2014 Conference Tournaments

[7express]

The field for the IIAC is decided.  Central finished first and will play all games at home, and Dubuque gets the other bye while spots 3-6 will be handed out between Luther, Loras, Wartburg & Buena Vista on Saturday.  First round is Tuesday, February 25, semifinals Thursday, February 27, and the finals Saturday, March 1 all on campus sites of the higher seed.

Official field:

#6 Luther (15-10, 7-7) (86)
@ 2/25 8 PM
#3 Loras (15-10, 8-6) (77)
Winner onto #2 Dubuque (21-4, 10-4)

#5 Wartburg (13-12, 7-7) (83)
@ 2/25 8 PM
#4 Buena Vista (13-12, 8-6) (85)
Winner onto #1 Central (18-7, 11-3)

#6 Luther (16-10, 8-7) (87)
@ 2/27 8 PM
#2 Dubuque (21-4, 10-4) (83)

#4 Buena Vista (14-12, 8-6) (84)
@ 2/27 8 PM
#1 Central (18-7, 11-3) (86)

#6 Luther (17-10, 8-7) (70)
@ 3/1 8 PM
#1 Central (19-7, 11-3) (74)
Dubuque fans will be very nervous the next 33 hours or so.

[7express]

Heading into the final weekend in the E8, there are 4 spots for 5 teams: Alfred, St. John Fisher, Stevens, Hartwick, and Nazareth.  SJF is currently sitting in the 4th and final spot a half game in front of Alfred but they are in the deep hole.  SJF is done for the season, and I believe loses a tiebreaker with Alfred should both finish the season 9-5.  It's highly unlikely to happen, but there still remains the possibility for a 5 way tie at 9-5 between those 5 teams listed above, so the E8 is a long way from being sewn up.

official.  Hartwick is the #1 seed and all games will be taking place @ Hartwick college.

#2 Stevens (17-8, 10-4) (60)
vs. 2/28 6 PM (@ Hartwick)
#3 Nazareth (18-7, 10-4) (71)

#4 Alfred (18-7, 9-5) (85)
@ 2/28 8 PM
#1 Hartwick (16-9, 10-4) (90)

#3 Nazareth (19-7, 10-4) (62)
@ 3/1 3 PM
#1 Hartwick (17-9, 10-4) (67)
Stevens & Nazareth are probably too far back in the regional rankings to make much noise on Monday.

[John Gleich]

Also interesting...

*Conference policy indicates the WIAC believes it is 2003.

Fixed.

Actually, I think it may have to do with a tv contract... the regional Fox SportsNet station is going to broadcast the championship (albeit on tape delay).

... or something like that.

Last year it was one month later. Having no live broadcasts of the other four games is fairly short-sighted and indicates a severely outdated media policy.

I don't disagree. Fox got mad and the payout was worth the bad policy?

I'm happy that the majority of WIAC games are online. Still highway robbery that it costs $8 to watch an Oshkosh game... but I guess they have to pay the heating bill at the Kolf (goodness knows that the meager contingent of fans doesn't warm it much...)

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The Landmark limits their postseason tourney to the top 4 regular season teams. There is a possibility of a 4-way tie for the 4th spot, leaving only 1 team out of the tiebreaking procedures for the NCAA AQ berth. It provokes an argument(weak though it may be) of having everyone get a shot in the conference tourney at the AQ and the following question for the D3 historians:
  Of the conferences that include everyone(are there any?) in their tourney, which team from the bottom half of the conference(who wouldn't have been able to win the AQ in the other conferences) won their AQ and went the farthest in the NCAA tourney?
  Dave, Goucher could be such a team this year-you might have been watching the NCAA champs all year, only to be eliminated by a coin flip.

Um... I have not been watching the NCAA champs all year... I know that to be the truth .

Here is their scenario heading into Saturdays games:

This has been checked and re-checked several times by several different people, so I think it is accurate: Four teams remain in the hunt for the final playoff berth. The only one of the five who haven't clinched so far that can't make it in is Drew. It is conceivable that all four games on Saturday could help determine the final playoff team.

Men's Basketball
-   Scranton is the No. 1 seed.
-   If Catholic defeats Moravian or Susquehanna loses to USMMA, Catholic is No. 2.
-   Susquehanna has clinched a spot, but could be No. 2, 3 or 4. If Susquehanna defeats USMMA and Catholic loses, Susquehanna is No. 2. If Susquehanna defeats USMMA and Catholic wins, Susquehanna is No. 3.
-   Goucher gets in if Catholic, Drew, Goucher and Susquehanna win. It forces a 3-way tie between Drew, Goucher and USMMA and Goucher wins the tiebreaker.
-   Juniata gets in if Goucher, Moravian, Juniata and Susquehanna win. It forces a 4-way tie between Goucher, Juniata, Moravian and USMMA and Juniata wins the tiebreaker.
-   Moravian gets in Drew, Moravian, Scranton and Susquehanna win. It forces a 3-way tie between Drew, Moravian and USMMA and Moravian wins the tiebreaker.
-   If USMMA wins, they're in and clinch the No. 3 seed. If they lose, they need Scranton and Catholic to win to clinch the No. 4 seed.

[7express]

Of the conferences that include everyone(are there any?) in their tourney, which team from the bottom half of the conference(who wouldn't have been able to win the AQ in the other conferences) won their AQ and went the farthest in the NCAA tourney?

The Little East includes all 8, and I believe the ODAC includes all 12, Presidents includes all 9, and the SAA includes all 8.  They all did last year, and I'd assume it's the same this year.  Also last year the SCAC included all 6 (they have 8 this year), and the USA South had all 8 participate last season after Piedmont ended their season early (this year they have 11).

The CUNY & MASCAC only leave 1 at home which is dumb.  I know each league has an odd number of teams (9 & 7 respectively), but each league could easily take all their teams.  For the CUNY set it up like the Presidents and have 9 play 8 than send that winner onto #1 to begin the quarterfinals.  In the MASCAC's case send #1 to the semi's (which they do in the current set up anyways), and have 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 & 4/5 matchups in the quarters and go for there.

I know the #9 CUNY team or #7 MASCAC team will probably never win the tournament, but if the conference is only going to leave 1 at home, why not take the whole league and give everyone a chance??  Fitchburg did win the MASCAC out of the #5 spot last year, so it is possible they could make a run.

[smedindy]

If you're going to have a conference tourney and not give the auto-bid to a double round-robin champ, you may as well invite them all...or draw lots for the "A" bid.

[Just Bill]

It depends who your conference is though. If you're a lower level league that's not likely to produce at large candidates, then I think you owe it to yourself to give your best teams the best shot to reach the NCAAs. A league like the NACC has only won one NCAA Tournament game in 7 years, so it would make sense to limit the entries and even give your top two a bye to give the teams with the best chance to win an NCAA Tournament game a chance to get there. For a league like the WIAC which can produce an at-large nearly every season, where a 3-5 seed could reasonably win an NCAA Tournament game and almost always wins multiple NCAA games each year, protecting your best for the big dance isn't quite as vital.

Not even having a tournament would guarantee that of course, but most conferences want to have some kind of carrot out there to keep the regular season engaging for all the teams. It's no fun for players if the league's AQ is secured with 3 games left in the regular season.

I've always felt in Division III having about 50% of your teams qualify for the conference tournament makes the most sense for most leagues. You give your top teams the best shot by not having too many games to win it, and/or giving a bye, but you give a reasonable chance to make a run to everyone in the top half of the league. You keep the regular season meaningful by making teams earn their way into postseason. If you didn't finish in the top half of your league, you probably don't really deserve a shot anyway. Just my opinion.

[Pat Coleman]

I thought I would give this group the first look at the conference tournament tracker page we're building:

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2013-14/conference-tournaments/index

Not all of the info is in yet but if you see anything that is here that is incorrect, let me know!

[John Gleich]

It depends who your conference is though. If you're a lower level league that's not likely to produce at large candidates, then I think you owe it to yourself to give your best teams the best shot to reach the NCAAs. A league like the NACC has only won one NCAA Tournament game in 7 years, so it would make sense to limit the entries and even give your top two a bye to give the teams with the best chance to win an NCAA Tournament game a chance to get there. For a league like the WIAC which can produce an at-large nearly every season, where a 3-5 seed could reasonably win an NCAA Tournament game and almost always wins multiple NCAA games each year, protecting your best for the big dance isn't quite as vital.

Not even having a tournament would guarantee that of course, but most conferences want to have some kind of carrot out there to keep the regular season engaging for all the teams. It's no fun for players if the league's AQ is secured with 3 games left in the regular season.

I've always felt in Division III having about 50% of your teams qualify for the conference tournament makes the most sense for most leagues. You give your top teams the best shot by not having too many games to win it, and/or giving a bye, but you give a reasonable chance to make a run to everyone in the top half of the league. You keep the regular season meaningful by making teams earn their way into postseason. If you didn't finish in the top half of your league, you probably don't really deserve a shot anyway. Just my opinion.

The argument was made recently (i.e. in the last several years) on the CCIW page (which was a relative late-comer in the conference tournament realm) that having the full conference in the tournament is actually *better* for even the top seeds... because the 1 and 2 seed would get another win under their belt (as opposed to the 4 team format they have currently).

Titan Q did the math on it... and it really does make sense, getting teams *and* opponents more wins.

[John Gleich]

I thought I would give this group the first look at the conference tournament tracker page we're building:

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2013-14/conference-tournaments/index

Not all of the info is in yet but if you see anything that is here that is incorrect, let me know!

Very nice! I love the one stop shop for all of that info.


One quick thing that I noticed on the WIAC portion...


Date Away  Home  Time/Status Links

Feb. 26  UW-Oshkosh   UW-La Crosse   8:00 PM 
   UW-Stout   UW-Platteville   8:00 PM 

Feb. 28  UW-Platteville   TBA   TBA  
   TBA   UW-Whitewater   8:00 PM 
   TBA   UW-Stevens Point   8:00 PM 

Mar. 2  UW-Platteville    TBA   TBA 


Platteville is in there a couple extra times where they shouldn't be.  Also, the championship time is set - 3:00 Sunday (2:00 Central), just not the location yet.

[Pat Coleman]

I thought I would give this group the first look at the conference tournament tracker page we're building:

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2013-14/conference-tournaments/index

Not all of the info is in yet but if you see anything that is here that is incorrect, let me know!

Very nice! I love the one stop shop for all of that info.


One quick thing that I noticed on the WIAC portion...


Date Away  Home  Time/Status Links

Feb. 26  UW-Oshkosh   UW-La Crosse   8:00 PM 
   UW-Stout   UW-Platteville   8:00 PM 

Feb. 28  UW-Platteville   TBA   TBA  
   TBA   UW-Whitewater   8:00 PM 
   TBA   UW-Stevens Point   8:00 PM 

Mar. 2  UW-Platteville    TBA   TBA 


Platteville is in there a couple extra times where they shouldn't be.  Also, the championship time is set - 3:00 Sunday (2:00 Central), just not the location yet.

These are Platteville's games on their schedule -- I can't remove them. But Platteville has the right to say they might be playing in those games until they get eliminated.

[Just Bill]

It depends who your conference is though. If you're a lower level league that's not likely to produce at large candidates, then I think you owe it to yourself to give your best teams the best shot to reach the NCAAs. A league like the NACC has only won one NCAA Tournament game in 7 years, so it would make sense to limit the entries and even give your top two a bye to give the teams with the best chance to win an NCAA Tournament game a chance to get there. For a league like the WIAC which can produce an at-large nearly every season, where a 3-5 seed could reasonably win an NCAA Tournament game and almost always wins multiple NCAA games each year, protecting your best for the big dance isn't quite as vital.

Not even having a tournament would guarantee that of course, but most conferences want to have some kind of carrot out there to keep the regular season engaging for all the teams. It's no fun for players if the league's AQ is secured with 3 games left in the regular season.

I've always felt in Division III having about 50% of your teams qualify for the conference tournament makes the most sense for most leagues. You give your top teams the best shot by not having too many games to win it, and/or giving a bye, but you give a reasonable chance to make a run to everyone in the top half of the league. You keep the regular season meaningful by making teams earn their way into postseason. If you didn't finish in the top half of your league, you probably don't really deserve a shot anyway. Just my opinion.

The argument was made recently (i.e. in the last several years) on the CCIW page (which was a relative late-comer in the conference tournament realm) that having the full conference in the tournament is actually *better* for even the top seeds... because the 1 and 2 seed would get another win under their belt (as opposed to the 4 team format they have currently).

Titan Q did the math on it... and it really does make sense, getting teams *and* opponents more wins.

Sure, I can see that, IF your league is legitimately competing in the Pool C race year in an year out. Not all leagues are.

[Just Bill]

I thought I would give this group the first look at the conference tournament tracker page we're building:

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2013-14/conference-tournaments/index

Not all of the info is in yet but if you see anything that is here that is incorrect, let me know!

Very nice! I love the one stop shop for all of that info.


One quick thing that I noticed on the WIAC portion...


Date Away  Home  Time/Status Links

Feb. 26  UW-Oshkosh   UW-La Crosse   8:00 PM 
   UW-Stout   UW-Platteville   8:00 PM 

Feb. 28  UW-Platteville   TBA   TBA  
   TBA   UW-Whitewater   8:00 PM 
   TBA   UW-Stevens Point   8:00 PM 

Mar. 2  UW-Platteville    TBA   TBA 


Platteville is in there a couple extra times where they shouldn't be.  Also, the championship time is set - 3:00 Sunday (2:00 Central), just not the location yet.

These are Platteville's games on their schedule -- I can't remove them. But Platteville has the right to say they might be playing in those games until they get eliminated.

One of the drawbacks of an interlocked network of schedules. Not a big deal.

[7express]

I thought I would give this group the first look at the conference tournament tracker page we're building:

http://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2013-14/conference-tournaments/index

Not all of the info is in yet but if you see anything that is here that is incorrect, let me know!

Pat, are you doing a page for the women too this year or just the men??
For the LEC, Rhode Island College is locked in at #2 and will be playing at home in the quarterfinals, and UMass-Dartmouth is locked in at #3 and will be playing at home in the quarterfinals.  Excellent work on this!

[realist]

The MIAA had all 8 teams in the conference tournament until a few years ago.  At that time it was decided only the top 4 teams would be in, and that was done to conform with all other sponsored sports that have end of season tournament.  With the smaller tournament field it does place more importance on winning games early.  In the years all 8 teams compteted I don't ever recall a #8 seed beating a #1,  a 7 did beat a 2, and the 4-5 matches ups were interesting but genreally the cream rose to the top with 1 o2 winning out.
Playing an extra game is sort of a weak arguement at the end of the season especially if you are #1 or #2, and are playing a team you have already (probably) pasted twice.