BB: Top Teams in West Region

[CrashDavisD3]

4/3/2014
I see these teams making the regionals as Pool A or Pool C bids

Linfield, CLU and Trinity-Texas.

Everyone else will be fighting to win a Pool A or Pool C bids.

Conference Tournament upsets can really cause concern in the SCIAC, SCAC and ASC for the front runners. I have seen 30 win teams stay home many times and once saw a 20-20 team end up winning the National Championship from other regions so anything is possible.

[SoCalSoxFan]

4/3/2014
I see these teams making the regionals as Pool A or Pool C bids

Linfield, CLU and Trinity-Texas.

Everyone else will be fighting to win a Pool A or Pool C bids.

Conference Tournament upsets can really cause concern in the SCIAC, SCAC and ASC for the front runners. I have seen 30 win teams stay home many times and once saw a 20-20 team end up winning the National Championship from other regions so anything is possible.

Crash, I agree with those three.  And yes, It will get interesting if one or more of them lose in Conference tournament.  As it stands now, I would think Linfield would be top Pool C bid if they lose their tournament.  CLU would be 2nd Pool C bid choice and T-T would be third choice.

(Standard disclaimer:  There is still 10+ games to go, plus tournament... so my opinions are subject to change as the facts change)

[Westside]

4/3/2014
I see these teams making the regionals as Pool A or Pool C bids

Linfield, CLU and Trinity-Texas.

Everyone else will be fighting to win a Pool A or Pool C bids.

Conference Tournament upsets can really cause concern in the SCIAC, SCAC and ASC for the front runners. I have seen 30 win teams stay home many times and once saw a 20-20 team end up winning the National Championship from other regions so anything is possible.

Crash, I agree with those three.  And yes, It will get interesting if one or more of them lose in Conference tournament.  As it stands now, I would think Linfield would be top Pool C bid if they lose their tournament.  CLU would be 2nd Pool C bid choice and T-T would be third choice.

(Standard disclaimer:  There is still 10+ games to go, plus tournament... so my opinions are subject to change as the facts change)

just a FYI - the NWC doesn't have a conference tournament. That is why this weekend between Linfield (1st) and PLU (2nd) is huge for playoff implications.

[Whatagame]

Has anyone else heard talk that the NWC will move to a conference tournament, starting next season?

[wildcat11]

Has anyone else heard talk that the NWC will move to a conference tournament, starting next season?

I haven't and hope it doesn't happen.  I'm in the camp of the winner of the conference's auto-bid should be the team that was the best over the course of an entire conference season of play.   

[SCAC_BaseballFan]

This would have made the SCAC interesting last year, as Centenary won the regular season, but Trinity took the conference tournament.

[Westside]

Has anyone else heard talk that the NWC will move to a conference tournament, starting next season?

This is true from what I heard. I don't know what the format is though. I am guessing it would either be four teams similar to what the NWC softball tourney is (I think?), or they could do a 6 team tourney with the top two seeds getting a bye.

I don't really like the idea of a tournament, to be honest. It rewards the team that gets hot at the end versus a team that has been solid all year long.

[NWBaseballFan10]

Has anyone else heard talk that the NWC will move to a conference tournament, starting next season?

This is true from what I heard. I don't know what the format is though. I am guessing it would either be four teams similar to what the NWC softball tourney is (I think?), or they could do a 6 team tourney with the top two seeds getting a bye.

I don't really like the idea of a tournament, to be honest. It rewards the team that gets hot at the end versus a team that has been solid all year long.

This is correct. The NWC is moving to a conference tournament next season, but I don't know the format either. I know folks from Linfield and George Fox aren't too excited about this change. Now the rest of the teams in the NWC have something to look forward to despite their middle-of-the-road performances in the conference regular season.

[wildcat11]

Now the rest of the teams in the NWC have something to look forward to despite their middle-of-the-road performances in the conference regular season.

That sums it up perfectly.

[Whatagame]

I'm betwixt and between on the tournament for NWC, I suppose.  What I don't like is a straight-up top 4 team format (like the SCIAC tournament, I believe), because essentially other than seeding, the 4th place team enters a short format tournament on equal footing to the #1 seed.  #1 ace vs. #4 ace.

I'd like to make it much more difficult for a lower seed to win, so I would prefer a six team format, with seeds 3-6 each playing a play-in game to decide who will join seeds 1-2 in the 4 team double-elim tourney.  That way, a 3-6 seed has to play that extra game, at a minimum.

I can't really agree with all of this statement, though:

    "Now the rest of the teams in the NWC have something to look forward to despite their middle-of-the-road performances in the conference regular season."

Right now, do you think Willamette is a middle-of-the-road team?  George Fox by the way, is currently in 4th place in the conference, I'll bet Coach Hunter wouldn't mind there being a tournament this year.

[108 Stitches]

I love tournaments because they add so much interest and make for some very competitive intense games, as a fan they can't be beat. I really like your idea Whatagame for a 6 team format with an extra game for the lower seeds to give the extra advantage to the top 2 seeds.

I still don't get the SCIAC round robin thing they do at the end of the season.

[Jack Parkman]

I still don't get the SCIAC round robin thing they do at the end of the season.

I could be wrong but I think it has to do with the fact that Chapman joined the SCIAC after the conference went to 4 games vs each school.  If they continued to do that it makes 32 conference games and very little chance to play other schools that travel.  That probably doesn't answer it completely but the extra 4 round robin games bring the total to 28 SCIAC games (while sticking to a 3-game series) instead of 32.  I don't love it but I don't mind it either.  It gives the 3-6 teams a little extra time to either get into the conference tourney or lose their spot.

[Spence]

I think a tournament is a good idea for the NWC if it's done the right way, because you get more games against quality opponents to possibly get a Pool C berth. And it just means kids that give up so much to play baseball get a few more games.

I'm rarely against more baseball, especially for guys that are playing purely because they love the game enough to want to play.

[tigerfan_2001]

This would have made the SCAC interesting last year, as Centenary won the regular season, but Trinity took the conference tournament.

it wouldn't have mattered.  Centenary was inelgible for NCAA tourney because of the probation period of moving down to D3.  Trinity would have received the Auto bid anyways, being the next highest SCAC team.  Same for this year.

[SCAC_BaseballFan]

I realize that, I was just giving a view of how a team can lose 4 of 5 to a team (like Trinity did to Centenary) in the regular season, but if they win that 1 weekend it erases the regular season grind and meaning.