WBB: Landmark Conference

The Ticket · February 15, 2009, 06:07:37 PM

Saratoga - Show Pat where losing to conference opponents, or teams with low winnng %, or where your only losses are to teams in the top 25 are NCAA ranking criteria and he will agree with you.

In your initial post you attacked those who do the rankings for not following their own criteria, being biased, being stupid, and having never played the game. Pat was just correctly pointing out why the criteria support the rankings, to which you bring up items --- while correct in support of Scranton as a better team --- are not criteria listed ( and therefor not used is my guess ) in the ranking process.

This is not Jay Bilas on ESPN talking about good wins and bad losses. There is no such thing in D3. Regional Win %, (Scranton/Moravian tied) strenght of schedule ( advantage Scranton), head to head,(advantage Moravian) wins against regionally ranked teams (advantage Moravian) seems to carry the day. Scranton has the advantage in only schedule as I see it.

saratoga · February 15, 2009, 07:58:32 PM

Ticket: As I've stated, I in no way assume Scranton is better than Moravian or any other team. What I do find is that the difference between the two is minimal at best and clear as mud. If Moravian has these "slight" advantages, my question is how do 2 other schools come between them? If Moravian is truly the # 2 Regional team, why isn't Scranton right behind them at # 3? It really is similiar to last season when the Moravian men made it to the tourney & many associated with this board were left wondering how that happened. I in no way want to imply Moravian does not deserve to be Regionally ranked...I just can not buy into Scranton being ranked 2 slots lower.

Pat Coleman · February 15, 2009, 08:19:08 PM

Probably because of the 1-3 record against regionally ranked opponents, whereas Muhlenberg was 1-1, DeSales 3-2.

Also, Moravian beat DeSales head-to-head and DeSales beat Scranton so that helps justify DeSales being ahead of Scranton. Muhlenberg beat DeSales as well. The head-to-head results are a good separator here.

ronk · February 25, 2009, 04:26:58 PM

Newest regional rankings are out today and Lady Royals with a win over Moravian and credit for 3 wins, formerly out-of-region, move to #1 in the Mid-Atlantic.

lefty2 · February 25, 2009, 10:17:37 PM

Quote from: ronk on February 25, 2009, 04:26:58 PM
Newest regional rankings are out today and Lady Royals with a win over Moravian and credit for 3 wins, formerly out-of-region, move to #1 in the Mid-Atlantic.

Wow, Saratoga has some power.

saratoga · February 26, 2009, 12:42:17 PM

Lefty: I only wish that were true! We go back quite a few years & let me personally state you have always done a great job in the position you have.
Regarding the "other" board,I haven't seen Kate this fired up since DVC lost a 10 point lead & the game in the final 2 minutes at the Long Center a few years back.

lefty2 · February 26, 2009, 02:29:38 PM

Thanks Mr. Toga.

It seems like a lifetime ago that you were in a Cougars uniform.

kate · February 26, 2009, 04:15:30 PM

Oh my heavens, Saratoga - ya learn something new and interesting EVERY day!

ronk · February 26, 2009, 04:57:13 PM

Do we have a cougar in a Royals clothing?

lefty2 · February 26, 2009, 05:19:01 PM

Quote from: ronk on February 26, 2009, 04:57:13 PM
Do we have a cougar in a Royals clothing?

I wouldn't go that far.

Ironically, it was Royal blue.

saratoga · February 26, 2009, 05:56:37 PM

Ronk: it was actually a Royal in Cougarland for a few years. A great group of guys & ladies...many still there in various professional capacities.

saratoga · March 01, 2009, 03:44:52 PM

Congratulations to Coach Strong, his staff & all the Lady Royals on claiming another Landmark championship.
Perhaps his best coaching job in recent years to take this group of underclassmen with little game experience to this point.
With the current number 1 Regional ranking & the ability to pull in a great crowd as evidenced by many other NCAA hosting experiences...I would certainly think that Scranton clearly has to be considered as one of next weekends host sights.

kate · March 01, 2009, 06:42:03 PM

Saratoga, i do have to agree with you about Coach Strong. We saw the Lady Bulldogs beat the Royals in the beginning of the season, & to do what Coach did in a three month period of games is really great. Actually we were hoping that an NCAA game might be a little closer for those of us folllowing the MAC, but if it would be in the afternoon, not so bad. You undoubtedly know that Widener captured the Commonwealth. Congratulations to the Lady Royals, & perhaps we'll get to see them play again this season. i also noticed that the top teams in your conference were - former MAC

saratoga · March 02, 2009, 02:23:56 PM

I don't think we'll get that chance Kate the way the brackets are set up.
What I find pretty hard to fathom is not how Moravian got in...kind of a no brainer...but, how on earth did they get to host? This is the one area that jumped off the page to me anyway. I mean they come in 2nd. from a league with no AQ with a record of 21-6 & somehow end up hosting over the CC champion Mules from Muhlenberg at 24-3 who are sent "packing" through the snow to Bowdoin???
I realize the NCAA wants teams geograpically bunched together whenever possible. However, that could have been accomplished with those very same teams coming to a conference champion (Muhlenberg) & sending the Greyhounds to the land of lobster. Does this decision mean that one early season loss head to head outweighs everything else?

ronk · March 02, 2009, 03:05:50 PM

That's probably what it meant even though it didn't prevent the Royals from jumping over DeSales and Messiah in the final regional rankings.