Pool C

[Pat Coleman]

The major flaw of the QOWI is that it assumes a 15-1 team in one-region is the same as a 15-1 team in another.

Bingo -- exactly right.

Also, frankly, it assumes that a 15-1 team in one region is the same as a 15-7 team in another!

[formerbant10]

Smed,

You're forgetting that everyone outside of the NESCAC hates it, so they are a target to everyone.

Tufts played a tough out of conference schedule, pretty sure they opened up with Wittenberg.  So I agree that Tufts is not the best option for that argument.

And being from the NESCAC, I still know that the Great Lakes/Midwest regions are the toughest but they will get screwed when it comes to Pool C's because of how tough it is.

And again, when humans are judging/choosing, there will be something wrong every time.

[smedindy]

Believe me, I know it. And I'm sure if the NCAA altered the selection criteria the NESCAC would immediately alter their scheduling.

I'm all for automatic bids, for sure, but I really don't like the Pool B set aside, even if it is a small amount of bids, and I know the NCAA has enough jack to make it a truly national tourney and get the right pool C's in there if they wanted to. But like in football, it seems they don't want to.

[formerbant10]

I don't think there is anyway the NESCAC would change the way it plays. 

Look at the football schedule. 

Clearly the NESCAC does not care.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I don't think there is anyway the NESCAC would change the way it plays. 

Look at the football schedule. 

Clearly the NESCAC does not care.

I suspect you are correct.

BUT, if the NCAA passed a rule (suggested on another board) that a conference must have a double round-robin OR a minimum of 12 conference games (whichever is less) to participate in the bball tourney, considering the NESCAC's success in the bball tourney, do you think they would walk away, or adapt?

[formerbant10]

I think if there were still Pool B's the NESCAC would take all of them.

If there were only A's and C's, they might adapt.  But only b/c Williams won the whole thing a couple years back.

I know that the main reason for the lack of change (or what I've heard from some high level NESCAC characters) that the tradition of football is the main reason why there is no change.

The NESCAC didn't participate in the NCAA's in hoops for quite some time and I think that since they changed that rule in the 90's they would most likely comply with the new rules.

I know that Trinity is complying with the new rule that states every team must have a white home uniform by next season and the mandatory hanging of NCAA banners, so I believe they would go along with how the baseball teams play in the NESCAC to limit the traveling and missed classes.

[Ralph Turner]

I would be really surprised if Randolph Macon didn't get in.  Right now they only have two teams ahead of them in the rankings (Virginia Wes. obviously getting the AQ).  Don't know much about Miss. Coll., but looks like they were running away with that league, so I wouldn't anticipate an upset there...Trinity as well.  Not sure about them or that conference.  I'm Turner could fill us in on those two teams' chances of running the conference tourney tables.

Old School, I saw the first half of the MissColl-UTDallas game last Saturday.  The Choctaws worked to a quick 15-point lead which they held thruout the last 25 minutes of the game.

MissColl is a Top 10 school.  They drive 540 miles to Brownwood for the conference tourney at Howard Payne.  Their only regular season loss was at Mary Hardin-Baylor (a 1100-mile road trip) on a Decmeber Saturday while the students were still on campus, before a good crowd of 850 (only 2 crowds of 1000 this year and another crowd of 850.)  Also, UMHB had pre-season First Team All Conference Senior point guard Brandon Gatlin, who was lost to grades later at the semester break.

Their average victory margin is 16.6 points per game.  They are 11 players deep, i.e., playing > 10 mpg, and no one >21 mpg.  The 2005 FOTY is in the second line of players.  MissColl has height that they haven't had in previous trips into the Sweet 16.  They seem to be even more athletic than usual.  They press very hard.

I think that Miss College may be sent to the Great Lakes.  I will not make a prediction on MissColl in the Great Lakes Sectional, where every game will be a real road game, where the Chocs fans are out-numbered 20-1.

However, if Miss College is sent to the Atlantic Seaboard or sent to the West Coast, then I will not be surprised if they make the Final Four.

I have not been tooting the Chocs' horn because we ASC teams have only 1 Elite 8 and 3 Sweet 16's in the last 6 years.   That is good, but nothing to boast on these boards!

[Ralph Turner]

Believe me, I know it. And I'm sure if the NCAA altered the selection criteria the NESCAC would immediately alter their scheduling.

I'm all for automatic bids, for sure, but I really don't like the Pool B set aside, even if it is a small amount of bids, and I know the NCAA has enough jack to make it a truly national tourney and get the right pool C's in there if they wanted to. But like in football, it seems they don't want to.

Unrelated, tangential, opportunisitic, temporally-related cheap shot...

No malice intended, but I couldn't pass this up.

Why doesn't the NCAC play a single round-robin in football then?  Only 7 conference games?

Thank you.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I think that Miss College may be sent to the Great Lakes. 

Holy smoke, Batman, the Great Lakes posters are pleading for top teams to get sent OUT of the region, and you think another top ten team may be ADDED to the region?!

Ralph, has the NCAA no heart at all?!

Now, how in the world did I screw that up?  The last 2/3 above are me, not Ralph!

[Ralph Turner]

I think that Miss College may be sent to the Great Lakes. 

Holy smoke, Batman, the Great Lakes posters are pleading for top teams to get sent OUT of the region, and you think another top ten team may be ADDED to the region?!

Ralph, has the NCAA no heart at all?!

Mr. Ypsi, thanks for the inspiration.  I checked the map, and there is no likely venue where Miss Coll can be "bussed" to play a Sectional.

Assuming the form charts hold true, I now think that Miss Coll will be sent to York for the Sectional.  (Has York PA submitted the paperwork?)

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ralph,

You sorted out (and attributed) the quotations very nicely!  I've never had that screw-up happen before - any idea what I did so my response ended up in the box?  And what did you do to fix it?

[Pat Coleman]

I think that Miss College may be sent to the Great Lakes. 

Holy smoke, Batman, the Great Lakes posters are pleading for top teams to get sent OUT of the region, and you think another top ten team may be ADDED to the region?!

Ralph, has the NCAA no heart at all?!

Mr. Ypsi, thanks for the inspiration.  I checked the map, and there is no likely venue where Miss Coll can be "bussed" to play a Sectional.

Assuming the form charts hold true, I now think that Miss Coll will be sent to York for the Sectional.  (Has York PA submitted the paperwork?)

It can submit forms for a sectional but its building is insufficient to host that deep in the tourney.

[smedindy]

Why doesn't the NCAC play a single round-robin in football then?  Only 7 conference games?

We obviously think it's better to spread the love around. Well, until the NCAC and the UAA had their scheduling cotillion.

So then, I think that's to put a finger in the eye of the OAC. Like "we don't need YOU!"


Ah, well...

[Mr. Ypsi]

PROBABLY good news for fans of other conferences: Pomona-Pitzer beat Occidental tonight, giving the AQ to Claremont.

It's not so much that Claremont is the winner, but, prior to tonight Oxy looked like a tough pool C competitor.  Does anyone want to make an argument that either Oxy or PP is a viable pool C competitor? 

(This is not meant to be pejorative - I'm just wondering if people feel either of these teams need to be kept on the watch list.)

[smedindy]

I just wonder what is going on in Oxy land?