Great Lakes Region

[KnightSlappy]

Technically Kzoo and Alma are both still alive for the MIAA tournament, but those odds are so low its pretty unlikely to happen.

Kalamazoo has been eliminated. They can only hope to tie Trine for fourth, but they've already lost to the Thunder twice.

[sac]

Wittenberg 68 Wooster 62 OT ---this clinches a share of the NCAC for Witt.

BW 75 Capital 64
JCU 84 Wilmington 82 OT
Marietta 82 Heidelberg 69

.....this combination of results pull Marietta and JCU within 1 game of Capital.   Marietta will host both Capital and JCU next week.  What fun!!!

Hope 83 Calvin 70 ---Region #1 will stay #1

Bethany 70 Thiel 67 -- this gives Bethany a 1 game lead in the loss column over Thiel, Thomas More and St. Vincent.

[smedindy]

Us NCAC folks like those OAC results. OWU and Wabash have a definite "C" elimination game Wednesday and I think the NCAC could probably get three teams in the tourney now.

Of course, if Wabash or OWU wins the NCAC tourney, could a fourth NCAC squad sneak in? Say Wabash beats OWU Wednesday but OWU wins the tourney by beating Wabash in the final game (don't laugh - Witt and Wooster could both fall to Wabash and OWU in the semi finals). Could the NCAC be a four-bid league or is that just foolish speculation?

[sac]

Us NCAC folks like those OAC results. OWU and Wabash have a definite "C" elimination game Wednesday and I think the NCAC could probably get three teams in the tourney now.

Of course, if Wabash or OWU wins the NCAC tourney, could a fourth NCAC squad sneak in? Say Wabash beats OWU Wednesday but OWU wins the tourney by beating Wabash in the final game (don't laugh - Witt and Wooster could both fall to Wabash and OWU in the semi finals). Could the NCAC be a four-bid league or is that just foolish speculation?

Four might be a stretch.

In KS' last bracketology post on his blog he had Witt, Woo, Wabash IN, with OWU being one of the first four out.    http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/2012/02/bracketology-292012.html

However because Wabash/OWU play this Wednesday, one of those two will pick up 2 more losses to be a Pool C candidate.   I have to believe that would knock them out of the Pool C race.

But a lot happens in the last couple weeks, so its difficult to say how other teams losses affect the pecking order.

[KnightSlappy]

Us NCAC folks like those OAC results. OWU and Wabash have a definite "C" elimination game Wednesday and I think the NCAC could probably get three teams in the tourney now.

Of course, if Wabash or OWU wins the NCAC tourney, could a fourth NCAC squad sneak in? Say Wabash beats OWU Wednesday but OWU wins the tourney by beating Wabash in the final game (don't laugh - Witt and Wooster could both fall to Wabash and OWU in the semi finals). Could the NCAC be a four-bid league or is that just foolish speculation?

Four might be a stretch.

In KS' last bracketology post on his blog he had Witt, Woo, Wabash IN, with OWU being one of the first four out.    http://tomaroonandgold.blogspot.com/2012/02/bracketology-292012.html

However because Wabash/OWU play this Wednesday, one of those two will pick up 2 more losses to be a Pool C candidate.   I have to believe that would knock them out of the Pool C race.

But a lot happens in the last couple weeks, so its difficult to say how other teams losses affect the pecking order.

Yeah, four seems like a stretch, but (without looking at the numbers) the best chance would be probably for Wabash to beat OWU, and then for OWU to beat Wabash in the NCAC final (is that even possible with the seeding?). I think Woo and Witt look decently safe for C's at this point. I'll probably run some bracketology numbers again either tonight or tomorrow.

[smedindy]

Quite possible, since Wabash and OWU will probably be #3 and #4.

[KnightSlappy]

The decision between John Carroll, Capital, and Bethany will be close for the #6 spot this week. Marietta's numbers are there as well, but they probably lose the head-to-head with both JCU and Capital right now. I actually think Bethany gets the nod, but who knows?

[sac]

The decision between John Carroll, Capital, and Bethany will be close for the #6 spot this week. Marietta's numbers are there as well, but they probably lose the head-to-head with both JCU and Capital right now. I actually think Bethany gets the nod, but who knows?

Bethany has a win over Baldwin-Wallace, who has wins over JCU, Capital and Marietta.  Bethany's 3 losses on the year are to 3 teams who are 17-7, 17-7 and 17-6.  So from that stance they have no bad losses really.  If we were doing this old way, I'm pretty certain Bethany would be ranked, and it kind of looks like they deserve to be.

[sac]

This weeks rankings, first record is their in-region record

GREAT LAKES         
1   Hope   14-0,   22-1
2   Wittenberg   16-4,   18-5
3   Wooster   17-4,   19-4
4   Ohio Wesleyan   16-6,   17-6
5   Wabash   15-6,   17-6
6   Bethany (W. Va.)   19-2,   20-3

only changes, Wabash/OWU switch positions, Bethany replaces Capital.

[sac]

Hard to believe we've reached the final week of the regular season.

OAC

Capital         12-4
John Carroll   11-5
Marietta       11-5
Bald-Wally    10-6
Wilmington    10-6

These are the top 5 seeds in the OAC's tournament, its just a matter of sorting out the order.  Capital can clinch a share of the OAC title with a win a Marietta tonight.

Wed. Game to watch:
Capital @ Marietta--Marietta's season long battle to be in this position is pretty impressive, remarkable and kind of improbable.  Capital wins a share of the OAC with win.  A Marietta win could force a 3-way tie with one to go.  Cap won this game by 16 in Bexley.

bonus game:   Muskingum @ John Carroll --- JCU shouldn't have much trouble with this one, a win gives them a chance at a share of the OAC crown.



NCAC

Wittenberg      12-2---Clinched NCAC Co-Championship, #1 seed
Wooster          10-4
Ohio Wesleyan  9-5
Wabash           9-5
Denison           8-6
DePauw           7-7

Wittenberg's OT win over Wooster Saturday clinched a share of the NCAC title.  A Win tonight wraps up the whole thing and breaks Wooster's seven(?) year stranglehold on the NCAC, an impressive accomplishment.


Wed game to watch:
Ohio Wesleyan @ Wabash--  the loser of this one is probably going to see their NCAA at-large chances extinguished.  OWU won this one by 2 in Delaware a few weeks ago.

bonus:   Wittenberg @ DePauw--  the chances of a Tiger win are 100%, though slim a DePauw win could force Witt into a one game must win against Hiram one of only 2 teams to beat them.  Witt won by 4 at the HPER Center.


MIAA

Hope           12-0--MIAA Champion, #1 Seed
Adrian           7-5
Calvin           7-5
Trine            7-5
Albion           6-6

The anti-climactic finish to the top of the MIAA is balanced by the wild and crazy fight for the 2 thru 4 slots in the MIAA's half-tournament.

Wed. game to watch:

Albion @ Alma --   I don't believe an Albion loss actually eliminates them from a chance at the tournament

bonus: Calvin @ Trine --  Calvin won by 27 the first time so that would be a big turnaround for Trine.  Resulting win and loss and what they mean is really dependent on what happens with Albion and Adrian.

bonus, bonus:  Kalamazoo @ Adrian--  another game with tournament implications for Adrian.



PAC

Bethany           12-2
Thiel                12-3
Thomas More     12-3
St. Vincent      11-3

Wed game to watch:
St. Vincent @ Thomas More --  some minor conference championship implications here that require a Bethany loss, otherwise this game is about seeding in the tournament and potential home court.

bonus:  Westminster @ Bethany --  A Bethany win clinches a share of the PAC title.  A loss for Bethany creates a 3-way tie.

[KnightSlappy]

bonus: Calvin @ Trine --  Calvin won by 27 the first time so that would be a big turnaround for Trine.  Resulting win and loss and what they mean is really dependent on what happens with Albion and Adrian.

Calvin clinches (at least) the #3 seed with a win.

[David Collinge]

Not to be too pedantic, but while Witt has clinched at least a share of the NCAC championship, as of this writing I don't believe they have cinched the #1 seed. In the very unlikely event that Witt loses twice and Woo wins twice, they'd end up tied. Witt obviously owns the tiebreaker, but as I understand it, they'd get to choose between hosting the conference tournament or being the #1 seed. Since they would surely choose the former, they would go into the tournament as the #2 in that scenario.

By the time most of you read this, it will probably be a moot point.

UPDATE: It is now a moot point, as Witt clinched the #1 seed and home court (and, more importantly, their first outright NCAC championship since 2004) with a clutch win at DePauw tonight.

[KnightSlappy]

bonus: Calvin @ Trine --  Calvin won by 27 the first time so that would be a big turnaround for Trine.  Resulting win and loss and what they mean is really dependent on what happens with Albion and Adrian.

Calvin clinches (at least) the #3 seed with a win.

Actually, now that I stop and think, they could still end up with the #4 seed possibly (they could lose a tiebreaker to Albion), but the win would clinch a spot in the tourney without the need for a play-in game.

[sac]

Score of the night

Marietta 73 Capital 48 ---this was a 31-31 tie early in the second half.
http://oac.org/sports/mbkb/2011-12/Box_Scores/20120215_wluq.xml?view=plays

this result, couple with JCU's win makes a 3-way tie atop the OAC.  JCU @ Marietta Saturday, and Capital hosts Muskingum.

[WAlum]

Ohio Wesleyans win over Wabash looks to drop the Little Giants below Bethany and out of the Pool C consideration.  Does Marietta have the numbers to make a late run for a Great Lakes region ranking?