Great Lakes Region

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The hosting question was answered in the Around the Nation article on Feb. 8th.

Scroll down to the "Final Four" section near the bottom of the column and you will understand why the women will be traveling on the second weekend... but probably will be at home on the first.

[sac]

The hosting question was answered in the Around the Nation article on Feb. 8th.

Scroll down to the "Final Four" section near the bottom of the column and you will understand why the women will be traveling on the second weekend... but probably will be at home on the first.

Men have priority for 1st weekend games in even years.  2008 is an even year.  The men have priority for round 1 and 2 for hosting.

[David Collinge]

The hosting question was answered in the Around the Nation article on Feb. 8th.

Scroll down to the "Final Four" section near the bottom of the column and you will understand why the women will be traveling on the second weekend... but probably will be at home on the first.

Men have priority for 1st weekend games in even years.  2008 is an even year.  The men have priority for round 1 and 2 for hosting.

Institutions with both men's and women's teams in the championships and with
the opportunity to host four-team events for both genders will follow these hosting
guidelines:

	3-game 1st/2nd Rd	Sectionals
Even Years	Men host	Women host
Odd Years	Women host	Men host

Handbook (last update 2/18/08) available here.

[NW Hope Fan]

With Woo and Cap losing I assume we may host next week. Any guesses who we might see? Sac???

Yeah, I think that you'll probably see sac. 

[Pat Coleman]

The hosting question was answered in the Around the Nation article on Feb. 8th.

Scroll down to the "Final Four" section near the bottom of the column and you will understand why the women will be traveling on the second weekend... but probably will be at home on the first.

Men have priority for 1st weekend games in even years.  2008 is an even year.  The men have priority for round 1 and 2 for hosting.

Institutions with both men's and women's teams in the championships and with
the opportunity to host four-team events for both genders will follow these hosting
guidelines:

	3-game 1st/2nd Rd	Sectionals
Even Years	Men host	Women host
Odd Years	Women host	Men host

Handbook (last update 2/18/08) available here.

Uh-oh, a late-February update to the handbook. Never good.

[David Collinge]

FWIW, it said the same thing in the original October version that I downloaded back then and had saved on my computer.  There have now been three updates, according to the title page.  I don't know what changed in the updates.

[sac]

I don't remember seeing this in the secondary criteria category, but I've probably missed it before

• Should a committee find that evaluation of a team's win-loss percentage during
the last 25 percent of the season is applicable (i.e., end of season performance), it may
adopt such criteria with approval from the championships committee.

[Pat Coleman]

FWIW, it said the same thing in the original October version that I downloaded back then and had saved on my computer.  There have now been three updates, according to the title page.  I don't know what changed in the updates.

Right -- I know that wording was in there. Was wondering what else changed.

Number of bids and breakdown remains the same.

[sac]

With Woo and Cap losing I assume we may host next week. Any guesses who we might see? Sac???

Yeah, I think that you'll probably see sac. 

I'm looking at Aurora, Chicago, Franklin as the most likely possibilities.  I'm fairly certain that the 4 Ohio reps will be paired together (OWU, Heidelberg, Wooster, Capital).  However if they do break them apart it would seem logical to send either OWU or Heidelberg to Holland.

There's still a slim chance for Albion and Wheaton but unlikely.......either one of those would probably come to Holland.

I'm kind of hopeing that the committee takes the extra few hours and moves teams around a little more.   So there might be a surpise out there for us.

Looking at it only quickly this morning, I think Hope's pretty close to being one of the top 5 teams nationally criteria wise, which might put them in line for a bye.  I'm not counting on that but they seem to be up in that rare air.  Only a couple of those will go to solve geography problems.

I'm already looking forward to the selection and pairings to see what they do.

[David Collinge]

I'm looking at Aurora, Chicago, Franklin as the most likely possibilities.  I'm fairly certain that the 4 Ohio reps will be paired together (OWU, Heidelberg, Wooster, Capital).  However if they do break them apart it would seem logical to send either OWU or Heidelberg to Holland.

I don't see it that way at all.  Capital is the only Ohio team in a reasonable position to host, and if they do, that's where you'll find OWU as well.  Wooster will be shipped out of state somewhere, perhaps to Centre.  I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find Heidelberg in Holland.  I would, however, be very surprised to find a regional with two OAC and two NCAC teams.

[goscots]

I agree with David. It think the four Ohio schools will be split into two locations, one from the OAC and NCAC each. If I had to guess Wooster would be with Heidelberg and OWU with Capital. I think Capital hosts, (possible picking up Bethany) and Wooster/'Berg get shipped to Centre.

[sac]

Ya know looking at things, its not totally inconceivable that Heidelberg would get the #2 ranking (fairness would be another issue)  But Heid now holds 2 wins over Capital, and an even in-region record loss wise and similar OWP and OOWP.

[ScotsFan]

Capital is the only Ohio team in a reasonable position to host...

I don't get why you woud think that Cap is the only Ohio team in a resonable position to host.  After all, they have lost 2 of 3 to Heide.  For that reason alone, I wouldn't consider Cap in a position to host. 

I'm holding out hope that Wooster gets to stay in the Columbus area so that I can make the trip to see them in the tournament.  If the Scots are shipped up to Holland or down south to Centre (which my gut tells me they will be if they get in), the distance would be too far so I would be left with having to tune in to Mike B on the radio.  One plus about the later scenarios is at least if I'd be staying home I can calm my nerves with some quality Great Lakes Brewing Co.  beverages during the game...     

[sac]

Well its never to early to be thinking regional rankings.  I'm not going to rank the teams, but I'll list them by in-region winning %.

1.  Calvin 3-0
2.  Capital 11-1
3.  Carnegie-Mellon 8-1
4.  Hope 3-1
5.  Wooster 8-3
5.  Ohio Northern 8-3
7.  John Carroll 7-3
8.  Wilmington 9-4
9.  Hiram 8-4
9.  Wittenberg 8-4
11. Wash & Jeff 8-5
12. Kenyon 6-4
13. Bethany 5-4
14. Ohio Wesleyan 6-5
15. Wabash 6-5
16. Thomas More 6-6
17. Grove City 5-5


I think we all agree that as a whole the Region is a bit down, and maybe missing a powerhouse team like we've had in the last several years.  Carnegie-Mellon and Capital are the most likely candidates to step into that light.  I'm unsure about CM because I think they'll run into a number of at least equal if not better teams in the UAA.  I think the likely hood of them reaching 3, 4 or 5 in-region losses is pretty high.  Higher than them staying at 1 at least.


The OAC seems to have settled on 3 or 4 strong contenders, with John Carroll kind of coming out of nowhere in recent weeks.   The league is notorious for beating each other up, so despite Cap going 16-2 last year, it doesn't seem probable that someone comes out with fewer than 3 in-region losses.  Its possible but doesn't seem likely.

Which leaves the MIAA........Either Hope or Calvin are probably (and I say probably because I'm not convinced yet) going to emerge from the MIAA with a pretty good record.  Which means that at the end of the season, the GL region could very well have a top seeded team that has played either no out of conference in-region games (Calvin) or one (Hope)...........score one for rebellion and mischief?



I'll try to remember to update this as the weeks pass.  I'm not going to calculate all that owp and oowp mess untill its very necessary............but suffice it to say I know that in the league I follow (MIAA) the OWP for Calvin is just about guaranteed to be under .500, possible conference tournament matchup with Hope excluded........for Hope the better Wheaton does the better Hope's chances of landing a decent OWP (with one out of conference in-region game), that should cheese some people off.


Long way off, but this is going to be interesting to watch.

[Pat Coleman]

We'll have OWP and OOWP on the site again, starting pretty soon, so you could hold off on the calculations. We'll cover it.