MBB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[NACfan215]

I believe, if my sources are correct, that the woman will also be playing a 20 game conference schedule with a rotation of who they will play twice each year!  I am a fan of more non-conference games to get a better idea of where your team stacks up (and hopefully in the long haul, a better chance of getting at large bids (you cant be the best unless you play the best)) .... but anyways that gets me back to something i mentioned on the womans forum about the rotating schedule of who you play twice during a given season,  what happens for example if Marian ends up playing WLC and CUW twice each in the same year, and EC for example is on a rotation where WLC and CUW are the two teams they only play once (yes i realize the likelyhood of that is very low, especially if the conference takes the upper echelon of teams into consideration), but lets say EC ends up getting the 8th spot in the conference tourny by one game over Marian (lost 4 games total to WLC and CUW, while EC only recieved 2 losses)? im sure i am thinking way into depth, but what is the point of combining the two divisions if everyone still will not have an equal schedule?

[FR_Sam]

But in all seriousness though, if what I'm seeing is correct on the conference website, that Dominican is the No. 3 seed because they beat Concordia-Wisconsin head to head because there is no crossover games this year? If it is I'm speechless.

Why speechless?  CUW had Dominican on its own floor and didn't take care of business.  The biggest gripe out there should be for AU who has the best NAC record and had to play Lakeland in Sheboygan in their only meeting...now as the #2-seed, they have to host their rival who is a completely different team than they were early in the season with transfers getting familiar with their new teammates. 

[Just Bill]

But in all seriousness though, if what I'm seeing is correct on the conference website, that Dominican is the No. 3 seed because they beat Concordia-Wisconsin head to head because there is no crossover games this year? If it is I'm speechless.

Why speechless?  CUW had Dominican on its own floor and didn't take care of business.  The biggest gripe out there should be for AU who has the best NAC record and had to play Lakeland in Sheboygan in their only meeting...now as the #2-seed, they have to host their rival who is a completely different team than they were early in the season with transfers getting familiar with their new teammates.

I think CUW has the bigger complaint easy. AU was only one game better than LC, while playing in a far inferior division. The fifth place team in the North went 5-1 against the South. True CUW should have taken care of business against DU, but 12-4 in the North is leaps and bounds better than 7-9 in the South.

[ExBBaller40]

But in all seriousness though, if what I'm seeing is correct on the conference website, that Dominican is the No. 3 seed because they beat Concordia-Wisconsin head to head because there is no crossover games this year? If it is I'm speechless.

Why speechless?  CUW had Dominican on its own floor and didn't take care of business.  The biggest gripe out there should be for AU who has the best NAC record and had to play Lakeland in Sheboygan in their only meeting...now as the #2-seed, they have to host their rival who is a completely different team than they were early in the season with transfers getting familiar with their new teammates.

I think CUW has the bigger complaint easy. AU was only one game better than LC, while playing in a far inferior division. The fifth place team in the North went 5-1 against the South. True CUW should have taken care of business against DU, but 12-4 in the North is leaps and bounds better than 7-9 in the South.

My point exactly...anyone can have an off night and lose...but to be considerably better over an entire season and in a tougher division mind you and not get rewarded for it.

Not to mention that this could've just been solved if they had the crossover game like the past few years in which Concordia would've had another shot at Dominican.

[FR_Sam]

All CUW had to do was beat Dominican. If that game was at DU I would have said CUW deserves a shot on their home floor...but that game was in Mequon.  Every team had the opportunity to control their own destiny.

Besides, it plays out that Divisions are still in effect. Top half of bracket is all North teams and bottom is all South. Almost as if still two separate conferences and then play crossover for AQ.

[Just Bill]

Besides, it plays out that Divisions are still in effect. Top half of bracket is all North teams and bottom is all South. Almost as if still two separate conferences and then play crossover for AQ.

Which is another unfortunate thing. If it was a just world, the semifinals would have three North teams and Aurora.

[jdubb104]

I agree most statements. The NAC conference tournament selection is screwed up. I at least believe we can all agree on that. Aurora now it seems as a sure in cake walk into the finals. While the 4 north teams are going to beat each other up and grind it out to the finish. I understand the seeding between 1 north and 1 south getting the 1-2 seeds, however the seeding should go by higher overall record and the head to head between the north and south to break up the tie. If that was the case the seeding would be as follows...

1. Aurora 14-2 hosting 8. Benedictine 6-10
2. Lakeland 13-3 hosting 7. Marian 10-6
3. CUW 12-4 hosting 6. Rockford 6-10
4. DU 11-5 hosting 5. MSOE 11-5

Based on pure overall record...

1. Aurora 14-2
2. Lakeland 13-3
3. CUW 12-4
4. MSOE 11-5
5. Marian 10-6
6. Dominican 7-9
7. Rockford 6-10
8. Benedictine 6-10

AU vs BU
LC vs RC
CUW vs DU
MSOE vs MU

Either one of those options seems more intriguing to me for the conference tournament than what we have now.

[RFMichigan]

I agree most statements. The NAC conference tournament selection is screwed up. I at least believe we can all agree on that. Aurora now it seems as a sure in cake walk into the finals. While the 4 north teams are going to beat each other up and grind it out to the finish. I understand the seeding between 1 north and 1 south getting the 1-2 seeds, however the seeding should go by higher overall record and the head to head between the north and south to break up the tie. If that was the case the seeding would be as follows...

1. Aurora 14-2 hosting 8. Benedictine 6-10
2. Lakeland 13-3 hosting 7. Marian 10-6
3. CUW 12-4 hosting 6. Rockford 6-10
4. DU 11-5 hosting 5. MSOE 11-5

Based on pure overall record...

1. Aurora 14-2
2. Lakeland 13-3
3. CUW 12-4
4. MSOE 11-5
5. Marian 10-6
6. Dominican 7-9
7. Rockford 6-10
8. Benedictine 6-10

AU vs BU
LC vs RC
CUW vs DU
MSOE vs MU

Either one of those options seems more intriguing to me for the conference tournament than what we have now.

Yes, this makes way too much sense.  It passes the  test too!

[Just Bill]

The good news is that next year, none of this is an issue.

[FR_Sam]

Nothing has changed from previous years.  For the majority of the NAC's existence, in fact, it was harder to play in the South than the North.  It wasn't until last year that the North finally beat a South team to get to the national tournament.  A few years ago, a 7-9 Dominican team went to CUW, the overall 1-seed, as the eighth seed and beat CUW.  So this is nothing new in the NAC and all that matters is winning the games you play.

If you still want rationale for the seeding, look at each team's record against the other teams in the NAC Tournament and understand the schedule is unbalanced.

LC and AU are both 8-2 against NAC Tournament teams.  CUW is 6-4 (and played 3 out of the 4 NAC South teams at home).  DU and MSOE are both 5-5 (and DU played 3 out of the 4 North teams, the top 3 in the North in fact, on the road).  MU is 4-6 and RC and BU are both 2-8.

The unbalanced schedule leads to head-to-head being the determining factor in seeding.  Does CUW who played two more home games than DU have a huge complaint while they are only one-game better against the teams in the conference tournament?

[BadgerFan42]

The 2010 #1CUW v #8DU is an irrelevant argument, check the box score from that game.  When you lose an all-conference player to injury before halftime it's tough to win any game, much less a conference tournament game. 

As far as the seeding argument, it is what it is.  The conference officials/coaches voted on this prior to the season so they have no one to blame.  The only team that should be mad is Aurora.  Clearly the best team in the NAC. 

Looking at years past, it doesn't pay to be the #1 seed!  The #1 seed hasn't won since Aurora in 06-07, most of the time the top seed doesn't even make it to the championship game.  Don't be surprised to see Lakeland go down early, tough to beat a team three times in one season.

[Just Bill]

Don't be surprised to see Lakeland go down early, tough to beat a team three times in one season.

You know statistically, that's been proven untrue, right? I know it's fun to say, but when one team has won the first two games, they are actually more likely to win the third game.

[BadgerFan42]

Concordia did it last year to Marian ha eatin my words for lunch

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Don't be surprised to see Lakeland go down early, tough to beat a team three times in one season.

You know statistically, that's been proven untrue, right? I know it's fun to say, but when one team has won the first two games, they are actually more likely to win the third game.

This honestly has to do more with the two teams that play the game. If it were Calvin and Hope... yeah, tough to win a third game. But if it is the top and the bottom of a league? Isn't that hard.

[RFMichigan]

The 2010 #1CUW v #8DU is an irrelevant argument, check the box score from that game.  When you lose an all-conference player to injury before halftime it's tough to win any game, much less a conference tournament game. 

So I checked the box score from that game (and I couldn't figure out exactly who was injured for CUW - maybe Newton-Kemp?), but I did notice that Dominican put up 65second half points.