NE Region General Questions

[pjunito]

Thanks nerd! Informative as always.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Nerd is right - there are no seedings in the Division III basketball tournaments.

Teams are first selected to the NCAA tournament via Pool A, B, and C (check out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2012/02/10/2012-playoff-primer-mind-your-bs-and-cs/). The regional rankings have everything to do with who is selected in Pool C, primarily. No more than just one team from a region can be considered at a time... so essentially 8 teams are brought to the table, one from each region, and using the primary and secondary criteria a team is selected to the tournament. Then the process starts over with a team replacing whoever was picked from that particular reason (while the rest remain the same). They continue this until the 62-team tournament is complete.

Then the committee brackets the teams. This is where they try and separate teams as much as possible like making sure conference opponents don't face off in the first round. The committee is able to move teams to different regions as long as they don't leave a 500 mile distance (driving, not radius). Beyond that distance requires a flight per NCAA rules. That doesn't mean it won't happen, but the NCAA will try and limit this as much as possible per financial reasons.

Depending on how a team like AM finishes the season will determine most likely who they will face or where they will go in the first weekend. I do agree that because of their geographical position, they could easily be shifted to the Atlantic or Mid-Atlantic regions. And even further thought is they could be sent to maybe a Virginia Wesleyan (if they are hosting) since that is 431 miles on the official NCAA mileage program.

However, they also could stay in NE and have to go through a gauntlet like Amherst, Middlebury, or others since they might be considered low or middle of the pack and not "rewarded" with being sent somewhere else - in other words, earn your way out of the region.

Just some thoughts to consider.. we will honestly get a better idea of what might happen following the final regional rankings and when conference tournaments are over... then we know what upsets have changed the landscape and could influence who is getting in and what teams will be coming out of each region before we start talking Pool C.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

There's no seeding, but it's not random either.  They avoid putting two really strong schools together in the first round unless forced to by geography.

[WPI89]

One more ranking today, correct?  Anyone know what time?

[mass_d3fan]

NorthEast Rankings - 2/22/12

1 Amherst 21-2 23-2
2 Middlebury 21-2 23-2
3 MIT 23-1 23-1
4 Rhode Island College 20-5 20-5
5 Western Connecticut State 20-5 20-5
6 Eastern Connecticut State 20-5 20-5
7 WPI 18-6 18-6
8 Wesleyan (Conn.) 20-4 20-5
9 Albertus Magnus 24-1 24-1
10 Keene State 15-6 18-7
11 Becker 21-4 21-4
12 Salem State 17-7 18-7

[WPI89]

Thanks again MD3 - seems like they finally have the top 3 sorted out about right.  Tell you what - with these rankings, Magnus better not mess around in their tourney.  Would be a shame if they were left out - they can play with anybody.

Little East team beware as well as I just do not see 3 (much less 4) teams getting in...................deserved or not.

If Eastern loses Friday and WPI beats Springfield and loses a heart-breaker to MIT.........well I have seen stranger things happen?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Assuming Wesleyan and WPI lose, I can see Albertus getting to 5 or 6 - which will put them as third or fourth on the Pool C list from the region - that will at least get them on the table.

[WPI89]

Is there a "re-ranking" after conference tourneys and before Monday?

[Bucket]

Assuming Wesleyan and WPI lose, I can see Albertus getting to 5 or 6 - which will put them as third or fourth on the Pool C list from the region - that will at least get them on the table.

But you're missing a key step. If Albertus has to rely on a Pool C (rather than the automatic A that comes with winning their tournament), then they will have lost, too, which means that they will stay below Wesleyan and WPI if both those teams lose as well. Making matters worse, they will have lost to a far inferior opponent than Wes's or WPI's opponents.

[Hugenerd]

Is there a "re-ranking" after conference tourneys and before Monday?

Final rankings are done on Sunday, the last couple of years these have been released.  Brackets are released on Monday.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Assuming Wesleyan and WPI lose, I can see Albertus getting to 5 or 6 - which will put them as third or fourth on the Pool C list from the region - that will at least get them on the table.

But you're missing a key step. If Albertus has to rely on a Pool C (rather than the automatic A that comes with winning their tournament), then they will have lost, too, which means that they will stay below Wesleyan and WPI if both those teams lose as well. Making matters worse, they will have lost to a far inferior opponent than Wes's or WPI's opponents.

True enough.  They just need to win.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The final regional rankings are usually released AFTER the brackets are announced.

[Hugenerd]

The final regional rankings are usually released AFTER the brackets are announced.

Yep, I didn't mean to confuse anyone with my post.  If I remember correctly, its around the typical 3:00 - 4:00 time period when the regional rankings are usually released.

[pjunito]

I have an issue with this committee.... I saw this when the rankings first came out. Albertus because of their weak conference schedule and average non-conference schedule was ranked too low to have any opportunity to move up in the regional ranking. The rest of Albertus schedule (except for Trinity; who had a bad year) was conference opponents. Only one of those opponents had a winning record (St. Joe's of Maine). So, Albertus goes 6-0, and moves up 3 spots in the regional rankings. While other teams in the region lost games and they stay ahead of Albertus.

Here is what I do understand from a regional committee perspective: Albertus has a poor SOS and OWP. Albertus plays in a weak conference. Albertus has not been great in recent year (not a traditional power).

Here is what I don't understand from a regional committee perspective: Has anyone on this committee seen Albertus play this year? I doubt it. If they had, there is no way they rank Albertus as the 9th best team in the region. Here is why: Ray Askew is one of the best players in the region. No one talks about him on the boards; but he has been named on the d3hoops 1st team 3 times this year. He has over 2200 pts and 1000 rebounds in his career. He can score at will; can shoot from the outside or drive to the basket. He never gets frustrated. He is a great off the ball defender. He is motivated to win. Reason number 2. Darius Watson. No one knows about this kid. He is a 6'6 swing forward who is shooting 40% from 3 and is second on the team in dunk/lay-ups (behind Askew). He is the best pure scorer in the conference! (yes, this is the same conference that has Lamonte Thomas). Any person who has seen Watson play would agree with that statement. He can flat out score and by the time he is a senior will break all of Askew's scoring record. Reason number three, they can win in the 50's and win in the 90's. They don't panic... 7 games this year they won where they trailed in the second half. Many people forget that Albertus has a target on their backs in the conference. Every team wants to beat a ranked opponent; especially one who is undefeated in the conference. Albertus over the last 3 weeks; has seen the best from each of their opponents and still has been able to win.

24-1 is their record. It might be a soft 24-1 in the eyes of many people. But, I challenge those eyes to watch the team on the court and tell me that they are soft!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

pjunto - remember that AM has representation on the committee... Lasell's coach is on the committee... so that is at least one set of eyeballs on AM on the committee.

But have you read the criteria the committees are instructed by the NCAA (and thus the member institutions and championship committees who vote on the criteria)? There is nothing there that says that seeing a team and how they play is allowed to be used. Further more, there are other criteria that hurts AM:

Record: 24-1-0 (0.960)
OWP: 0.459
OOWP: 0.489
SOS 0.469
Results vs.: 2-0

Those OWP, OOWP, and SOS numbers are low... in fact the SOS is 50th out of 70 teams.

While I understand your point of view... understand that the numbers are hurting AM... and their conference especially is hurting them.
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