference is considering changing their name to avoid confusion with the North Atlantic Conference. I'm hopeful they might just keep the full name, but adopt the term "NathCon" as an everyday use name, but I have a feeling they'll do something not as interesting and add another letter or something.

My favorite, NAsCon never quite stuck.  I was really pushing for it hard there at the beginning.

[sac]

Also, per Hope... they can solve that easily. I have been frustrated with their schedule for years... and the reasons giving for why they can't get more D3 opponents is hard to keep listening to... when their women's team seems to get plenty of opponents in non-conference action, each year. Some of these schools need to buck up and figure it out... and not hide behind reasons that just sound more hollow then usual.

Really......12 years of having their coach in an interview on your radio show answering the same  questions discussing regional games and you still just don't get it.

[Pat Coleman]

Hope was on the show answering scheduling questions in 2001?

[Ralph Turner]

By the way, using NathCon reminded me that the Northern Athletics Conference is considering changing their name to avoid confusion with the North Atlantic Conference. I'm hopeful they might just keep the full name, but adopt the term "NathCon" as an everyday use name, but I have a feeling they'll do something not as interesting and add another letter or something.

Those schools are pretty close to Lake Michigan...

How about calling themselves the "Lake Michigan Conference"?   

[Gregory Sager]

By the way, using NathCon reminded me that the Northern Athletics Conference is considering changing their name to avoid confusion with the North Atlantic Conference. I'm hopeful they might just keep the full name, but adopt the term "NathCon" as an everyday use name, but I have a feeling they'll do something not as interesting and add another letter or something.

Those schools are pretty close to Lake Michigan...

How about calling themselves the "Lake Michigan Conference"?   

It's always thrifty to recycle.

Hope was on the show answering scheduling questions in 2001?

D-Mac, they're on to you! Better hide the time machine!

[KnightSlappy]

Average number of regional games:

23.4   D3 AVG
   
21.7   WE
22.9   SO
23.1   GL
23.2   MW
23.9   MA
24.2   AT
24.2   EA
24.5   NE
   
12.8   IND
18.9   MIAA
19.1   SCIAC
19.9   NWC
21.0   SLIAC
22.4   MWC
22.6   UMAC
22.7   NEAC
23.0   ASC
23.0   CCIW
23.1   ODAC
23.1   USAC
23.4   LAND
23.4   MACC
23.5   SCAC
23.6   IIAC
23.7   LL
23.7   NESCAC
23.8   CAC
23.8   PrAC
23.9   MACF
24.0   E8
24.0   NEWMAC
24.1   NATHC
24.2   AMCC
24.2   NJAC
24.2   OAC
24.2   CUNYAC
24.3   CC
24.3   NAC
24.4   UAA
24.6   NECC
24.6   WIAC
24.6   MASCAC
24.7   NCAC
24.9   SKY
25.0   CSAC
25.0   MIAC
25.1   HCAC
25.1   SUNYAC
25.1   LEC
25.2   CCC
25.9   GNAC

[KnightSlappy]

As you can see, HCAC, NCAC, and OAC all currently schedule more regional games than the average D3 teams does. Do they have room in their schedule to accept calls from the MIAA? Do they want to drive past those other Ohio and Indiana schools to head up to Michigan with regularity?

Obviously the MIAA teams are not without blame either. Many, many of us would like to see more D3 games scheduled.

Non-Calvin or Hope MIAA teams averaged 19.3 games, with a max of 21.