MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[ziggy]

Well,  since it's been ignored between recruits and coaching changes, I'll comment and say it's totally badass that the D2 and D3 champs will be played in Atlanta next year. Having all three tournaments in the same facility and on the same court will be a great experience for the D2 and D3 athletes. This is an exciting change.

Same city but adjacent facilities as D1 will be in the football stadium and D2/D3 will be in whatever they call the NBA arena these days.

Do we know how the schedule will be adjusted? Last time they tried this, the playoff schedule suffered, IMO.

Understand that next year and six years ago had two VERY different calendars. Due to quirks like when the Masters is scheduled in April, six years ago was like this past season... the DI tournament stretching a little later into April than normal. Did anyone notice the DIII championship weekend was the final weekend of DI conference tournaments and not the opening weekend of the national tournament? So, six years ago ... they had to stretch the tournament out over SIX weeks. They didn't want three weeks between semis and title game. Thus, they had to shift things around while also doing right by Salem and giving them a "traditional" weekend featuring two days of games. It resulted in 1-1-1-2-0-1.

This time around (as is being discussed in the multi-regional group "NCAA Tournament 2020), there is just five weeks for the entire thing to be stretch out over. I can tell you for a fact, the "1-1-1" part of that schedule six years ago was NOT loved (also remember, we still had two first-round byes; both title game teams happened to have byes in the first round for different reasons) by committee members, coaches in general, etc. So, I don't expect to see that.

However, we will see two weeks between semis and title game. It is unavoidable. Fort Wayne cannot move the tournament weekend a week later because they are hosting the DI Women's Sweet 16/Elite 8 rounds the following weekend. So, there are the choices of 2-1-2-0-1 or ... 1-2-2-0-1. I think we will get the first version. Start the tournament with a traditional weekend feels more logical to me with better ability to make the bracket diverse ... than starting with a single game.

The nice thing about starting with a single game is the opportunity for more schools to host. Should be able to get an even better bracket that way because the committee is just making pairs instead of working out four-team pods.

I think the opposite is true. They get more flexibility with the bracket in the 4-team pods because you could have Illinois Wesleyan play against Guilford at Wooster in the first round if it made sense for seeding. You could never get a matchup like that with individual pairings.

Good point

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Yeah - what we saw in 2013 was the single-round forced a lot of games we didn't want ... because now the 500 miles was from school to school (opponent to opponent) ... rather than getting to a site to play a game.

I'd rather see pods in the first weekend to get some diversity and then deal with what we have to deal with in the second weekend.

[HOPEful]

Given the quality hire of an experienced college coach for the Calvin women's program, one has to think there will be a big-time hire on the men's side of things as well.

What would a big-time hire be for Calvin? I think VanderWal is the only realistic answer for that, and that is not happening.

I'm going to stick with the "feeder school" theme and put my chips down on David Kool.

[HOPEful]

Yeah - what we saw in 2013 was the single-round forced a lot of games we didn't want ... because now the 500 miles was from school to school (opponent to opponent) ... rather than getting to a site to play a game.

I'd rather see pods in the first weekend to get some diversity and then deal with what we have to deal with in the second weekend.

I could get on board a 2-1-2-0-1 setup. it was the 1-1-1 crap that was horrible a couple years ago. Keeping normal pods for the first weekend would be so much better. Single games the following weekend, to me, isn't the worst thing in the world. Especially if the following weekend is back to 2 games.

[knights2000]

Given the quality hire of an experienced college coach for the Calvin women's program, one has to think there will be a big-time hire on the men's side of things as well.

What would a big-time hire be for Calvin? I think VanderWal is the only realistic answer for that, and that is not happening.

IMO, Bill Sall would be considered a big-time hire if that were to occur.

He has 8 winning seasons in 17 as a head coach and a career record under .500

Recent history tells us Ferris State is capable of being a player on the national stage.

FWIW, I think he's the next coach of the Knights.

[Jameswys]

Yeah - what we saw in 2013 was the single-round forced a lot of games we didn't want ... because now the 500 miles was from school to school (opponent to opponent) ... rather than getting to a site to play a game.

I'd rather see pods in the first weekend to get some diversity and then deal with what we have to deal with in the second weekend.

I could get on board a 2-1-2-0-1 setup. it was the 1-1-1 crap that was horrible a couple years ago. Keeping normal pods for the first weekend would be so much better. Single games the following weekend, to me, isn't the worst thing in the world. Especially if the following weekend is back to 2 games.

I'm just spitballing random ideas here, but in my mind I'd rather see a 0-2-1-2-1. If you announced the brackets then had a bye week I think there would be better turnout in the first round. It would allow schools to coordinate an alumni trip, a student trip and allow more families time to plan the trip.

I know that at D1 schools they can plan these things in a week, but I think we all know that D3 schools don't have the infrastructure to make plans like this overnight.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It would be a lot more travel, but I'm sure the coaches would love it if it just went 2-1-1-1-1.

[HupHolland]

Given the quality hire of an experienced college coach for the Calvin women's program, one has to think there will be a big-time hire on the men's side of things as well.

What would a big-time hire be for Calvin? I think VanderWal is the only realistic answer for that, and that is not happening.

I'm going to stick with the "feeder school" theme and put my chips down on David Kool.

I can confirm this is not an option

[sac]

Big Rapids News article when Bill Sall left Ferris State for No. Michigan.  https://news.pioneergroup.com/bigrapidsnews/2013/05/12/sall-opts-for-nmu/

NMU was in pretty rough shape when Sall took over, I think he had just one player that had played the year before on his first team in 2014.   Essentially started at zero a total rebuild.

[HOPEful]

Given the quality hire of an experienced college coach for the Calvin women's program, one has to think there will be a big-time hire on the men's side of things as well.

What would a big-time hire be for Calvin? I think VanderWal is the only realistic answer for that, and that is not happening.

I'm going to stick with the "feeder school" theme and put my chips down on David Kool.

I can confirm this is not an option

Yes, my comment was somewhat a joke, but I do wonder if a coach like Kool is actually the better long term choice for calvin. As a Hope fan, I'd be scared of a younger Kool that's "more relate-able" to today's high schoolers and better equipped to steal recruits from Cornerstone, Hope, Trinity, Spring Arbor, etc. Is Bill Sall really any better equipped to maneuver through calvin's current political/financial landscape? Much like Hope fans overplaying one recruiting class, I think a lot of calvin fans will be hinging their hopes on getting "their guy". I don't think they're necessarily any better off with Sall than with Kool. Or in a more positive spin, I don't necessary think they're any worse off if they fail to bring in a "big name" like Sall or Vanderwal. They might actually be better off. 

[ziggy]

I think it takes quite a bit of mental gymnastics to say Bill Sall wouldn't be a great hire for Calvin. I agree with the appeal of some of the things someone like Kool would bring but that would be a fallback plan for me if Sall wasn't interested in making the move. Hard to really say much without knowing the candidate pool.

[wiz]

Given the quality hire of an experienced college coach for the Calvin women's program, one has to think there will be a big-time hire on the men's side of things as well.

What would a big-time hire be for Calvin? I think VanderWal is the only realistic answer for that, and that is not happening.

I'm going to stick with the "feeder school" theme and put my chips down on David Kool.

I can confirm this is not an option

Yes, my comment was somewhat a joke, but I do wonder if a coach like Kool is actually the better long term choice for calvin. As a Hope fan, I'd be scared of a younger Kool that's "more relate-able" to today's high schoolers and better equipped to steal recruits from Cornerstone, Hope, Trinity, Spring Arbor, etc. Is Bill Sall really any better equipped to maneuver through calvin's current political/financial landscape? Much like Hope fans overplaying one recruiting class, I think a lot of calvin fans will be hinging their hopes on getting "their guy". I don't think they're necessarily any better off with Sall than with Kool. Or in a more positive spin, I don't necessary think they're any worse off if they fail to bring in a "big name" like Sall or Vanderwal. They might actually be better off.

Kool's credentials are too weak for this position.  Calvin can do so much better.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Yeah - what we saw in 2013 was the single-round forced a lot of games we didn't want ... because now the 500 miles was from school to school (opponent to opponent) ... rather than getting to a site to play a game.

I'd rather see pods in the first weekend to get some diversity and then deal with what we have to deal with in the second weekend.

I could get on board a 2-1-2-0-1 setup. it was the 1-1-1 crap that was horrible a couple years ago. Keeping normal pods for the first weekend would be so much better. Single games the following weekend, to me, isn't the worst thing in the world. Especially if the following weekend is back to 2 games.

I'm just spitballing random ideas here, but in my mind I'd rather see a 0-2-1-2-1. If you announced the brackets then had a bye week I think there would be better turnout in the first round. It would allow schools to coordinate an alumni trip, a student trip and allow more families time to plan the trip.

I know that at D1 schools they can plan these things in a week, but I think we all know that D3 schools don't have the infrastructure to make plans like this overnight.

I think you missed the point that there HAS to be two weeks between semifinals and the title game. Fort Wayne cannot move it's hosting weekend to a week later (like Salem was somehow able to do six years ago; they did a lot of juggling with pre-booked events that year) because they are hosting the D1 women's Regionals (Sweet 16/Elite 8) the week after DIII is scheduled to be there. They can't be hosting 12 teams and playing all those games in one weekend. Impossible.

So the first three weeks has to go 2-1-2 or 1-2-2. For a lot of reasons including making the best bracket possible, I hope it is 2-1-2.

[Jameswys]

Thanks Dave, I totally missed that.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Thanks Dave, I totally missed that.

All good.