BB: Top Teams in West Region

[108 Stitches]

I guess the yikes was directed more at the TU team. They lost 2 games...actually 4 that they had no business losing. They will likely have to pay for it if they don't win the SCAC tournament. As far as CTX, they really needed to win the TLU series in case they do not go on to win the ASC tournament. Each team did not do themselves any favors if they don't win their tournaments. The regional rankings will come out later this week, but it may be that TU gets regionally ranked above CTX. What happens in the tournament(s) will probably have a large part of deciding what happens from here out, but both teams would have been in a lot better shape had they taken care of business over the weekend.

[108 Stitches]

Tigerfan beat me to it, and I get neither team is thinking anything other than going out and winning their tournaments, and I have seen both teams and they both are very capable, but as tigerfan pointed out neither one is in good shape for a pool C bid...maybe not the best use of words, neither one has made themselves stand out and be a clear cut favorite to get this bid, that's all. If they both go take care of business then it won't matter, but if they don't they have put the decision in someone else's hands and you don't want to do that.

[CrashDavisD3]

April 23rd

SCAC - Trinity
SCIAC - La Verne
ASC - Concordia-Texas
NWC - Pacific

Others - Texas Tyler, Texas-Dallas,

[Ron Boerger]

Others - Texas Tyler, Texas-Dallas,

If you're going to put 27-13 UTD on there, 26-12 Texas Lutheran should be as well coming off what was very nearly a sweep of CTX.

EDIT:  fixed my broken quote box

[CrashDavisD3]

April 23rd

SCAC - Trinity
SCIAC - La Verne
ASC - Concordia-Texas
NWC - Pacific

Others - Texas Tyler, Texas-Dallas, Texas-Lutheran

[Just_Some_Guy]

Others - Texas Tyler, Texas-Dallas,

If you're going to put 27-13 UTD on there, 26-12 Texas Lutheran should be as well coming off what was very nearly a sweep of CTX.

EDIT:  fixed my broken quote box

I agree with you, Ron. I don't think you can sleep on TLU, particularly after the series win at Concordia. I believe they're the ONLY ASC team that didn't lose a conference series this year: UT Dallas (LeTourneau), UT Tyler (UT Dallas), Concordia (TLU). You could make a good case for their pitching staff to be the best in the ASC as well -- though you could argue Concordia has more depth in the pen.

What would concern me if I was a TLU fan is the fact that a guy like Matt Stuart (Southwestern) with a 3-10 record and 6.40 ERA or a Matt Valley (Schreiner) 2-9 record 5.94 ERA can hold them to 0 ER during a game.

Do UT Tyler and UTD swing it better than the West teams? Perhaps, though maybe they just beat up on a weaker division (this year). Though, it's tough to find a guy in Concordia or TLU's line-ups that swing it like either Chick (Tyler) or Brown (Dallas).

Candidly, I think it's premature to count out ANY of the ASC playoff teams at this point, including those with losing records.

Looking forward to the tournament.

JSG

[CrashDavisD3]

Others - Texas Tyler, Texas-Dallas,

If you're going to put 27-13 UTD on there, 26-12 Texas Lutheran should be as well coming off what was very nearly a sweep of CTX.

EDIT:  fixed my broken quote box

I agree with you, Ron. I don't think you can sleep on TLU, particularly after the series win at Concordia. I believe they're the ONLY ASC team that didn't lose a conference series this year: UT Dallas (LeTourneau), UT Tyler (UT Dallas), Concordia (TLU). You could make a good case for their pitching staff to be the best in the ASC as well -- though you could argue Concordia has more depth in the pen.

What would concern me if I was a TLU fan is the fact that a guy like Matt Stuart (Southwestern) with a 3-10 record and 6.40 ERA or a Matt Valley (Schreiner) 2-9 record 5.94 ERA can hold them to 0 ER during a game.

Do UT Tyler and UTD swing it better than the West teams? Perhaps, though maybe they just beat up on a weaker division (this year). Though, it's tough to find a guy in Concordia or TLU's line-ups that swing it like either Chick (Tyler) or Brown (Dallas).

Candidly, I think it's premature to count out ANY of the ASC playoff teams at this point, including those with losing records.

Looking forward to the tournament.

JSG

This is only a point in time. I expect upsets in both ASC and the SCAC. I bet neither is won by the #1 seed. In another week you could have another team in the SCIAC and the NWC also. But for today this is what it looks like.
April 23rd

SCAC - Trinity
SCIAC - La Verne
ASC - Concordia-Texas
NWC - Pacific

Others - Texas Tyler, Texas-Dallas, Texas-Lutheran

[CrashDavisD3]

The 1st Regional Rankings have come:

WEST            
1   Trinity (Texas)   29-6   32-8   
2   Concordia (Texas)   31-8   31-8   
3   Whitworth   22-7-1   23-13-1   
4   Pacific Lutheran   21-8   23-11   
5   La Verne   23-11   24-13   
6   Texas-Dallas   24-11   27-13
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d3/regional_rankings

[TexasBB]

I am somewhat surprised the UTT is not ranked in the West region. They had a 31-9 record and were Co-Champions of the East division of the ASC. They did loose 2 out of 3 to both CTX and UTD earlier in the season. However, on the last week of the seaon they finished strong sweeping Louisiana College, a team that made the playoffs in the ASC. UTD on the other hand the same weekend lost one game to ETBU and had to come from behind late in the other two games to preserve a share of East with UTT.

CTX finished 31-8 and lost 2 of 3 to TLU the last week of the season but is ranked #2 in the region.

Go figure?

Texas BB

[Ralph Turner]

I am somewhat surprised the UTT is not ranked in the West region. They had a 31-9 record and were Co-Champions of the East division of the ASC. They did loose 2 out of 3 to both CTX and UTD earlier in the season. However, on the last week of the seaon they finished strong sweeping Louisiana College, a team that made the playoffs in the ASC. UTD on the other hand the same weekend lost one game to ETBU and had to come from behind late in the other two games to preserve a share of East with UTT.

CTX finished 31-8 and lost 2 of 3 to TLU the last week of the season but is ranked #2 in the region.

Go figure?

Texas BB

Respectfully, it is what I figured.

Let's look at the criteria for UTT

The criteria for the regional rankings are listed in the Handbook.

From the Handbook...

The primary criteria emphasize regional competition (all contests leading up to NCAA championships); all criteria listed will be evaluated (not listed in priority order).

●● Win-loss percentage against regional opponents.  22-8 (.714) Castleton State, Arlington Baptist and Freed-Hardeman don't count.
●● Strength-of-schedule (only contests versus regional competition).  .4817 #266 in all of D-III
-- Opponents' Average Winning Percentage (OWP).
-- Opponents' Opponents' Average Winning Percentage (OOWP).
See Appendix C on page 91 for explanation of OWP and OOWP calculations.

●● In-region head-to-head competition. 1-2 vs CTX, 1-2 vs UTD
●● In-region results versus common regional opponents.  Did not play anyone strong outside the ASC, e.g., Linfield, Trinity, LaVerne.  UTD went to Arizona and has a win over Pac Lu and a loss to LaVerne.  Both of those are "results".
●● In-region results versus regionally ranked teams.  (2-4)
-- Ranked opponents are defined as those teams ranked at any time of the rankings/selection process.
●● Conference postseason contests are included.

I imagine that UTT is about #7 or #8. I think that the West only gets one Pool C bid this year, and that team will be from among the 6 listed.

I think that UTT must win the conference.

The criteria in 2013 will not have changed that much.  I recommend that UT-Tyler fly to Arizona for that tournament in February that usually has contenders from the West Region playing...

or fly to Chapman and play 3-4 games against SCIAC teams.

[Ralph Turner]

Not trying to pick on UTT but let me dissect your post for the crtieria that count in the regional rankings

I am somewhat surprised the UTT is not ranked in the West region.

They had a 31-9 record overall record is secondary criteria

and were Co-Champions of the East division of the ASC. (Might be considered in common opponents)

They did lose 2 out of 3 to both CTX and UTD earlier in the season. YES!

However, on the last week of the season they finished strong sweeping Louisiana College, a team that made the playoffs in the ASC. 3-0 record goes into the regional record,

UTD on the other hand the same weekend lost one game to ETBU considered in the in-region record and had to come from behind late in the other two games to preserve a share of East with UTT. Come from behind not considered.

CTX finished 31-8 and lost 2 of 3 to TLU the last week of the season but is ranked #2 in the region. The loss of the series is considered; "the last week" is not.

Go figure?

Texas BB

Thanks for the chance to explain my interpretation of the application of the Handbook criteria to new readers.

[CrashDavisD3]

I am somewhat surprised the UTT is not ranked in the West region. They had a 31-9 record and were Co-Champions of the East division of the ASC. They did loose 2 out of 3 to both CTX and UTD earlier in the season. However, on the last week of the seaon they finished strong sweeping Louisiana College, a team that made the playoffs in the ASC. UTD on the other hand the same weekend lost one game to ETBU and had to come from behind late in the other two games to preserve a share of East with UTT.

CTX finished 31-8 and lost 2 of 3 to TLU the last week of the season but is ranked #2 in the region.

Go figure?

Texas BB

Not really
Low OWP, Low OOWP and Low SOS keeps you out of the Regional Rankings. Overall Record dont get you squat in the rankings. Winning a division of overall conference also dont count for any thing. Play a tougher schedule with teams with winning records outside your conference in the West Region. OR win your conference tourney and get the Pool A or you could be staying home hoping for a Pool C bid.

Check out the worksheet.
http://web1.ncaa.org/champsel_new/exec/staticpdfrank?doWhat=publicrankingsRedirect&sportCode=MBA&region=40&division=3

[TexasBB]

Ok guys I get it. Looks like UTT has to hit the road and dump some of their non DIV 3 close to home opponents. This is a budget issue and the school has not been willing to pay for the travel.

A couple of years ago they did go to Abilene when McMurray and HSU hosted a pre-season tournament. Marietta sent a team down but that is it. UTT has never traveled much. They put a lot of money into their facility but have not been successful in getting  top teams from outside of the ASC to travel to Tyler.   

This may partially explain why James Vilade left, I know he wanted to strengthen the schedule but if the school doesn't want to spend on travel your hands are tied.

UTT is unlikely to win the conference tournament. I believe they will get buy HSU but will fall in the double elimination round. They could come in second but even that will be tough. I don't think they have the pitching depth to match up with CTX.

Texas BB

[108 Stitches]

I think there are enough tough teams in region to get their SoS up. They just have to schedule the right ones. I would think with the new SCAC there would be enough teams available to schedule a decent schedule without having to go too far.

[Ralph Turner]

I think there are enough tough teams in region to get their SoS up. They just have to schedule the right ones. I would think with the new SCAC there would be enough teams available to schedule a decent schedule without having to go too far.

With the new configuration we may get a boost in this part of the country with TLU, Centenary and Trinity being in-region games.

The problem still remains with the small sample size that we have in Texas (~20-odd nearby teams).  Teams in the other parts of the country, e.g., Mid-Atlantic and New England can choose the better teams from 80-10 nearby schools.  The schools that do spring training in Florida may get 6-8 teams that in-region but outside the usual sphere of nearby contestants.

IMHO, the must-have tournament is the February Arizona tournament that brings the best teams from the West  Region. You can get 4 games against teams that have the resources to travel, which indirectly implies that the school is trying to back the program.

Coach Driggers at McMurry scheduled Chapman almost every year, home-and-home. 

Several teams have done the Arizona thing.  I recommend it to every team to do it on a regular if not annual basis.