NCAA Tournament

[Ralph Turner]

Geographically, how do you break up the 20 teams that are in the Coe, IWU, Thomas More, Hope and Calvin pods?

I see these strong teams in these pods.

Coe (3)
IWU (2)
Thomas More (2)
Hope (4)
Calvin (3).

What do the experts recommend?  Move one team from the Hope pod to the IWU pod?  If so, which one?

[batteredbard]

Has anyone posted the by the numbers  for how the Pool C bids got divided by the regions for the men and women?

[Dutchfan]

Has anyone posted the by the numbers  for how the Pool C bids got divided by the regions for the men and women?

I think they threw darts at a map.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Geographically, how do you break up the 20 teams that are in the Coe, IWU, Thomas More, Hope and Calvin pods?

I see these strong teams in these pods.

Coe (3)
IWU (2)
Thomas More (2)
Hope (4)
Calvin (3).

What do the experts recommend?  Move one team from the Hope pod to the IWU pod?  If so, which one?

Since I REALLY like the draw IWU got (in the d3hoops.com poll, 2 teams got one point each; one got none ), I'm reluctant to step in here, but that Holland pod is indeed the 'pod of death' (all four teams in the top 11 of the poll).

There are two obvious switches they could have made in terms of geography (and I think you could mix or match the teams): Webster and WashU are essentially the same location geographically (they could have traded pods); also DePauw is a natural fit for IWU (probably less than 60 miles, though I'm too lazy to look it up ), while Wis Lu could easily go to Holland (they were in the same conference for awhile, after all).

On the other hand, as a fan I'll just revel in our free passage to the sectional (confident that Mia Smith will NOT let the Titans overlook any team ), and let the four teams in Holland grumble and mutter about their misfortune.

Boy am I gonna catch hell if the Titans don't advance (and I DO have great respect for UW-LaX)!

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks.  +1!

DePauw to IWU -- 187 miles by NCAA TES.

Your suggestions make sense.  Switching Wash U and Webster would change that to (3) and (3).

I don't see how you could dilute those 14 strong teams (out of 20) any more in the geographic constraints of the budget.

I only saw another 10-15 teams in the other 44 that approached the quality of those teams in the middle of the country.

[Dutchfan]

Does anyone know why the NCAA puts such an emphasis on 'region play' if they aren't going to keep games in region like this?  I understand there are going to be some regional crossover games, but it seems to me that the NCAA didn't even attempt to align the bracket by region.

[Ralph Turner]

Does anyone know why the NCAA puts such an emphasis on 'region play' if they aren't going to keep games in region like this?  I understand there are going to be some regional crossover games, but it seems to me that the NCAA didn't even attempt to align the bracket by region.

I think that they want to give the tournament a more national feel.

By spreading out the representatives from a region, you can get some different matchups, rather than facing the same old teams in the first two rounds again and again.

Regional play in the regular season is meant: to:

1) not to encourage expensive road trips on D3 budgets.
2) not to encourage missed class time.
3) comply with the general philosophy of D3 athletics.

[martin]

I will start off by saying that I know that the top-25 poll is meaningless when it comes to the tournament.  And there are many factors the NCAA looks at when putting together the brackets.  But something when seriously awry when making up the Thomas More bracket.

Using the last top-25 poll (which will change in a day or two) as a proxy for the relative strength of the four sectionals. the More sectional got severely overloaded.  The IWU sectional has 5 top-25 teams with an average rank of 13.2.  The Kean sectional has 4 top-25 teams with an average ranking of 13.5.  The Amherst sectional has 5 top-25 teams with an average ranking of 14.  The More sectional has 11 top-25 teams with an average ranking of 12.3. 

And its not like that had to happen.  The Juniata pod was moved from the east to complete the More sectional.  It has two top-25 teams, #13 Greensboro and #19 St. Vincent.  The emtire right side of the bracket has only one pod with two top-25 teams, #24 Bowdoin and #23 MSM.

This allocation of strong teams is crazy.

[Pat Coleman]

It'll change in the next few hours, in fact.

[GuyFormerlyPSBBG]

Of note if Greensboro wins the first round game,  it will be the largest turnaround among all 3 divisions.  Currently the overall turnaround record among all 3 divisions is at the d2 level with 18 1/2 games held by Grand Canyon.

[martin]

It'll change in the next few hours, in fact.

The latest rankings make the lack of balance look even worse.  The Kean and Amherst brackets have four top-25 teams each.  Each pod has only one.  The IWU bracket has 5 top-25 teams.  The UWSP pod has two - UWSP and St. Norbert - who meet in the first round.  # 3 with a 25-2 record meets #14 with a 23-2 record.  Maybe the committee thought symmetry with the men was cool.  Two unranked 21-6 teams meet in the other first round game.  Does Simpson get respect for being renked #5 in the West? (BTW - where are the latest regional rankings?)  St. Norbert is not ranked in the Central - but Simpson also would not be ranked in the Central.

So now the More bracket has 12 top-25 teams.  The Juniata pod has two.  The More and Calvin pods have three and the all four teams in the Hope pod are in the top-25.  LaRoche and Piedmont must be wondering whom they pissed off to get shipped into this maelstrom.

There are a lot of obvious ways to make the brackets more balanced.  Apparently, that was not a concern of the committee.

[ronk]

Time for a new committee.

[iwumichigander]

Thanks.  +1!

DePauw to IWU -- 187 miles by NCAA TES.

Your suggestions make sense.  Switching Wash U and Webster would change that to (3) and (3).

I don't see how you could dilute those 14 strong teams (out of 20) any more in the geographic constraints of the budget.

I only saw another 10-15 teams in the other 44 that approached the quality of those teams in the middle of the country.

Re: WashU IWU DePauw - The three teams have faced off each of the last three seasons in non-conference games.  I'm not sure having them face each other in 1st or 2nd rounds competitive.  I might have switched DePauw and Hanover.

[Dutchfan]

Thanks.  +1!

DePauw to IWU -- 187 miles by NCAA TES.

Your suggestions make sense.  Switching Wash U and Webster would change that to (3) and (3).

I don't see how you could dilute those 14 strong teams (out of 20) any more in the geographic constraints of the budget.

I only saw another 10-15 teams in the other 44 that approached the quality of those teams in the middle of the country.

Re: WashU IWU DePauw - The three teams have faced off each of the last three seasons in non-conference games.  I'm not sure having them face each other in 1st or 2nd rounds competitive.  I might have switched DePauw and Hanover.

With the exception of Washington U. this is the same exact field that played at Hope lst year in the first two rounds.  Last year...
Friday
Hope 68
Denison 40

DePauw 79
Lakeland46

Saturday
Hope 68
DePauw 54

[nwhoops1903]

Quick question:  How many teams are outside 500 mile travel circle in rounds 1 and 2?  Thanks!