WBB: NESCAC

[NE Jeffs Fan]

Actually I saw the bracket through the head to head Massey matchup....Bowdoin wins the whole things over Thomas More.  The percentage that win each game is over 70% until Thomas More, then they have a 56% chance of winning it all.  I'd take that draw.

[Roundball999]

Actually I saw the bracket through the head to head Massey matchup....Bowdoin wins the whole things over Thomas More.  The percentage that win each game is over 70% until Thomas More, then they have a 56% chance of winning it all.  I'd take that draw.

I've been impressed with Massey in the past, but seems to me this year it has been way off.  For example, in the Hope pod Massey had Wheaton winning easily over WashU when just the opposite happened.  Then it had WashU and Hope as a tossup and Hope won by 16.  Elsewhere it had IWU as a 92% big winner over Trine while Trine actually led wire to wire and won by 9.  So I've changed my tune about Massey and no longer think it is a very reliable indicator at all.

[NE Jeffs Fan]

Very true this year.  I did better in my own bracket on hunches and records than Massey did.

[Maine 1]

Agree that Amherst, as undefeated and number one team in country, should have a good draw (although St. Joe's is in a weak league).  My comment on Bowdoin and Tufts is they are overall two of the better teams in the country, with Bowdoin only losing to Amherst and Tufts, and Tufts having three losses to Amherst and Bowdoin. I would have like to have seen the three NESCAC teams each in different parts of the bracket.  I expect to see Bowdoin and Tufts playing each other for a trip to the final four.

[NE Jeffs Fan]

With the D3 travel restrictions, there are really only two parts of the bracket for Northeast/East Coast teams.  There in lies the problem so for many years, whether it was Amherst, Tufts, Williams, or Bowdoin....if there are 3 teams from NESCAC they will meet each other somewhere along the line.  Seems that the committee this year wanted to put in opposite quadrants Amherst and Wartburg.  Let the fun continue!!!

[Dutchfan]

With the D3 travel restrictions, there are really only two parts of the bracket for Northeast/East Coast teams.  There in lies the problem so for many years, whether it was Amherst, Tufts, Williams, or Bowdoin....if there are 3 teams from NESCAC they will meet each other somewhere along the line.  Seems that the committee this year wanted to put in opposite quadrants Amherst and Wartburg.  Let the fun continue!!!

The same thing has has come back to bite teams in the Great Lakes region as well. Teams in Wisconsin and Minnesota can go west, teams in Iowa can go west or south, teams in Missouri can go south. But the teams and n Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio are pretty much guaranteed to play each other and there are usually a lot of good teams in the region. Heck, four of the top twelve teams in the latest poll are from the Great Lakes region.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I think you mean east... not west... for teams in Iowa and the like.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

With the D3 travel restrictions, there are really only two parts of the bracket for Northeast/East Coast teams.  There in lies the problem so for many years, whether it was Amherst, Tufts, Williams, or Bowdoin....if there are 3 teams from NESCAC they will meet each other somewhere along the line.  Seems that the committee this year wanted to put in opposite quadrants Amherst and Wartburg.  Let the fun continue!!!

The same thing has has come back to bite teams in the Great Lakes region as well. Teams in Wisconsin and Minnesota can go west, teams in Iowa can go west or south, teams in Missouri can go south. But the teams and n Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio are pretty much guaranteed to play each other and there are usually a lot of good teams in the region. Heck, four of the top twelve teams in the latest poll are from the Great Lakes region.

You can usually get Ohio teams to the East and the MA and vice versa.  It's possible to do better matchups - there's just not always the time.

[amh63]

Maybe some difficult travel conditions for teams going to the sectional locations.  Amherst will be closed at Noon today for the storm to hit the NorthEast soon with mucho snow.  Do not expect changes to game start times??

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Maybe some difficult travel conditions for teams going to the sectional locations.  Amherst will be closed at Noon today for the storm to hit the NorthEast soon with mucho snow.  Do not expect game start times??

Doubt this storm will have any affect on anything... while it is a big one and northern New Jersey is expected to get a good amount of snow, it will also melt really fast and roads will be pretty easy to clear. I kind of doubt we see anything affected.

[gordonmann]

For Bowdoin and Tufts fans, we have video from last night's post game press conferences at Scranton in our nightly recap:

http://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/women/2018/wrapup-sectional-semifinal

[NE Jeffs Fan]

Looking forward to 6pm time so can flip back and forth between NESCAC games.  Any word on Jackie Nagle for Amherst?  She only played 2 minutes in last night's game and trainer was working on her on the bench.  Seems like she give great minutes and works hard under the basket.

[OldCardinal]

Looks like all three NESCAC teams are playing extremely well.  Bowdoin - Tufts should be a real battle.  Tufts has evolved into a really balanced team.  Baptiste is obviously a unique talent, with the ability to do some amazing things.  There was a time when she had to be on offensively or Tufts would struggle against a great team.  Now there are many others who can pick up the slack.  Yesterday, it was Knapp and DiCandido,  Defensively, they are just awesome as a team.  Of course, so is Bowdoin (and Amherst as well).  Can't wait until 6pm.  Should be fun.  Don;t know much about Rochester, but they play in a great league and have made it this far, so they must be formidable.  Tough to pick against Amherst though.  Good chance there will be two Nescac's in the final 4.  Lot's of great teams left in the other brackets.  Awesome tourney so far.

[Maine 1]

Bowdoin and Tufts confirmed that one of those two should have been hosting this weekend. Bowdoin especially played a great team beating Scranton on Scranton's home court.  Too bad all three teams can't make it to the final four (I do believe one of these three will be standing at the end of this tournament).  Amherst should be successful this evening, and it is hard to tell between Tufts and Bowdoin. Tufts is playing very well right now, and may have a little more fire power than Bowdoin.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Bowdoin and Tufts confirmed that one of those two should have been hosting this weekend. Bowdoin especially played a great team beating Scranton on Scranton's home court.  Too bad all three teams can't make it to the final four (I do believe one of these three will be standing at the end of this tournament).  Amherst should be successful this evening, and it is hard to tell between Tufts and Bowdoin. Tufts is playing very well right now, and may have a little more fire power than Bowdoin.

FYI - Bowdoin actually had no shot at hosting this weekend. With Messiah in the group and being 524 miles from Bowdoin, that was a no-go, even if Bowdoin had a chance (Bowdoin was behind Tufts in the regional rankings; they weren't going to suddenly host over Tufts who is in a better geographical spot than Bowdoin).

And if teams win isn't a factor in determining the criteria of who hosts. We would be spinning out wheels for hours and days (maybe weeks) if we determined who hosted by who we think will win particular games. There is criteria for a reason. Scranton with one loss and .589 SOS was going to host over a 4-loss and .658 SOS from Tufts (at some point, the SOS number is just too... gaudy when you have multiple losses).