MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[Just Bill]

Newest men's regional rankings are up. Pass it on:

http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/09/ncaas-2011-regional-rankings-week-2/

Wow. Edgewood only drops one spot and MSOE goes UP a position even though they both lost this week. Wish we could see the SOS numbers like we could last year.

[WLCALUM83]

2-09-11 NAth Con Finals:

WLC 80, Marian 66
Benedictine 81, Dominican 71
Aurora 74, CUC 65
CUW 79, Lakeland 75

With those results, Marian and Dominican see their playoff chances get slimmer- Warriors helped themselves, but with Edgewood coming up on Saturday, they're not out of the woods by a long shot (Maranatha has beaten WLC once, and the Warriors play the Crusaders on the road in the reg season finale--)

[WLCALUM83]

Final just in:

MSOE 78, Rockford 71 (A 32-14 Raider scoring run starting w 16 min left in 2nd half was the difference here-per Rockford PBP acct)

One more win by both CUC and Rockford, and Dominican is eliminated. Benedictine and MSOE clinched spots.

[Pat Coleman]

Newest men's regional rankings are up. Pass it on:

http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/09/ncaas-2011-regional-rankings-week-2/

Wow. Edgewood only drops one spot and MSOE goes UP a position even though they both lost this week. Wish we could see the SOS numbers like we could last year.

Links to these numbers are now listed in the comments section of that blog post.

[BadgerFan42]

Say Concordia(WI) finishes the regular season with a win @ Edgewood, but loses before the Conference tournament Championship game, does the NAC get two teams into the NCAA tourny?

[John Gleich]

Say Concordia(WI) finishes the regular season with a win @ Edgewood, but loses before the Conference tournament Championship game, does the NAC get two teams into the NCAA tourny?

I think there's a pretty good chance... they're #2 in the region right now, and the next-highest team is Hanover.  They're tied with Manchester for the conference lead... and would have to lose another game themselves to be Pool C eligible.  I think that means that CUW would be "on the board" pretty early in the selection process, should they lose (the only way they wouldn't be on right away is if Augustana loses as well...

Of course, the worst thing that could happen would be for other teams with strong resumes to lose as well (if a WIAC team other than Point or River Falls would win the WIAC conference tournament, if North Central wins the CCIW, if a NESCAC team other than Amherst, Williams, or Middlebury wins the NESCAC, etc).  That would flood the Pool C hopeful list with a bunch of teams who would most probably get bids.  For teams who lose, it really becomes a "wait and see," but CUW is so highly ranked in the region and has a pretty substantial cushion on the #3 team, they seem to be in very, very good shape to make the tournament.

[BadgerFan42]

Concordia(WI) #25 in the latest poll, nice accomplishment for the school and the NAC

[WLCALUM83]

NAthCon playoff scenarios:

A Rockford win over CUC tonight gives the Regents the edge on tie-breakers (Cougars lost by 2 in the earlier meeting)

Should MSOE and Benedictine tie for the top spot in the South, MSOE would get the #1 seed, having swept the IL Eagle squad

A WLC win coupled with a Maranatha loss, and the Warriors would get the last spot in the North (not a gimme, WLC gets Lakeland, Maranatha plays Marian today, and then the Warriors get Maranatha on the road Thursday night,)

[Just Bill]

CUC has to forfeit a NathCon win against Lakeland, and likely more non-conference games for use of an ineligible player.

http://northernac.org/web-2010/releases/2011/2011_02/20110215a.html

The release sounds to me like this is the only NathCon game affected.  Other non-conference teams that CUC has beat that could possibly be affected: North Park, Coe, Blackburn, Eureka, Pomona-Pitzer.

[WLCALUM83]

Final:  CUC 67, Rockford 64
      (Regents had a last-second potential game-tying 3 bounce off the rim)

[WLCALUM83]

Marian 65, Maranatha 64  Final  (Marian's Washingtion hit a base-line jumper for  the game-winning points)

One other final:  

Lakeland 96, WLC 60

With those results-it's come down to WLC/Maranatha for the last playoff spot in the North--

[BadgerFan42]

If BU loses to CUC on Thurs the top seed crossover game would be:

MSOE @ CUW?

[Just Bill]

Yes, because MSOE hosted the first meeting...

If CUC beats BU then challenge games are:
MSOE @ CUW
BU @ EC

If BU beats CUC then challenge games are:
CUW @ BU
EC @ MSOE

Regardless of the challenge game result CUW is the overall #1 seed for the NAC Tournament. Whoever is the top seed from the South will be #2 overall.  And I think (but not sure) that the #3/#4 position will depend on the challenge game result.

[BadgerFan42]

Thanks for the clarification justbill:

Thursday nights games are big!

BU@CUC
WLC@Maranatha

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 3 Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/16/ncaa-2011-regional-rankings-week-3/