Pool C -- 2013

[Mr. Ypsi]

One correction ( ); my crystal ball says it will be Hope, not Albion.  But, alas, either way you are probably correct that they will go on the road to an insurmountable foe.  Don Quixote didn't win either!   (But The Impossible Quest is still an incredible song, even if it has become WAY to much a cliche.)

[HScoach]

I actually like your 2nd version better.

[MonroviaCat]

Conversely, if you wanted to ultra-regionalize it, you'd probably "ship" UMU east and UWW north and wind up with something that looks like this:

East:
W&J (8) @ Mount Union (1)
Rowan (5) @ Lebanon Valley (4)
Framingham State (7) @ Hobart (2)
Gallaudet (6) @ Ithaca (3)

South:
Redlands (8-ish...sorry) @ UMHB (1)
Maryville (5) @ Millsaps (3)
Salve Regina (7) @ Johns Hopkins (2)
Hampden Sydney (6) @ Wesley (4)

North:
Albion (8) @ UW-Whitewater (1)'
IWU (5) @ Witt (4)
Franklin (7) @ North Central (2)
Wabash (6) @ John Carroll (3)

West:
St. Scholastica (7/8) @ Bethel (1)
St. Norbert (6) @ Wartburg (5)
Concordia (Wis) (7/8) @ UW-Oshkosh (3)
PLU (4) @ Linfield (2)...boo to this

That is in no way a better way to put this thing together.

I like this one best--and then, since we (Linfield) get the cheapskate rematch again, they can reward us with the winner of St. Norbert v. Wartburg for round 2.... 

[hazzben]

Yeah, version 1 all but gives UWW a semifinal berth. Their quad was noticeably weaker than the other 3.

[bleedpurple]

Yeah, version 1 all but gives UWW a semifinal berth. Their quad was noticeably weaker than the other 3.

Who was the big challenge to UMHB in version 1?

[smedindy]

No matter how you draw it up, there's going to be two teams that have the 'perception' of having weak #2s. Mind you, Hobart and Johns Hopkins will have earned their #2 seeds on merit, and are excellent teams. So, I wouldn't crow just yet.

Wabash losing to Witt means IF they get in, they get joys to play like John Carroll or Oshkosh (or someone like that, fun).

[wally_wabash]

My initial "bracket" here had the Wesley/LebVal/Salve/Hopkins pod lumped in the UMU region and the Franklin/Witt/Norbert/NCC pod with Whitewater.  I switched it thinking that the UMU region looked really unbalanced.  But then doesn't any region look unbalanced when Mount Union is at the top?

The beauty of building 4-team pods around the top 8 teams is that you can pretty much mix and match them any way you want. 

I think there is also going to be some imbalance perception when the real deal happens because Franklin is probably going to be seeded well below their potential.  Franklin being lumped in with 6/7 seeds like Salve Regina, St. Norbert, and Gallaudet (for example) is going to look weird.  But Franklin earned their seed and it's going to add a little depth to whatever corner of the bracket they wind up in. 

[bleedpurple]

My initial "bracket" here had the Wesley/LebVal/Salve/Hopkins pod lumped in the UMU region and the Franklin/Witt/Norbert/NCC pod with Whitewater.  I switched it thinking that the UMU region looked really unbalanced.  But then doesn't any region look unbalanced when Mount Union is at the top?

The beauty of building 4-team pods around the top 8 teams is that you can pretty much mix and match them any way you want.

Thanks for putting these together. It does help us get our arms around the possibilities.

I agree with you about the 4-team pods and I really hope the committee has that line of thinking. I hope they get creative and produce some interesting match-ups.

[hazzben]

Yeah, version 1 all but gives UWW a semifinal berth. Their quad was noticeably weaker than the other 3.

Who was the big challenge to UMHB in version 1?

Fair enough, but that just makes version one that much worse. Half the bracket is loaded, half isn't.

I'm not trying to dump on it, it's a hard thing to do pulling these brackets together.

[art76]

Been kind of waiting for someone to put out a tentative bracket - thanx Wally. I have to ask again now, what if John Carroll wins today? Does this bump UWW and Bethel to the top? As you may have gathered, I'm really pulling (hoping for) that Bethel would be at home (provided they keep winning) until the last game.

[desertcat1]

So this was fun...I went ahead and made a mock bracket with the 32 teams that I selected on Wednesday.  Here's how I did it.  First, I ranked the teams 1-32 (full disclosure- I didn't scrub every schedule for common opponents so there may be something glaring that I missed and have a team way out of whack but I went through this fairly quickly...I did use the regional rankings as a guide here, so hopefully that takes care of most of that for me).  Grabbed the top four seeds based on the criteria.  They are:
1- Mount Union (not as big of an SOS as Bethel or UWW, but this is where previous tournament performance comes into play)
2- UWW
3- Bethel
4- UMHB

Then I grabbed the next four teams:
North Central, Linfield, Hobart, Johns Hopkins.

Keeping geography in mind, I tried to match these 8 teams up with another team in the bottom 8 of my list.  Then I took the teams ranked 9-16 and 17-24 and paired them off (I'm trying to keep some semblance of competitve balance here).  So I got 16 games.  I paired them in groups of two games (four teams) that helped avoid egregious travel in the second round and this is what I've got. 

Starting in the upper left corner of your mind's bracket:
Albion @ Mount Union
Gallaudet @ Rowan
Franklin @ Wittenberg
St. Norbert @ North Central

Bottom half, left side:
Redlands @ UMHB (sorry for the rematch...only way to do this with one flight)
Maryville @ Millsaps
Framingham State @ Ithaca
W&J @ Hobart

Upper half, right side:
Concordia (Wis) @ UW-Whitewater
Wartburg @ IWU
Wesley @ Lebanon Valley
Salve Regina @ Johns Hopkins

Lower half, right side:
St. Scholastica @ Bethel
Wabash @ UW-Oshkosh
Hampden Sydney @ John Carroll (499 miles! this one might not be ok)
PLU @ Linfield (sorry again)

So yeah, Hampden Sydney/John Carroll might have to go to Oregon, but somebody has to go and you can pretty much pick any game you want to pair up with PLU/Linfield.  There are about a zillion ways to put this together.  Just thought I'd share what I came up going through it quickly.

nice job Wally , no surprise I like this one..

[smedindy]

So...what we know. We have what we thought we'd have

Wabash wins! (We kept the Bell!)
JCU is now in "C" land.
IWU wins.
Thomas More wins.
SJF wins in resounding fashion.
St. Thomas wins. St. John's loses to Bethel as expected.

Milsaps loses, maybe knocking them out of "B" land and probably on the board behind Thomas More (and maybe Wash U. and possibly Rhodes, who lost two games this year by four total points. Ye Gods!) The last "B" spot is a mess.

So there were no upsets for the main contenders (though Millspas was a minor upset - it probably didn't change the "C" complexion) and pending the UW-P UW-O result we have our contenders. I just can't see Millsaps staying ahead of Thomas More.

[smedindy]

UW-Platteville kicks a game winning FG on the road at Oshkosh, probably assuring them a "C" bid.

[pumkinattack]

While part of me fully resented the Hobart is a weak two seed (and I think we still beat JHU by 14+, so they're even more overrated IMO), I think some of you may be right .  I've watched all but one Hobart game this year and they've been less than mediocre the last two weeks.  I'd love to think its a rope a door, but between the high number of injuries and some do the deficiencies of late I would personally seed them a #3 and make them go on the road in round 2 (assuming they win round one, which I have limited confidence in right now).

[smedindy]

The 'secret' RRs in the East and South will be...interesting.

The East messed all over itself, but I don't know how it will help SJF any more than it already did if teams shuffle in and out and SJF's ranking is boosted. They still have two losses and a great SOS.

It'll be interesting to see where the South winds up putting Millsaps, Thomas More, Wash U, Rhodes, and TLU.