MBB: Northwest Conference

[Smitty Oom]

I found it very entertaining that Tim Howell was grabbed by a couple Blues players from the stands and proceeded to celebrated on the court with them. The best part was that Howell was towards the front of the post game hand shake and was saying "Good Game" to all of the Whitworth players and coaches! Not to mention sneaking into the team pic with the trophy!

The announcer sounded as if he was unaware that Whitworth getting a Pool C bid at this point would be very unlikely. "Tune in on Monday to the NCAA D3 selection show to find out if Whitman is hosting and where they will send Whitworth." I wonder if the Pirates community knows more about their situation than the Blues announcer?

[BluesBrother]

Fun game at Sherwood tonight. Whitman's recent dominance over the Pirates continues, despite a spectacular effort from Roach in the first half. Whitman made some good adjustments at the half, which allowed the talent difference between the Blues and Pirates to dictate the outcome.

Holy moly, Andrew Vickers! The second half felt like a passing of the baton, with Vickers making play after play and emerging as perhaps the Blues best offensive weapon. I'll disagree with blackhawks and say that I think Vickers is the early favorite for 2020 NWC MVP.

Butler with another stellar all-around performance. So cool that he got POTY despite less gaudy scoring numbers. Hopefully that helps his case for postseason national recognition.

I'd love to see the Blues host a pod in the first round, but I'm guessing that won't happen unless the committee overlooks Whitworth's mediocre resume and gifts them a birth in the national tournament. The Pirates are probably better than some other pool C teams, but those losses to Willamette and UPS and the lack of quality wins make them a longshot in my mind.

[Gregory Sager]

I'd love to see the Blues host a pod in the first round, but I'm guessing that won't happen unless the committee overlooks Whitworth's mediocre resume and gifts them a birth in the national tournament.

The committee won't "overlook Whitworth's mediocre résumé", because that résumé (i.e., the measurements of the Pirates according to the primary criteria used by D3 men's basketball, such as winning percentage, SOS, results vs. regionally ranked teams, etc.) is the only thing that matters to the committee. Those specific criteria will be the only determinant used to decided whether or not Whitworth gets a berth (unless it comes down to secondary criteria).

The Pirates are probably better than some other pool C teams, but those losses to Willamette and UPS and the lack of quality wins make them a longshot in my mind.

According to the posters on this site who crunch the numbers every year at this time, the Pirates are indeed a longshot.

[Titan Q]

There are 3 Pool C projections out there.  2 of us have Whitworth out, 1 has Whitworth in...

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4232.msg1923362#msg1923362

Whitworth is very competitive for the very final spot (#20) - they had a big bump in SOS after another game vs Whitworth.  It could go either way, but I think they will get beat out for that final pick.  Just one win vs RRO seems to be the real killer.

[(509)Rat]

Vickers was the guy that seemed to spark the run early in the second half that got Whitman the lead. Whitworth played a good game. Roach and Lester did what they could. Just not athletic enough...losing Roach is rough but a lot of those points will just go the College. Not sure if Lester will come back but Hernandez is more than capable of replacing him. Losing Bishop and Crosno will be addition by subtraction IMO. Logie still does a good job of X's and O's most of the time but has to up the recruiting a level or two to get back to the Hayford days.

[blackhawks4]

Roach really had a nice career.  He's a "Big game player."

Vickers--Wow.  If he continues to play with that offensive aggressiveness, this Blues team might have a real shot at a national championship.  To me, he is the key.  He is that athletic scorer that can get his own shot anytime.  Blues don't need 20-30 pts per game from him, they have so many other weapons, but they do need him to play with the same mindset.

My guess is that this pod will end up in Walla Walla.  They'll likely have to fly 3 teams somewhere.  I also presume that the committee will have the Blues and Pitzer in the same pod, angling for a 2nd round match-up.  If what what we are consistently told is actually true (that the selections are only based on this year, and that the national poll carries no weight), I think WW is out.  We shall see.  It probably would have benefited the Blues if WW beat them last night--would have higher likelihood of putting the pod in Walla Walla.

[D O.C.]

TitanQ..... 

SOS after another game vs Whitworth

Did you not mean  " SOS after another game vs Whitman?"

[BluesBrother]

Looks like Whitworth won't make the cut. Decent pod for Whitman, though anything can happen in the tournament.

[blackhawks4]

Murderers row for Whitman.  Don't know Texas Lutheran, but as long as they survive, they have Pitzer waiting for them, and then probably Williams. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

NCAA spent an extra flight to let Whitman host this weekend.  That's pretty cool.

[(509)Rat]

NCAA spent an extra flight to let Whitman host this weekend.  That's pretty cool.

Whitman was definitely deserving so it's nice the NCAA did that

Looks like they will have to go through at least one NESCAC team along the way. They could in theory get Williams and Hamilton and Amherst. I want to see them against at least one team from that conference.

I haven't read the d3 guru's takes but on the surface this bracket looks pretty balanced. Right? Augustana looks like it probably has the easiest path to the final four. Whitman maybe the toughest? But overall it looks fairly well put together. NWU possibly having St. Thomas in the 2nd round appears to be the most "unfair" matchup if you were to have an unlimited travel budget.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

NCAA spent an extra flight to let Whitman host this weekend.  That's pretty cool.

Whitman was definitely deserving so it's nice the NCAA did that

Looks like they will have to go through at least one NESCAC team along the way. They could in theory get Williams and Hamilton and Amherst. I want to see them against at least one team from that conference.

I haven't read the d3 guru's takes but on the surface this bracket looks pretty balanced. Right? Augustana looks like it probably has the easiest path to the final four. Whitman maybe the toughest? But overall it looks fairly well put together. NWU possibly having St. Thomas in the 2nd round appears to be the most "unfair" matchup if you were to have an unlimited travel budget.

The NWU-Oshkosh pod is the toughest.  I'd put St. John's as the 5th best team in the tournament, so it's a tough one for sure.  NCC and Loras would be right up there as well.

[Gregory Sager]

I second Ryan's thoughts. The upper-right-hand section is the toughest one. It's got #1, #4, #9, #10, #18, and #21 from the latest d3hoops.com poll.

[(509)Rat]

NCAA spent an extra flight to let Whitman host this weekend.  That's pretty cool.

Whitman was definitely deserving so it's nice the NCAA did that

Looks like they will have to go through at least one NESCAC team along the way. They could in theory get Williams and Hamilton and Amherst. I want to see them against at least one team from that conference.

I haven't read the d3 guru's takes but on the surface this bracket looks pretty balanced. Right? Augustana looks like it probably has the easiest path to the final four. Whitman maybe the toughest? But overall it looks fairly well put together. NWU possibly having St. Thomas in the 2nd round appears to be the most "unfair" matchup if you were to have an unlimited travel budget.

The NWU-Oshkosh pod is the toughest.  I'd put St. John's as the 5th best team in the tournament, so it's a tough one for sure.  NCC and Loras would be right up there as well.

Yeah that certainly looks to be the most difficult pod, but doesn't necessarily mean NWU would have the toughest path to the title game (though it appears they do by a slim margin). You can't actually play St. John's and Loras and NCC and Oshkosh if you are the Praire Wolves, they all have to knock each other out before they get to the final 8. So having all of those teams in one corner of the bracket doesn't automatically mean you have the toughest path. Of course, with all those teams you are much less likely to get an "easy" late round game because an early round upset will not have the same effect as it would in the bottom left or bottom right brackets. If we got chalk, starting in the second round...

NWU would play d3hoops.com #13, #17, #4, #3

Whitman would get #11, #19, #9, #5

Not a huge difference in terms of projected difficulty, assuming you generally agree with the d3hoops.com poll. Really St. John's probably has the toughest draw in the whole tournament.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

NCAA spent an extra flight to let Whitman host this weekend.  That's pretty cool.

Whitman was definitely deserving so it's nice the NCAA did that

Looks like they will have to go through at least one NESCAC team along the way. They could in theory get Williams and Hamilton and Amherst. I want to see them against at least one team from that conference.

I haven't read the d3 guru's takes but on the surface this bracket looks pretty balanced. Right? Augustana looks like it probably has the easiest path to the final four. Whitman maybe the toughest? But overall it looks fairly well put together. NWU possibly having St. Thomas in the 2nd round appears to be the most "unfair" matchup if you were to have an unlimited travel budget.

The NWU-Oshkosh pod is the toughest.  I'd put St. John's as the 5th best team in the tournament, so it's a tough one for sure.  NCC and Loras would be right up there as well.

Yeah that certainly looks to be the most difficult pod, but doesn't necessarily mean NWU would have the toughest path to the title game (though it appears they do by a slim margin). You can't actually play St. John's and Loras and NCC and Oshkosh if you are the Praire Wolves, they all have to knock each other out before they get to the final 8. So having all of those teams in one corner of the bracket doesn't automatically mean you have the toughest path. Of course, with all those teams you are much less likely to get an "easy" late round game because an early round upset will not have the same effect as it would in the bottom left or bottom right brackets. If we got chalk, starting in the second round...

NWU would play d3hoops.com #13, #17, #4, #3

Whitman would get #11, #19, #9, #5

Not a huge difference in terms of projected difficulty, assuming you generally agree with the d3hoops.com poll. Really St. John's probably has the toughest draw in the whole tournament.

Wouldn't it be Oshkosh, since St John's gets to play the first weekend at home?