Pool C

[Knightstalker]

I will try to find something out on wednesday night.  A friend of mine has a couple of connections there, I will put a bug in his ear.

[formerbant10]

formerbant,

Your reasoning for the NESCAC decision would make sense except that all the conference teams played AT LEAST 24 games.  Why would playing conference opponents be different from playing non-conference opponents?

Ypsi, it doesn't make sense in a lot of minds.  I know that the players would love to play a double and I'm sure the coaches would too.  But everyone outside the NESCAC will have to realize that the NESCAC does not care and will not change unless its absolutely necessary.  But I know the NESCAC will be celebrating the fact that they've had 4 Final Four teams in the last 4 years.

[smedindy]

I just hope they know it looks hypocritical, smug and elitist, especially coupled with their football issues.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I just hope they know it looks hypocritical, smug and elitist, especially coupled with their football issues.

Yes, but the NESCAC prides itself on being smug and elitist.  It's why people want to go there.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

And just to make things more interesting, I copied this from the CAC page.

According to the Steven's Tech website, the "Interstate 8" is now the "Interstate 7."

http://www.stevensducks.com/sports/news/release.asp?RELEASE_ID=10331

Seven is still enough for an AQ.

[formerbant10]

I just hope they know it looks hypocritical, smug and elitist, especially coupled with their football issues.

Yes, but the NESCAC prides itself on being smug and elitist.  It's why people want to go there.

Exactly right Hoops Fan.  The NESCAC has the elitist feel as a whole "conference" to the rest of D3 and then there are the elitists within the NESCAC. 

[dman]

just for a moment, can we pretend that the nescac doesn't exist???

i'm trying to point out that pool c is for teams who belong in a national tournament, not schools who play the "regional game" well.  based on this year's results, i don't think the ccc in new england, the cunyac in ny, and to a lesser extent, the empire 8 in ny, should have two teams in the ncaa's.  these are really, really weak conferences, very similar to the sliac.  did the sliac get two teams in???  the ccc has not won a game in the ncaa tournament in exactly 20 years.  do you find this stat shocking??? but somehow they got 2 teams in the dance???  i would rather see elmhurst, trinity, ct, and other teams like this, who play competitive schedules but don't have eye-popping records, get at-large bids to the dance, instead of a gorgon, who only plays one team that's even half-way decent but runs up a gaudy regional record...if there is actually a committee making decisions, don't they look at the conference???  this year, it looks like they went strictly by the numbers.  to me, the overall effect means that one bracket may be exceedingly weak- such as amhert's this year.....

[mrmike88]

Gee Formerbant, I wonder which schools in the NESCAC could be qualified as elitist?   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Anna Maria made the sweet sixteen out of the CCC in 1996.

I've done this rant before, so I will not blow up again.  Are we as good as the midwest? Heck no.  Are we even close to the level of even the NESCAC in our own region?  Nope.  Do we deserve to be in the same breath as the SLIAC?  No way!

The CCC is improving.  Right now we're about the 3rd best conference in New England.  We're about on par with the LEC and trying to catch up to the NEWMAC.  We're not competitive on a national level, but I don't think that's possible given a variety of factors.  We deserve more respect than being lumped in with the SLIAC.  That's all I'm saying.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Gee Formerbant, I wonder which schools in the NESCAC could be qualified as elitist?   

All of them.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Gee Formerbant, I wonder which schools in the NESCAC could be qualified as elitist?   

All of them.

Let me amend that.  Trinity isn't too bad.  Nobody likes them, but it's not because they're elitist.

[dman]

i'm a patient person.

let's see who gordon schedules next year.  ok??  you may describe the ccc as on par with lec and chasing newmac, but neither of them got two bids to the ncaa's.  i don't want to pick on gordon, but i believe they asked for it......

[formerbant10]

From my experiences the NESCAC elitists change from sport to sport.  But most of the schools have an "I'm better than you" attitude for those outside the NESCAC.

Trinity has its pockets of elitists within it Hartford campus, trust me on that one.  But it seems like every school does.

Dman,

It would be nice if the Pool C's were all taken up by the best teams remaining.  But no matter what the system for selecting is, as long as there is a human element someone will see it as flawed.  And there will always be teams that feel they got the short end of the stick.  If there were 40 Pool C's, the team that was #41 would be arguing that they were better than #40. 

To judge the success of the tournament, it should really be whether or not the 4 teams that are playing the best basketball at this exact moment in time are in Salem.  I think this year turned out well, but I'm sure someone will read this and think I'm biased towards my NE roots.  That's life.

[Knightstalker]

I think we have a very good final four this year and I think there might be a surprise or two come the end of the second game on friday.  I think we are going to have an Amherst VWU final.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I think we have a very good final four this year and I think there might be a surprise or two come the end of the second game on friday.  I think we are going to have an Amherst VWU final.

Amherst OR VWU in the final would surprise (but not shock) me.  Amherst AND VWU in the final would shock me.

While I expect all four games (counting the 3rd place game, unless one team or the other just mails it in) to be hard-fought games, I set the approximate odds at 2:1 IWU over VWU, and 3:2 Witt over Amherst.

According to the d3hoops.com poll, this is the best final four since the poll began (with the 2000 tourney).