MBB: American Southwest Conference

[CruFrenzy]

Anybody know if the Championship will be televised? Or maybe on ESPN3.com?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

CBS Sports Network will have the game and it will be simulcast on NCAA.com

[Ralph Turner]

Since I am now officially a conference outsider, I can make comments about the state of the conference.

Yes, I always loved it when McMurry beat UMHB, but we are now in different Divisions and I can root for the ASC as my D-III conference.  Superstitions do not apply!

That being said, I know there are plenty of fans who would note the irony of Coach DeWeese bringing home the Walnut and Bronze before Coach Fred.  There is no doubt that Coach Fred hopes that that is the case.

Good luck to the Cru! Have fun doing it!

[magicman]

Since I am now officially a conference outsider, I can make comments about the state of the conference.

Yes, I always loved it when McMurry beat UMHB, but we are now in different Divisions and I can root for the ASC as my D-III conference.  Superstitions do not apply!

That being said, I know there are plenty of fans who would note the irony of Coach DeWeese bringing home the Walnut and Bronze before Coach Fred.  There is no doubt that Coach Fred hopes that that is the case.

Good luck to the Cru! Have fun doing it!

Congratulations Ralph on a team from the  ASC conference, a conference that you've always been the biggest supporter of, on making it to the Championship game.

Congratulations also on post # 25,000.  Plus K

Good Luck to the Crusaders. I ranked them in the Posters' Poll before anyone did!!

[mcmfan]

Since McMurry isn't a member of the ASC anymore, I can root for UMHB wholeheartedly.  The end of the match with the Tommies was wild; it had me on the edge of my seat.  Great internet stream.  And to think that UMHB wasn't even ranked in the top 25 teams nationally!  I'm thinking that fact probably really helped them; the ranked teams didn't take them seriously until it was too late.  Of course, I'm sure Amherst won't make that mistake; and they've got two weeks to prepare, unlike the previous teams who got themselves blindsided.  I've always thought Coach DeWeese was a class act, and this run is a fitting reward for all his work building up the UMHB program.  Win it all in Atlanta, guys, and put this part of Texas on everyone's map the way the HPU women did it a few years ago!

[JACKET84]

  And to think that UMHB wasn't even ranked in the top 25 teams nationally! 

Not even in the top 39 with votes!  The BB teams in the South (both men and women) have never gotten the respect they deserve.  NCAA DIII is so heavily weighted in the North and East, that the South gets overlooked.   I think it would be great for UMHB to win the championship.  I wonder when the last time, a team ranked (unranked) so low won the championship?   Even if they do loose, it shows the ranking system isn't very accurate.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I would have voted for them if they hadn't lost their conference championship game.

[Pat Coleman]

Even if they do loose, it shows the ranking system isn't very accurate.

As clearly exhibited by the fact that No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 made the Final Four.

This will be the first time an unranked team has made the title game in the history of our poll (started in 1999). It's a great run, no doubt.

As a reminder, here's what UMHB had done entering the tournament:

11/20    vs. Southwestern •    W, 73-50    ***11-16 overall
11/23    at Whitworth •    L, 70-61    ***Best overall opponent
11/25    at Whitman •    L, 94-84    ***Whitman was 19-8, lost to St. Thomas by 23
11/28    at Trinity (Texas) •    W, 57-56    ***Best non-conference win, Trinity 20-7
12/1    vs. LeTourneau * •    W, 64-58    
12/8    at Mississippi College * •    W, 75-63    
12/10    at Louisiana College * •    W, 83-64    
12/13    vs. Texas-Dallas * •    W, 74-70    
12/15    vs. University of the Ozarks * •    W, 89-73    
12/28    vs. Rust •    W, 88-67    ***10-14 overall
12/29    vs. Edgewood •    W, 71-53    ***7-18 overall
1/3    at East Texas Baptist * •    L, 66-57    
1/5    at Texas-Tyler * •    W, 75-71    
1/8    vs. Concordia (Texas) * •    W, 98-95    
1/12    vs. Hardin-Simmons * •    W, 106-69    
1/17    at Texas Lutheran * •    W, 74-56    
1/19    at Schreiner * •    W, 74-66    
1/24    at Sul Ross State * •    W, 69-56    
1/26    at Howard Payne * •    W, 76-52    
1/29    at Concordia (Texas) * •    W, 94-81    
1/31    at Hardin-Simmons * •    W, 70-68    
2/7    vs. Schreiner * •    W, 79-65    
2/9    vs. Texas Lutheran * •    W, 74-54    
2/14    vs. Howard Payne * •    L, 75-73    
2/16    vs. Sul Ross State * •    W, 87-61    
2/22    vs. LeTourneau •    W, 61-54    
   @ Texas-Dallas
2/23    vs. Hardin-Simmons •    W, 76-67    
   @ Richardson, Texas
2/24    vs. Concordia (Texas) •    L, 80-76    
   @ Texas-Dallas

It would have been difficult to rank UMHB based on one non-conference win against a team with a winning record, which is probably why none of the 25 voters (including the ASC voter) did so.

Last year, UMHB had an even better record at 24-3 entering the tournament, 20-1 in the ASC, and lost at home in the first round. So there was plenty of room for doubt.

[Ralph Turner]

I am not the ASC Voter!   

That being said, I participate in the Fan Poll, which always starts after the New Year.  I had UMHB in the low 20's for a few weeks in January and Feb.  Then, they lost at home to HPU!

Wow!  How can you keep a team in your poll when that team loses to a team like HPU?

In the February polls, we fans in Mr Ypsi's Fan Poll are trying to figure out who is for real.  Most of the Top 15 made solid cases to be in the Top 25, and most voters have them solidly there.

It is the next 10, #16-25, where the doubts start to arise.  UMHB shot itself in the foot in the eyes of many pollsters.

CTX managed to get some love headed for an ASC team.

There are about 40 men's conferences in D-III.  Only about half of the conferences even have a team getting enough votes to reach the Top 25.

[Mr. Ypsi]

UMHB did manage votes (none higher than 20th) from 8 of the 12 Fan Poll voters in the final regular season poll, finishing with 22 points for 28th place.  Their total resume made them a marginal top 25 team at best.  They are truly the Florida Gulf Coast of the d3 tourney!

But that's OK - people love the Cinderella underdog.  IWU won the 2010 d3 College World Series after having a losing record with two weeks left in the regular season; they may have gotten more attention than any other d3 champion!

[Mr. Ypsi]

In fairly early voting on the front page poll, Amherst leads 64% to 27%.  I'm among the 64%.  HOWEVER, it asked 'who WILL win', not 'who will you root for'.  Based on the overall season (and, as best I can make them out, on matchups), Amherst has to be favored.  But I strongly suspect that a question of 'who will you root for' would have produced radically different results (including me).

Amazing!  Under very rare circumstances the rest of the country can actually go soft for Texans!

In 2010, I received congratulatory messages from posters who would never have sent them if IWU won the bball tourney (where they have several times been favored, but only won 16 years ago).  Maybe I'd get them with a Stagg Bowl victory, where Mount Union has been an impenetrable roadblock for 2+ decades!  (Though you did penetrate them once, only to meet Linfield.)

[JACKET84]

Even if they do loose, it shows the ranking system isn't very accurate.

As clearly exhibited by the fact that No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 made the Final Four.

I guess 3 out of 4 is acceptable 

[Ralph Turner]

Even if they do loose, it shows the ranking system isn't very accurate.

As clearly exhibited by the fact that No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 made the Final Four.

I guess 3 out of 4 is acceptable 

Reminds me of a song by Meatloaf.

[JACKET84]

IF UMHB wins the National Championship (and since they're not presently in the top 39 in votes), will they be rated #1 in the final poll?

[Pat Coleman]

Yes.