BB: Midwest Region

[MIACLUV]

I've gone and looked at the numbers and two teams are getting completely overlooked for some reason. The Tommies and Bethany Lutheran. Both teams numbers are higher than Aurora, plus Bethany has a head to head win over them. I get that Bethany's SOS gets hammered in UMAC play, but looking at their schedule, it is pretty good. My argument for the Tommies is the numbers support it. SOS is one of the highest in the country if not the highest and have made their way to the top of the MIAC. Obviously I think UST holds the the edge over BLC since the head to head is 2-0 in favor of the Tommies, but BOTH deserve to be in there over Aurora and the numbers say even Hamline.

[BigPoppa]

I've gone and looked at the numbers and two teams are getting completely overlooked for some reason. The Tommies and Bethany Lutheran. Both teams numbers are higher than Aurora, plus Bethany has a head to head win over them. I get that Bethany's SOS gets hammered in UMAC play, but looking at their schedule, it is pretty good. My argument for the Tommies is the numbers support it. SOS is one of the highest in the country if not the highest and have made their way to the top of the MIAC. Obviously I think UST holds the the edge over BLC since the head to head is 2-0 in favor of the Tommies, but BOTH deserve to be in there over Aurora and the numbers say even Hamline.

Agree... I have said for two weeks now that the Tommies should be back in the mix.

[BaseballFan]

I've gone and looked at the numbers and two teams are getting completely overlooked for some reason. The Tommies and Bethany Lutheran. Both teams numbers are higher than Aurora, plus Bethany has a head to head win over them. I get that Bethany's SOS gets hammered in UMAC play, but looking at their schedule, it is pretty good. My argument for the Tommies is the numbers support it. SOS is one of the highest in the country if not the highest and have made their way to the top of the MIAC. Obviously I think UST holds the the edge over BLC since the head to head is 2-0 in favor of the Tommies, but BOTH deserve to be in there over Aurora and the numbers say even Hamline.

Agree... I have said for two weeks now that the Tommies should be back in the mix.

The tommies will be just fine with their 2 wins this week against Macalester, plus if they just take care of business in the tourney they wont have to worry. Up until their 2 wins agains MAC they didnt deserve to be ranked despite their SOS since they were 1-7 against the 1,2,3,5 ranked teams (didnt count Olaf since they arent ranked now). Just because you played a tough schedule doesnt mean anything unless you deliver. (Look at D1 basketball G'Town was #1, Tennessee was #2 and they both lost in the first round)

If BLC could of picked up another win against CSS and UST  they probably would of snuck in their at 6, but when you look and see they went 1-5, not as impressive. I think they will have to win the UMAC to get in

[biggio34]

Any predictions on the conference tourney winners?  Here are my thoughts...

WIAC: I think the #1 seed has such an advantage I don't see how Point doesn't win the tournament.  That and I think they are just playing great right now and I think they would win anyways.

UMAC: CSS is the deepest team offensively and on the moundin the UMAC so I pick them to win.  They have won this thing so many times in a row though, you just wonder what year they will finally be knocked off.  All 4 teams in the tournament are good enough to win a game or two, but I think Bethany is the only team with a real shot of winning it all if it isn't CSS.

MIAC:  St Thomas.  This team has taken its lumps and gotten better, they are hot, and these other teams have a mental barrier in in beating them.  Still shocked that Olaf didn't make this tournament.

NATHC: I have to pick Aurora because they are regionally ranked right?

[BaseballFan]

WIAC-Point, like Biggio said they have a huge advantage
MIAC-Tommies, they are the Tommies
UMAC-CSS, BLC has to be careful not to lose the first game
NATHCON-Aurora

[BigPoppa]

Agree on all but NathCon... I like COncordia there.

[scrapper]

I would hope that SSC would also not overlook Northwestern.  They just had a 2-1 game last week.

[Just Bill]

I would hope that SSC would also not overlook Northwestern.  They just had a 2-1 game last week.

Savannah State College?? 

[MIACLUV]

It's going to be a very interesting MIAC tourney. Augsburg is the host this season, and will be played on the turf field at Minnetonka eliminating a lot of weather concerns. The forecast through out the twin cities area for the entire week includes good chances for rain. Also coming into play is that the field is short to all fields. Routine fly balls turn into home runs in a hurry. New bats or not, look for the scores to be high numbers. Tough call for MAC tomorrow, throw the top guys and go for the sweep and a chance at a share of the MIAC regular season or throw off and have everyone fresh for the tournament. Sweep equals #2 seed and split means #3.

[MIACLUV]

MIAC
St. Thomas over MAC
Too much pitching from UST, MAC's offense will get them to the finals in that park, but I think the UST offense has improved greatly with Dorgan being in there every day and the pitching depth is really good.
http://www.miac-online.org/sports/2010/12/8/BSB_1208102906.aspx?path=baseball


UMAC
St. Scholastica over Bethany Lutheran
Both squads have tough opening round pitching questions. CSS offense is by far the better of the two having seen them both so I give them the edge there. Lewis is one on the top 3 pitchers in the region, so if they get through game 1 they should be in good shape.
http://umacathletics.com/sports/2011/5/9/BSB_0509115102.aspx?path=baseball


WIAC
Stevens Point over Whitewater
Too much advantage for the #1 seed in the tournament. Also Point has the better offense and more pitching, which they get to conserve by not having to play the extra game.
http://www.wiacsports.com/sports/2011/4/6/BB_0406111605.aspx?path=baseball


NAC
Aurora over Conc Chicago
Conc has the offensive advantage, Aurora the pitching. I think both can throw off game 1 and set up the day one matchup of both teams #1.
http://northernac.org/sports/baseball/tournament/

[BigPoppa]

Concordia knocked off Ill Wesleyan last night 3-1. That is a huge win for CUC's Pool C hopes and really helps their chances of being in the regional rankings this week.

[MIACLUV]

Heres how I see this weeks rankings shaping up
1) UWSP
2) UWW
3) CSS
4) UST
5) MAC
6) Conc. Chi

Aurora was a shaky #6 to begin with and the loss to Conc Wis did nothing to help that. I think the win over Ill. Wes gets Conc Chi in and keeps Bethany on the edge for another week.

[badgerwarhawk]

Of the 13 WIAC conference tournaments played the #1 seed has won 5 times, the #2 seed 5 times, the #3 seed once and the #4 seed twice.  Of course there are only three teams in this year's tournament and the #2 seed to win the most often has been Stevens Point so maybe it doesn't really matter what seed they are. 

[BigPoppa]

Of the 13 WIAC conference tournaments played the #1 seed has won 5 times, the #2 seed 5 times, the #3 seed once and the #4 seed twice.  Of course there are only three teams in this year's tournament and the #2 seed to win the most often has been Stevens Point so maybe it doesn't really matter what seed they are. 

Is this only the second year of the three-team format?

[Just Bill]

Of the 13 WIAC conference tournaments played the #1 seed has won 5 times, the #2 seed 5 times, the #3 seed once and the #4 seed twice.  Of course there are only three teams in this year's tournament and the #2 seed to win the most often has been Stevens Point so maybe it doesn't really matter what seed they are. 

Is this only the second year of the three-team format?

Yes. In 2009, they used a four-team tournament, but the #3 and #4 seeds essentially started in the loser's bracket. They only had to lose once to be eliminated. Prior to that it was a standard four-team double emlimination.