Great Lakes Region

[sac]

The Great Lakes/Central/West is a pretty big nightmare for hosting and seedings.  Hosting is complicated and I hope I don't confuse the issue much.

Hosting
Whitman  (I guess slight chance Whitman women host instead) (yikes!!)
River Falls
Marietta
Hanover

WashU is in position to host, but will not host because their women will likely host.

Depending on how Pool C selections workout, I count 23-25 teams from the Great Lakes/Central and West Regions making the field.   +/- 2 or 3 for teams moving in or out of region.   We will likely need 5 or 6 hosting sites.

Geography is really working against the committee this year because the obvious hosts are all on the fringes of the regions.  Meaning there isn't a lot of flexibility for moving teams around.  I think the committee needs at least 1 host around Chicago (a very wide net) and another site either in Minn/Iowa, another around Chicago, or possibly in Eastern Ohio.

Based on rankings and merit, most likely hosts  (I think they need to pick 2 of these, def. one)
Whitewater---would be a good choice, central location near Chicago
Eau Claire---disadvantage of being so close to River Falls, doesn't help move pieces around very well
Hope---mostly central location, criteria behind Whitewater
Augustana---fringe central location, fringe criteria for hosting

North Central---central location, criteria probably doesn't warrant host site
Benedictine---central location, criteria probably doesn't warrant host site
Bethel---criteria doesn't warrant host, not great for solving travel issues, close to River Falls
Wartburg---criteria doesn't warrant host, not great for solving travel issues

Wooster---bridge to NY, Pa if needed, criteria isn't bad for hosting.


Update---Bumping Hanover to "hosting" after they won the HCAC Tournament.

[KnightSlappy]

I think Wooster will be the No. 3 ranked team in the region or maybe No. 2 if Hanover loses in the championship game today. I'm liking them more and more as a potential host site too.

[KnightSlappy]

I was wondering earlier in the week if Calvin could sneak into the No. 9 spot with an MIAA Tournament win. Doesn't look like that can happen. I could see an argument for them as high as 10 but no way to get them into the top 9.

[sac]

What are your feelings on moving Rhodes/Birm-So or Emory  into Hanover or Marietta.  Or are they needed in Texas?

[KnightSlappy]

What are your feelings on moving Rhodes/Birm-So or Emory  into Hanover or Marietta.  Or are they needed in Texas?

The problem is LaGrange can only get to Emory (34 miles too far for Hanover). Otherwise Hanover would be a better location based on the seeding.

Emory - LaGrange - Guilford - SAA is a rather weak pod, but I think you need Hanover to host in the GL/Central to make the numbers work. Otherwise Hanover could go there and Guilford could travel up the coast.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

What are your feelings on moving Rhodes/Birm-So or Emory  into Hanover or Marietta.  Or are they needed in Texas?

The problem is LaGrange can only get to Emory (34 miles too far for Hanover). Otherwise Hanover would be a better location based on the seeding.

Emory - LaGrange - Guilford - SAA is a rather weak pod, but I think you need Hanover to host in the GL/Central to make the numbers work. Otherwise Hanover could go there and Guilford could travel up the coast.

LaGrange was the problem.  Mt. St. Joe wasn't high enough ranked to host over Emory.  Guilford would've made more sense for bracketing, but Emory is higher ranked, so you have to go that route.

[sac]

The not so super-secret final rankings

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

[sac]

By all accounts Hope was comfortably in the field as a Pool C unless I'm mistaken, Mt. St. Joseph was not selected, passed over at least a half dozen times.

Hope  20-5      .800/ .523 / 2-1
MSJ     20-6    .769/ .523 / 2-3

Harsh!!!

Thomas More entered the poll at #9, MSJ lost at Thomas More 65-62.  Unreal if that what ultimately kept them out.

[fantastic50]

Looking at the final rankings, Hope must be hosting solely because of geography.  Wash. U.'s women had hosting priority, and Wooster (ahead of Hope in the GL) was too far east to host that pod.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

By all accounts Hope was comfortably in the field as a Pool C unless I'm mistaken, Mt. St. Joseph was not selected, passed over at least a half dozen times.

Hope  20-5      .800/ .523 / 2-1
MSJ     20-6    .769/ .523 / 2-3

Harsh!!!

Thomas More entered the poll at #9, MSJ lost at Thomas More 65-62.  Unreal if that what ultimately kept them out.

It's much more who those RROs were.  Hope beat River Falls and took Williams to OT;  MSJ went 1-2 against Hanover and beat John Carroll.

Endicott might be a better comp for MSJ - same SOS, a few more wins, but EC beat Middlebury.  Those big wins over top or near top ranked teams matters.  MSJ needed an extra win against Hanover to put them over the edge - if they did it in the tourney final, they wouldn't have had to worry about the bubble at all.

[sac]

Great Lakes Conf Tourny Champs
OAC  John Carroll
NCAC  Denison
MIAA  Alma
PAC   St. Vincent
AMCC  Pitt-Greensburg
HCAC  Mt. St. Joseph

All 6 Great Lakes AQ's are different than last year
OAC    Marietta
NCAC  Wooster
MIAA   Calvin
PAC    Thomas More
AMCC  Medaille
HCAC  Hanover




Great Lakes Pool C's

2008--Capital, Wooster
2009--Capital, Carnegie-Mellon
2010--John Carroll
2011--Wittenberg, PSU-Behrend
2012--Wittenberg, Ohio Wesleyan
2013--Wooster
2014--Hope, Wittenberg, Ohio Wesleyan
2015--Marietta, John Carroll, Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster
2016--Marietta, Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster, Hope
2017--Hope

HCAC teams  Anderson(2010), Hanover(2011), Transylvania(2012, 2013) received Pool C's from the Midwest Region.

NCAC--11
OAC--6
MIAA--3
UAA--1
AMCC--1
PAC--0
HCAC--4 (all from Midwest Region)

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Looking at the final rankings, Hope must be hosting solely because of geography.  Wash. U.'s women had hosting priority, and Wooster (ahead of Hope in the GL) was too far east to host that pod.

Yes... this is absolutely a hosting shift due to WashU women hosting. Happened three times in the men's bracket this year.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Looking at the final rankings, Hope must be hosting solely because of geography.  Wash. U.'s women had hosting priority, and Wooster (ahead of Hope in the GL) was too far east to host that pod.

Yes... this is absolutely a hosting shift due to WashU women hosting. Happened three times in the men's bracket this year.

Did you ask about those specifically?  Because I'm wondering if Tufts wasn't in line to host their pod - I can't imagine they were ranked ahead of SJF in the rankings.  Or maybe Williams was in line to host and Scranton wasn't?  Hard to know exactly what criteria they used for selecting.  Was it two per region or just straight top 16 like last year?

[sac]

I bet if you asked, Hope won out by criteria over Benedictine, North Central and probably Augustana to host the WashU pod.

A geographic move, but criteria still plays a role.

[KnightSlappy]

I bet if you asked, Hope won out by criteria over Benedictine, North Central and probably Augustana to host the WashU pod.

A geographic move, but criteria still plays a role.

Also Hope wins out by projected ticket sale $. They can consider this!

The Championships Committee has prioritized the following site-selection criteria for all championships:
1. Complete bid;
2. Quality and availability of the facility and other necessary accommodations;
3. Geographical location (which may include such factors as rotation of sites, weather, accessibility and transportation costs);
4. Seeding; and
5. Attendance history, hosting history and revenue potential, which shall be considered necessary to assure fiscal responsibility.