Pool C

[David Collinge]

I think that Ohio still invites every team to their tournaments.  Of course, there's five or six classifications, with a tournament for each, but no matter how woeful you are you get a shot. 

At least it was that way when I was in high school.  And despite the fact that every bottom feeder is somewhere in the bracket, in the very first round my H.S. team (ranked something like #17 in the state) was paired up against the state's #8-ranked team.  After we beat them by 20-something, our next game was against the top-ranked and undefeated team that had received a first-round bye in our little 3-team sectional.  (We beat them, too.    We ended up losing in the next round to a team whose record was 15-14.  Go figger.)

Why was our bracket so ridiculous?  Geography.  The brackets were set up by geography, and the 3 schools in question (West Holmes, Coshocton, and River View, for Ohio nitpickers) are geographic neighbors.

What's my point?  Even if the NCAA opened the barn door and let everyone have their shot, it doesn't mean we wouldn't still have a ridiculously loaded GL bracket, or avoid seeing a York-calibre team in the Final Four. 

[hugenerd]

I played high school ball in Ohio also and it is still the same way.  My former squad made the final 8 or 16 of the large school division (DI) a few years back after going something like 12-8 in the regular season.

[Greek Tragedy]

The NJAC is going back to the two division format next year.  They will play the other four teams in their division twice and the five in the other division once for a total of 13 conference games instead of 18.  I hate to say it but they are playing the system like the NESCAC, but not as bad in my eyes.

Divisions are one thing...the NESCAC is another.  I think the MWC had divisions at one time.  The only complaint you'd have in divisions is that, "we played them on the road and you got them at home" in regards to playing a team in the other division. 

I assume the conference tourney would be Pool A #1 vs. Pool B #2 and Pool B #1 vs. Pool A #2, like the SEC?

I don't have that much of a problem with divisional play, though a league like the MIAC that has 11 still plays a full double round robin.  If there is 10 teams, I'd rather have divisions than have an unbalanced double round robin.

Maybe we'd get off the NESCAC's back a little if they broke that 10 team league into two divisions of 5 and played 13 games! 

[Knightstalker]

It is a six team tournament.  Top two seeds get a bye.  Three hosts six, four hosts five.  One hosts the winner of three v six, and two hosts the winner of four v five.  The highest remaining seed hosts the championship.

[TheFence]

Wow, I got offline for a day and look what transpired.  Ralph that was very impressive, and exactly what one needs to try and predict the future.  Of course it's way to early for that stuff but fun to look at anyway.

The biggest conclusion I have from all this most of you experts already knew.  The NESCAC teams are at huge advantage for 2 reasons.  #1 their league schedule and #2. they are by far the class confernece in their region so there in region records will be very good as thier competition is step below some other areas of the country. 

I'll also stick my convictions and say that their has be a handful of conferences that should only get 1 team in no matter who gets upset in conference tourneys.  Does anyone have a solid idea who those conferences are or have been in the past.

[Pat Coleman]

Alright, I got sidetracked from posting these yesterday but they are indeed accurate going into Friday's games.

The QOWI through games of Thursday, Feb., 2:

1-10
Augustana     11.765
Lawrence    11.600
Worcester Polytech    11.556
Occidental    11.444
Cortland State    11.412
Amherst    11.235
Wittenberg    11.067
St. John Fisher    11.000
Carnegie Mellon    11.000
York (Pa.)    10.941
               
11-20
Fisk    10.900
Mississippi College    10.824
Illinois Wesleyan    10.786
Trinity (Texas)    10.667
Tufts    10.667
Baruch    10.611
Wooster    10.563
New York University    10.529
Hope    10.500
Bates    10.471
               
21-30
Lincoln    10.467
Baldwin-Wallace    10.444
Transylvania    10.421
Gordon    10.412
UW-La Crosse    10.400
Washington U.    10.333
William Paterson    10.278
Wartburg    10.235
Albion    10.222
North Central    10.077
               
31-40
UW-Stout    10.063
Keene State    10.059
Williams    10.056
Virginia Wesleyan    10.050
Catholic    10.000
Carroll    10.000
Howard Payne    9.941
Maryville (Tenn.)    9.889
Trinity (Conn.)    9.857
Willamette    9.846
               
41-50
Puget Sound    9.833
Endicott    9.813
Hanover    9.800
Johns Hopkins    9.750
Randolph-Macon    9.722
Calvin    9.714
MIT    9.706
Plymouth State    9.700
Southwestern    9.667
St. Thomas    9.667
               
51-60
Lake Erie    9.643
New Jersey    9.625
Alvernia    9.588
Carleton    9.563
Utica    9.563
Salem State    9.556
UW-Whitewater    9.533
Rhode Island College    9.526
Averett    9.500
Widener    9.500
               
61-70
Richard Stockton    9.471
Westfield State    9.444
UW-Oshkosh    9.412
SUNY-Farmingdale    9.400
Lakeland    9.389
Ursinus    9.389
Albright    9.375
Norwich    9.375
Coe    9.357
Rochester    9.357
               
71-80
Elizabethtown    9.353
Nebraska Wesleyan    9.333
Elmhurst    9.313
Mary Hardin-Baylor    9.294
Wheaton (Mass.)    9.278
Christopher Newport    9.250
Franklin    9.235
Milwaukee Engineering    9.235
Rutgers-Newark    9.211
Loras    9.188
               
81-90
Oswego State    9.176
New Jersey City    9.167
Bluffton    9.154
Whitworth    9.125
Messiah    9.118
Chicago    9.077
Brockport State    9.071
Hamilton    9.071
Wilkes    9.071
Coast Guard    9.056
               
91-100
Muskingum    9.000
Mount St. Mary    9.000
McMurry    9.000
Brandeis    8.944
UW-Stevens Point    8.941
Plattsburgh State    8.933
Mary Washington    8.917
Pomona-Pitzer    8.900
Mass-Boston    8.882
Bowdoin    8.875

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The NESCAC certainly isn't always the class of the region (even though the #1 NESCAC team usually is, this year they just have a ton of really good teams (5 in the top 40 of QOWI before the weekend).

As far as the NE region goes, people can rest easy now.  The LEC officially entered one bid territory and the NEWMAC and CCC are perilously close to being two bids only if the leaders lose.  Four will be the max Pool C bids from the NE and that is still only if there are a couple of upsets.

[Pat Coleman]

1-10
Amherst     11.632
Lawrence    11.529
Worcester Polytech    11.526
Augustana    11.444
St. John Fisher    11.250
Mississippi College    11.167
Occidental    11.100
Cortland State    11.053
Carnegie Mellon    11.000
York (Pa.)    10.947
               
11-20
Trinity (Texas)    10.929
Tufts    10.842
Fisk    10.818
Wooster    10.706
Lincoln    10.688
Hope    10.615
Illinois Wesleyan    10.600
Baldwin-Wallace    10.526
Wittenberg    10.500
Baruch    10.474
               
21-30
Transylvania    10.450
Howard Payne    10.389
Gordon    10.333
UW-La Crosse    10.333
UW-Stout    10.294
William Paterson    10.263
Virginia Wesleyan    10.238
Bates    10.167
Carroll    10.111
Catholic    10.059
               
31-40
New York University    10.053
Williams    10.050
Trinity (Conn.)    10.000
North Central    9.933
Puget Sound    9.923
Albion    9.900
Washington U.    9.857
Widener    9.789
Alvernia    9.789
Carleton    9.778
               
41-50
Johns Hopkins    9.765
Wartburg    9.722
Lakeland    9.722
Rochester    9.688
St. Thomas    9.650
New Jersey    9.647
Endicott    9.647
Calvin    9.625
UW-Whitewater    9.625
Willamette    9.600
               
51-60
SUNY-Farmingdale    9.588
Randolph-Macon    9.579
Southwestern    9.563
Messiah    9.556
Maryville (Tenn.)    9.556
Hanover    9.500
UW-Oshkosh    9.500
Richard Stockton    9.474
Ursinus    9.474
Whitworth    9.444
               
61-70
Lake Erie    9.438
Brockport State    9.438
Salem State    9.421
Coe    9.400
Keene State    9.389
Mary Hardin-Baylor    9.389
Utica    9.389
Nebraska Wesleyan    9.333
Albright    9.294
Plymouth State    9.286
               
71-80
MIT    9.278
Christopher Newport    9.250
UW-Stevens Point    9.222
Rhode Island College    9.200
Hamilton    9.188
Elmhurst    9.176
Mount St. Mary    9.167
McMurry    9.167
Westfield State    9.158
Mary Washington    9.154
               
81-90
Ohio Northern    9.125
Averett    9.067
Norwich    9.059
Muskingum    9.056
New Jersey City    9.053
Brandeis    9.050
Franklin    9.000
Rutgers-Newark    9.000
Baptist Bible    9.000
Hardin-Simmons    9.000
               
91-100
Elizabethtown    9.000
Wilmington    8.952
Wheaton (Mass.)    8.947
Emmanuel    8.944
Milwaukee Engineering    8.944
Villa Julie    8.938
Oswego State    8.889
Mass-Boston    8.889
Elms    8.882
King's    8.842

[Greek Tragedy]

Very nice, Pat.  Thanks.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

There's five NESCAC teams in the top 33.  That's nuts.

[Ralph Turner]

There's five NESCAC teams in the top 33.  That's nuts.

That bespeaks a very weak Northeast Region!

[Coach C]

Any thoughts as to how the new CCIW playoff will affect Pool c bids?

C

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It will give less teams a chance to get in with the extra loss and all.  Although it could hurt everyone else is the regular season champ goes down.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Anyone know what time the rankings are supposed to be released?

[Greek Tragedy]

It will give less teams a chance to get in with the extra loss and all.  Although it could hurt everyone else is the regular season champ goes down.

Ironically, the reason the SIDs or whoever decided it, was to give the CCIW a better chance of getting an additional team in!

Anyone know what time the rankings are supposed to be released?

They still have last year's Feb. 23rd regional rankings up...

Regional Rankings

The d3hoops.com site must be moving up in the world because the NCAA site actually has it listed as Division III Coach's Poll-D3hoops.com Top 25, which I don't think is entirely accurate.

As I typed this post, they did just update the "Coach's Poll" from last week to Feb. 7th...that's a good sign!