D3 Championship Belt

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · March 01, 2018, 01:35:15 PM

Eureka was listed as a d3 independent in multiple locations during that period. I'm pretty confident in that. They had stats on the ncaa site and everything.

Ok, so we're up to:

Belt Path

1975 - LeMoyne-Owen
1976 - LeMoyne-Owen
Transylvania
Miles
Wittenberg
Scranton
1977 - Scranton
King's
TCNJ (non-champion)
1978 - TCNJ
Upsala
Widener
North Park
1979 - North Park
Augustana
Carthage
Millikin (non-champion)
1980 - Millikin
Eureka (non-champion)
1981 - Eureka
Millikin
Illinois Wesleyan
Augustana
North Park
Augustana
Potsdam State
1982 - Potsdam State
Clarkson
St. Lawrence
Widener
Franklin & Marshall
Dickinson
McDaniel
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Widener
Ursinus
Potsdam State
Wabash
1983 - Wabash

I'll take some help here, too - lots of familiar schools on this list, not sure which is the first loss to a d3 school. I don't believe Earlham was d3 then.

http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB2/C/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_Division%20III_1983_747_Wabash%20College.pdf

lmitzel · March 01, 2018, 01:58:57 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 01, 2018, 01:35:15 PM
Ok, so we're up to:

Belt Path

1975 - LeMoyne-Owen
1976 - LeMoyne-Owen
Transylvania
Miles
Wittenberg
Scranton
1977 - Scranton
King's
TCNJ (non-champion)
1978 - TCNJ
Upsala
Widener
North Park
1979 - North Park
Augustana
Carthage
Millikin (non-champion)
1980 - Millikin
Eureka (non-champion)
1981 - Eureka
Millikin
Illinois Wesleyan
Augustana
North Park
Augustana
Potsdam State
1982 - Potsdam State
Clarkson
St. Lawrence
Widener
Franklin & Marshall
Dickinson
McDaniel
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Widener
Ursinus
Potsdam State
Wabash
1983 - Wabash

I'll take some help here, too - lots of familiar schools on this list, not sure which is the first loss to a d3 school. I don't believe Earlham was d3 then.

http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB2/C/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_Division%20III_1983_747_Wabash%20College.pdf

From what I'm able to gather, Earlham was part of the Hoosier-Buckeye Collegiate Conference in 1983, which from what I can tell was an NCAA conference (I think the ancestor of the HCAC).

Gregory Sager · March 01, 2018, 02:03:45 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 01, 2018, 01:35:15 PM
Eureka was listed as a d3 independent in multiple locations during that period. I'm pretty confident in that. They had stats on the ncaa site and everything.

The Red Devils may have had dual affiliation back then (a la Nebraska Wesleyan until a couple of years ago), but they declared for NAIA. They regularly appeared in the NAIA District 20 playoffs during that era. In 1978-79, for instance, the Red Devils lost to St. Xavier in the District 20 playoffs, in 1980-81 and 1981-82 their season was ended in the district playoffs by Quincy, and in 1982-83 it was Illinois Wesleyan (likewise a dual D3/NAIA member) that ousted Eureka from the District 20 playoffs. Eureka did finally break through and win the NAIA District 20 title in 1986-87, moving on to the NAIA national tourney (where they lost in the first round by 31 points to Auburn-Montgomery), and the Red Devils would win two more NAIA District 20 titles after the NAIA split into two divisions, winning the NAIA-D2 district title in 1991-92 (and then losing to George Fox in the national tourney opener) and in 1992-93 (beating Tarleton State and losing to Northwest Nazarene in the national tourney).

The district qualification era of NAIA then ended, and Eureka won the 1993-94 NAIA-D2 national championship, beating Northern State in the national title game, 98-95, and finishing the season with a 27-4 record. Then head coach Dave Darnall left, the program went into decline, and two years later the school joined the NIIC (one of the two precursor leagues to what is now the NACC).

For some reason, Eureka didn't play in the postseason in 1979-80, in spite of the fact that the Red Devils posted a very good 21-5 record. Perhaps the school elected not to send the team to the playoffs that year for some reason (schools had to pay their own way in the NAIA playoffs, so that might've had something to do with it). But I am certain that if Eureka was indeed a dual member, that the Red Devils declared for NAIA that year -- because, as I indicated, they were a mainstay of NAIA District 20 play back then.

smedindy · March 01, 2018, 02:16:58 PM

Quote from: lmitzel on March 01, 2018, 01:58:57 PM
Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on March 01, 2018, 01:35:15 PM
Ok, so we're up to:

Belt Path

1975 - LeMoyne-Owen
1976 - LeMoyne-Owen
Transylvania
Miles
Wittenberg
Scranton
1977 - Scranton
King's
TCNJ (non-champion)
1978 - TCNJ
Upsala
Widener
North Park
1979 - North Park
Augustana
Carthage
Millikin (non-champion)
1980 - Millikin
Eureka (non-champion)
1981 - Eureka
Millikin
Illinois Wesleyan
Augustana
North Park
Augustana
Potsdam State
1982 - Potsdam State
Clarkson
St. Lawrence
Widener
Franklin & Marshall
Dickinson
McDaniel
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Widener
Ursinus
Potsdam State
Wabash
1983 - Wabash

I'll take some help here, too - lots of familiar schools on this list, not sure which is the first loss to a d3 school. I don't believe Earlham was d3 then.

http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB2/C/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_Division%20III_1983_747_Wabash%20College.pdf

From what I'm able to gather, Earlham was part of the Hoosier-Buckeye Collegiate Conference in 1983, which from what I can tell was an NCAA conference (I think the ancestor of the HCAC).

the Hoosier - Buckeye was NAIA. The last champs were Findlay. Wilmington, Anderson, and Hanover were part of it and they were NAIA in that era.

I started at Wabash in fall 1984 and lived in C'ville.

Of those losses for Wabash (in order):

Earlham - NAIA
Marian - NAIA
Belmont - NAIA
Lipscomb - NAIA
Indiana Central - Either NAIA or D2 then
Rose Hulman - NCAA

So I think Rose Hulman is next up.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · March 01, 2018, 02:21:19 PM

So, modified to correct my Eureka mistake.

Ok, so we're up to:

Belt Path

1975 - LeMoyne-Owen
1976 - LeMoyne-Owen
Transylvania
Miles
Wittenberg
Scranton
1977 - Scranton
King's
TCNJ (non-champion)
1978 - TCNJ
Upsala
Widener
North Park
1979 - North Park
Augustana
Carthage
Millikin (non-champion)
1980 - Millikin
Carthage
Beloit
Monmouth
Cornell
Luther
Dubuque
Simpson

Unfortunately, Simpson's 1979-80 season stats are missing - both from the NCAA and their own site. We'll have to do some digging and I've wasted way too much time on it today. I'm going to keep the Potsdam State stuff below, since I did that work already, but we'll have to fill in the end of 1980 and most of 1981, if we can.

1982 - Potsdam State
Clarkson
St. Lawrence
Widener
Franklin & Marshall
Dickinson
McDaniel
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Widener
Ursinus
Potsdam State
Wabash
1983 - Wabash

I'll take some help here, too - lots of familiar schools on this list, not sure which is the first loss to a d3 school. I don't believe Earlham was d3 then.

http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB2/C/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_Division%20III_1983_747_Wabash%20College.pdf

Just Bill · March 01, 2018, 02:30:14 PM

smedindy · March 01, 2018, 02:37:54 PM

Earlham jumped back into the NCAA in 1983-84.

I found the RHIT site that had the 1982-83 schedule.

After beating Wabash, their next loss was to Southwestern (TN) - which is now Rhodes. They were NAIA then.

Then they lost to DePauw, which was D3

So the next branch is DePauw in 1983.

DePauw did not lose again in 1983.

In 1983-84 - DePauw lost to Butler (NO), Valpo (NO), IUPUI (NO), then Wabash. So it went back to the Little Giants.

In 1984-85 (my freshman year, hooray!) - We lost to Taylor (NO), Mesa (NO), Abilene Christian (NO), Regis (NO), then DePauw again.

Back to DePauw - their next loss was to Washington U, but their 1984-85 records are missing from the NCAA site. So...that's where I end.

Greek Tragedy · March 01, 2018, 02:41:24 PM

Wow. And I thought I spent too much time on D3hoops related stuff! Although, this is The Belt^TM we're talking about.

smedindy · March 01, 2018, 02:41:41 PM

1982 - Potsdam State
Clarkson
St. Lawrence
Widener
Franklin & Marshall
Dickinson
McDaniel
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Widener
Ursinus
Potsdam State
Wabash
1983 - Wabash
Rose Hulman
DePauw (non champ)
1984 - DePauw
Wabash (non champ)
1985 - Wabash
DePauw
Wash U

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · March 01, 2018, 02:43:59 PM

We probably shouldn't go too far with the end of the run until we've got the Simpsons part worked out. If the Belt ended up not heading to the tournament, none of the rest of those will matter much.

smedindy · March 01, 2018, 02:47:55 PM

I'm sussing out Simpson by using the other conference members. That was game 15 for Dubuque.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · March 01, 2018, 02:50:26 PM

Quote from: smedindy on March 01, 2018, 02:47:55 PM
I'm sussing out Simpson by using the other conference members. That was game 15 for Dubuque.

That was my strategy, but it felt daunting after all the other work today. Good on you.

smedindy · March 01, 2018, 03:00:20 PM

My best guess:

Wartburg beat Simpson on game 16 of Wartburg's season - I'm assuming that's right after the Simpson / Dubuque game

So:

1980 - Millikin
Carthage
Beloit
Monmouth
Cornell
Luther
Dubuque
Simpson
Wartburg
Buena Vista
Upper Iowa
Wartburg
Central
Luther (Non Champ)

1981 Luther

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · March 01, 2018, 03:06:06 PM

Quote from: smedindy on March 01, 2018, 03:00:20 PM
My best guess:

Wartburg beat Simpson on game 16 of Wartburg's season - I'm assuming that's right after the Simpson / Dubuque game

So:

1980 - Millikin
Carthage
Beloit
Monmouth
Cornell
Luther
Dubuque
Simpson
Wartburg
Buena Vista
Upper Iowa
Wartburg
Central
Luther (Non Champ)

1981 Luther

Are you filling in 1981, or should I?

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · March 01, 2018, 03:40:51 PM

Belt Path

1975 - LeMoyne-Owen
1976 - LeMoyne-Owen
Transylvania
Miles
Wittenberg
Scranton
1977 - Scranton
King's
TCNJ (non-champion)
1978 - TCNJ
Upsala
Widener
North Park
1979 - North Park
Augustana
Carthage
Millikin (non-champion)
1980 - Millikin
Carthage
Beloit
Monmouth
Cornell
Luther
Dubuque
Simpson
Wartburg
Buena Vista
Upper Iowa
Wartburg
Central
Luther (non-champion)
1981 - Luther
Augustana
North Park
Augustana
Potsdam State
1982 - Potsdam State
Clarkson
St. Lawrence
Widener
Franklin & Marshall
Dickinson
McDaniel
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Widener
Ursinus
Potsdam State
Wabash
1983 - Wabash
Rose Hulman
DePauw (non-champion)
1984 - DePauw
Wabash (non-champion)
1985 - Wabash
DePauw
Wash U

I can't immediately find the WashU schedule from that year.