Pool C

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Championship weekend is usually not considered in any season.

Confirming for folks that we were told this for football as well. Whether the Texas Stagg would have potentially required one flight or two, it wasn't counted against the total flights projected for the bracket.

Good to have that confirmation as well.

Championship weekends are usually not used to hurt the rest of the bracket financially. Yes, it could "open" some things up (like in football with the assumption of UMHB), but I've always been told the NCAA doesn't feel hamstringing committees due to location is the best policy. It could also affect who would want to host in the future and who committees would choose if they know the flight allotment/spending would be affected.

[SaintPaulite]

Championship weekend is usually not considered in any season.

Confirming for folks that we were told this for football as well. Whether the Texas Stagg would have potentially required one flight or two, it wasn't counted against the total flights projected for the bracket.

Doesn't it seem like that's wrong, though? In Salem, you usually had 1 team within 500 miles (Mount Union) and 1 not. Is flying an additional team suddenly free because it's later in the tournament? A damn world of difference between traveling a football team and a basketball team too. You could probably fly half the tournament for what it costs to travel a football team.

[KnightSlappy]

My suggestion for fully funding a D3 basketball bracket is to end D3 football (the sport, not the dot com). It's not real anyway (because if it was real, Calvin would have it).

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Championship weekend is usually not considered in any season.

Confirming for folks that we were told this for football as well. Whether the Texas Stagg would have potentially required one flight or two, it wasn't counted against the total flights projected for the bracket.

Doesn't it seem like that's wrong, though? In Salem, you usually had 1 team within 500 miles (Mount Union) and 1 not. Is flying an additional team suddenly free because it's later in the tournament? A damn world of difference between traveling a football team and a basketball team too. You could probably fly half the tournament for what it costs to travel a football team.

Look at it as two different budgets. There is a budget for the tournament. There is a budget for the final four. They don't impact each other.

Usually football is the costliest tournament each year to run ... men's and women's basketball the next costliest.

[SaintPaulite]

My suggestion for fully funding a D3 basketball bracket is to end D3 football (the sport, not the dot com). It's not real anyway (because if it was real, Calvin would have it).

Or just advance the top seeds in each bracket to the semifinals and start there. So basically like D1 only without the pointless post-season exhibitions.

[SaintPaulite]

Championship weekend is usually not considered in any season.

Confirming for folks that we were told this for football as well. Whether the Texas Stagg would have potentially required one flight or two, it wasn't counted against the total flights projected for the bracket.

Doesn't it seem like that's wrong, though? In Salem, you usually had 1 team within 500 miles (Mount Union) and 1 not. Is flying an additional team suddenly free because it's later in the tournament? A damn world of difference between traveling a football team and a basketball team too. You could probably fly half the tournament for what it costs to travel a football team.

Look at it as two different budgets. There is a budget for the tournament. There is a budget for the final four. They don't impact each other.

Usually football is the costliest tournament each year to run ... men's and women's basketball the next costliest.

That's extremely stupid though, because the final four is part of the tournament.

If you spend less for the final four, logically you should have more to spend on the rest of the tournament. Anything else is military-level budget inefficiency.

[SaintPaulite]

In a related story to all of this, as a result of Tuesday's results, it's even more difficult to put together a seed-true bracket, because Loras is now in the top 16, so rather than using them as a 2 seed host, they're actually positioned such that they should be a host unless geography prevents it. Pomona-Pitzer is also top 16 (they were before as well), which is why if the committee was willing to pair them and Emory rather than Whitman, it would really help the competitive balance in the bracket.

Even at this, without having a couple of extra 2 seed hosts for geography reasons, it gets very difficult to see how you slot in the 3 and 4 seeds in a pod.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

They are in someone's mock top 16 ... not necessarily the national committee's Top 16.

[Pat Coleman]

It's really better to have 3-seed hosts than 2-seed hosts, which is unfortunate because Loras is ideally located to help the committee. A 2-seed host could be close enough to the best team in a pod that the home court pushes them over, where that's less likely with a 3-seed host.

[SaintPaulite]

They are in someone's mock top 16 ... not necessarily the national committee's Top 16.

Drew's, to be specific.

It's not hard to reckon why they are with the wins they have. And everyone down in that range have taken a few losses.

But it doesn't really help much if you say that Emory or someone is in the top 16 instead. Basically Marietta fell out which is a pretty easily reachable location, and they're likely replaced by someone less central.

EDIT TO ADD: Loras up to 3rd in the West regional rankings, btw. So apparently Drew isn't the only one that (likely) has them top 16 nationally. But hey, what would we do without pointless snark?

[SaintPaulite]

It's really better to have 3-seed hosts than 2-seed hosts, which is unfortunate because Loras is ideally located to help the committee. A 2-seed host could be close enough to the best team in a pod that the home court pushes them over, where that's less likely with a 3-seed host.

Doesn't seem like that's how it's actually been done, though, at least in the last few brackets.

[SaintPaulite]

Championship weekend is usually not considered in any season.

Confirming for folks that we were told this for football as well. Whether the Texas Stagg would have potentially required one flight or two, it wasn't counted against the total flights projected for the bracket.

Doesn't it seem like that's wrong, though? In Salem, you usually had 1 team within 500 miles (Mount Union) and 1 not. Is flying an additional team suddenly free because it's later in the tournament? A damn world of difference between traveling a football team and a basketball team too. You could probably fly half the tournament for what it costs to travel a football team.

Look at it as two different budgets. There is a budget for the tournament. There is a budget for the final four. They don't impact each other.

Usually football is the costliest tournament each year to run ... men's and women's basketball the next costliest.

I wonder how this will change now that baseball has gone to super regional format.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The third public NCAA Division III regional rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2019/02/men-regional-rankings-third

[SaintPaulite]

The third public NCAA Division III regional rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2019/02/men-regional-rankings-third

How far do we reckon Marietta fell? Surely behind Wooster and Capital at least now, if not Wittenberg also.

[Pat Coleman]

It's really better to have 3-seed hosts than 2-seed hosts, which is unfortunate because Loras is ideally located to help the committee. A 2-seed host could be close enough to the best team in a pod that the home court pushes them over, where that's less likely with a 3-seed host.

Doesn't seem like that's how it's actually been done, though, at least in the last few brackets.

I haven't made a study of it.