MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[The Roop]

If the LMC has to fold it might not be a bad thing. I say that from an NCAA tournament selection criteria perspective. Sure, there'd be to automatic bid to compete for but you'd fall into the Pool B category where 14 or 15 wins should put you in every time. Wisconsin isn't exactly the worse place to be an independant team. Plenty of good teams around who all need to schedule non-conference games.

[Gregory Sager]

That's not going to happen, Roop. The new league formed from the merger of the LMC and NIIC will constitute somewhere between 10-12 schools. The only school that is possibly contemplating an independent existence (and thus a potential quest for a Pool B bid) is MSOE.

[The Roop]

It is likely to happen now that "The Roop" has said it.

[Pat Coleman]

The new conference is going to have a two-year waiting period for an automatic bid unless they take the LMC name and structure and have enough returning members from that group to maintain the LMC's bid.

But everything sounds like it's going to be a brand-new conference, so the members will be in Pool B for two years, like the Interstate Eight on the east coast.

[Ralph Turner]

... Sure, there'd be to automatic bid to compete for but you'd fall into the Pool B category where 14 or 15 wins should put you in every time. ...

Roop, respectfully, Pool B has had some unusual participants including the 2004 UDallas team that went 13-12 and lost at Sul Ross State in the first round.

I think that it will take no less than an in-region winning percentage >/= .700 and at least a 14-6 in region record.  That may only include the top 1-2 teams in that new conference.

The other dynamic in Pool B during the "Era of Musical Conferences" is the other Pool B teams.  NJCU was Pool B last year, in their one-year hiatus from the NJAC.

Let's look at the Pool B teams when you have "Musical Conferences": 

--from the Interstate 8, 2001 Champion Catholic.
--some weak Northeast Region or East Region high win teams, (like the 2002 Pool B Cazenovia team that lost at Williams 121-49

http://www.d3hoops.com/salem/02/pairings.htm  )

or a Mississippi College and a Maryville TN that decide to join a new "Little SEC".

http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?m=20051212

(Maryville and Mississippi College are almost 2 locks for Pool B bids).

--the NEAC moves from Pool B to Pool A in 2006-07.  There goes an allocated Pool B bid, regardless of Villa Julie and Chestnut Hill.

I haven't heard if Clarke has decided to join the New Conference.

Pool B is not likely to pick up to many extra bids either.  The allocation ratio for Pool B schools is hovering around 1:9.00.  The Pres AC is likely to move to Pool A in 2007-08.  That means that there should be only 5-6 Pool B bids available.

This should be fascinating to watch.

[libero]

Clarke is out. They might join a conference in Iowa. They are  not joining the merger for all the reasons that WLC, MBBC, Dom, Edge, Marian are whispering, but not acting on. I think that part of the reason that there has been so little press about the merger is because many of the schools are not too excited about it, but feel they have no choice. The only teams that are enthusiastic about it seem to be Aurora and Concordia WI. I don't think it would take much to scuttle the merger if the right presidents or AD's got in a room without Concordia's president. 
The AQ would have been preserved if MSOE had stayed with the merger. The NAC will not have have one until 2008. MSOE was late in pulling out - if they had bolted a couple of months earlier, they might have taken several of the original LMC schools with them.

[Pat Coleman]

The North Atlantic Conference should sue for its initials.

[showtimeSmyHero]

If MSOE gets into the MWC great.... if not who cares. What i heard comes from about as good a source as you can find. Im not going to be name dropping....but i was told if MSOE sports look good this year... and they dont jump into a new conference next year(and do ok).... they will have a great chance at the MWC.  Well who cares... im changing the subject to the games last night. 

Edgewood looks to have beat up on Maranatha.  I'll leave that one alone. 

Dominican over Marian.

MSOE comes back and beats concordia.  This was my first CU game this year and i was impressed with the CU team.  I think their younger players are starting to play well and I am thinking they might upset someone in the tournament.  Peets was trying to do to much and ended up in foul trouble early and almost got Td up after he fouled out. The ref was in the motion of giving him the T and a player ran over and grabbed him and the ref stopped. I have never seen that before.  Either way he didnt play to hot.   I think MIkos scored almost all of his points in the 2nd half as CU couldnt stop him which cost them the game.

Lakeland by 9 over WLC to avenge the earlier game this year.

[Big_Uns]

Lakeland by 9 over WLC to avenge the earlier game this year.

It was 11--71-60. The game was all Lakeland's from beginning to end basically. They rotated 10 guys throughout easily, which gave WLC fits trying to keep up. Matt Rogers solidified his bid for Rookie of the Year by playing great (15 points, 5 boards in 21 minutes) filling in for Tyrone Coleman who was in foul trouble the entire game.

I gotta say that I lost a lot of respect for WLC in the game. They complained and complained about every single call as if they felt like they were owed something just because they're WLC. At several times I was anticipating technicals to be called on Coach Noon or Biesterfeld for arguing calls. Just play the game. You weren't going to win anyway, and there were a lot of no-calls in the game on both sides.

[Greek Tragedy]

Barring a major collapse, MSOE and Lakeland are headed for a showdown for the conference title with two games against each other.  Both have a three-game lead (in the loss column) on Dominican, Edgewood, Lutheran and Concordia.

Amazingly, the LMC could have a very slim chance at a Pool C bid because both MSOE's and Lakeland's in-region records are pretty good.  Their QOWI is pretty bad, with only Lakeland (9.00) in the Top 100.  But, with lots of conference games to go in the other midwest regions (and the CCIW at least a much tougher conference to "run the table"), losses will pile up for other midwest region teams. 

If Lakeland or MSOE can run the table and then lose in the conference final, we could see something unbelievable! (though the overall winning %s of the other teams aren't going to help MSOE or Lakeland's QOWI) 

[Big_Uns]

Based on the win over UWSP and their performances against UWLax and Hope, Lakeland stands at having the better shot at the Pool C bid if they lose in the tournament.

I also forgot to mention there was a Dominic James sighting at The Tank on Saturday.

[Greek Tragedy]

Based on the win over UWSP and their performances against UWLax and Hope, Lakeland stands at having the better shot at the Pool C bid if they lose in the tournament.
I also forgot to mention there was a Dominic James sighting at The Tank on Saturday.

Basically, based on the win over UWSP.  The loss to La Crosse is a loss and an in-region loss nonetheless.  The loss to Hope doesn't matter because it was out-of-region.

Maybe you were just mentioning those games in terms of Lakeland just being the better of the two teams (MSOE being the other, of course) and having the better chance to run the table.  If that's the case, I agree with you.  In terms of the NCAA selection committee, only the win over Point is good.  This isn't D1 where "quality losses" are a plus! 

[Big_Uns]

Yes I do believe that Lakeland is the better of the two teams, if only for the fact that they can basically play 40 minutes without giving up much talent no matter who is on the court for them. That said, I think that if they do lose in the conference tournament, they'd be one of the bigger snubs if they didn't get a Pool C bid.

[Muskie Fan South]

old school or big uns,
I'm a rookie at this what is the QOWI and what is a pool c ? This is the first I am following college at the D3 level normally I'm a Atlantic 10  fan so could you help me here?

[Pat Coleman]

Muskie Fan:

There's a rather extensive explanation of playoff questions and answers in our FAQ, which is linked on the front page (and all other news pages) as well as at the bottom of my post.