Pool C

[sac]

fantasic50's karma is too low

[Ralph Turner]

fantasic50's karma is too low

I have been working on that, his and Darryl Nester's.

[Ralph Turner]

Factoid to remember come Bracketing Time (Considering the 2nd Regional Rankings).

Sul Ross State is South #3 and leading the ASC West. The only likely teams to make the playoff within 500 miles of Alpine TX are Schreiner, the SCAC conference leader, SCAC #2 UDallas and SCAC #3 Trinity.  I will guess that SRSU gets sent to another orphan island as the #2 team in the first round bracket, possibly to the Northwest Conference (Whitman), especially if Emory and R-MC do not falter.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

As the regular season draws ever closer to the end, the intensity of conference races increases. There are very few teams in both the men's and women's side of Division III basketball that seem comfortable at the top. With conference tournaments starting, being at the top is important, but it also comes with a big target.

This Thursday's Hoopsville is a special podcast edition - not live.

On the show, Dave talks to several coaches who teams seem like they have wrapped up their conferences races and one who may not be able to take the top spot, but is in great position to win it all their first time in the league.

We also talk to a coach who has more time than it seems anyone else. How she is using that time to help her school's SAAC in many ways and how that help is allowing the student-athletes at Southern Maine to give back to the school, the community, and many more.

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. You can listen to this week's podcast here: http://bit.ly/2EtvKH0

If you have questions, be sure to email them to hoopsville@d3hoops.com or interact with the show via the social media avenues.

A reminder, Hoopsville will return to live shows on Sunday, February 18, starting at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Guests include (in order of appearance):
- Pete Moran, No. 18 John Carroll men's coach
- Allison Coleman, Sage women's coach
- Samantha Allen, Southern Maine women's coach (WBCA Center Court)
- Trevor Woodruff, No. 13 Scranton women's coach

To get access to all the podcasts during the season, there are three ways (click on the images when necessary):
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/hoopsville



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[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Factoid to remember come Bracketing Time (Considering the 2nd Regional Rankings).

Sul Ross State is South #3 and leading the ASC West. The only likely teams to make the playoff within 500 miles of Alpine TX are Schreiner, the SCAC conference leader, SCAC #2 UDallas and SCAC #3 Trinity.  I will guess that SRSU gets sent to another orphan island as the #2 team in the first round bracket, possibly to the Northwest Conference (Whitman), especially if Emory and R-MC do not falter.

FYI - It will probably go to Whitworth, unless the Whitman women fall a part and aren't good enough to host.

[Smitty Oom]

Thanks for the kind words, folks.  In small-college basketball, as with high school football, I enjoy bringing my professional background to a sport that I enjoy.

This semester, I am teaching an upper-level course in data-driven mathematical modeling, and forecasting the Pool C berths (based on data I collected from the last five seasons, as well as current info) is one of several mini-projects that the students will complete.  It will be interesting to see their consensus, when Selection Monday comes around.

My collegiate math course work never included something as intriguing as this... sounds like a great project! Thanks for the all the great work, really appreciate it!

[ronk]

Thanks for the kind words, folks.  In small-college basketball, as with high school football, I enjoy bringing my professional background to a sport that I enjoy.

This semester, I am teaching an upper-level course in data-driven mathematical modeling, and forecasting the Pool C berths (based on data I collected from the last five seasons, as well as current info) is one of several mini-projects that the students will complete.  It will be interesting to see their consensus, when Selection Monday comes around.

You also might consider the next phase of the tourney as an experiment - after the field is selected, what should the bracketing and hosting be, given the constraints of  gender priority in a given year when both genders will be in the tourney, the 500-mile limit, 2 hosts in each region, if possible, the national aspect, etc? This is what provokes the most arguments annually, not who gets left out of the 22nd pool C berth.

[John Gleich]

Thanks for the kind words, folks.  In small-college basketball, as with high school football, I enjoy bringing my professional background to a sport that I enjoy.

This semester, I am teaching an upper-level course in data-driven mathematical modeling, and forecasting the Pool C berths (based on data I collected from the last five seasons, as well as current info) is one of several mini-projects that the students will complete.  It will be interesting to see their consensus when Selection Monday comes around.

You also might consider the next phase of the tourney as an experiment - after the field is selected, what should the bracketing and hosting be, given the constraints of  gender priority in a given year when both genders will be in the tourney, the 500-mile limit, 2 hosts in each region, if possible, the national aspect, etc? This is what provokes the most arguments annually, not who gets left out of the 22nd pool C berth.

The bracketing really becomes an Operations Research project - which reminds me of an organization at UWSP that uses Op Research to schedule for conferences:

Center for Athletic Scheduling

This wasn't around when I was at UWSP but I had Dr. Felt and was really intrigued by the possible applications of operations research.

I don't know if high school football/small school basketball playoff modeling could be monetized like the athletic scheduling has been (though their fees are so relatively low that they're likely just covering their costs).

[Ralph Turner]

Factoid to remember come Bracketing Time (Considering the 2nd Regional Rankings).

Sul Ross State is South #3 and leading the ASC West. The only likely teams to make the playoff within 500 miles of Alpine TX are Schreiner, the SCAC conference leader, SCAC #2 UDallas and SCAC #3 Trinity.  I will guess that SRSU gets sent to another orphan island as the #2 team in the first round bracket, possibly to the Northwest Conference (Whitman), especially if Emory and R-MC do not falter.

FYI - It will probably go to Whitworth, unless the Whitman women fall a part and aren't good enough to host.

Thanks for the heads-up.   

Well that is a first round bummer for an undefeated Whitman's men's team, but I think I would rather have second round home court advantage, kinda like deferring the choice of the football coin toss to the 2nd half...

[fantastic50]

Thanks for the kind words, folks.  In small-college basketball, as with high school football, I enjoy bringing my professional background to a sport that I enjoy.

This semester, I am teaching an upper-level course in data-driven mathematical modeling, and forecasting the Pool C berths (based on data I collected from the last five seasons, as well as current info) is one of several mini-projects that the students will complete.  It will be interesting to see their consensus when Selection Monday comes around.

You also might consider the next phase of the tourney as an experiment - after the field is selected, what should the bracketing and hosting be, given the constraints of  gender priority in a given year when both genders will be in the tourney, the 500-mile limit, 2 hosts in each region, if possible, the national aspect, etc? This is what provokes the most arguments annually, not who gets left out of the 22nd pool C berth.

The bracketing really becomes an Operations Research project - which reminds me of an organization at UWSP that uses Op Research to schedule for conferences:

Center for Athletic Scheduling

This wasn't around when I was at UWSP but I had Dr. Felt and was really intrigued by the possible applications of operations research.

I don't know if high school football/small school basketball playoff modeling could be monetized like the athletic scheduling has been (though their fees are so relatively low that they're likely just covering their costs).

Ohio HS football has a large following, so there have been possibilities of commercializing my website, but it seemed like more hassle than it was worth.  It's simpler and probably more enjoyable to focus just on producing quality content and allow media, etc. to reproduce it on their own sites as they wish.

Until I co-advised a related student summer project a few years back, I had no idea how challenging scheduling problems could be.
https://www.wooster.edu/academics/apex/experiential/amre/projects/2013/ncac/

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Factoid to remember come Bracketing Time (Considering the 2nd Regional Rankings).

Sul Ross State is South #3 and leading the ASC West. The only likely teams to make the playoff within 500 miles of Alpine TX are Schreiner, the SCAC conference leader, SCAC #2 UDallas and SCAC #3 Trinity.  I will guess that SRSU gets sent to another orphan island as the #2 team in the first round bracket, possibly to the Northwest Conference (Whitman), especially if Emory and R-MC do not falter.

FYI - It will probably go to Whitworth, unless the Whitman women fall a part and aren't good enough to host.

Thanks for the heads-up.   

Well that is a first round bummer for an undefeated Whitman's men's team, but I think I would rather have second round home court advantage, kinda like deferring the choice of the football coin toss to the 2nd half...

We discovered today that Dave got the years mixed up.  It's men's hosting priority this year.  Whitman will be all good.

[fantastic50]

The bubble may have softened slightly today, with losses by three teams that were on my "last few in" list.

Randolph-Macon loses at W&L
Franklin and Marshall loses at Swarthmore
Ramapo is idle
Albright defeats Lycoming in OT
UW-Oshkosh defeats UW-Stout
Maryville (Tenn.) is upset by Huntingdon in OT
Whitworth hosts Williamette (9:00 EST)
Illinois Wesleyan is at Carthage (8:00 EST)
Wheaton (Ill.) hosts North Central (8:00 EST)
Amherst barely survives #8 seed Bowdoin (NESCAC quarters)
Gwynedd Mercy defeats Centenary
Sul Ross State hosts Concordia (5:00 EST)
Tufts loses at Hamilton
Brockport defeats Cortland
LeTourneau is idle
Springfield defeats Babson
Loras is at Dubuque (5:00 EST)
Keene State defeats Mass-Dartmouth

[irapthor]

The bubble may have softened slightly today, with losses by three teams that were on my "last few in" list.

Randolph-Macon loses at W&L
Franklin and Marshall loses at Swarthmore
Ramapo is idle
Albright defeats Lycoming in OT
UW-Oshkosh defeats UW-Stout
Maryville (Tenn.) is upset by Huntingdon in OT
Whitworth hosts Williamette (9:00 EST)
Illinois Wesleyan is at Carthage (8:00 EST)
Wheaton (Ill.) hosts North Central (8:00 EST)
Amherst barely survives #8 seed Bowdoin (NESCAC quarters)
Gwynedd Mercy defeats Centenary
Sul Ross State hosts Concordia (5:00 EST)
Tufts loses at Hamilton
Brockport defeats Cortland
LeTourneau is idle
Springfield defeats Babson
Loras is at Dubuque (5:00 EST)
Keene State defeats Mass-Dartmouth

What happens to us at NJCU after getting upset for the second time this week, this time in the NJAC Quarters...

[fantastic50]

No worries for NJCU on getting into the tournament, but it might cost them the chance to host.

[John Gleich]

Stevens Point hurts their Pool C chances, losing at Eau Claire 56-55.

Point took the lead with 18 seconds left after trailing by 9 at the half but let EC get an uncontested layup with FOUR fouls to give under 10 seconds.

Platteville secures at least a share of the conference title before they even tip off... Oh, and they lead 38-17 at the half.

The Pios are GOOD.