BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[A.G.]

What are the chances Ferrum bids for and gets to host regional?  They certainly have the facility, lights, and Rocky Mount has a couple of new hotels available.

[Eh-You]

just as mu baseball could have won 2 vs. ferrum - it just doesn't seem right that these contests weren't decided on the field...

I think that contest was decided on the field yesterday. MC got drilled by FC with their pitching in good shape. It could have gotten really ugly 18 innings later. BTW - MC / Tom Austin = 1st class and I hope they get a bid ..... but 18th in the country??? Not quite.

[Falcon2720]

Eh-You

On any given day any team can win.  Let play on the field decide a championship instead of the weather.

MU seemed to get its offense back on track against NCWC.  It would have been interesting to see what they could do in rematch against Ferrum.

I think if Methodist can win add a few more wins they should make it to regionals.

Good Point with the Rankings
Methodist should be much higher than 18

[narch]

I think that contest was decided on the field yesterday. MC got drilled by FC with their pitching in good shape. It could have gotten really ugly 18 innings later. BTW - MC / Tom Austin = 1st class and I hope they get a bid ..... but 18th in the country??? Not quite.

eh-you...i'm the first to admit that beating fc twice would have been a tall order for the monarchs, particularly with the way the pitching was lined up, but i also had a horrible feeling when fc beat mu 11-0 in the first conference game of the season...i never thought the monarchs would come back to win 9-2 the next day, and i didn't think for a minute that a team that was as young and inexperienced as the monarchs would win a share of the conference title and be 25-10 at this point...you just never know what will happen, and if you think for a minute that the monarchs would have rolled over for the panthers, you simply know nothing about mu baseball - who knows if they would have won...but i guess that's exactly my point...they didn't get the chance to find out

if mu had won yesterday and was crowned tournament champions, i would be happy that they had secured a bid to regionals, but i wouldn't be crowing about it, because i understand the nature of baseball and that anything could have happened in the championship round

and i don't know enough about baseball outside of this region to know if mu is a legit top 25 team...but they've got 6 more games, all against solid regional competition (hsc, huntingdon, lynchburg, york and 2 vs. salisbury) - i think if they can go 4-2 against that competition, they should get a chance to show what they can do in the regionals

[D-BAT]

At the completion of the USA-South Tourney, every team in the conference has at least 20 wins, is there another DIII conference in the United States that can top that ?

Combined won/loss record of the 7 teams - 162 wins and 96 losses for .627 winning %.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

you're right, psbbg, the gc golfers could very well have made a comeback and gc lax could have beaten cnu...just as mu baseball could have won 2 vs. ferrum - it just doesn't seem right that these contests weren't decided on the field...at least tennis can go indoors and softball had the foresight to play extra games on friday and saturday...

I don't want to keep bringing other sports on this board but there aren't other places to put it.  I was there "watching" the golf tournament.  There were many things that could have been done to get some rounds in.  They could have gone to 9 holes and well droped the bottom teams as well (allowing those from the those teams that had good scores still play for the all-tournament team.)  They could have started the tee-times earlier the golf course allows for 7:30 tee times.  I think they could have gotten 9 in today.  Although my idea may not be fair but it seems fairer then what happened, no play at all.  As for the lax game I like CNU more (on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the worst, they were at 3, now they are at 5)  I heard that they said co-champions for greensboro and CNU.  Thats how they wanted it.  It still can be decided on the field many tournaments won't even start until this week.

[Eh-You]

I think that contest was decided on the field yesterday. MC got drilled by FC with their pitching in good shape. It could have gotten really ugly 18 innings later. BTW - MC / Tom Austin = 1st class and I hope they get a bid ..... but 18th in the country??? Not quite.

you just never know what will happen, and if you think for a minute that the monarchs would have rolled over for the panthers, you simply know nothing about mu baseball - who knows if they would have won...but i guess that's exactly my point...they didn't get the chance to find out

First of all, I'm not even a Ferrum fan, so I'm certainly not "crowing". All your "decide it on the field" cries would be valid if Ferrum and Methodist hadn't played each other the day before in the winner's bracket final. THEY PLAYED EACH OTHER! It was decided on the field. Not sure if you saw the MC / FC game Saturday (I did) but there is no doubt in my mind that you got the chance to find out who deserved the bid - you just didn't like the result.

And what exactly would be your solution to "these contest not being decided on the field? " The game certainly wouldn't be able to be played Monday in Burlington (weather) or in Ferrum (weather) - so should they fly to a dry place or wait until Tuesday. Ferrum plays games Mon - Thurs and budgets get blown away with either "solution" and not to mention this small issue of class / exams. 

Good decision by the USA South if for no other reason than to squash the Methodist conspiricy theory.

[narch]

First of all, I'm not even a Ferrum fan, so I'm certainly not "crowing".

i understand you're an averett fan...your board name kind of gives it away, plus you've posted on the other boards before...and i never said you were "crowing"...read my quote...i said I wouldn't crow if the monarchs had won

All your "decide it on the field" cries would be valid if Ferrum and Methodist hadn't played each other the day before in the winner's bracket final. THEY PLAYED EACH OTHER! It was decided on the field. Not sure if you saw the MC / FC game Saturday (I did) but there is no doubt in my mind that you got the chance to find out who deserved the bid - you just didn't like the result.

last i checked this was a double elimination tournament...or did i miss something?  double elimination means that you have to lose twice to be eliminated...

And what exactly would be your solution to "these contest not being decided on the field? " The game certainly wouldn't be able to be played Monday in Burlington (weather) or in Ferrum (weather) - so should they fly to a dry place or wait until Tuesday. Ferrum plays games Mon - Thurs and budgets get blown away with either "solution" and not to mention this small issue of class / exams. 

read my post from yesterday...my solution, for ALL of the tournaments that were cancelled, would be to play them today on the higher seeded teams home field (armstrong-shelley field will no question be playable today)...it's not ideal because it would involve additional expense and class time being missed, but it could happen (even with ferrum playing on monday...they could easily postpone or cancel the ehc game...which i'm sure they're missing some class time for since it's a 3pm start and 2 hours away) - the other solution would have required some forethought by the conference, but there was about a 2 hour window on thursday, as well as the down time on friday and saturday evenings during which games could have been played...again, not ideal, but anyone who saw the weather forecast knew that playing games on sunday was probably not going to happen

Good decision by the USA South if for no other reason than to squash the Methodist conspiricy theory.

please, share...what is the "Methodist conspiricy theory"...i'd love to hear this

the bottom line is this...there are ncaa tournament bids on the line in every spring sport now - the monarchs won both tennis tournaments as the #2 and #3 seed, the monarchs won the softball tournament as the #2 seed (and played the #6 seed in the championship bracket)...who knows what would have happened if baseball, golf and lacrosse were allowed to finish out their tournaments and settle things on the field of play?  personally, i think the usasac needs to come up with a more appropriate contingency plan than simply cancelling the tournaments and declaring the highest seed or whoever is leading at the time the champion

[Falcon2720]

CNU lacross was named champions because they were the # 1 seed and beat GC three weeks ago.   What a fair way to determine a champion.

Back to baseball,  Ferrum and AU only played 1 game on thursday and friday.  Methodist did not even play on friday.

Are teams allowed to play triple headers?  A know softball sometimes plays four games in one day.

If they are allowed triple headers and knowing the weather forecast...

FU and MU play right after CNU and NCWC friday night around 7:30.

NCWC and AU play friday night after MU/FC game

MU plays NCWC saturday mourning

MU plays FC middle of the day

Afternoon game if needed

I am sure Methodist and other teams would be willing to play a triple header if they had a chance to WIN the tournament

[Falcon2720]

Eh-You

You said Methodist already had their chance against Ferrum and lost.

What if NCWC beat Methodist?

They would not have had a chance to play Ferrum.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

CNU lacross was named champions because they were the # 1 seed and beat GC three weeks ago.   What a fair way to determine a champion.

I hope you aren't serious, what somebody does 3 weeks ago has no meaning on what they can do now.   

I believe Narch said it earlier, these games can be made up today.  (Or even this week.)

Baseball-Selection Information
Monday, May 14, 2 a.m. ET (ncaasports.com)

Women's Lax- Selection Information
Sunday, May 6, 9-10 p.m. ET (CSTV)

Softball-Selection Information
Sunday, May 6, 12 a.m. ET (ncaasports.com)

Men's Golf-Selection Information
Monday, May 7, 5 p.m. ET (ncaasports.com)

We still have a couple of weeks for the other sports.

[Falcon2720]

PrideSportBBallGuy,

I'm dead serious with lacrosse.  Just check out the 2007 Lacrosse tournament page.  CNU won 15-11 on march 24.  In a game like lacrosse four goals is not that big of a margin.  Canceling the tournament is an awful way to decide a champion. 

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Falcon-

I thought you were saying it was fair about lacrosse.  I know lacrosse well and 4 goals is not a big margin at all.  The games should be played.

[Falcon2720]

Pride,

Just using some sarcastic remarks in response to Eh-You's post

[Spence]

This stinks, no question. And I didn't realize that this is how they would do it; I figured if it goes to Monday, then it goes to Monday. It's not like the Burlington Indians were going to have a game or anything.

That said, it's happened before in NCAA regional play and is handled pretty much the same way. So the Ferrum people are in a sense right when they say it was decided on the field...the tournament essentially becomes single-elimination if the final day can't be played.

To answer other question: No, I doubt any other conference will end up with all its teams having 20 or more wins. I see very little chance for Ferrum to host the regional for a whole ton of reasons. And if Methodist plays well late in the year, I think they've got a decent shot at an at-large bid, but they're not a slamdunk.