2013 Division III NCAA Tournament

[crufootball]

Is Orr hurt? 0-1 fgs. and thats it!

Hurt by 2 pretty quick fouls and Coach DeWeese appears to be saving him for the 2nd half.

[Greek Tragedy]

Thanks!

[Ralph Turner]

UMHB 74,
St Thomas 67.

Way to go CRU!

Congratulations!

[madzillagd]

Great win UMHB, congrats.  Didn't let the first half foul trouble sink them and the freshman kept them in it. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Well, I was pimping this team four years ago - it finally paid off.  Really great game.  I can't believe there's another one coming up.  Great day of basketball.

[Ralph Turner]

Gary Stewart (on Hoopsville) is right about the officiating.

Calls are looser in the ASC.  The CRU adapted well.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

So with both the d2 and d3 championships in the same place at the same time, can the two winners stick around for a head-to-head matchup?  You know, just for fun?

[kiko]

On the question of the tournament location, I'll point to what I wrote last fall:

The ideal location would have magnificent volunteers who understand what the D3 experience is all about, a beautiful facility, lots to do outside of the games, a high demand for tickets irrespective of which teams qualified (MSP would not draw those mythical 5,000 fans if Puget Sound and Amherst followed Trinity and Wittenberg on the Final Four dance card), easy and relatively inexpensive air access for out-of-town fans, relatively close proximity to many schools in the core D3 geographic footprint, and high levels of local media interest.  And probably other stuff as well.  Oh, and to put a cherry on top, let's also say they have to be able to deliver this for both football and basketball because there is something intangibly nice that the promised land be the same place for both sports.

Salem delivers very well on some of these and not so well on others.  But I don't imagine that any locale would deliver all of these dimensions.  The question becomes how you (er, the NCAA) prioritize the tradeoffs among each of these variables.  It would seem to me that 3,000 is pretty much the ceiling we can expect for attendance absent a local (immediate vicinity) team, and you can't bank on their being one of these in the field.  Other places might muster the volunteer support, but I take those who have experienced Salem first-hand at their word that it would be hard to improve upon what Salem has to offer here.

I don't know that any other venue is going to offer better media coverage than the status quo -- the local paper provides decent coverage, and probably more column inches than you'd get out of someplace big enough to support a AAA or major league baseball team.  I'm not sure what other local media you'd find in another location that is either not present or ignoring the tourney in Salem.  ESPN / other cable properties aren't staying away because of the location, and any city big enough to have more local media outlets to provide coverage almost assuredly has bigger things to cover.

One additional thought -- I like that the tournament returns to the same location every year.  For my money, the idea that a single point on the map -- be it the Rose Bowl, the Peoria Civic Center for HS basketball, Williamsport, Salem, etc. -- becomes the focus and the goal year-in and year-out is something that fosters a strong tradition and sense of culture moreso than something that moves around and becomes a different experience each year.

Two other thoughts:

(1) I don't think it is realistic to expect big attendance from the afternoon session on a weekday.  If this were D1 and therefore there was greater interest, maybe.  But not for something as narrow in its general appeal as D3.

(2) One thing that has not been mentioned that relates to the 'paying for two road trips in three weekends' aspect of this year's tourney is that hotel prices for Atlanta will be crazy high due to the demand of fans for the D1 tournament.  We're actually a little fortunate in that our teams will learn that they have Destination ATL in their future one week before fans of the D1 final four teams do (they will find out that they are going to Atlanta only after next weekend's games).  So we will get a jump on securing access to any available rooms, but even with this, a lot of the inventory will be snapped up already, and whatever is still available will be priced at a significant premium.  So two road trips is tough, and the second road trip will be a fairly hefty investment.

On the question of The Ohio State University hosting the tourney, they would have zero interest in a D3 event.  If this venue were used, it would be because the OAC were hosting and the OAC rented their facility.  Personally, even if the arena were a more appropriate size, I think it is a terrible idea.  It's our event -- I have no interest in there being any D1 affiliation with the D3 tournament.

[sac]

So with both the d2 and d3 championships in the same place at the same time, can the two winners stick around for a head-to-head matchup?  You know, just for fun?

D2's down to its final 8, 7 #1 seeds and a #2 seed from their 8 Regions.  Tight!

[Ralph Turner]

As Dave McHugh noted on Hoopsville, the two teams going to Atlanta got the first round byes!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Is it just me or did it seem like Amherst could have put this one away much earlier if they hadn't thrown away half their possessions on quick, ill-advised threes?  Talent overcomes a lack of discipline in this one.

Also, according to live stats, Toomey didn't have a single assist in this game.  I wonder what the pre-game odds on that one would have been?

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Purple Power isn't content to just be in football... three of the Final Four and both in the championship game don purple.

[John Gleich]

Purple Power isn't content to just be in football... three of the Final Four and both in the championship game don purple.

It's more than just that... The last three champions (Whitewater, St. Thomas, and Stevens Point) wear purple. In fact, in the last 10 year, only Wash U (Christmas colors) and Virginia Wesleyan) haven't worn purple. And this year, the champ will continue the streak of amazingness.

[woosterbooster]

Purple Power isn't content to just be in football... three of the Final Four and both in the championship game don purple.

It's more than just that... The last three champions (Whitewater, St. Thomas, and Stevens Point) wear purple. In fact, in the last 10 year, only Wash U (Christmas colors) and Virginia Wesleyan) haven't worn purple. And this year, the champ will continue the streak of amazingness.

You guys just couldn't keep this under your hats.  Word is now out that Wabash, Allegheny, Ohio Wesleyan, and Denison have changed their school colors.  Those good people at Wittenberg will likely catch on by the end of the decade.  Wooster is doomed.

[ronk]

 And it's the 30th anniversary of the PURPLE Royals of Scranton winning the national championship; hopefully, we'll be back soon, having beaten 3 of this year's elite 8(Middlebury, North Central, Cabrini) in the last 2 seasons.