Pool C -- 2014

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Officially from the NCAA: the MASCAC and SAA will remain Pool B teams this season. Pre-championship handbooks will reflect that information soon (updates where necessary).

[wally_wabash]

Officially from the NCAA: the MASCAC and SAA will remain Pool B teams this season. Pre-championship handbooks will reflect that information soon (updates where necessary).

Is there also then clarification on whether that creates a third B bid or is it at two?

[Mr. Ypsi]

2 Bs,6 Cs

[Pat Coleman]

They didn't officially tell Dave that but that is what our math says should be the case. Whether the NCAA does the math correctly this next time around, your guess is as good as mine. If not, we'll share our math with the folks in Indy. They have been accepting of our math in the past.

[wally_wabash]

Well then. 

So how does this change things?  Dominos!  TLU is out of my B this week and Centre is in.  Centre might get to 10-0 with a bad SOS and no quality wins and I'm really, really curious to see if the committee would spit at that 10-0 and take somebody like 9-1 Framingham State instead.  I don't think they would, but if there were ever going to be a case to be made for doing it, it's going to be that one.  Really interesting to watch what happens there (if we get there). 

That bumps TLU to Pool C.  The south region's fan voters don't think much of TLU, but I think they'll be ranked ahead of Thomas More next Wednesday and probably ahead of Muhlenberg as well.  That puts TLU at the front of the South's C line.  Do I think TLU with an 8-1 D3 record and a not terrible SOS would sit there through six full rounds of voting?  I do not.  I would project TLU in as a Pool C team today. 

[smedindy]

I kind of feel bad for the SAA.

[Ron Boerger]

I kind of feel bad for the SAA.

True, but it's a problem of their own choosing.   Consider what the split did to the SCAC schools that no longer have any hope of a Pool C bid.

[smedindy]

The SCAC thing aside, the issue is the NCAA"s inability to articulate, or follow, or comprehend, even, their own rules....

[ExTartanPlayer]

I think the real question is whether Nebraska Wesleyan will get a Pool B

I kind of agree with everything on this page. The SAA schools made their own bed, but it seems like it should be made clear BEFORE the season who's in Pool A and who isn't.

[USee]

Interesting weekend. the Pool C picture will start to become much clearer. We get our first official regional rankings this week as well. Wally will have some real data to go on finally. In the CCIW if Wheaton and NCC win out the Cards may have more than a chance as a pool C with 6 bids.

[cubs]

Oshkosh knocks off Stevens Point today 21-7 at Stevens Point.

Platteville loses at home to Whitewater 17-7.

If both win next week, could Oshkosh at Platteville the last week of the regular season be for a Pool C bid?

[wally_wabash]

Oshkosh knocks off Stevens Point today 21-7 at Stevens Point.

Platteville loses at home to Whitewater 17-7.

If both win next week, could Oshkosh at Platteville the last week of the regular season be for a Pool C bid?

We'll be able to say more when we see the regional rankings on Wednesday.  I'm still not sure that Oshkosh is really actually in play for Pool C, where/if they get placed in the regional rankings on Wednesday is probably the #1 thing I'm looking for. 

With Platteville now carrying a second loss, I don't think I would say that the week 11 Platteville/Oshkosh game is a play-in game per se, but it's definitely an elimination game. 

[smedindy]

As much as I like chaos, I don't think Linfield's loss changes the "C" calculus. Pacific has to win out, I think, to win the "A" and then Linfield would have two losses. Though I don't know the NWC tiebreaker. Pacific has to beat Willamette first.

St. Thomas may have made it harder for a MIAC "C" again if St. John's loses to Bethel. That would be 2 losses for STJ, CM and STT, and they each beat the other. That MIAC result MAY open up a slot for a Platteville in the WIAC to be on the board. There's no way an 8-1 Carroll gets on the board, is there?

(Funny, if things break, the MWC championship game could be Carroll vs. Macalester, refugees from the IIAC and MIAC (though it was a while ago Mac was in the MIAC).

I'd still keep an eye on Muhlenberg. The South may have learned from the East about rankings, though I don't think they have another RR result in them.

Framingham may have lost their RR opponent chance now that Endicott loost to MIT. I don't know if Rowan can be RR'd with three losses, even if those three losses were to excellent teams.

[Pat Coleman]

The SCAC thing aside, the issue is the NCAA"s inability to articulate, or follow, or comprehend, even, their own rules....

It does seem ridiculous that we have to tell them what their own conferences' membership is and what their rules are.

[02 Warhawk]

As much as I like chaos, I don't think Linfield's loss changes the "C" calculus. Pacific has to win out, I think, to win the "A" and then Linfield would have two losses. Though I don't know the NWC tiebreaker. Pacific has to beat Willamette first.

St. Thomas may have made it harder for a MIAC "C" again if St. John's loses to Bethel. That would be 2 losses for STJ, CM and STT, and they each beat the other. That MIAC result MAY open up a slot for a Platteville in the WIAC to be on the board. There's no way an 8-1 Carroll gets on the board, is there?

I was just thinking the same thing. There's a handful of top-ranked conferences that won't have one-loss teams this year: WIAC (UWP), MIAC (STJ, CM, STT), CCIW (NCC). That's assuming UWW and Bethel wins next weekend.

I wonder if that will open the door for one-loss teams in conferences where SOS isn't that strong? If anything the Linfield loss certainly opens the door for the #1 seed out West. MHB? Wartburg? UWW?