Great Lakes Region

[KnightSlappy]

My 2cents on multipliers, not really related to Hiram, is that it should not hurt teams who have won their regular season championships by hosting conference tournament games, but that's what the use of multipliers does.   

The way the multiplier is being calculated teams aren't being "hurt" by playing home games and aren't being "helped" by playing road games. It's just that the relative weight is less for a home game than it is a road game.

So, if your SOS is .500 and you're playing a team who would provide a .550 component SOS, they'll still bring your SOS up if you play them at home, just not as much as if you played them on the road.

[sac]

Take OWU and JCU two teams that will be compared with each other in Pool C should they lose

If they both lose in their respective conference championship games:

OWU will have 3 games with .750 multiplier
JCU will have 3 games of .750, neutral, 1.25 multiplier.

OWU loses ground on JCU's SOS in that scenario, effectively being punished for being good enough to win their conference and host their conferences semi-final.

[KnightSlappy]

Take OWU and JCU two teams that will be compared with each other in Pool C should they lose

If they both lose in their respective conference championship games:

OWU will have 3 games with .750 multiplier
JCU will have 3 games of .750, neutral, 1.25 multiplier.

OWU loses ground on JCU's SOS in that scenario, effectively being punished for being good enough to win their conference and host their conferences semi-final.

But also JCU's punishment of not being good enough to win their conference is playing games on the road which are more difficult to win. SOS isn't a reward or punishment, it's supposed to be a measure of how difficult a game is to win.

But let's use your scenario and say they both played teams with the same records in each round, just to keep things simple:

10-14
16-8
20-24

OWU's OWP heading into this week was .528. If they played all these games at home it would move to .538.
JCU's OWP heading into this week was .518. If they played these games as home, neutral, road, it would move to .536.

Both, by playing lots of conference tournament games, would improve their SOS. JCU's would improve more, but not enough to overcome a .010 gap.

---

In the way I think SOS should be calculated, OWU would get a slight penalty (.523 from .528) while JCU would get the same boost (.536 up from .518). But I don't think that's unfair, necessarily.

Personally, I'd like to see the multipliers more like 1.15 / 0.85 and then be applied correctly, but I the NCAA thinks what they're doing is right for whatever reason.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Remember, the NCAA (and coaches primarily) have changed the SOS in the past. I can't remember the old number, but was it 1.50 and .50?! Anyway... it was shifted to 1.25 and .75. I think another shift is reasonable now that the message has been received to not park yourself at home. Something worth bringing up to be sure.

[KnightSlappy]

Remember, the NCAA (and coaches primarily) have changed the SOS in the past. I can't remember the old number, but was it 1.50 and .50?! Anyway... it was shifted to 1.25 and .75. I think another shift is reasonable now that the message has been received to not park yourself at home. Something worth bringing up to be sure.

The original multipliers were 1.4 / 0.6

I think I did some research in the past to try to determine what the multiplier "should" be, but I'll have to dig it up.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Ah yes... that sounds familiar now.

BTW - should note that this multiplier is not only used by basketball, but other sports including I think one of the volleyballs. If they were to change it for basketball, I think the rest that use it would need to sign off as well.

[sac]

Updated
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d3

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Final public regional rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2016/02/24/third-ncaa-regional-ranking/

[Hopester]

Wow, what a joke. 

Updated
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d3

[HOPEful]

Wow, what a joke. 

Updated
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d3

Rough. Time to start planning a road trip for next weekend, I guess...

[fantastic50]

Wow, what a joke. 

Updated
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d3

Rough. Time to start planning a road trip for next weekend, I guess...

Not necessarily...if Marietta and Wooster win conference titles, I expect that Hope would be the second GL team to host.   In that scenario, it's not out of the question that an NCAC team might also be at home, giving the region three host sites.

[sac]

Pretty much the only options for the MIAA rep/reps are going to be Augustana, Benedictine, Marietta (those are locks to host it looks like),  OWU/JCU and possibly St. Norbert.   You might be able to get Trine somewhere East but no one close enough is in line to host right now.  Nobody can get to St. Thomas without a flight.


Technically you can get everyone to Rochester, but that's going through Canada and with passports and all I doubt they'd do that.  They have yet to anyway that I can remember.


We'll be pulling teams in from the East so, its much more likely the MIAA rep/reps go West.  With so many ranked teams in the GL/Central and West no matter where you go its probably going to be a pretty tough pod.

[KnightSlappy]

Wow, what a joke. 

Updated
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d3

Rough. Time to start planning a road trip for next weekend, I guess...

Win the AQ and Hope's chances of hosting are 50-50 or better. Worst case for this would be JCU topping Marietta in the OAC and OWU winning the NCAC. That might keep Hope in 4th (and probably out of hosting). Best case would be Marietta winning the OAC and OWU stumbling in the NCAC. That would probably put Hope #2 in the GL and nearly lock up a host spot.

I can see the GL getting three pods, but the Central is probably needing three as well, and the West will take up two. Going to be tough to make that many teams fit. Someone's going to be unhappy about not hosting, and someone who is hosting is going to get a crap draw. Just the way it works around here.

[sac]

Wow, what a joke. 

Updated
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d3

Rough. Time to start planning a road trip for next weekend, I guess...

Not necessarily...if Marietta and Wooster win conference titles, I expect that Hope would be the second GL team to host.   In that scenario, it's not out of the question that an NCAC team might also be at home, giving the region three host sites.

I think its pretty clear Hope is behind JCU/OWU for good.  Nothing is going to happen this week in Hope's criteria to change that.

This national committee is different, but its been pretty standard practice for the last 3 or 4 years to award hosts to each region #1 and #2.  No its not out of the question the GL get a 3rd but it would be odd.

The West Region is kind of messy with so many Washington and California schools in the top 4, they need a 2nd host and that's not obvious.  It could go anywhere in the Central or Great Lakes.

[Fifth and Putnam]

Wow, what a joke. 

Updated
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d3

Rough. Time to start planning a road trip for next weekend, I guess...

Win the AQ and Hope's chances of hosting are 50-50 or better. Worst case for this would be JCU topping Marietta in the OAC and OWU winning the NCAC. That might keep Hope in 4th (and probably out of hosting). Best case would be Marietta winning the OAC and OWU stumbling in the NCAC. That would probably put Hope #2 in the GL and nearly lock up a host spot.

I can see the GL getting three pods, but the Central is probably needing three as well, and the West will take up two. Going to be tough to make that many teams fit. Someone's going to be unhappy about not hosting, and someone who is hosting is going to get a crap draw. Just the way it works around here.

Trust me, I've already commenced the heavy palm sweating. Who knows what will come out of that selection show Monday.