MBB: NEWMAC

[WPI89]

Great pics RLK. 

WPI keeps rolling

[amh63]

WPI.....see your team is having a great season to date.   Just gathering some data.  Maybe you can help.  Does the NEWMAC hold a tourny to determine the AQ to the post season?  If it does, where is it held?   Aware that WPI has a facility that can host a NCAA regional....size wise.  Do you know if WPI has put in an application to be an candidate for such a site?    Thanks,

[rlk]

WPI.....see your team is having a great season to date.   Just gathering some data.  Maybe you can help.  Does the NEWMAC hold a tourny to determine the AQ to the post season?  If it does, where is it held?   Aware that WPI has a facility that can host a NCAA regional....size wise.  Do you know if WPI has put in an application to be an candidate for such a site?    Thanks,

NEWMAC holds a tournament with the top 5 (first round play-in).  I don't know if that's changing this year with the expansion to 8 teams.  Until 2010, all 7 teams played, with the #1 team receiving a quarterfinal bye.

The tournament is hosted by the school with the best conference record.  If there's a tie, at least one tiebreaker for hosting is record against common opponents (I believe head to head record is first tiebreaker, but I don't know).  That's why WPI hosted the tournament last year: MIT and WPI were both 10-2 in the conference, but there was one common opponent (Salem State, I think) that WPI beat and MIT lost to.  However, MIT and WPI were considered regular season co-champions.

NEWMAC is much more geographically compact than NESCAC.  The geographic extremes are MIT (with Emerson a very, very close second) and Coast Guard, which are about 2 hours apart.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I heard they were going to a full 8 team tournament, but it wasn't from an official source or anything.

[amh63]

Rik...thanks for the info.  To host a  NCAA tourny, a facility must be able to handle a desired crowd size.  To host a conference tourny, does seating capacity, or other criteria enter?  For example, Emerson's gym is someone limited wrt to seating.  Do not know if parking enters.  If it does, how is the location determined.
Awhile back, Amherst went to WPI to play them in a post season game...about 4 years ago, maybe.  Nice size place and fine video coverage and crowd.  Do not know about parking ...being in an urban area like Tufts where finding spaces can be expensive.

[rlk]

Rik...thanks for the info.  To host a  NCAA tourny, a facility must be able to handle a desired crowd size.  To host a conference tourny, does seating capacity, or other criteria enter?  For example, Emerson's gym is someone limited wrt to seating.  Do not know if parking enters.  If it does, how is the location determined.
Awhile back, Amherst went to WPI to play them in a post season game...about 4 years ago, maybe.  Nice size place and fine video coverage and crowd.  Do not know about parking ...being in an urban area like Tufts where finding spaces can be expensive.

[incidentally, it's rlk, not rik]

I believe that the only criterion for hosting the conference tournament is regular season champion plus any tiebreakers.  MIT's facility (Rockwell Cage) doesn't have a lot of capacity, and has its own parking problems, but we've hosted the tournament (most recently in 2012, when we went to the Final Four -- that was quite a wild ride).

[amh63]

RLK.....sorry about that....not paying attention...plus any other factors that comes with age.  Remember the year.  Wanted to have Amherst play MIT in Lancaster that year.  Saw MIT beat Staten Island  I believe.  Even sat on the MIT side....received several graduate degrees from MIT awhile back.  Wow, parking is a problem around the gym facilities.  Were parking garages added recently nearby.  Think I'm still a member of the COOP....with parking discounts?

[rlk]

RLK.....sorry about that....not paying attention...plus any other factors that comes with age.  Remember the year.  Wanted to have Amherst play MIT in Lancaster that year.  Saw MIT beat Staten Island  I believe.  Even sat on the MIT side....received several graduate degrees from MIT awhile back.  Wow, parking is a problem around the gym facilities.  Were parking garages added recently nearby.  Think I'm still a member of the COOP....with parking discounts?

No new parking.  There's still the garage ($5), or street parking ($2 for a 2-hour meter).

Yup, we beat Staten Island prior to Franklin & Marshall.  Staten Island had a huge center, as I recall (A.J. Matthews?), who was nicely contained by Will Tashman.

[BBallers]

RLK.....sorry about that....not paying attention...plus any other factors that comes with age.  Remember the year.  Wanted to have Amherst play MIT in Lancaster that year.  Saw MIT beat Staten Island  I believe.  Even sat on the MIT side....received several graduate degrees from MIT awhile back.  Wow, parking is a problem around the gym facilities.  Were parking garages added recently nearby.  Think I'm still a member of the COOP....with parking discounts?

No new parking.  There's still the garage ($5), or street parking ($2 for a 2-hour meter).

Yup, we beat Staten Island prior to Franklin & Marshall.  Staten Island had a huge center, as I recall (A.J. Matthews?), who was nicely contained by Will Tashman.

I believe that was Farmingdale College that A.J. Matthews (All American) played for and it was a great game by MIT as I believe Hollingsworth put up 30 something points on him offensively and Tashman put the clamps down on him defensively.  A.J. Matthews had extreme physical skills (I believe he is playing in the NBAD league now), but he got really frustrated with Tashman's defense.  Appreciate you bringing that good memory back to me.   

BTW, the only reason WPI may not host an NCAA game is that their Women's team is also a powerhouse and one year when both mens and womens WPI teams were offered to host NCAA playoff games, WPI had to choose (I believe the women won out and WPI men's team had to start on the road).  WPI's gym and fan support are top notch and I anticipate they will be hosting this year and hopefully the NEWMAC will have at least 3 NCAA qualifying teams this year.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Actually... the schools do not have to choose, the choice is made by the NCAA per the year. According to an old handbook (because I can't find it in this year's handbook for some reason), the men have the priority in even years for the first weekend... the women have the priority for the second weekend. In odd years, the women have priority in the first weekend and the men have it in the second weekend. So this year... men have the priority in the first weekend and women in the second.

[7express]

Actually... the schools do not have to choose, the choice is made by the NCAA per the year. According to an old handbook (because I can't find it in this year's handbook for some reason), the men have the priority in even years for the first weekend... the women have the priority for the second weekend. In odd years, the women have priority in the first weekend and the men have it in the second weekend. So this year... men have the priority in the first weekend and women in the second.

So, were skipping over 2013 entirely and staying with the even numbered years than.  With the "1 game a weekend" setup on the men's side last year, we didn't have to worry about if a school's women team (Wash U, Amherst, Hope, Calvin, etc) was as good as the men's was because both the men & women could host BOTH first & second round games last year (2 women's games on Friday, than a women's game men's game on Saturday).  At least I thought that's what it was, someone correct me if I'm wrong

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Right... assuming we are skipping over 2013 due to the fact you change everything if you did. Last year the only time a men's team might not have had the chance to host one of those weekends is if the committee(s) felt the school could not host all three women's teams and an additional men's team due to the facilities (six teams counting their own with practices and games). However, I don't think that ended up being a problem at the schools like Amherst who were in those situations.

[WPI89]

Amh63 - all seems covered pretty well above.  I do not think there is any change to the NEWMAC tourney since adding Emerson.  1,2,3 seeds get a bye into semis and 4 plays 5 to get in.  #1 seed hosts semis and final on March 1 and 2.

http://newmacsports.com/sports/mbkb/championships/2013-14/2014_mbkbbracket.pdf

[amh63]

WPi89...and all the rest. Thanks for the info!  Just preparing for an possible WPI vs. Amherst encounter in the post season.  Place unknown for now.  The conference battles are heating up...tough and good games ahead in both of our conferences .

[WPI89]

15!  Congrats to Sam Longwell for I have to believe a career high 31 last night against Clark.