MBB: NEWMAC

[WPI89]

4!

[rlk]

Looks like interesting early-round matchups.

If Babson gets by Ithaca, they run into the Swarthmore buzzsaw.  We (MIT) prefer not to remember them.

I'd expect Coast Guard to have their hands full against Brockport, but the Bears have been peaking at the right time.

Springfield looks like they ought to take care of SUNY-Canton; if they do (and St. Joseph beats Hobart), then it's the Pride vs. Jim Calhoun.

WPI and Yeshiva.  Quite a record, Yeshiva has.  But not exactly in the strongest conference.

Well, we're on the outside this year  and unfortunately Smith beat our women in that final, so for the first time in a while just spectatin'...

[WPI89]

Stay on board the NEWMAC train rlk - we need all comers.

PS - WPI plays Friday at 1:00 - Yeshiva can't play at night on Fridays!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Probably one of the worst possible matchups for WPI.  Yeshiva is a good passing team with lots of movement and many different capable scorers.  They naturally run an offense that will give the WPI defense trouble.  Obviously WPI is very good at what they do, so execution will be very important.  Gabe Leifer is an All-American and he got beat out for Skyline POY by his teammate Ryan Turrell.  They've also got a 1500 point scorer who's a dead eye three point shooter - and they'll be playing in Baltimore (where senior center Dani Katz is from) with a large Jewish community and it'll likely feel like a home game for them.  I know JHU is looking into splitting the session to accommodate Yeshiva fans.  I'm planning to be there, but it will be an incredibly uphill battle for WPI.

Babson has a difficult game against Ithaca - obviously more difficult without Oftring.  With him, I'd give them a fighting chance against Swarthmore.  Without him, that's also going to be a tall task (if they win Friday).

Springfield has a better path.  I think their toughest test before Ft Wayne will be St. Joe's.  They've got size and depth and more weapons than Springfield does.  You're going to need typical heroics from Ross.  I think Springfield matches up favorably with Colby, unless Sam Jefferson is back at full speed.  The team we just saw lose the NESCAC final, I think, also loses to Springfield.

It'll be fun. I'm glad all the NEWMAC teams got interesting draws.

[SpringSt7]

I don't have the geography information and I know that is obviously a huge factor, but Ryan, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to swap the Randolph-Macon pod with the Stevens pod? That feels like a brutal reward for a Johns Hopkins team that just beat Swarthmore, and a weird way to reward a Springfield team that doesn't have a lot of impressive wins---unless then the committee took Stevens H2H win over JHU into consideration and decided to reward them instead?

[BaboNation]

First let me say I think the draws/seeds/pods were very fair to the NEWMAC teams.

Fully half of the league made the Big Dance.  Think about that! 

Now a dose of reality.  Other than Springfield, we have no team in the top 16 in the country.  So, if you go by chalk, only Springfield could be reasonably expected to survive through 2 rounds and make their way to the Sweet Sixteen.

WPI:  It will be really tough right from the jump.  I've seen Yeshiva play 3/4 times.  Fun team to watch.  Fundamentally strong.  If I were WPI, I'd pick them up high on defense and force them to try to score inside.  And give Lowther more minutes!  I know he's a FY, but they are a better team with him on the court.  If WPI gets through the first round, JH is likely next, and I think that's a mountain too high to climb.  (I saw the 2nd half of Swarthmore-JH ... great game between 2 powerhouses).

CG:  It's been a great run, but they'll now have to take on a team playing at home where they are undefeated.  But it can't be any tougher than what they've already done, taking down Springfield and WPI on their home floors.  Baldez is playing at his best level of the year.  This team is fearless.

Springfield:  The best chance for a NEWMAC team to get through the 1st weekend.  But, wow, St. Joe's possible in round 2!  Talk about speed/quickness, and a tenacious defense.  That would be a fun game if it comes to pass.  I'm high on St. Joe's, so I wish, as a NEWMAC fan that the schedule didn't bracket them together.

Babson:  Ah what might have been if Oftring hadn't gone down to injury.  It seems like the domino effect has been that the frontcourt players are wearing down, and now Ainge is noticeably hobbled.  All that said, Ithaca seems to be a team without the size/depth to overwhelm the Beavers.  It should be a good game.  But it would take a miracle to get past Swarthmore after Ithaca.  (I think both Swarthmore and JH make the final 8).

Go NEWMAC!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I don't have the geography information and I know that is obviously a huge factor, but Ryan, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to swap the Randolph-Macon pod with the Stevens pod? That feels like a brutal reward for a Johns Hopkins team that just beat Swarthmore, and a weird way to reward a Springfield team that doesn't have a lot of impressive wins---unless then the committee took Stevens H2H win over JHU into consideration and decided to reward them instead?

Springfield was #1 in the NE; JHU was #2 in the MA.  They got spots according to their ranking.  Those seem very fair.  This is, by far, the best bracket I've ever seen - and this is the 20th year I've been following D3.

[SpringSt7]

I don't have the geography information and I know that is obviously a huge factor, but Ryan, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to swap the Randolph-Macon pod with the Stevens pod? That feels like a brutal reward for a Johns Hopkins team that just beat Swarthmore, and a weird way to reward a Springfield team that doesn't have a lot of impressive wins---unless then the committee took Stevens H2H win over JHU into consideration and decided to reward them instead?

Springfield was #1 in the NE; JHU was #2 in the MA.  They got spots according to their ranking.  Those seem very fair.  This is, by far, the best bracket I've ever seen - and this is the 20th year I've been following D3.

Fair enough---I was thinking more along the lines of Macon not getting matched with Hopkins.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I don't have the geography information and I know that is obviously a huge factor, but Ryan, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to swap the Randolph-Macon pod with the Stevens pod? That feels like a brutal reward for a Johns Hopkins team that just beat Swarthmore, and a weird way to reward a Springfield team that doesn't have a lot of impressive wins---unless then the committee took Stevens H2H win over JHU into consideration and decided to reward them instead?

Springfield was #1 in the NE; JHU was #2 in the MA.  They got spots according to their ranking.  Those seem very fair.  This is, by far, the best bracket I've ever seen - and this is the 20th year I've been following D3.

Fair enough---I was thinking more along the lines of Macon not getting matched with Hopkins.

Macon was a 1 and JHU was a 2, so that makes sense in that spot.

[WPI89]

Love this every year - odds to win games by round - courtesy of our guy Massey.

https://www.masseyratings.com/tourn?t=1253

[rlk]

Probably one of the worst possible matchups for WPI.  Yeshiva is a good passing team with lots of movement and many different capable scorers.  They naturally run an offense that will give the WPI defense trouble.  Obviously WPI is very good at what they do, so execution will be very important.  Gabe Leifer is an All-American and he got beat out for Skyline POY by his teammate Ryan Turrell.  They've also got a 1500 point scorer who's a dead eye three point shooter - and they'll be playing in Baltimore (where senior center Dani Katz is from) with a large Jewish community and it'll likely feel like a home game for them.  I know JHU is looking into splitting the session to accommodate Yeshiva fans.  I'm planning to be there, but it will be an incredibly uphill battle for WPI.

They'll probably get fans from NY/NJ.  They wouldn't have time to get home after the game, but I suspect some people will find friends to stay with.  I've only seen Yeshiva once, and not relevant to today (mid 1980's) when they visited us at MIT (we won by 10-15 points).  It was practically a home game for them, based on fans.  I think it was a midweek game, so more convenient for those traveling from New York, but I'm sure if anything that their fans are even more intense now.  Very raucous crowd, too (if you've ever been to an Orthodox Jewish wedding, you'll know exactly what I mean).  At one point, one of their photographers yelled something at the ref when he didn't like a call.  The ref stopped the game and told him to shut up or he'd be out of there.  Something I know better than to do when shooting games (I keep quiet and just concentrate on photography and stretch out during breaks).

WPI fans are quite capable of being loud themselves.  Hopefully it's not just for MIT that they do that.

Yeshiva likely has older players, because in Israel everyone does military service for a few years after high school.

Splitting the session would be a really good idea.  This was a problem for MIT a few years ago at Ramapo, when they sold tickets for both games in one session.  Because of all the Ramapo fans buying tickets for the second (Johns Hopkins) game, there were very few seats in the MIT section left to buy, even though it was largely deserted since the Ramapo fans hadn't shown up yet.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Probably one of the worst possible matchups for WPI.  Yeshiva is a good passing team with lots of movement and many different capable scorers.  They naturally run an offense that will give the WPI defense trouble.  Obviously WPI is very good at what they do, so execution will be very important.  Gabe Leifer is an All-American and he got beat out for Skyline POY by his teammate Ryan Turrell.  They've also got a 1500 point scorer who's a dead eye three point shooter - and they'll be playing in Baltimore (where senior center Dani Katz is from) with a large Jewish community and it'll likely feel like a home game for them.  I know JHU is looking into splitting the session to accommodate Yeshiva fans.  I'm planning to be there, but it will be an incredibly uphill battle for WPI.

They'll probably get fans from NY/NJ.  They wouldn't have time to get home after the game, but I suspect some people will find friends to stay with.  I've only seen Yeshiva once, and not relevant to today (mid 1980's) when they visited us at MIT (we won by 10-15 points).  It was practically a home game for them, based on fans.  I think it was a midweek game, so more convenient for those traveling from New York, but I'm sure if anything that their fans are even more intense now.  Very raucous crowd, too (if you've ever been to an Orthodox Jewish wedding, you'll know exactly what I mean).  At one point, one of their photographers yelled something at the ref when he didn't like a call.  The ref stopped the game and told him to shut up or he'd be out of there.  Something I know better than to do when shooting games (I keep quiet and just concentrate on photography and stretch out during breaks).

WPI fans are quite capable of being loud themselves.  Hopefully it's not just for MIT that they do that.

Yeshiva likely has older players, because in Israel everyone does military service for a few years after high school.

Splitting the session would be a really good idea.  This was a problem for MIT a few years ago at Ramapo, when they sold tickets for both games in one session.  Because of all the Ramapo fans buying tickets for the second (Johns Hopkins) game, there were very few seats in the MIT section left to buy, even though it was largely deserted since the Ramapo fans hadn't shown up yet.

Only one of the Yeshiva players is from Israel.  Most of them are from the US.  JHU did officially split the session, so the WPI-Yeshiva game is at 1pm and JHU plays at 6.

[BaboNation]

I'm setting my line (not that I'm taking bets) at 5 total tournament games won among the 4 NEWMAC entries. 

[rlk]

Regardless, wishing Babson, Coast Guard, Springfield, and WPI the best in the tournament.  Do NEWMAC proud!  It benefits all of us.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The Division III Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments are set to get going. It all starts at 1:00 p.m. ET on Friday with the first men's game.

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