NE Region General Questions

[GnacBballFan]

GNAC

I agree with you and understand your frustration.  I have seen Magnus once in person (albeit without their best player) and Springfield on video twice - so I am hardly speaking with an expert eye.

Like you - I believe that based on the body of work this year - Magnus should be ranked ahead of Springfield for sure.  That being said - I would be careful with the eye test argument.  My eye test tells me, Magnus vs Springfield in a 7 game series goes to game 7 and the home team wins.

That is more of a compliment to Springfield than a knock on Magnus.  I think AM would have great games against anybody in the Northeast - including Amhurst, Williams, WPI etc........  As I stated about a month ago - I hope Magnus get Amherst or Williams in a round 2 game and stays away from WPI.

Thanks wpi, I know it comes off as crying, but that's not what I'm trying to do here. Albertus did beat a top 25 team in purchase, as well as had some easy games bc of their conference, I get all that. I'll just stop the argument in general, albertus gets a chance the avenge their only d3 loss this yr Saturday. So if their good enough they will get it done

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

If Albertus loses again to a conference opponent, they don't deserve to get in.  The GNAC is not good enough this year.  Period.  They shouldn't have lost at all to begin with.  There's no other even borderline tournament worthy team in the conference.  J&W is ok, but not great.  If Albertus can't win their conference tournament, they probably are not as good right now as they have been at high points during the season.

There's just no good place to argue for a Pool C selection for a 1 loss team in a weak conference.  If you're that good, win the game.

(I know this post can come off harsh - I don't mean it to be that way - it's just reality with the way the tournament works).

St. Norbert is in the same boat in the Midwest.  I think they're a better team than Albertus and they could miss out the same way.

Win the games.

Then why even play the regular season then, let's just skip to the gnac tourney

I'm not saying they can't get in or they won't, just that its silly to be trying to make a case for Pool C for a one loss team before they're even out of the Pool A hunt.

But yeah, for a lot of conferences, the tournament is everything, in terms of the NCAAs.  That's just how it goes.  There's always the catch-22 for small conferences  - you can load up your non-con schedule with good teams and risk losing too many games to get in, or you can post a great record and miss out because of one late loss.  The balance is somewhere in the middle.

What you really want to hope is that the non-conference teams you did beat do well.

[pjunito]

Hoops Fan, you always make good points. At this point, Albertus, Nichols, Springfield have to win their league championships to get in. I can understand that.
My frustration comes from looking at other regions and teams like a Scranton and Purchase are at the top of their regions and they have a weak SOS and play in poor conferences. It seems like the difference between regions is that SOS is weighed much higher in the NE region than an other regions. Where, maybe, just maybe, they compare best wins and worst losses.. they compare home versus away.. they compare who played in the game (i.e. AWM missing games for Cabrini) differently than in NE. That is a bit frustrating.

But, hey... its conference tournament week. If any team ranked lower than 5 in the region doesn't win their tournament, they have to sweat it out. And if Albertus and Nichols don't win their tournaments, they are not making the NCAAs.

[GnacBballFan]

If Albertus loses again to a conference opponent, they don't deserve to get in.  The GNAC is not good enough this year.  Period.  They shouldn't have lost at all to begin with.  There's no other even borderline tournament worthy team in the conference.  J&W is ok, but not great.  If Albertus can't win their conference tournament, they probably are not as good right now as they have been at high points during the season.

There's just no good place to argue for a Pool C selection for a 1 loss team in a weak conference.  If you're that good, win the game.

(I know this post can come off harsh - I don't mean it to be that way - it's just reality with the way the tournament works).

St. Norbert is in the same boat in the Midwest.  I think they're a better team than Albertus and they could miss out the same way.

Win the games.

Then why even play the regular season then, let's just skip to the gnac tourney

I'm not saying they can't get in or they won't, just that its silly to be trying to make a case for Pool C for a one loss team before they're even out of the Pool A hunt.

But yeah, for a lot of conferences, the tournament is everything, in terms of the NCAAs.  That's just how it goes.  There's always the catch-22 for small conferences  - you can load up your non-con schedule with good teams and risk losing too many games to get in, or you can post a great record and miss out because of one late loss.  The balance is somewhere in the middle.

What you really want to hope is that the non-conference teams you did beat do well.

Unfortunately you hit it right on the head. Just frustrates me as albertus has beaten purchase who is ranked 1 in their region, as well as having their best yr ever and being ranked 14 overall. But like you said, just win. They play the only team in d3 to have beaten them this Saturday in the final, so they could not have asked for a better scenario. I'm sure they want revenge after that embarrassing loss

[WPI89]

Good luck to all this weekend.  I will be rooting for chalk but secretly always like a good upset (outside the NEWMAC please).

My 2 upset predictions are Midd over Williams and then losing a heart breaker to Amherst and the winner of UMASS-Dart/RIC beating Eastern in the LEC final.

[NEHoopsFan99]

WPI- as a WPI fan you better not be rooting against Eastern! Don't you want a little cushion in case you don't win the NEWMAC? You also really don't want a scenario where the NESCAC winner might be someone other than Amhearst/Williams. Upsets were fun up until last week, but not anymore!

[madzillagd]

Randolph-Macon losing to Hamp-Syd in the ODAC tourney so another likely Pool C spot will go to them. 

[7express]

Randolph-Macon losing to Hamp-Syd in the ODAC tourney so another likely Pool C spot will go to them.

I think Virginia Wesleyan was probably going to get in, so as long as they end up winning, it shouldn't matter.

[7express]

Good luck to all this weekend.  I will be rooting for chalk but secretly always like a good upset (outside the NEWMAC please).

My 2 upset predictions are Midd over Williams and then losing a heart breaker to Amherst and the winner of UMASS-Dart/RIC beating Eastern in the LEC final.

I wouldn't count out Western beating Eastern though.  Much more likely to happen than Dartmouth beating them.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

FYI - the national committee has the ultimate say in the regional rankings and I know they have made changes in each region in an effort to remain consistent.

You argue that AMC's win over Purchase doesn't seem to be taken into account... well we also know that Cabrini's win over Randolph-Macon (also #1) hasn't been helping them or they would have never fallen behind Scranton in Week #2.

And the SOS factor is seen around the country... St. Norbert isn't exactly at the top of the Midwest region despite their 1-loss record; Cabrini has waffled in their ranking due to their SOS; Staten Island hasn't been rewarded; Texas-Dallas is low in the rankings. Take a deeper look at the rankings and the numbers and you will see more of a consistent pattern then you may want to believe.

[mass_d3fan]

This is article in the Worcester paper highlight to local players on the WPI team.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20140225/COLUMN11/302269952/1009/SPORTS

The article also reveals a couple of disturbing pieces of information for WPI fans.  Both Ryan Kolb and Aaron Davis are injured.  The article says Davis is questionable for the NEWMC tournament.

This not the same team as last year and is not even the same team that was playing better earlier this season.

If they were to lose to MIT tomorrow, I wonder how much these injuries might impact their final seeding position in the regional rankings.  I beleive the NCAA takes injuries into account, but how much weight would it carry?  Or am I incorrect about injuries playing a role in the seedings and selection process at the D3 level?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Injuries are not part of the criteria. Certainly the committee can understand how a team is made up and what factors may have been at play when comparing games and such... but WPI isn't going to be left out of the NCAA tournament because the committee feels injuries would play a factor in their performance.

[mass_d3fan]

Dave

Thanks for the quick reply.  Occassionaly, I like being wrong

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

LOL I have resigned myself that I simply will be wrong at times... nothing I can do about it

[madzillagd]

Dave's interview with the South RAC chair is a must watch for anybody that's been asking ranking questions over the past few weeks.  Pretty clear that teams need to get their SOS up in the future if they want to make the tournament as a Pool C.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epVYLfzjhc0&feature=youtu.be