WBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Bubba the Petrel]

Bubba - Since you brought up the lack of AJC coverage I figure I'll put in my two cents. The AJC does a terrible job covering any college in this state that is not Georgia Tech or the University of Georgia. The AJC seems to overlook the smaller schools. I don't know why. It's not as if they are a major news publication, they may want to be but they're not. High School athletics, especially football, gets more coverage than the smaller colleges in Georgia. It's a shame.

This weekend's sectional games got no mention in the Saturday or Sunday papers - two lines were devoted to Saturday's win in this morning's AJC.

Anyhoo...

Congrats to the ladies - keep rolling in the Finals!

[Ralph Turner]

Bubba - Since you brought up the lack of AJC coverage I figure I'll put in my two cents. The AJC does a terrible job covering any college in this state that is not Georgia Tech or the University of Georgia. The AJC seems to overlook the smaller schools. I don't know why. It's not as if they are a major news publication, they may want to be but they're not. High School athletics, especially football, gets more coverage than the smaller colleges in Georgia. It's a shame.

This weekend's sectional games got no mention in the Saturday or Sunday papers - two lines were devoted to Saturday's win in this morning's AJC.
Anyhoo...
Congrats to the ladies - keep rolling in the Finals!

Which is why the authority on Division III Basketball is D3Hoopscom!   

What we D3 fans must do is to shift the paradigm so that the coverage that we want about our D3 institutions is present on these sites, and these sites are an economically viable entity!

[DPULefty22]

I just wanted to repost something that came up over at the WIAC board - regarding the officials in the UW-Whitewater regional. This is my post as it appears.

Here's the deal with officials: They all work in more than one league.  So, the NCAA will look at who is playing and then ask a local conference to provide their best crew.  So with UWW and DePauw, they might ask for MWC refs (just an example, I don't which conference provided them).  With two conferences nearby it's very possible that the three MWC refs assigned might also happen to be WIAC refs. They might also happen to be NAC or CCIW refs too.

I think it is wrong for officials to be working teams in the NCAA that they have seen play 5-6 times during the season.  I have been officiating for some time now, and a ref can sometimes be helping or hurting a team, although most of the time unconsciously. Refs will have prior knowledge about how a team plays. An example of this could be knowing if a team is more physical or a certain player is a flopper and this could influence calls. 

I wish the NCAA would try to get the best officials to do these games, not the best officials who live in the area.

I'm not able to give karma boosts... but this bolded portion certainly deserves one.

Did a little research myself on the officials for the UW-W sectional. Appears that of the three that handled the UW-W-Simpson game, two of them (a Barbara Fagan and a Brian Kenney) did at least one UW-W game this season. They were conference games, too.

In the UWW-DePauw game, both Becky Blank and Tyler Nelson officiated WIAC games involving Whitewater in the month of February. The third official that night is a Scott Doberstein. Mr. Doberstein was not an official for any previous WIAC games, but there is a Scott T. Doberstein who works as the athletic trainer at UW-Lacrosse. Perhaps that's nothing more than a strange coincidence, but I'm inclined to believe otherwise.

I would think that the NCAA would wish to try and avoid even the slightest appearance of impropriety in the assignment of their officials. I know that in most cases, that's exactly what happens. I can tell you that at the DePauw regional, the officials had not officiated a single DPU game all season long.

I fear that if I try and stretch the point any further I'll be accused of sour grapes. I just wanted to refute the earlier point that Friday night's officials had no connection to either team and to confirm (and strengthen) the point that Saturday night's officials had strong WIAC ties. And I think that's wrong, in any situation.

You know, I was almost over the whole 'ZERO free throw attempts by DPU in the second half' thing until I saw that and did that research. Now I'm back to being a little upset.

Anyhow, I just think that if nothing else this raises the question of where the officials for the sectional sites are coming from, and why the NCAA and the host site wouldn't go out of their way to ensure that they had officiating crews with no prior knowledge of the teams involved.

[DPU3619]

The LaCrosse trainer is an official for an Elite Eight game that Whitewater is playing in??!?!!!  Unbelievable. 

I don't care if the officiating was pristine on Saturday night (which I gather it wasn't). That just ain't right.  That should never happen.  EVER.

[Barber Greene]

The LaCrosse trainer is an official for an Elite Eight game that Whitewater is playing in??!?!!!  Unbelievable. 

I don't care if the officiating was pristine on Saturday night (which I gather it wasn't). That just ain't right.  That should never happen.  EVER.

I agree...you can't trust someone from LaCrosse to be fair to Whitewater

[WLCALUM83]

I just wanted to repost something that came up over at the WIAC board - regarding the officials in the UW-Whitewater regional. This is my post as it appears.

Here's the deal with officials: They all work in more than one league.  So, the NCAA will look at who is playing and then ask a local conference to provide their best crew.  So with UWW and DePauw, they might ask for MWC refs (just an example, I don't which conference provided them).  With two conferences nearby it's very possible that the three MWC refs assigned might also happen to be WIAC refs. They might also happen to be NAC or CCIW refs too.

I think it is wrong for officials to be working teams in the NCAA that they have seen play 5-6 times during the season.  I have been officiating for some time now, and a ref can sometimes be helping or hurting a team, although most of the time unconsciously. Refs will have prior knowledge about how a team plays. An example of this could be knowing if a team is more physical or a certain player is a flopper and this could influence calls. 

I wish the NCAA would try to get the best officials to do these games, not the best officials who live in the area.

I'm not able to give karma boosts... but this bolded portion certainly deserves one.

Did a little research myself on the officials for the UW-W sectional. Appears that of the three that handled the UW-W-Simpson game, two of them (a Barbara Fagan and a Brian Kenney) did at least one UW-W game this season. They were conference games, too.

In the UWW-DePauw game, both Becky Blank and Tyler Nelson officiated WIAC games involving Whitewater in the month of February. The third official that night is a Scott Doberstein. Mr. Doberstein was not an official for any previous WIAC games, but there is a Scott T. Doberstein who works as the athletic trainer at UW-Lacrosse. Perhaps that's nothing more than a strange coincidence, but I'm inclined to believe otherwise.

I would think that the NCAA would wish to try and avoid even the slightest appearance of impropriety in the assignment of their officials. I know that in most cases, that's exactly what happens. I can tell you that at the DePauw regional, the officials had not officiated a single DPU game all season long.

I fear that if I try and stretch the point any further I'll be accused of sour grapes. I just wanted to refute the earlier point that Friday night's officials had no connection to either team and to confirm (and strengthen) the point that Saturday night's officials had strong WIAC ties. And I think that's wrong, in any situation.

You know, I was almost over the whole 'ZERO free throw attempts by DPU in the second half' thing until I saw that and did that research. Now I'm back to being a little upset.

Anyhow, I just think that if nothing else this raises the question of where the officials for the sectional sites are coming from, and why the NCAA and the host site wouldn't go out of their way to ensure that they had officiating crews with no prior knowledge of the teams involved.

DPULefty22:

Not to further open this potential can of worms,, but Barbara Fagan reffed in 4 of WLC's in-NAthCon home games during the season, (2 of which I saw in person) so the refs aren't doing just 1 conference.

[pbrooks3]

It does appear that DPU got a raw deal at Whitewater.  I now realize why Wes was lobbying so hard the week before to not play those games at Whitewater!  Well, let's move on and cheer for the Stormy Petrels this weekend in Salem.  Perhaps D3 can do better with selecting officials for next season.

[vozdelospetrels]

The all region teams have been announced, the SCAC has some players in the Great Lakes Region and South Region on those teams. Congrats to all of the ladies. Just off of the top of my head I think he SCAC has 7 players on one of the All Region Teams.

[spfan22]

Making the drive from Atlanta to Holland, MI tomorrow night.. ive flown the last two weekends and just can afford another weekend of flying considering plane tickets are anywhere from 700-1500 dollars.. mapquest says 12 hours and 15 minutes.. however im expecting more like 13-14 hours.. I'll be leaving in plenty of time to make up for any unforseen events along the way..

really excited for the girls and coaches at OU.. this is a very special time for them and win or lose this weekend I know everyone will be so proud of all their hard work and accomplishments.. however, I have a good feeling as I have the last few weeknds

The OU fan club should be a little larger this weekend, as I know a few students are going to be making the trip.. although in a 3200 capacity gym we might not look like we've got more than we usually do..

Congrats to Kulavic on making the all-region team.. congrats to Farrell, Scholbe, Prato-Matthews, and Williams as well for making all-south..  and to the great lakes all-region players in Pruzin and Fernandez

[Bubba the Petrel]

Bubba - Since you brought up the lack of AJC coverage I figure I'll put in my two cents. The AJC does a terrible job covering any college in this state that is not Georgia Tech or the University of Georgia. The AJC seems to overlook the smaller schools. I don't know why. It's not as if they are a major news publication, they may want to be but they're not. High School athletics, especially football, gets more coverage than the smaller colleges in Georgia. It's a shame.

This weekend's sectional games got no mention in the Saturday or Sunday papers - two lines were devoted to Saturday's win in this morning's AJC.
Anyhoo...
Congrats to the ladies - keep rolling in the Finals!

Which is why the authority on Division III Basketball is D3Hoopscom!    

Indeed.  It would just be nice to pick up the "local" paper the morning after a game and actually see the score listed.

[FlightofthePetrel]

I lobied for a few weeks to do a write up in the local paper I write for.  Check out Score Atlanta as it hit stands today.  They gave me 100 words- I struggled to only write 200- and they published less (guess I'll take what I can get)

Here's the link:  http://www.scoreatl.com/SCORE_current_issue.pdf

it's an adobe file and takes a bit to download.  It's on page 7 bottom right corner, and for those who have trouble finding it- here's the excerpt.

I'm really pushing to do a full page article on their incredible run... especially if they win it all.  Guess an intern covering Fulton County High School sports only has so much pull- but every little bit counts.


The following comes from Score
Atlanta reporter Brickford Faucette:
"Oglethorpe University women's basketball
team, in its third straight Division III
NCAA Tournament appearance, shocked
fans last Saturday night by stunning No.
11 Kean College 98-86 behind East
Paulding alumna Anna Findley's 44
points. With the win, the Petrels advance
to the only Final Four in the school's history
for any sport. The Petrels will take on
No. 4 Messiah on the campus of Hope
College in Holland, Mich., this weekend."

[DPU3619]

It does appear that DPU got a raw deal at Whitewater.  I now realize why Wes was lobbying so hard the week before to not play those games at Whitewater! 

The remarkable thing is that some of folks on the WIAC board don't understand why it's an issue.  They don't see a conflict of interest there. 

[FlightofthePetrel]

The all region teams have been announced, the SCAC has some players in the Great Lakes Region and South Region on those teams. Congrats to all of the ladies. Just off of the top of my head I think he SCAC has 7 players on one of the All Region Teams.

SCAC places 8

Forgot the West Region- Melanie Auguste a Jr. from Colorado College.   Which is wierd because the SCAC website seems to have left out Katy Williams (the only first teamer from Austin).  Anyways Auguste joins 1st team Katy Williams (AC)  2nd team Kulavic (OU) Scholbe (TU) Pruzin (DU)  3rd Team Prato Matthews (TU)  Fernandez (DU)  and Farrell (RC).  Not a bad showing from the SCAC- I was hoping Findley might squeak on to the 3rd team (16 ppg and Top 20 in the nation in steals- playing for a final 4 team), but there's always next year.

[vozdelospetrels]

SCAC places 8

Forgot the West Region- Melanie Auguste a Jr. from Colorado College. 

Too many regions to sift through, Thanks for the update Fllight.

[pbrooks3]

spfan22, the trip from Atlanta to Holland is a long car trip, but probably 11.5-12 hours. I'm not sure it's as fast to follow Mapquest's preferred route all the way up I-65 beyond Indianapolis to NW Indiana. If I were making the trip, I'd probably take I-69 from Indianapolis through Ft Wayne north into Michigan and then go west on I-94 to Kalamazoo. Then take Highway 131 North. You can choose one of two ways from here. Go to Grand Rapids and take I-196 to Holland, or short-cut off 131 by taking State Rt 89 northwest to Holland. The I-69 route, while maybe a few miles more, will keep you out greater Chicagoland traffic in NW Indiana; perhaps it will shave a few minutes off the total time.