MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[bodhi5]

It's a bad year to be good in the NIIC.  The NIIC championship game may be the last game any NIIC team plays.

[diego]

Bodhi5,

The NIIC Championship game WILL be the last NIIC game played.

[crusaders]

I'm so glad you guys don't know anything.  This will give me more of an opportunity to talk more trash when Clarke gets selected.  Picture this...the NIIC is the only conference in the nation without an automatic bid.  Whose fault is that?  Dominican's...the NIIC will not be punished for Dominican leaving, especially in its final year...bottom line is, if Clarke wins out, we will make the tournament.  Keep making your predictions though(like aurora by 6, or aurora by whatever), it will give me greater pride when Clarke advances. Plus, think about the NCAA tourny, and how they reward teams for finishing the year strong.  This will be interesting to see, in the final year of the NIIC.  Any other believers out there?  And does my comment atleast make a little sense?

And cardinal pride, who do you think will win the big ten...Wisconsin has just a good a chance as the Iowa and Illinois

[Gregory Sager]

Holy smoke ... is there no end to your silliness?

I'm so glad you guys don't know anything.  This will give me more of an opportunity to talk more trash when Clarke gets selected.  Picture this...the NIIC is the only conference in the nation without an automatic bid.

BZZZT! Wrong! I can name three other conferences just off the top of my head that don't have automatic bids: The North East Athletic Conference, the Presidents Athletic Conference, and the Great South Athletic Conference.

Dominican's...the NIIC will not be punished for Dominican leaving, especially in its final year...bottom line is, if Clarke wins out, we will make the tournament.

BZZZT! Wrong! As I painstakingly pointed out above, it's not in Clarke's hands. Not only will Clarke have to win out, but some of the teams above them in the Pool B race (e.g., Lincoln, Maryville of Tennessee, Villa Julie, Fisk, Bethany) are going to have to falter.

Plus, think about the NCAA tourny, and how they reward teams for finishing the year strong.

BZZZT! Wrong! (heh, this is fun ) End-of-season performance is not one of the five primary criteria used by the NCAA D3 selection committee.

And does my comment atleast make a little sense?

BZZZT! No!

Heh.

[cardinalpride]

I'm so glad you guys don't know anything.  This will give me more of an opportunity to talk more trash when Clarke gets selected.  Picture this...the NIIC is the only conference in the nation without an automatic bid.  Whose fault is that?  Dominican's...the NIIC will not be punished for Dominican leaving, especially in its final year...bottom line is, if Clarke wins out, we will make the tournament.  Keep making your predictions though(like aurora by 6, or aurora by whatever), it will give me greater pride when Clarke advances. Plus, think about the NCAA tourny, and how they reward teams for finishing the year strong.  This will be interesting to see, in the final year of the NIIC.  Any other believers out there?  And does my comment atleast make a little sense?

And cardinal pride, who do you think will win the big ten...Wisconsin has just a good a chance as the Iowa and Illinois

Crusader, I believe Iowa will win the the big 10 regular season opening the door for Steve Alford to replace Mike Davis at IU.   Iowa, Ohio State, Illinois, Wisconsin in that order.  Illinois takes 3rd because they have the tie breaker over the badgers.

[Greek Tragedy]

Look for Lakeland to spank MBBC by at least 20.
Marian will give MSOE fits, but the Engineers will put out a single-digit victory.
WLC should top Concordia in a game I could care less about.
Dominican will be able to end the season knowing they were the only LMC team to receive votes on d3hoops.com's poll after Edgewood takes care of them.

[crusaders]

and everyone said i was silly for thinking clarke would beat aurora...a 27 point victory later i'm right...but i forgot who is talking, the all mighty d3 hoops post boarder greg sager's, the man who(i applaude your confidence) knows everything...forget about your 5 criteria, it is still a decision(obviously backed up by numbers), but it is a decision.  i think clarke has a way better chance than you are giving them.  by the way, not how, but why do you know every stat of division 3 basketball like its your job?  is it really that important to you?

no end to the sillyness?  well, clarke has backed up everything i've talked trash about so far, so until they don't, you really have no room to call me out.  i was obviously trying to create a little hype before the last few games of the season, and you have turned fun hype into equations, and in depth statistics that i could care less about(congrats for having the hobby) 

the only reason i started talking is because the rockford sid(who should be working on redoing the worst website i've ever seen, not writing posts)  was talking trash about how good rockford was...which they are not...rather than getting a reply from him, i have gotten countless stats and posts saying how bad clarke is...we're a lot better than people give us credit for, and we are playing good basketball right now...
can you atleast say one good thing about clarke sager?  just say clarke is hot right now, teams get on runs, and clarke is on one...there is no stat for that, besides the margin of victory they have had the last 3 games.

BZZZT...I'm glad you feel better about yourself for analyzing, in depth, everything i've ever said...  you're probably one of those guys who sits and watches a game and everything you see is just the worst play ever, because you feel you could do it better

cardinal pride, i think iowa is guna have it tough with road games at a tough minnesota team, illinois, and a home game against the badgers...but think what you want...wisconsin will prove just like the crusaders did.....and hey, a shout out to you and me with the negative karma..did you think comments about d3 basketball would actually bother people this much?  i mean, this sager guy sounds like he's actually losing sleep over my "ridiculous comments"

[Gregory Sager]

Losing sleep? Heck, I'm getting a big chuckle out of you, Crusaders. Hence, the smileys.

You not only don't get it, you don't seem to want to get it. It's as though you've got your fingers stuck in your ears and you're going "la la la!" at the top of your lungs so that you can't hear what people are telling you. On one level, your enthusiasm is great, and I applaud it. More D3 teams should have fans who get as hyped up about their teams as do you. That's what it's all about. But you just don't seem interested at all in finding out how the Division Three national tournament works, and when it's pointed out to you how at-large teams are selected from among independents and non-qualifying conferences (Pool B) you dismiss it as "equations and in-depth statistics".

You just don't get it, dude, do you? Those "equations and in-depth statistics" are not irrelevant. They are how the at-large teams are selected. The D3 tourney is not like the D1 tourney. There are a lot less "opinions" (i.e., subjective decisions made by the selection committee) that go into the process than you think. The D3 handbook requires the selection committee to use those five primary criteria to make their selections for the 4 Pool B and 18 Pool C berths to the tourney. The only leeway the committee has is in how they weigh those five criteria against each other.

Do yourself a favor and learn about the selection process before you go spouting off about it.

[Big_Uns]

WLC should top Concordia in a game I could care less about.

I think the winner of that game has the best shot of reaching the final.

All other games, I'd like to see Edgewood fall, MSOE fall, and Concordia fall. Realistically the only one that will out of those three is Concordia, which won't even be an upset since WLC is the higher seed, sadly.

The postponement has only delayed the inevitable for MBBC in what should be the only blowout game of the weekend.

Looking forward to seeing Edgewood make the trip to The Aquarium for the semifinals.

Old School, hopefully the refs won't gift-wrap an Eagle victory against Lakeland like they did your Pointers. 

[cardinalpride]

cardinal pride, i think iowa is guna have it tough with road games at a tough minnesota team, illinois, and a home game against the badgers...but think what you want...wisconsin will prove just like the crusaders did.....and hey, a shout out to you and me with the negative karma..did you think comments about d3 basketball would actually bother people this much?  i mean, this sager guy sounds like he's actually losing sleep over my "ridiculous comments"

Crusader, I don't want to turn this into a big ten chat board, but the only game I see Iowa losing is the Illinois game.  I see the Illinis, Badgers, and the Buckeyes losing at least one more game and they're already a game behind the Hawkeyes in the loss column.  Don't worry about the negative Karma it just means you're getting someone's attention.  I started to get mine when I predicted NCC would upset IWU at the shirk center when IWU was undefeated and #1 in the country.  IWU backers didn't like that.  Once the prediction came true they hated it!  So keep stating your opinions because that's what this site is for.  However, you should lay off Greg Sager.  He is quite knowledgable on D3 BB.  He's been following it for about 25years.  If I had to guess, probably longer than you've been alive.  I don't believe his intention is to put down Clarke BB.  I believe he is trying to educate you on the process of selecting a d 3 tournament field and limit you from making a fool of yourself.  It's all good. 

[diego]

Crusader--I agree you need to learn about the D3 Tourney.  Clarke will not get in. 

This year the overall records of teams (D3) they beat was 114-164, which consists of not a lot of quality wins.  But the overall record of teams they lost to was 103-64, which means they lost to the better quality teams. 

Also, are you saying that if either Clarke, Rockford, or Aurora win out they will make the tourney?  That would mean they were getting HOT at the right time.  They all have the same record..... What is your opinion, or is Clarke the only one with a chance?

I don't know if you remember or were even aware of D3 basketball, but Rockford (18-7) and Aurora (17-8, I believe) were left out in 2001-2002 as a Pool B. 

[crusaders]

Sager- First, thank you for finally understanding the enthusiasm and pride we have in our crusaders...which is really the only reasoning for any of our arguements...i guess you finally busted us...clarke would the the longest shot in the history, but theres still a 1% chance they could get in. There is always a chance.    I understand how the tourny is selected, and that..what is there, like 4 at large selections...for proof that I understand it, I have witnessed a lot of extremely solid WIAC(back when the WIAC was the top league in the country) teams get left out while growing up.  I didn't know why, so I researched it.  It's too bad more teams couldn't make the tourny, but correct me if i'm wrong, i don't think, economically, the d3 could have a larger tournament.  but, as the fan that i am, you just have to believe your team has a chance until the last second.  the reason i love d3 basketball is because it gives you a chance to get a little closer to the action, know the players, and lets you take a litte more pride in your cheering efforts(because sometimes it is the job of just 10 people to support the team and back them)

Diego, the only team that I think would possibly get in is Clarke, because 1)i'm all for clarke  2) to get hot at the end of the season is to go on a run, like clarke would have won 8 in a row, but not only 8 in a row(against ncaa teams), the final victories have been impressive...I have been quoted saying, since before the benedictine game, that the only chance at all clarke would have of making the tourny would be if they were to win out AND win every game by more than 20 points, that is the only chance (1 %) thye would have.  That and a little help from a few teams above them.

any predictions on the clarke rockford game?  86-74 here, a lot of emotion was lost in the aurora game, but they should have enough gas left to get the job done.
predictions on aurora benedictine???  i say harrison goes off for 32 points...ben by 2 in OT   67-65
 

[John Gleich]

what is there, like 4 at large selections...

Actually, there are 18 at-large bids this season... but the point that GS and others are trying to make is that for Clarke to get in, they need to be compared to other teams across the country in areas such as regional record, Quality Of Win Index (QOWI), regional rankings, etc.

There are 59 bids to the NCAA tournament this year.  Like I said, 18 of these are at-large bids.  The way that the at-large bids are selected is that the top ranked teams (from the NCAA's regional rankings, two of which have already been put out, see the blog on the front page) from each region will be compared to each other.  Clarke was not ranked in the Midwest... so in order for them even to have a shot, they'd have to somehow be "on the radar" of the NCAA committee, and they're not.  Even if they were, they've got 7 in-region losses.  I can think of 30 schools off-hand that have fewer, or the same amount of in-region losses... In the QOWI, Clarke is not even in the top 120 in the country.

From your point of view, Clarke has played pretty well, especially against their conference opponents.  But this is still a team that has won just 4 more games than it has lost.  In picking the squads that play in the NCAA tournament, whether right or wrong, the NCAA has a formula, and if teams stack up well, then they get a bid.  The WIAC teams you mentioned earlier are a prime example of teams that DESERVED (from a subjective point of view) to be in the tournament.  But these teams didn't stack up well against other teams across the country... and that's why they didn't get a bid.  The same holds true for Clarke, and while I, as well, applaud your enthusiasm, sheer desire from a subjective point of view is not enough for a bid to the Dance.

[Pat Coleman]

Clarke's QOWI: 8.684. They actually are in the Top 120, at 117.

[John Gleich]

Perhaps I need my eyes checked... Thanks for making me look dumb (eh, not dumb, just blind!  )   I swear I looked at the QOWI board 3 times and didn't see them...

Even so... like I said before, there are only 59 bids, so a QOWI (if that was the only criteria) of 117 doesn't come close to being high enough, even with 59 at-larges... and that's not saying anything about the regional records, or rankings.