WBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[jekelish]

It'll be interesting to see where Austin College and Trinity are in these first region rankings. Split head to head, both beat their common opponent (UT-Tyler), but the 'Roos have a significantly higher SOS and have that WashU road win, so it certainly SEEMS like they'd be slightly ahead of the Tigers based on those factors. Not that it will really matter, as the two teams are so evenly matched this year that their regional ranking could be pretty much interchangeable. I'm just as curious to see who will be #1 in the region... would imagine it'll probably be either UT-Dallas or UMHB, with perhaps a slight edge going to UMHB since they won the head to head meeting.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Not sure how much the WashU game will factor in right now. That will be a key game come Week 2 when vRRO (results versus regionally ranked opponents) is considered... IF WashU is regionally ranked this week as well.

Trinity didn't play WashU, so it isn't a comparable game. It might come into play in other ways, but I am not sure it would this week.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Women's first regional rankings of the season are out: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/women-regional-rankings-first

[jekelish]

Looking over the numbers, I don't envy the coaches trying to pick conference POTY and this is one of the few instances where I could 100% see a Co-POTY being appropriate given how close Micah Weaver and Bryce Frank are.

Teams will most likely both be 13-1 in conference with 20+ wins.

Micah: 1st in PPG, 2nd in FG%, 4th in 3PT%, 4th in FT%, 3rd in APG, 15th in RPG, 1st in SPG, 15th in BPG
Bryce: 2nd in PPG, 1st in FG%, 3PT n/a, 5th in FT%, 4th in APG, 1st in RPG, 13th in SPG, 11th in BPG

I don't remember a SCAC POTY race ever being this close as long as I've been following the conference. Plus they've both been SCAC POTW four times, and D3Hoops TOTW multiple times each if I'm not mistaken. Good luck with that one, coaches!

[Ron Boerger]

Especially given that the balloting occurs prior to the SCAC tournament.   If they waited until afterwards you could see the player on the championship team having a slight leg up.

Coach of the Year should easily go to Michelle Filander.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

New women's regional rankings: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/women-regional-rankings-second

[jekelish]

As expected, Austin College and Trinity each take care of business this week to finish 13-1 in the SCAC, and for the second time in three years the top seed in the tournament comes down to a (soon-to-be-conducted) coin flip.

[Ron Boerger]

IMO it makes little difference, but Trinity won the flip:  https://twitter.com/SCAC_Sports/status/965269976591585280

I'm really surprised they don't do this on H2H point differential (which AC would have won) or some other objective measure.

[jekelish]

Certainly agree that it probably doesn't make much difference. AC likely gets the 3-seed, but Trinity likely gets the host team on their own court. I feel like that balances out pretty well (and also assume both Trinity and AC will take care of business on Saturday night).

[Ron Boerger]

The tie-breakers the SCAC used are laid out in this post:  http://www.scacsports.com/sports/mbkb/2017-18/releases/18bracket_announced

1. head-to-head match-ups (W/L)
2. other losses in league play, team with better record against league opponents from top to bottom (W/L)
3. results against common opponents (W/L)
4. coin toss

Given that the conference has had to use this coin flip twice in three years, they should look at quality of results (point differentials), not just quantity of wins/losses.   

Seeding for the CC tourney is
1) Trinity (13-1 SCAC; 21-3 overall)
2) Austin College (13-1 SCAC; 20-5 overall)
3) Southwestern (8-6 SCAC; 12-13 overall)
4) Colorado College (6-8 SCAC; 9-16 overall)
5) Centenary (5-9 overall; 8-17 overall)
6) Schreiner (4-10 overall; 6-19 overall) [got the nod over TLU in the third tiebreaker]

CC and Centenary, SW and Schreiner play in the first round; Trinity gets CC/Centenary winner, AC the SW/Schreiner victor.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The NCAA released the third set of women's basketball regional rankings with few changes from last week's version. This is the final set that we'll see before the Tournament bracket is released on Monday. Full list here: http://d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/women-regional-rankings-third

[Ron Boerger]

Someone forgot to tell Colorado College and Southwestern they had no chance today.

CC came back from a double digit deficit and had a chance to tie late before finally falling to Trinity, 76-70.

SW did CC one better and not only took Austin to OT but had the upset of the tournament (so far), winning 81-79.   Both teams had chances to win in regulation, each missing a layup late.   Southwestern led by two late in OT, missed two FTs with 0:06 left, with Austin going for the win but missing a three as time expired.

[Ron Boerger]

Southwestern had a 29-9 FT advantage in that game.   Wow.

[jekelish]

Color me stunned. I'll give it to Southwestern, every time AC seemed to be pulling away, Southwestern had an answer, and they got the job done when they needed to.

[Ron Boerger]

Bryce Frank and Micah Weaver were named SCAC co-Players of the Year.   Good call.