WBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I would be curious to what the single game record for assist at Trinity is?

Also, curious to how the post season tourney works for D3?

Is it a 64 team tourney, is it conference tournament winners the only ones with automatic berths? Do they match local teams in the first round or do teams get seeded like Div 1 does for March Madness?

Let us know if you have more questions after this:

https://www.d3hoops.com/interactive/faq/ncaatournament

[Ron Boerger]

I would be curious to what the single game record for assist at Trinity is?

Also, curious to how the post season tourney works for D3?

Is it a 64 team tourney, is it conference tournament winners the only ones with automatic berths? Do they match local teams in the first round or do teams get seeded like Div 1 does for March Madness?

The TU women's BB archives include single-game records, though it appears they haven't been updated since the pandemic.  The school record is 14 by Martha Michel vs. Texas Woman's (01/18/86). 

Well, hell, Ryan beat me to the punch, so look there first for an excellent summary.  A few additions to what's there as someone who's been paying attention to WBB since Trinity came out of the blue to win their one championship in '03:

You want to win the conference tournament, there is a lot of competition for those Pool Cs (including the ASC runners-up) and Trinity doesn't have a lot of games against ranked opponents (three against the ASC teams, 1-2) or a strong strength-of-schedule this year.  Next week we'll see where those four schools are relative to each other when the first real regional rankings come out.  The way Pool C selection works is the top team from each of the ten regions not yet selected is put on the table for consideration; the best one (by complex NCAA criteria listed on the page Ryan provided) is awarded a Pool C bid, replaced by the next team from that region, and the ten team comparison is repeated until all bids are given out.   It's safe to say that if Trinity does win the tournament that no other SCAC team has a prayer of a Pool C bid this year, due to their poor records - regardless of strength of schedule or wins vs. regionally ranked opponents.   In addition, it's virtually impossible for a school not regionally ranked at the end of the season to be selected for the playoffs.

As in all NCAA Division III tournaments (and with all due respect to what's on the page above) the primary focus is on cost reduction.  The first couple of rounds are held at regional hosts so Texas, with usually at least three teams selected, normally gets one of those with the highest-ranked team (by NCAA criteria, not any rankings) getting to host.  See, the NCAA doesn't have to fly a team unless they are more than 500 miles away, so with at least two such bus trips guaranteed (and the host not travelling) Texas gets to host.  If no Pool C bids go to the ASC or SCAC, the winners might get put on planes unless there's a third team - like Hendrix - within 500 miles of a potential Texas host (UT-Dallas has gotten to host in the past when lower seeded in this exact scenario).   Teams are seeded - though the NCAA won't tell you what they are, it's usually pretty obvious from the bracket.  Top rated seeds are not guaranteed the right to host any round, however, if the NCAA can save plane flights by allowing a lower seed to host it does so gleefully.  Teams in Texas or on the West Coast, where everyone else would have to fly in for subsequent rounds, are usually the ones impacted when this happens.

The second round winners will gather the next week at one of four sectional sites - same caveats about who gets to host, it's combination of most money saved on flights and then the best team (with an adequate facility that applies to host) - followed by the Final Four which this year is in Pittsburgh. 

[TroyP]

So Conference Champions get the automatic bid, not the conference tournament champions?

[Ron Boerger]

So Conference Champions get the automatic bid, not the conference tournament champions?

Each conference decides who gets their bid.  Like most conferences the SCAC awards the bid to the winner of the season-ending tournament.

[TroyP]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all that information. Hopefully the girls continue to play at a high level Feb 25-27. The ASC tournament should be a very competitive tournament. If UMHB wins tourney, I think other ASC teams may have a hard time getting in as well. They all beat each other up. Should be a fun competitive next couple of weeks.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Just a 'usually' slight correction to Ron's post - a couple of years ago the mileage allowance for busing rather than flying was raised from 500 to 600 miles.  Thar distinction doesn't come into play all that often, but it does sometimes.

And, yes, for the NCAA the 'bottom line' IS generally the 'bottom line' - over the years there have been numerous injustices in matchups and hosting if athletic criteria were the only ones in play.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Just a 'usually' slight correction to Ron's post - a couple of years ago the mileage allowance for busing rather than flying was raised from 500 to 600 miles.  Thar distinction doesn't come into play all that often, but it does sometimes.

And, yes, for the NCAA the 'bottom line' IS generally the 'bottom line' - over the years there have been numerous injustices in matchups and hosting if athletic criteria were the only ones in play.

This is the first year of the 600 mile radius.  It's been 500 up until now.  It won't likely have any impact for the Texas schools, though.  600 still isn't far enough.

[TroyP]

So I looked up the team stats and in the game against Schreiner the girls beat more records than mentioned.

Most points in a game 122 vs 110 in 2003
Most FG made in a game 50 vs 48 in 2003
Best FG % 66.7 vs 65.5 in 2001
Most Assist 36 vs 33 in 2003
Most 3-PT FG made 14 vs 10 (happened 7 different times)
Currently have a 159 made 3 pointers (6 teams in past have more, 206 being the most)

Impressive group of ladies on this team!

[Ron Boerger]

Little surprised that UHMB stayed at the top of the regional rankings despite the loss to ETBU; I'm sure the numbers warrant that but at this point, barring something like a first-round UMHB loss in the ASC tourney and ETBU (edit: or HSU) winning out pretty much means that the SCAC winner (and likely the ASC runner-up) should plan on a trip to Belton next weekend.  Buried in fourth, Trinity had better win their tournament, too, otherwise they're behind the ASC runner-up and possibly another team like HSU (if they make a run to the ASC finals they probably get at one more win vs. RRO) and/or Redlands.  Another basket against HSU and/or ETBU in November would possibly have jumped them to at least second in the rankings, but that's not the situation Trinity faces today. 

[Ron Boerger]

SCAC championships begin today at Austin College - broadcast and stat links are here. 

Today:
5pm CST:  #4 Schreiner (13-12, 10-6 SCAC) vs #5 Austin (9-15, 8-8 SCAC)
7pm CST:  #3 Colorado College (14-11, 11-5 SCAC) vs #6 Southwestern (10-14, 6-10 SCAC)

Tomorrow:
5pm CST:  #1 Trinity (23-2, 16-0 SCAC) vs #4/#5 winner
7pm CST:  #2 TLU (16-8, 13-3 SCAC) vs #3/#6 winner

Sunday:
2pm CST:  Saturday winners for championship

Trinity is on a 22-game winning streak, dating to a two-point loss in the third game of the season at regionally-ranked HSU.  Colorado College found their footing late in the season, winning seven straight since a heartbreaking last-second loss at home to Trinity.  TLU's only losses in their last fourteen games were at the hands of Trinity (twice) and Colorado (once). 

To get to the NCAAs, you must win this weekend, even Trinity who as pointed out above could be too deep in the final regional rankings with another loss to earn a Pool C bid. 

[Ron Boerger]

Surprising losses by both UMHB and ETBU tonight sets up a UTD-HSU ASC championship.  If you are a Trinity fan you want UTD to win, but that might simply end up vaulting the Comets in the rankings and result in them hosting yet another 1st/2nd round playoff.

BTW Trinity grad Jordan Rudd tied for leading scorer tonight for UTD with 13.

Austin will play Trinity tomorrow and would love to repeat what they did in the 2000 championship round.  Colorado will face TLU in the other semi.

[Ron Boerger]

The two hottest teams in the SCAC will fittingly meet on Sunday for the conference championship.

Austin jumped out to early leads at 9-5 and 15-11, but from there, midway through the first quarter, Trinity would reel the 'Roos back in. taking their first lead, 16-15, on an Ashlyn Milton (game leading 25 points) three ball about a minute and a half later.  The lead would go back and forth the rest of the quarter before a Kelly Simmons layup would give Trinity the lead for good, 24-22 with just under a minute to play in the quarter.   Trinity would use the three ball to expand the lead going into the half, hitting 5-of-11 to take an 11 point lead into the locker room, 45-34.  Austin could only get the lead back to single digits for 11 seconds in the second half as Trinity pulled away in the second half.   Kacie West (a 'Roo-leading 24) hit a three with 23 seconds left to make the final margin 90-77.   Trinity had a huge bench advantage (40-4, led by Carly Leong's 13) but turned the ball over 20 times to 13 for Austin, giving the 'Roos a 24-9 edge in points off turnovers.  Maggie Shipley (14 points) was the only other Tiger in double figures; Natalie McCoy, Sarah Putnicki, and Lauren Traylor each added 15 for the 'Roos. 

The other semi featured the only semifinal upset of the day for either women or men as Colorado College's strong second half pushed them past TLU, 55-40.  The Bulldogs had taken a five point lead into the break, holding the Tigers to a 1-of-11 performance from beyond the arc, but Colorado would hit half (4 of 8) their threes in the second half while holding TLU to 2-of-11 (and 4-of-21 overall) to blow past TLU, 55-40.  CC's Laura Strenk led all scorers with 14, Talia Cloud had 13, and Rosey Braley 12; Tanyse Moehrig came off the bench to lead TLU with 10 points and a game-high 13 boards. 

The all-SCAC teams were announced.  I try not to pick at these too much, because obviously I focus on Trinity and am going to be biased, but the DPOY selected had basically 1 steal and 4 boards per game, and zero blocks.  I don't get it.  There's more to defense than steals and boards, but that's not top 20 in the conference in either category and it seems to me that you should show some statistical evidence before being named DPOY.

[TroyP]

Austin College played hard for 40 minutes, but Trinity's depth seems to be too much for many teams. Milton was in rhythm with her shot last night and was pure joy to watch it.

How Maggie Robbins did not get DPOY is beyond me, also how Maggie Shipley did not get first team is surprising to me as well.

[Ron Boerger]

The DPOY-who-wasn't played a huge role on both sides of the ball today as Trinity finally got past a very determined Colorado College squad in a defensive struggle, 50-45.

At first it appeared to be a repeat of the *other* Trinity game today, as the CC Tigers sprinted out to an early lead thanks to the three-point shooting of Talia Cloud (a game high 20).  She singlehandedly turned an early 2-5 deficit into a 10-5 lead; Rosie Braley and Audrey Bayston would join in the fun while Trinity struggled to find their long-range touch.  Colorado would lead 19-11 after one period.  Midway through the second, that lead would balloon to 26-14 after Healy Bledsoe hit one of two free throws, but Trinity would ramp up the defensive pressure and close to within six on Emily Nelson's layup with two minutes remaining.  The teams would trade misses and turnovers the rest of the half.

With outside shots not falling, Trinity started driving to the basket, finding just enough room in the forest of tall Colorado College bodies to draw fouls on the drives.  This is where Maggie Robbins started to impose her will on the game, converting both pairs of free throws she was awarded as well as a layup for six of her team high 14.  Maggie Shipley joined in the fun, also awarded a pair of freebies on drives, and Trinity closed the gap to one the end of the quarter despite being outrebounded 11-4.  The threes that had fallen so easily for Colorado in the first quarter were suddenly hard to come by, and more effective Trinity pressure resulted in six turnovers by their opponents.   After three, the Colorado lead was down to a single point, 38-37.

With Robbins picking up her fourth foul early in the final stanza, Trinity would have to turn elsewhere for points.  Nobody on either team would score more than a single basket in the quarter, but Kelly Simmons would hit the only three (Trinity was 1-3, Colorado College 0-6) midway through to give Trinity a lead it never relinquished, as well as a pair of free throws late to help seal the 50-45 win and a road trip to whatever ASC team ends up hosting the first two rounds next weekend. 

Colorado College graduates nobody and should be even more of a threat next season, but once again played three of their starters 37 or more minutes - Rosie Braley all 40 - and that had to factor into the less effective second half performance.  CC won the rebound battle by a huge margin, 47-28, but suffered 25 turnovers to Trinity's 14. 

[Ron Boerger]

The D3hoops gang projects UMHB will host, and interestingly enough forecasts a repeat of the season opening tournament that originally was to be held at Trinity:  UMHB, Trinity, Rhodes, and HSU replacing ETBU (who gets sent to Whitman).  The committee could as easily send HSU to Whitman and ETBU to Belton, or for that matter Rhodes to Whitman which would save a plane trip (and let's face it, if the NCAA can save the cost of a flight they generally will).   But ... 580 miles from Rhodes to UMHB (according to Google Maps which isn't official) - if the limit is now 600 miles is a bus ride, so never mind?  Edit:  Pat says yes, it is a 600 mile limit so Rhodes can get to either UMHB (or ETBU) without a flight.   

And as pointed out in the article, men have hosting priority this year so if UMHB ends up hosting (a 50-50 proposition, seemingly, as it's two flights whether they do or not) then someone else will host the Texas pod, but it would likely be one of the ASC teams.