Great Lakes Region

[ScotsFan]

With GL Fan Poll #1 Hope losing yesterday and #2 Capital losing on Wednesday does this push Wooster back into the top spot?  With Wooster's win over GL #6 OWU,  I think I'll be voting the Scots #1 for the 1st time this week.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I haven't decided yet on the top of my ballot, but CM will definitely take a bounce up - they hammered WashU by 31 today!

[sac]

Confusing couple of weeks for voters of Carnegie Mellon, lose 3 of 4 then beat Chicago and WashU in the span of two nights.  To be honest though they needed those wins.  At 10-5 in region they still have a Pool C pulse.


Since the NCAA focuses on in-region record I'm going to try and remember to include each ranked team in-region record.

I believe this week is the first official Great Lakes Poll.

[pufin]

So, should we vote as the regional committee might vote (using just the regional record), or should we rank the teams according to their actual strengths (or our perception of their actual strengths)?

[ChicagoHopeNut]

This regional poll is a great idea and a nice way to get a broader feel for the region prior to the NCAA rankings. When do the first NCAA regional rankings come out?

The NCAA regional rankings are released on Feb 13, Feb 20 and Feb 27.

I am not sure if cmhscots is correct on these dates (I looked to confirm on the ncaa website but I was unable to find any information). But if the first ranking is Feb. 13 than we have to wait another week.

[ScotsFan]

So, should we vote as the regional committee might vote (using just the regional record), or should we rank the teams according to their actual strengths (or our perception of their actual strengths)?

FWIW, I've been doing a little of both.  I weigh regional record more knowing that the NCAA bases their rankings solely on regional records.  But I don't overlook quality wins that came against non-NCAA opponents or non-regional opponents either.  Nor do I overlook losses that may have came from non-regional opponents.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

I am hoping later on someone will compile a "how the teams" fared chart but I thought I'd throw out Massey's strength of schedule rankings for these teams. I note this does NOT yet include last weeks games. But I was looking at the Massey rankings for something else and thought the rankings were interesting.

Week 4 Great Lakes Rankings: Massey SoS

1. Hope 14-2 (9)...................45
2. Capital 15-2 (1)...............128
3. Wooster 14-3..................165
4. Heidelberg 14-3................145
5. Wabash 12-5....................168
6. Ohio Wesleyan 11-5.........71
7. Wittenberg 11-6..............195
8. Albion 10-5......................72
9. Carnegie-Mellon 11-5........73
10. Penn St. Behrend 13-4....297

Others:  Calvin 55, Grove City 332, Muskingum 239, Bethany 354, Ohio Northern 77

[imderekpoe]

This regional poll is a great idea and a nice way to get a broader feel for the region prior to the NCAA rankings. When do the first NCAA regional rankings come out?

The NCAA regional rankings are released on Feb 13, Feb 20 and Feb 27.

I am not sure if cmhscots is correct on these dates (I looked to confirm on the ncaa website but I was unable to find any information). But if the first ranking is Feb. 13 than we have to wait another week.

My info came from the DIII men's Handbook ==> http://www.ncaa.org/library/handbooks/basketball/2008/2008_d3_m_basketball_handbook.pdf

Assuming that it is correct (which is not always a good assumption!) the first regional ranking will indeed be on Feb 13.

[ScotsFan]

I was thumbing through the NCAA Handbood and I was looking over who was on the GL Regional Advisory Committee.  I found it interesting that the PrAC was the only conference in the region represented by more than one school.  The chair is from Westminster and there is also a representative from Bethany.  Also of note, the AMCC does not have a representative on the committe...

Does anyone know how  Regional Advisory Committees are chosen and wouldn't it seem kind of important to have at least one representative from each conference in every respcetive region?

[David Collinge]

I was thumbing through the NCAA Handbood and I was looking over who was on the GL Regional Advisory Committee.  I found it interesting that the PrAC was the only conference in the region represented by more than one school.  The chair is from Westminster and there is also a representative from Bethany.  Also of note, the AMCC does not have a representative on the committe...

Does anyone know how  Regional Advisory Committees are chosen and wouldn't it seem kind of important to have at least one representative from each conference in every respcetive region?

The AMCC is divided between the Great Lakes and the Mid-Atlantic Regions, and the AMCC rep (Penn St.-Altoona coach Alan Seretti) is on the MA advisory committee.  If there had to be a rep from each conference that has a member in the region, five of the eight UAA coaches would be panelists, as that conference has members in the NE, E, S, GL, and MW regions.

[ScotsFan]

If there had to be a rep from each conference that has a member in the region, five of the eight UAA coaches would be panelists, as that conference has members in the NE, E, S, GL, and MW regions.

Never thought about that...   Thanks for the response David.

As far as one conference having multiple reps, is that just cyclical?

[David Collinge]

I can't tell for sure from reading the handbook, but I'd guess that the regional chairperson is probably a non-voting member (to the extent that there's any voting, see below) of the regional committee.  The eight regional chairs form the national committee, and it is in them that the real power vests.  In each case that I can identify at a glance, the conference of the regional chair has a second member on the regional committee (i.e., MW Region chair is from Anderson, while there is a voting member from Manchester, both HCAC.)  Members of the regional committees are selected by the conference commissioners, and the regional committee is "advisory only."  They "advise" the national committee by means of, among other things, compilation of the regional rankings. 

Interesting to note that there are two UAA coaches currently on committees: CWRU's Sean McDonnel (GL) and Chicago's Mike McGrath (MW).  Neither are chairs, but both come from regions where the UAA has two members (however, there also are two UAA members in the East, but no UAA rep on that panel.)

I have no idea what lengths the terms are, sorry.

[ScotsFan]

Makes sense.  Thanks for the info David.

[sac]

You can use whatever criteria you want to cast your vote.  This is informal.  I just thought we've reached a point in the season when the in-region record starts to take focus a little.

[sac]

How they fared, the second set of record numbers in italics is the in-region records of each team.  Corrections are welcome as I pretty much rifled through them and only counted once.

Week 4 Great Lakes Rankings

1. Hope 15-3; 10-2 (9)...................won Tri-State 93-60; lost @ Albion 52-56
2. Capital 16-3; 15-3 (1)...............lost @ Wilmington 55-72; won JCU 113-78
3. Wooster 16-3; 9-2....................won @ Allegheny 78-61; won OWU 73-65
4. Heidelberg 15-4; 13-3...............lost @ Ohio No. 72-89; won Mt. Union 68-50
5. Wabash 13-6; 10-4....................lost Wittenberg 52-54; won Kenyon 58-49
6. Ohio Wesleyan 12-6; 11-4.........won @ Oberlin 84-69; lost Wooster 65-73
7. Wittenberg 13-6; 12-4..............won @ Wabash 54-52; won @ Hiram 91-85
8. Albion 12-5; 8-3..........................won @ Alma 75-73 OT; won Hope 56-52
9. Carnegie-Mellon 13-5; 10-4........won Chicago 74-60; won #1Wash U. 86-55
10. Penn St. Behrend 15-4; 13-3....won Mt. Aloysius 98-84; won Pitt-Green 73-47

Sorry its late for some, but between the super bowl and a busy day I just couldn't get this up sooner.