Great Lakes Region

[KnightSlappy]

JCU gets upended in the OAC semifinals, putting themselves (I guess) on the Pool C bubble and opening the door for Wooster or the MIAA champ to be the region's top seed.

It's also gonna be a battle between John Carroll and the MIAA loser for position on the selection board. My initial guess (my numbers are still updating) is Hope would top JCU, but Calvin wouldn't.

[seinfeld]

KnightSlappy,

How do you have Wooster and JCU stacking up against each other if Wooster were to lose to Wittenberg tonight?

[KnightSlappy]

KnightSlappy,

How do you have Wooster and JCU stacking up against each other if Wooster were to lose to Wittenberg tonight?

It would be close, but I suspect the head to head matchup from earlier in the year would be the key.

Wooster would have a better WP, JCU would have a better SOS. It all depends on how the committee weighs the two.

If I had to wager a guess, I'd say John Carroll would have the advantage.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

I think Hope and Calvin fans should be rooting for Wooster today. Although how they would all stack up is close the loser of the MIAA game can rest easier if Wooster wins. With JCU already losing you don't want to see the top two seeds in the region losing.

[sac]

at Carthage

Hope vs Whitewater
Carthage vs Aurora

.......book it. 

[seinfeld]

Could Witt end up the #6 team in the Great Lakes final regional rankings despite losing in the NCAC title game? Both Thomas More and Penn St. Behrend also lost, and to weaker teams. I would think Witt would definitely pass Behrend. Thomas More would be closer.

[KnightSlappy]

Could Witt end up the #6 team in the Great Lakes final regional rankings despite losing in the NCAC title game? Both Thomas More and Penn St. Behrend also lost, and to weaker teams. I would think Witt would definitely pass Behrend. Thomas More would be closer.

I think it'll be Thomas More, but if not, it'd be Witt next.

[KnightSlappy]

I think Hope will end up #1 in the Regional rankings, but because of geography, they'll travel west and Wooster will stay at home to play a round or two.

[Gregory Sager]

I think Hope will end up #1 in the Regional rankings, but because of geography, they'll travel west and Wooster will stay at home to play a round or two.

I'm not so sure about that. The Midwest/half-West (i.e., WIAC, MIAC, and IIAC) is a pretty overstuffed area that has to accommodate three pods. The WIAC will have two teams (UWSP, UWW), the CCIW could have either two or three (Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan, maybe Wheaton), the MIAC will have two (Carleton, St. Thomas), and the UAA, IIAC, NAthCon, SLIAC, and MWC will have one apiece. (I'm not including the HCAC, whose rep, Defiance, is more geographically aligned with the Great Lakes Region than the Midwest Region to which it belongs.)

That's either eleven or twelve teams, which should fill the three non-Whitworth pods of the westernmost sectional. I'm just not convinced that Hope will have room to be shipped west, unless the committee actually gets creative (don't hold your breath) and ships a team like Wheaton, Aurora, or IWU eastward and sends Hope in the other direction.

[KnightSlappy]

But there's really no reason to have to put Whitworth in the Midwest/West pod. They'll have to fly, so put them anywhere you'd please.

I'd rather give as many of the top deserving teams a host (Wash U, UWSP, UWW, and Carthage), and send the Whitworth pod out to the GL or ODAC. That would open up spots for Hope to move west... but it's really impossible to know what they'll do.

The bracketing process is more of a crapshoot than the NFL draft.

[sac]

I think Hope will end up #1 in the Regional rankings, but because of geography, they'll travel west and Wooster will stay at home to play a round or two.

I'm not so sure about that. The Midwest/half-West (i.e., WIAC, MIAC, and IIAC) is a pretty overstuffed area that has to accommodate three pods. The WIAC will have two teams (UWSP, UWW), the CCIW could have either two or three (Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan, maybe Wheaton), the MIAC will have two (Carleton, St. Thomas), and the UAA, IIAC, NAthCon, SLIAC, and MWC will have one apiece. (I'm not including the HCAC, whose rep, Defiance, is more geographically aligned with the Great Lakes Region than the Midwest Region to which it belongs.)

That's either eleven or twelve teams, which should fill the three non-Whitworth pods of the westernmost sectional. I'm just not convinced that Hope will have room to be shipped west, unless the committee actually gets creative (don't hold your breath) and ships a team like Wheaton, Aurora, or IWU eastward and sends Hope in the other direction.

5 of the last 6 trips to the NCAA's have put Hope in a bracket that included a path through Wisconsin or CCIW/Midwest teams in the first two rounds.  In 2007 we had the added pleasure of being in the Stevens Point Sectional with Carroll, Washington and Stevens Point

Hope's 1st and 2nd round 'pods'
2002  St. Norbert, Carthage
2003  UW-Oshkosh, Mil-Engineeering
2006  Wis Lutheran, UW-LaCrosse, Calvin
2007  Aurora, Chicago, Calvin
2008  Capital, Bethany
2009  UW Platteville, Wheaton, Fontbonne

In 2008 we were fortunate to be one of the top seeds and drew a mostly Great Lakes Sectional.......yet in the sectional Hope hosted we had Wheaton, Whitworth and Ohio Wesleyan


Since the pools era began, I expect Hope to be paired with Midwest/West teams in some form or fashion.

[Gregory Sager]

But there's really no reason to have to put Whitworth in the Midwest/West pod. They'll have to fly, so put them anywhere you'd please.

Yes, but every year "where they please" has almost inevitably been the Midwest/West section. I see little or no chance that the Whitworth pod will be put anywhere but the Midwest/West section.

I think Hope will end up #1 in the Regional rankings, but because of geography, they'll travel west and Wooster will stay at home to play a round or two.

I'm not so sure about that. The Midwest/half-West (i.e., WIAC, MIAC, and IIAC) is a pretty overstuffed area that has to accommodate three pods. The WIAC will have two teams (UWSP, UWW), the CCIW could have either two or three (Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan, maybe Wheaton), the MIAC will have two (Carleton, St. Thomas), and the UAA, IIAC, NAthCon, SLIAC, and MWC will have one apiece. (I'm not including the HCAC, whose rep, Defiance, is more geographically aligned with the Great Lakes Region than the Midwest Region to which it belongs.)

That's either eleven or twelve teams, which should fill the three non-Whitworth pods of the westernmost sectional. I'm just not convinced that Hope will have room to be shipped west, unless the committee actually gets creative (don't hold your breath) and ships a team like Wheaton, Aurora, or IWU eastward and sends Hope in the other direction.

5 of the last 6 trips to the NCAA's have put Hope in a bracket that included a path through Wisconsin or CCIW/Midwest teams in the first two rounds.  In 2007 we had the added pleasure of being in the Stevens Point Sectional with Carroll, Washington and Stevens Point

Hope's 1st and 2nd round 'pods'
2002  St. Norbert, Carthage
2003  UW-Oshkosh, Mil-Engineeering
2006  Wis Lutheran, UW-LaCrosse, Calvin
2007  Aurora, Chicago, Calvin
2008  Capital, Bethany
2009  UW Platteville, Wheaton, Fontbonne

In 2008 we were fortunate to be one of the top seeds and drew a mostly Great Lakes Sectional.......yet in the sectional Hope hosted we had Wheaton, Whitworth and Ohio Wesleyan


Since the pools era began, I expect Hope to be paired with Midwest/West teams in some form or fashion.

Unlike the Whitworth pod, I think that Hope is much less dependent upon precedent. I think that the more pressing matter is: How many teams can you fit into the three pods (Wash U and the two that will inevitably be held in Wisconsin) that include the conferences in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota? And, again, those three pods look as though they're all booked up already, whereas the Great Lakes Region states (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, western Pennsylvania) don't seem to have a lot of teams in them (no second OAC team, f'rinstance, and no second NCAC team, either), even when you throw Defiance into the mix, making it more likely that Hope will be needed to help flesh out the two or three Great Lakes pods within what will undoubtedly be another Great Lakes/South sectional.

Of course, as I said it's possible that Hope could be the westbound counterweight to an move to send a northern Illinois team east, if the committee gets creative (and it wasn't at all creative last year, as we all saw with the Bracket of Death). But even if that's the case, it's just as likely that Calvin gets moved west, should the Knights get in, rather than Hope.

[sac]

My point really is, there doesn't seem to be room in the Midwest/West every year, yet thats the direction they've pointed Hope 5 of 6 trips to the tournament.

Until its consistently different under this system, there's no reason to believe it will be any different.

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah, and I see your point, but I think that the geographical layout of the teams that are going dancing this year is what's going to color how the bracket is set up.

[sac]

<insert picture of me banging my head against a wall>