Liberty League

[Ron Boerger]

Probably slightly biased, and I understand cost and geography play a big role, but it feels as though teams on the east coast, specifically the northeast get screwed over in these draws. Teams such as St. Olaf, UChicago, Calvin get a free run to the sweet 16 as the AQ's from that region are so poor. I understand to win the whole thing you have to play good sides eventually, but it just feels west coast and Midwest teams have an easier start of the journey. Hobart draws CWRU, to then basically play Cortland. Those are two tough games right off the bat. Vassar last year had to beat a good Babson team and then played Bowdoin.

I understand the sentiment, but I just thought I would jump in from the western region perspective.   

This year, the gripe from the teams in Region X is that Colorado College is the only team that has to fly across multiple time zones to Atlanta to play in a pod with three teams who are all in close proximity who have no time zone adjustment, while Pacific Lutheran is the only team that has to fly across multiple time zones to a different climate in Minnesota to play in a pod with three teams in close proximity who have no time zone or weather adjustment.  Plus, Occidental has to fly halfway across the country to San Antonio to play three teams in close proximity and is going to probably feel like they were dropped in the middle of the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys.  Moreover, I doubt either Trinity and St. Thomas are thinking they got off easy being slated to play each other for a third time in a little over two weeks, and a week after playing a brutal double OT game, if they both advance in the first round (while the brackets in every other region are structured to avoid teams in the same conference playing each other in the first two rounds).  There will be one team from Region X in the Round of 16 automatically from the San Antonio pod, but it may be a blood bath (quite literally) for the teams to get there.  And, to top it off, the Region X teams always have to travel the farthest for that Round of 16 game and often with both time zone changes, weather adjustments, and a quick turnaround between long flights for those teams that had to fly far for the first round of games.  It sure doesn't feel like the west coast teams have an easier path to advance in the tournament.  If anything, the odds are always stacked against them.

Then we had the women's basketball round of 16 just last year where three of the four sectionals were in Massachusetts and the team that had the best qualifications to host had to fly over 1000 miles to play in one of them so the NCAA could save money, because that and not "fairness" is the primary criteria when travel expenses get factored in.  You (O.P) have no idea what being screwed over is when it happens to the island teams year in, year out, in numerous sports.

[saint_forever]

I can understand that the travel is difficult, I don't doubt that plays a factor in performance, but I am sure if you asked the majority of Northeast team is they would rather fly to Illinois to play a team like Lake Forest in the first round, they would take it every time. I also think that while travel can be used an excuse for performance one way it also serves as a motivator in others. Travelling together, eating together, solely focused on the game has you more times than not mentally prepared. Kids aren't flying in on Friday night for a Saturday morning game. Again, I don't discredit that travel can hurt teams. My bottom line is one side of the bracket is significantly deeper than the other. Top teams are top sides in all the regions, but the difference between playing a NESCAC second round and not is big.

[soccerpapa]

Looking at the brackets where are the weaknesses you point to?  Are there any potential beyond the first round that you see?  I dont think so.....The glory of the NCAA tournament (November Madness) is that it is a true "national championship" with all conferences getting a bid.  There will always be first round games that may not be competitive on paper but everyone likes a cinderella.

[regionxfan17]

Another way to look at this is that on the left side of the bracket, there are only 4 first round matches between teams that are each ranked in their region, and 3 of those involve teams ranked 6 or 7 in their region.  The remaining 12 first round matches are between a ranked team against an unranked AQ.

By comparison, on the right side of the bracket, you have twice as many first round matches between ranked teams (8). Only 8 involve a ranked team facing an unranked AQ.

Putting aside the refrain that "anything can happen," the bracket is somewhat imbalanced by this measure, no?

[stlawus]

Deutsch isn't going to be happy with the all league selections.  Fauth POY and Brown ROY.  Brown also got first team honors.   I will say from a very biased perspective he adjusted midway through the season and seemed to figure things out, I was pretty impressed by him.  Hopefully he keeps developing, on track for a great career. 

I am surprised Kedy Nana only got honorable mention, to me he was at least a 2nd teamer.  One of the better players I saw all season.   Perugini did get first team honors though, him and Brown the only first years among mostly seniors and 5th years.

[deutschfan]

Never one to be shy about my year end awards comments.  Congrats to Owen Fauth who proved that you can be the player of the year on a 6th place team.  He certainly was the most valuable player to Vassar as their fate rose and fell with his personal performance.  I thought Madsen would receive the award given Hobart's regular season championship but Fauth is a worthy recipient.  As for Brown as ROY--given Union's second place finish, I believed the coaches would have gone the Union direction instead of adding to SLU's historical overabundance of year end and weekly honors.  Awarding Brown First Team as a freshman is a bit over the top as well.  Was he really better than Mogul (who was perpetually double or even sometimes triple teamed) or Price or Keker, or .... I recall in the past that the last place team would not be represented but RIT getting shut out is bizarro.  Price was one of the leading scorers in the league.  He did get a red card in the last two minutes of his last frustrating game against Vassar but banishing him???  He was second in shots, was tied for the lead in regular season goals, and third in regular season points.  How does McDougald with all of 10 points on the season merit 1st team honors when Price goes unrecognized?   

[stlawus]

I think a lot of it comes down to the eye test.  Price had the good stats and I would have no issue with him being a first teamer, but McDougald's free kicks did a lot of heavy lifting for SLU.  Union's coach, Clinton and Griffin all saw him place perfectly hit free kicks in the back of the net at critical moments.

[deutschfan]

St. Law--you were right about my reaction and you are right about the appeal of a bend it like Beckham free kick.  That said, it takes a lot more work scoring from the run of play than hitting a dead ball.  Anyway, numbers don't typically lie and 10 points for a first team forward is a meager amount.  Still don't know how RIT gets shutout.  I am happy for Fauth.  He is extremely bright and the decision to come back for a fifth year at Vassar was likely not an easy one.  Good for him.  There have only been a handful of Vassar players with multiple 20 point seasons.  His two great years put him in the top echelon of Vassar midfielders historically.  He will be greatly missed next year.

[Saint_Dad]

How do the coaches make their decisions on how to vote?  Do they base it on the one game that they see their opponent?  Do they base it on that game plus conference game stats?  Or look at overall stats as well?  McDougald was mentioned as having a 'meager' 10 points for a forward.  He is a midfielder and had 9 points in the conference games, which put him fifth overall in the league, a few points ahead of Owen Fauth.  He also had two game winning goals in those 9 conference games. Henry Brown also saved most of his scoring for conference games, with 12 of his 14 points coming in those 9 games.  Mogul was just the opposite, with only 2 of his 12 points in conference games.  The coaches saw tape and stats and began double and triple teaming him which slowed him down.  He was involved in a lot of goals where no assist was awarded.  I noticed that NESCAC awards two assists on a large percentage of goals.  I haven't seen that much in the Liberty League.  Although Mogul may be the top player on the team, you can understand why his teammate was picked over him.  It was pretty simple, the top 3 forward scorers in Liberty league games were first team.  Madsen, Brown, and Gaudiano.  McDougald was the second highest midfield scorer.  There just was not a lot of goals in Liberty League games. 

[deutschfan]

I have alluded to this in the past when I commented on the Dutchman being offensive player of the week for scoring 1 goal in a two game week, or when I listed the statistics showing that SLU had 30% more end of year honorees than Vassar during a time frame that Vassar had the better regular season record.  Whatever the reason for SLU's disproportionate bounty it continued this week.  SLU finished 4th in League, lost its home tournament opener, and ended the season a game over .500.  It had 5 1st or 2nd team honorees (honorable mention I don't count), and two players of the year.  Union, who finished 2nd in League had 2 honorees, and Ithaca who finished 3rd, and thoroughly handled SLU in its game this year, had 1.  As you note, there were not a lot of goals scored this year and under those circumstances you would think that the defense would be rewarded with honors, especially for a team like Ithaca who were low scoring but whose defense kept them in most games. Alas...

[kevdog]

I have to agree with Deutschfan about this.  I was very impressed with Outbridge from Hobart and thought he should have received the ROY instead of Brown. Brown did grow on me as the season went on. He has high work rate and scrappy.  Hope he doesn't have a sophmore slump next year and that he comes back.  Sometimes those Canton winters can get to some people especially for some who are not use to it.  Kady Nana only getting a honorable mention was wrong in my book.  The games i saw, he appeared to be one the best player out there at times.  i think some of the SLU players got their all star selections based on their reputation from last year.  Looking forward to see the recruits Tosh brings in and hope Hobart can make a strong run in the tournament.

[Saint_Dad]

I agree with some of the statements by Deutschfan and Kevdog, but the coaches are voting and I don't think there is a conspiracy for SLU or against other teams.  It's a relatively small sample size and sometimes individuals stand out.  I have to disagree with Kevdog's comment that  some of the SLU players got their all star selections based on their reputation from last year.  Pijpers was first team last year.  Nothing this year.  Campbell was ROY last year, nothing this year.  Graber honorable mention last year, again, nothing this year.  What reputation did McDougald have from last year, playing half the season and not on any list?  Henry Brown had no reputation as a first year.  You can make an argument for two other first years, but Brown was tied for the league lead in points (and led all FYs).  Oganga (nothing last year) is a sophomore and improved a lot this year and deserved the second team award.  The only two players from SLU that appeared on last year's list was Woelfinger (first team and defensive player of the year) and Mogul (honorable mention).  Were you referring to one or both of them getting their all star selection from their reputation from last year?  Woelfinger was defensive player of the week for many weeks and led the league in saves, shutouts, goals against average, saves per game, both in and out of league games.  He lived up to his reputation.  And Mogul arguably could have been first team over Brown based on the eye test, but statistics certainly favored Brown.  I join you Kevdog, in seeing improvement next year and wishing Hobart (and Cortland and Oneonta) a good performance in the NCAA's.

[kevdog]

I thought McDougald was 1st or 2nd team last year. Woeflinger definitely deserves to be defensive player of the year.  As far as Mogul i guess my expectations were very high for him. I was extremely impressed with him last year and he was destroying people last year going down that left flank. Although it was very hard to see on video becasue you are at the mercy of the videographer, but I guess he was double and triple team. ( It is easier to see in person).  I know that this will take his stats away as I don't think they were as good as last year.  That is why I think he made the 2nd team based on his reputation of being great player and someone that you need to contain.  I was thinking that he made make a run for player of the year when the season started.  I am hoping that Tosh gets some recruits to relieve the those double and triple teams that Mogul sees.  He is very fun to watch but I can see where opposing coaches might want to take Mogul away and let someone else beat them.  I think that is the respect that other coaches have for his ability even though his stats didn't show it this year.

[stlawus]

I got to all but 1 SLU home games this year, and it's actually a bit understated how much opposing teams keyed in on Mogul.  Doubled every game is not an exaggeration, he also got fouled away from the ball constantly.  His stats were ok but to me was very clearly one of the top 2 players for SLU this season.  He caused havoc in the 2nd half against RPI when they weren't double teaming which showed how good of a player he is.   I actually thought he looked even better against Plattsburgh when they played 4-4-2 and put him in that secondary striker/playmaker role. 

SLU is going to need a midfielder to step up next season or bring in someone that can make a day 1 impact.  Doesn't need to score goals, just be that anchor that can dictate play.  There are no known commits at the time, but I do know SLU is making a push for a highly talented midfielder in the NEPSAC, but that means all the usual good teams will be after him as well.

[kevdog]

Stlawus, I agree with you. They need someone can dictate the play like they had last year with Sibanda. We may never see someone like him again but he did take alot of pressure off his teammates. Do you know who the talented midfielder in the NEPSAC that they are trying to recruit?