University Athletic Association

[Pat Coleman]

We first noted the trend of defending champs not returning to the playoffs when 2003 champ Trinity didn't make the field.

[mark_reichert]

We first noted the trend of defending champs not returning to the playoffs when 2003 champ Trinity didn't make the field.

My apologies then.

Could you point out where?  Other than ending the 2004 Tournament preview page with "Then Southern Maine will not get a Pool C bid next season.", I don't see anything explicit.  Trinity being knocked off by DePauw and not getting to defend their title is mentioned prominantly and UW-Stevens Point finally being able to defend their title is mentioned.  But you have to combine those statements, and there wasn't a followup in the 2005 preview, and I can't find the 2006 preview so I don't know if it was mentioned there.

BTW, what is karma?  Is my karma -6 because of posts like this?

[Pat Coleman]

I would guess people were smiting you based on your continued harping on the Southern Maine coach's quote.

[Pat Coleman]

I see you found the original citation. Here's more:

"The defending national champion failed to qualify for its own conference tournament as Carthage shot 68.4% in the first half en route to a 63-48 win at Millikin. The Big Blue's title defense ends at 14-10 and one game remaining. It will be the fourth consecutive year that the women's defending national champion won't even qualify for the tournament."

http://www.d3hoops.com/news.php?date=2006-02-18

[mark_reichert]

I would guess people were smiting you based on your continued harping on the Southern Maine coach's quote.

I'm not sure how five posts around March 18 (three in MIAA and two here) and a few here recently constitute constant harping.

BTW, I'm not the one to originally misquote him:
***
Flying Dutch Fan

The Coach of Southern Maine was quoted as saying that this is the best DIII team he has seen in a long time, and one he feels could beat some DI teams.  I agree.
***

Which is what one of my 'negative' posts on the MIAA group was responding to.  The only two to follow it were responding to these:

*******
andersdy

I definitely think you'd be hard pressed to find a more difficult road any men's or women's D3 team has taken to a national title.
*********

To which I pointed out d3hoops article on the 1998 Bears run to their first title.

****
gordonmann

"We got beat as good a team as I've seen in Division III," said Southern Maine head coach Gary Fifield. "They were every good as bit as those Washington University teams."

Since I only saw one of the Wash U title teams (2001), I won't try to compare Hope with the one you raised.  But I don't think you can undersell how good this Hope team was.
****

This probably constitutes harping, but I think either Fifield was being overly polite to a freshly minted champion or he's implying that his 2000 team was quite inferior to his 2006 team.  Perhaps I should have brought that up with Fifield in March, but I just wanted to put it behind me at that time.

And I thought gordonmann was saying with his last sentance that no matter how good you claimed Hope was you wouldn't be wrong, but  I may have been mistaken.

P.S. Just wanted to say I'm grateful for the very nice things said about those Bears teams and Fischer and Rodgers in some articles I've discovered recently (like the one talking about leadership) and in David Collinge's Top 25 posts.

[mark_reichert]

I see you found the original citation. Here's more:

"The defending national champion failed to qualify for its own conference tournament as Carthage shot 68.4% in the first half en route to a 63-48 win at Millikin. The Big Blue's title defense ends at 14-10 and one game remaining. It will be the fourth consecutive year that the women's defending national champion won't even qualify for the tournament."

http://www.d3hoops.com/news.php?date=2006-02-18

As I said, my apologies.  The similar statements I made in March were made without ever seeing articles like that.  If I had, I wouldn't have just said recently that I was the first to say that here.  Perhaps I need to make more time to read the articles, particularly those right before the tournament.

So was there any article before last March pointing out the negative trend WashU had of being knocked out by the national champ?

[Pat Coleman]

I would guess people were smiting you based on your continued harping on the Southern Maine coach's quote.

I'm not sure how five posts around March 18 (three in MIAA and two here) and a few here recently constitute constant harping.

I didn't say constant. I said continued.

Meanwhile, those posts live a long time. This is not an overly fast-moving board.

I don't believe we noted that trend. The only other trend I remember us noting was that Wheaton (Ill.) was the only team to beat the last two national champs during the regular season.

[newtonnancy]

Allen,
I am looking forward to Johns Hopkins, I will update you on the game. You've been quiet, a friend who was at a recent doubleheader said that the Deis women never saw a shot they didn't like, he said there seemed to be a few attitudes. Association play begins soon enough, lets see who is the cream this year

[mark_reichert]

I would guess people were smiting you based on your continued harping on the Southern Maine coach's quote.

I'm not sure how five posts around March 18 (three in MIAA and two here) and a few here recently constitute constant harping.

I didn't say constant. I said continued.

Noted.  I don't remember what it was before I brought the subject up again on November 15, so you may be right.  I have to wonder what deiscanton's sin is because he has the same karma.   Mind you, I still haven't been told how karma is determined.  Is there some part of this board I'm missing?

And has Who's the Best ever discussed the best Division III team?  Given their MO, it would probably a discussion of only the men's teams, but before I add the topic (if I do) I'd like to know if it's been brought up before in the one completely legitimate place to discuss 'bests'.

[/quote]
I don't believe we noted that trend. The only other trend I remember us noting was that Wheaton (Ill.) was the only team to beat the last two national champs during the regular season.
[/quote]

Interesting.  I'll keep an eye out for others.

[David Collinge]

Mind you, I still haven't been told how karma is determined.  Is there some part of this board I'm missing?

http://www.d3hoops.com/faq.php

[newtonnancy]

Just got home from a fun filled afternoon at the RAT and I have to say I am really impressed with the Maroons. They won again, beating a very good Johns Hopkins squad led by Mojidi, Leach and Schwanz who all had close to 20 points with Rapier cleaning up the boards. This is a very balanced team and unselfish. Mojidi may be the fastest player I have ever seen on the court and she must have had 5 steals. I think this could be tier year, and they have played, including this game, some quality competition so far. I would not be suprised if tey beat everyone in the conference this year at leat once. going into 2007 when Deis and NYU have to start playing some real teams will give everyone a better overview, but I expect that Wash U, Rochester and Chicago will be the top three teams tis year. Looking forward to next year!

[ILive4This]

It should make sense that she is the fastest players you have ever seen on the court since she was a UAA track champion indoors last winter. She is most likely one of the fastest girls you will see anywhere in the country playing ball.

[nescac hoops]

nancy,
last year you and i think it was "snowman" did a lot of UAA vs. NESCAC talk. this year it is too early to tell but last year 4 teams made it to tourny from both leagues and the nescac was 2-0 vs. UAA opponents and fared much better than the UAA last year. in all honesty, do you have more respect for them this year as a conference?

[newtonnancy]

NO! I don't think you guys are as strong as you were last year as a conference and I think this year as a conference the UAA is better although I don't think the UAA has a team as good as Wash U was last year. Also, you had 2 head to head wins but I think Brandeis would have beat Bowdoin on a neutral court last year.

I think based on what I have seen, read and heard:
Wash U may still win the conference, so they are still strong
Chicago is a step above last year and may be the best in the conference
Emory is better then last year, as is CMU, NYU and Rochester and I think Brandeis is not quite as good

I think the Polar Bears are not quite as good (a very close call) and the rest of the conference may be not as good as last year.. I mean Williams and Amherst are not as good for sure

what do you think?

[nescac hoops]

well first off, i asked about last year when i think the nescac did better that the uaa at the end of the season - which is when it matters. therefore, ill say that last year the nescac was better despite you and snowman's insistance that the uaa was dominant. in fact, after snowman guaranteed a nyu victory over williams and a brandeis victory over bowdoin he melted off this forum...literally.

as for this year, the starts of seasons are always hard to judge by, especially in the nescac where practice starts two weeks later than the rest of the nation. when you start the season with two weeks of practice as compared to four it is especially difficult. i am not making excuses for the nescac this year but it is really hard to judge those teams until january. i will tell you that bowdoin, no matter how much they lose, always finds a way to be great. i can't remember a time they were ranked out of the top 10 no matter who they lose. i will also tell you as a williams grad, that williams always comes on strong in january. i think they had the same record last year at this point and have only lost to two ranked opponents. they lost one senior last year, albeit their 3rd all time leading scored but i think they'll be back in the sweet 16 this year. as for amherst, they were never good and haven't had a winning season in the past 4-5 years so i don't know why you brought them up. bates was supposed to be the real deal this year but lost nescac player of the year meg coffin to a season ending knee injury but seem to be learning how to play without her lately. i dont know if the nescac has the depth this year but their top 3-4 are VERY good like the uaa - so i was curious about your opinion. i don't expect 4 teams from the nescac but 2-3 is a definite possibility for the tourny.