MBB: Northwest Conference

[bbaddict]

Whoever wins on the left coast can pretty much count on a trip to the midwest.  That's the way we do things around here.

[Gregory Sager]

That's true, but just know the sweet 16 will be in wisconsin...I've heard the town of stevens point is a great place to visit in march.

oh i didn't even look into the sectionals...UPS will be heading to UW-Stevens Points.  That's 2 for 2.   8) 

They will? So St. Thomas, ranked #1 and undefeated and playing in its own gym this weekend, is going to just roll over for the Pointers on Saturday night? Interesting.

And UWSP is going to host the sectionals, over (possibly) Wheaton or Wash U? Also interesting.

That's one heck of a crystal ball you've got there, LogShow.

I feel like Whitworth could go to the East bracket and win the whole thing.

There are fans from at least eight or nine other schools in the Midwest/West section that are saying the exact same thing.

Loving that UPS got the equivalent of a one seed.

For all of the annual bitching about the tournament's bracket construction that resounds from the Left Coast every March -- and, yes, much of it is justified -- there's at least the consolation that a Left Coast team is more likely than anyone else to draw an undeserved first-round bye. And that's exactly what happened this year.

  too bad WW and UPS will have to play eachother so early. 

I wonder how the sweet 16 will go if one of the two win, probably fly Whitworth to the midwest, any chance the UPS would get to stay home you think?

There's no chance in hell that the NCAA is going to fly three teams to the State of Washington for the Midwest/West sectional. Get used to the fact that the winner of the CMS/Whitworth/UPS triad is going to be playing the weekend after next in Wisconsin, St. Paul, St. Louis, or Chicagoland.

[bbaddict]

Isn't that what I already said, Sager? 

I agree that the team to worry about is St. Thomas -- not Stevens Point.  We, on the left coast, just have a history with the WIAC to worry about.

[UPS4Life]

All right guys, I stayed away for a few days, it's like when the Seahawks lose, I don't want to watch Sportscenter.  I think it's safe to say the Loggers didn't play a good game on Saturday and that WW played better.  Great three point shooting from your guards, Antwan Williams did not have a good game.

However, I will say that that was some of the worst officiating I've ever seen and forces me to wonder about an effort to guarantee two teams in the national tournament.  Lets talk about the play where Robert Kraul ended up on the floor, injured.  I can guarantee the referees weren't paying attention to the initial foul as he was clearly held on his arm attempting the shot because they didn't seem to notice that he was hurt either until Lunt was all the way out on the floor screaming at them along with the entire student section.  Simply unacceptable in my opinion.  Also, the whining and posturing from WW's coach, it's disgraceful.

As far as the chants, the SAT chant was stupid, any fan getting into it with other fans, the middle fingers, the gestures saying 'come over here', etc, they're stupid and I'll admit it.  Chalk it up to underclassmen.

[P4L]

-first time poster
-longtime WW Pirate fan
-longtime small college basketball fan

I realize the need for the NCAA to keep costs down.  I do not have as big a problem with a few necessary pods each year, ex. Whitworth and UPS having to play each other in round 1 or 2.  I have a larger problem with the NCAA including ranked teams 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,20,25, and 2 in others receiving votes within the same section of the bracket.  Only one of those listed teams will even make it to the elite 8!

Not only will the 4 best teams not be in the final four...They don't even have a shot to get there.

Drawing direct comparisons to Division 1 teams does not always make sense but in this case that would mean ONLY ONE team from this pool: (Pitt, Uconn, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Memphis, Louisville, Duke, Illinois, Texas, Syracuse, and Arizona) would make it to the Elite 8. 

The NCAA's deal with CBS through 2011 was worth over 1 billion dollars to the NCAA.  That is only one TV and  web rights deal!    Are you really going to tell me that there isn't an extra 50-100k in the budget to make the division 3 tournament a bit more fair for the players and coaches who work hard to become a top 10 team in the country?

Where is the reward for being 25-0 vs. 20-5?  You will play the same teams in the tournament in the same round.  Oh wait you might earn a home game!

Congrats to UPS and WW for a great year.  Hopefully one of them gets out of the sweet 16.

[Gregory Sager]

Isn't that what I already said, Sager? 

Isn't what what you already said?

I agree that the team to worry about is St. Thomas -- not Stevens Point.  We, on the left coast, just have a history with the WIAC to worry about.

I'm not saying that St. Thomas should be the team that NWCers worry about, rather than UWSP. I'm saying that both the Tommies and the Pointers merit worry, contra LogShow's casual disregard of UST.

I understand that NWCers have learned the hard way that WIAC teams make brutal opponents in the big dance, and that they thus tend to lean towards fretting about possible matchups with the WIAC. All I'm saying is that UST isn't chopped liver; I honestly don't know which team I'll pick in Saturday night's likely UWSP @ UST tilt.

[Mr. Ypsi]

P4L, welcome aboard!

A small correction: only TWO of those teams will (probably) make the Elite 8; only one can make the Final Four.

This year's 'real' FF is clearly the Midwest/West sectional.

[Gregory Sager]

-first time poster
-longtime WW Pirate fan
-longtime small college basketball fan

I realize the need for the NCAA to keep costs down.  I do not have as big a problem with a few necessary pods each year, ex. Whitworth and UPS having to play each other in round 1 or 2.  I have a larger problem with the NCAA including ranked teams 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,20,25, and 2 in others receiving votes within the same section of the bracket.  Only one of those listed teams will even make it to the elite 8!

Not only will the 4 best teams not be in the final four...They don't even have a shot to get there.

Drawing direct comparisons to Division 1 teams does not always make sense but in this case that would mean ONLY ONE team from this pool: (Pitt, Uconn, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Memphis, Louisville, Duke, Illinois, Texas, Syracuse, and Arizona) would make it to the Elite 8. 

The NCAA's deal with CBS through 2011 was worth over 1 billion dollars to the NCAA.  That is only one TV and  web rights deal!    Are you really going to tell me that there isn't an extra 50-100k in the budget to make the division 3 tournament a bit more fair for the players and coaches who work hard to become a top 10 team in the country?

Where is the reward for being 25-0 vs. 20-5?  You will play the same teams in the tournament in the same round.  Oh wait you might earn a home game!

Congrats to UPS and WW for a great year.  Hopefully one of them gets out of the sweet 16.

Great post, but you're really preaching to the choir on this one. Everyone west of the Ohio-Indiana border is up in arms about this grossly-imbalanced bracket, but it is what it is. We all knew going in that this was likely to happen, because money is so tightly budgeted for the D3 tourney -- even more so in a tough economy. Yeah, the D1 men's basketball tourney is a moneymaking machine, but keep in mind that the D1 men's basketball tourney is what funds everything else in the NCAA. The D3 tourney doesn't make money, and is thus reliant upon whatever crumbs D1 chooses to throw our way.

We'd all like for there to be enough extra crumbs to balance out the bracket better, but we're not in a position to make that call.

[Mr. Ypsi]

True, but the women's selection committee does a much better job of 'spreading the wealth'.  Some adjustments could have been done at no expense to the NCAA.  Since the winner of the UPS pod will be flown anyway, they could have been flown elsewhere.  Wash U. could have headed south, Wheaton and/or Elmhurst could have headed east, etc.

[P4L]

Can we form a government agency to regulate the NCAA tournament selections?   

[nwhoops1903]

True, but the women's selection committee does a much better job of 'spreading the wealth'.  Some adjustments could have been done at no expense to the NCAA.  Since the winner of the UPS pod will be flown anyway, they could have been flown elsewhere.  Wash U. could have headed south, Wheaton and/or Elmhurst could have headed east, etc.

EXACTLY!!  I am just going to say that it was pretty "thoughtless" or worse, a lazy effort. 
+1

[89Pirate]

If Div I is forced to pay for everything, why not raise the ticket fees at our level?  Personally, I would be more than willing to pay the 6 bucks that I am paying for this Thursday's tickets.  The game and my team are worth much much more than that.

[Gregory Sager]

Chuck, I'm not sure that Wheaton, Elmhurst, Hope, et. al. could've been sent east, because the overflow from the Northeast/East section had to go somewhere. Look at the two eastern sections: Northeast/East teams take up eleven of the sixteen slots in the upper-right section (and the NYC and Long Island schools might as well be considered among that crowd as well), and seven of the sixteen slots in the lower-right section. And there were still two teams left over -- Medaille and Brockport State. Since they're western New York schools, matching them with a Pittsburgh-based team and a Cleveland-based team makes sense (Wooster's been matched up with western New York teams in the past, so there's precedent there). That means that the flow of the bracket pushes westward, not eastward.

Wash U could've been moved to the Centre pod, but the same problem exists: How do you send a team eastward when the whole flow of the bracket goes westward?

Your point that the CMS/Whitworth/UPS triad's winner could've been slotted anywhere, since a plane ride is a plane ride, is a good one, though. If the Left Coast's rep in the Sweet Sixteen was playing somewhere in New Jersey or Virginia or Massachusetts on the second weekend of the tourney, it would've eased up the competitive logjam in the Midwest/West sectional at least a little.

[nwhoops1903]

If Div I is forced to pay for everything, why not raise the ticket fees at our level?  Personally, I would be more than willing to pay the 6 bucks that I am paying for this Thursday's tickets.  The game and my team are worth much much more than that.

Another good solution/point.  Lets see @ $15.00 per ticket times 1500 (avg attendance) times 44 games = $990,000 less the $6 being charged, that's $594,000 to fly and board maybe 12 teams...could easily work.

[89Pirate]

If Div I is forced to pay for everything, why not raise the ticket fees at our level?  Personally, I would be more than willing to pay the 6 bucks that I am paying for this Thursday's tickets.  The game and my team are worth much much more than that.

Another good solution/point.  Lets see @ $15.00 per ticket times 1500 (avg attendance) times 44 games = $990,000 less the $6 being charged, that's $594,000 to fly and board maybe 12 teams...could easily work.

Exactly my point, thanks for doing the math for me.  I dont know what they charge at DI tourney games (haven't been to one yet...), but it warrants the question of the Indianapolis group.