BB: Top Teams in West Region

[forheavendial4999]

I would say the ACC basketball tournament is very competitive and the same team has won it 10 of the last 15 years.  I guess the Mid-east Region isn't very competitive since the same team has won 5 of the last 7 regionals as well.

Makes sense except that 3 of those 5 years no one else had any more luck with them. The regional was tougher than the series in 2006 by a mile. I felt bad for Otterbein that year, and Manchester could easily have knocked out Marietta also. Beat Zimmermann in the opener in Wisconsin and then no one had anything for them after that.

2011 Marietta roared through to the championship game, then ran Chapman out of pitching.
2012 the regional and the series were both tough. Lost the second game in both, Wheaton arguably made a mistake not trying to take out Marietta in the throwaway game in Appleton.

can we talk about how ridiculously stupid this is.....what the hell is a throwaway game???

A game that obviously wasn't. It's the game that the winner's bracket team has to play but doesn't have to win to make the championship. Last year, Wheaton put in two relatively inexperienced relief pitchers that walked 6 guys in the last 3 innings, including walking in the winning run for Marietta, which stayed alive and then beat Wheaton in the championship.

[forheavendial4999]

Let's not write off TLU so quickly.

The West Region has always been known for its balance.

It has? I thought it was known for Chapman usually roaring through except when they're down.

Well there's been George Fox, who actually won it all, and Linfield made a respectable showing in Appleton. CUA has been there as well. So I wouldn't say that no one besides Chapman has shown anything. I don't think it's too much different than how Marietta has dominated the Mideast...other programs have made the series and shown well, but no one else has won a championship.

The difference is addressed above. GF's title was almost a decade ago and under a different coach.

Quite a while ago I did an analysis of how each region fares in Appleton...the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic were the best, then I believe New England and the Mideast. West was in the middle, then South, NY and Central, IIRC.

[Texas Leaguer]

Let's not write off TLU so quickly.

The West Region has always been known for its balance.

It has? I thought it was known for Chapman usually roaring through except when they're down.

Well there's been George Fox, who actually won it all, and Linfield made a respectable showing in Appleton. CUA has been there as well. So I wouldn't say that no one besides Chapman has shown anything. I don't think it's too much different than how Marietta has dominated the Mideast...other programs have made the series and shown well, but no one else has won a championship.

The difference is addressed above. GF's title was almost a decade ago and under a different coach.

Quite a while ago I did an analysis of how each region fares in Appleton...the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic were the best, then I believe New England and the Mideast. West was in the middle, then South, NY and Central, IIRC.

You realize those were your words, not mine...

[BamColt]

The West has two or three teams each year that could go into Appleton and do some serious damage. Its unfortunate the Region is so spread out the way it is and the same teams have to face each other in such a large region. To say the West would be a middle of the pack region is almost laughable.

[Texas Leaguer]

The West has two or three teams each year that could go into Appleton and do some serious damage. Its unfortunate the Region is so spread out the way it is and the same teams have to face each other in such a large region. To say the West would be a middle of the pack region is almost laughable.

We are a large region geographically but I'm not sure if that's the case as far as the quantity of D3 programs.  Look at the regional rankings.  Someone can correct me on this if I'm wrong but I believe the Regional committees rank the top 15% of teams in every region.  You'll notice the West has 6 regionally ranked teams.  Something like 38 x .15 = 6 (rnded up).  Other regions have as many as ten teams ranked which would mean they have more schools in that region.  In my eyes, D3 was designed around the premise of regional competition (to limit the burden on student athletes and financial budgets) and then bring the best of all the regions together to crown a national champion.

[forheavendial4999]

Let's not write off TLU so quickly.

The West Region has always been known for its balance.

It has? I thought it was known for Chapman usually roaring through except when they're down.

Well there's been George Fox, who actually won it all, and Linfield made a respectable showing in Appleton. CUA has been there as well. So I wouldn't say that no one besides Chapman has shown anything. I don't think it's too much different than how Marietta has dominated the Mideast...other programs have made the series and shown well, but no one else has won a championship.

The difference is addressed above. GF's title was almost a decade ago and under a different coach.

Quite a while ago I did an analysis of how each region fares in Appleton...the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic were the best, then I believe New England and the Mideast. West was in the middle, then South, NY and Central, IIRC.

You realize those were your words, not mine...

I give up.

[forheavendial4999]

The West has two or three teams each year that could go into Appleton and do some serious damage. Its unfortunate the Region is so spread out the way it is and the same teams have to face each other in such a large region. To say the West would be a middle of the pack region is almost laughable.

Not would be...is. Facts are what they are. Feel free to look up the analysis. It's somewhere on this board. I've given up on educating most of you so I'm not really inclined to do much digging for it.

West fans on this board are often akin to Big Ten fans in college football...convinced of their greatness despite all evidence to the contrary.

[Texas Leaguer]

I give up.
[/quote]

Maybe I should clarify.  That was your your post from earlier this season.

[/quote]

Well there's been George Fox, who actually won it all, and Linfield made a respectable showing in Appleton. CUA has been there as well. So I wouldn't say that no one besides Chapman has shown anything. I don't think it's too much different than how Marietta has dominated the Mideast...other programs have made the series and shown well, but no one else has won a championship.
[/quote]

You said the West region wasn't much different than the Mideast and that those other teams had shown something.      

[forheavendial4999]

I don't think either region is as strong as the Midwest or Mid-Atlantic. New England is pretty strong as well. No one in the Mideast other than Marietta has ever won a national championship, but IMO several times that's been because of Marietta beating teams in the regional that could have won Appleton.

I tried to look up the post and it doesn't appear to be saved in the archives.

If you want set up a Chapman/Marietta proportion then the obvious and logical conclusion is that the Mideast is better than the West, which puts the West no better than the 5th best region...so not really any different than I said.

[Ralph Turner]

The West has two or three teams each year that could go into Appleton and do some serious damage. Its unfortunate the Region is so spread out the way it is and the same teams have to face each other in such a large region. To say the West would be a middle of the pack region is almost laughable.

I think that the West is about middle of the pack.

In the mid-2000's, McMurry hosted a spring break tourney.  When Montclair State came down (from the NJAC) to participate, Coach Lee Driggers (now at ETBU) was impressed with the raw talent that they had.  Extrapolating Montclair State to their outcome in the NJAC, I surmised that they were representative of the top half of the NJAC.

In D-1, all of the ultra-elite high school talent in the colder climates that can some south and west does.

In D-3, all of the good-but-not-ultra-elite talent that doesn't want to go 1000 miles away from home to college on "1/8th" of a baseball scholarship goes to the local D-3 and gets plenty of playing time.  Northern schools give playing time to the 4th, 5th and 6th starting pitchers.  I think that is the difference.

[Texas Leaguer]

I don't think either region is as strong as the Midwest or Mid-Atlantic. New England is pretty strong as well. No one in the Mideast other than Marietta has ever won a national championship, but IMO several times that's been because of Marietta beating teams in the regional that could have won Appleton.

I tried to look up the post and it doesn't appear to be saved in the archives.

If you want set up a Chapman/Marietta proportion then the obvious and logical conclusion is that the Mideast is better than the West, which puts the West no better than the 5th best region...so not really any different than I said.

I agree.  Similar to how Marietta beat what you considered national championship caliber teams in the Mideast some years, I feel Chapman did the same some years in the West.  And I don't think the West is the best region either.  I do however think the top teams in the West would hold their own year in and year out against other regions.

[Jack Parkman]

I'm a West homer but I do not see the West being an elite region due to the fact that the season is set up so different than the cold weather regions.  West schools use 3 starters (for the most part) and staff it during the week.  Come tournament time they are screwed.  Cold weather schools have 4-5-6 legit starters with experience and that takes them far in the long run.

[TexasBB]

In the end the top teams in the West (based on the regional tournament) finished as follows"

Linfield
Trinity
UT Tyler
Cal Lutheran
Tex Lutheran
P-P

Both P-P and Tex Lutheran went 0-2 games but P-P gave up more runs.

The only big surprise to me was Cal Lutheran only winning one game. Their offense was for the most part shut down and they did not have the pitching depth to compete. UT Tyler did about as expected. Trinity may have done better than most people expected. Going into the tournament  the general consensus was it would be be a battle between Cal Lutheran and Linefield.

[dahlby]

JP is correct. Hopefully the SCIAC will go to 4 game weekends next year (I doubt it) which would force the teams to develop a fourth (or fifth) starter for the non-conference games played during the week. CU was fortunate during D3 tourneys where they advanced to have good relief pitching they could  rely on instead of a fourth of fifth starter. Also picher injuries reduced the number of starters for CU during tourney time.

[108 Stitches]

I am biased  but I thought it would end up like:

Trinity
Linfield
Cal Lutheran
UT Tyler
P-P
Tex Lutheran

Trinity had the best pitching staff there, they were the best defensive team but just could not get it done with runners in scoring position. Coming from a D1 world I did not expect Linfield to have the pitching, and Hadeland proved that wrong-  big time. CLU was better than their record, the game they lost to Trinity could have gone either way, (actually that could be said of a lot of games at the regional, very balanced)  I am not sure why, but CLU did not seem to have the "fire in their belly" like some of the other teams.

Linfield had the best offensive line up by far. I was very impressed with them and they have some real physical specimens. If you look up "manly" in the dictionary you will see their 3-4-5-6 hitters.  Very disciplined team, excellent base runners.