2015 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[PaulNewman]

Seems surprising to me that they would play each other this late in the season as an out-of-conf game unless it was a rescheduled game?  Big W for St. Thomas.  Loras lucky it doesn't go against their in-conf record!

Also was a very quick turnaround as Loras played Luther late Saturday night.  How quickly things can change.  One can now argue that Loras must get their AQ.  Could not possibly have imagined writing that just this morning.

[TennesseeJed]

Are UAA, HCAC and Northwest Conf. the only 3 men's conferences that use regular season conf records vs. a playoff tournament for determining Pool A AQ berths?

[Flying Weasel]

TJ, you're a little mistaken with HCAC unless something has changed for this year.

Only two (02) conferences do not have a post-season tournament and award their conference championship and AQ to the regular season champion: NWC and UAA

Eight (08) conferences crown their conference champion based on the regular season and award the AQ to their tournament winner: CCIW, HCAC, IIAC, MIAA, MWC, MIAC, NCAC, SCIAC

All the rest use their tournament to both crown a conference champion and award the AQ.

Check out last year's Conference Championship Central page on D3soccer.com.  At the top of the page it lists the Conference Champions with notations for how it was determined, followed by the tournament schedules/results, and at the bottom Conference Automatic Berths (AQs) are listed with notation for how it was determined.

[PaulNewman]

Can anybody provide some more color on the SAA and ODAC conferences?  Centre is the only SAA team I have much familiarity with, and given how competitive the Colonels generally are with the better NCAC teams who they play often I am always surprised to see them struggle so much in the SAA.  I know that conference just within the past year or two was awarded an AQ (I guess as a new conference), but how should we evaluate Oglethorpe at something like 6-0-1 and 10-2-2?  And for the ODAC, I've watched a few games online and it seems like schools such as Roanoke and Lynchburg have nice stadiums and attract pretty big crowds.  Seems like their soccer games are kind of a big deal in those small Virginia cities.  If I knew nothing about the D3 scene from this site or followed the last few NCAA tourneys I would have assumed the ODAC would always get at least 2 and maybe 3 bids on a regular basis.

[TennesseeJed]

TJ, you're a little mistaken with HCAC unless something has changed for this year.

Only two (02) conferences do not have a post-season tournament and award their conference championship and AQ to the regular season champion: NWC and UAA

Eight (08) conferences crown their conference champion based on the regular season and award the AQ to their tournament winner: CCIW, HCAC, IIAC, MIAA, MWC, MIAC, NCAC, SCIAC

All the rest use their tournament to both crown a conference champion and award the AQ.

Check out last year's Conference Championship Central page on D3soccer.com.  At the top of the page it lists the Conference Champions with notations for how it was determined, followed by the tournament schedules/results, and at the bottom Conference Automatic Berths (AQs) are listed with notation for how it was determined.

Thanks FW!  I did take a look at Conf Central for last year and saw the tournament results for HCAC, as you said I should.

Here's what I saw on pg. 30 (for HCAC specifically) of the 2015 Pre Champ Manual, which is what gave rise to the question.  It's phrased in exactly the same language as for UAA's conf, and it specifically says, "no tournament", seeming to contradict 2014. 

Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (10)
Anderson University (Indiana)
Bluffton University
Defiance College
Earlham College
Franklin College
Hanover College
Manchester University
Mount St. Joseph University
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Transylvania University
AQ – Regular Season Champ, No Tournament - Oct. 31

[Flying Weasel]

The NCAA is notorious for having a slew of errors in their manuals.  That is just another of them.

The HCAC website has a page fro their 2015 men's soccer tournament: http://www.heartlandconf.org/sports/msoc/2015-16/tournament.  And it has this statement: Tournament champion is the conference's automatic qualifier in the 2015 NCAADIII Championship Tournament.

What could be a big error is that I think the numbers say the men's tournament should be 62 teams now (42 AQs, 1 Pool B, and 19 Pool C).  By my count and according to the counts on D3soccer.com, there are now 404 men's teams eligible for the tournament and the access ratio is 6.5.  Well, 404 / 6.5 = 62.2.  Two schools (SUNY Canton, Sarah Lawrence) reached full active status this year, Wilson added a men's team, and Galladuet revived their men's program adding 4 teams which is  enough to deserve an additional team, but the manual is saying 61 teams.  They used to show their math in the manual, but for the past several years that just give the final numbers.

[TennesseeJed]

Ok, gotcha.  Thanks again FW for the help in cutting through the NCAA red tape...

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

October 20, 2015
D3soccer.com Men's Top 25, Week 7
Through games of Sunday, October 18, 2015

#   School (1st Pl. Votes)   Record   Pts.   Prev.
1   Franklin & Marshall (14)   13-0-0   984   1
2   Amherst (6)   13-0-0   967   2
3   Kenyon   11-1-0   902   5
4   Calvin   14-0-1   814   6
5   Trinity (Texas)   13-2-0   810   8
6   Whitworth   12-0-1   797   7
7   UW-Whitewater   13-2-0   723   10
8   Thomas More   12-1-1   673   13
9   Brandeis   12-2-1   652   4
10   Montclair State   14-2-0   646   3
11   Elizabethtown   13-1-1   626   11
12   Texas-Dallas   13-1-1   484   18
13   Eastern   12-0-2   474   14
14   Oneonta State   11-3-1   437   19
15   Christopher Newport   10-1-4   410   9
16   Plattsburgh State   12-1-3   389   15
17   Kean   14-2-0   377   —
18   Loras   9-3-1   374   20
19   Carnegie Mellon   8-2-3   346   12
20   DePauw   9-1-3   267   17
21   Eastern Connecticut   12-2-1   208   21
22   Case Western Reserve   11-2-1   157   —
23   Denison   9-2-2   140   16
24   MIT   11-1-1   123   —
25   Stevens   11-1-2   115   —
Dropped out: No. 22 Tufts, No. 23 UW-Oshkosh, No. 24 Connecticut College, No. 25 Messiah

Receiving Votes: Haverford 104, Ohio Wesleyan 104, Tufts 98, Middlebury 74, Colorado College 58, Lycoming 40, UW-Oshkosh 36, Mass-Boston 34, Washington U. 26, Keuka 16, Penn State-Behrend 14, Occidental 12, Macalester 12, Redlands 8, Ohio Northern 6, Stockton 6, St. Lawrence 4, Endicott 4, Connecticut College 2, Bridgewater State 2

The D3soccer.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of coaches, Sports Information Directors and D3soccer.com staff, and is published weekly.

[lastguyoffthebench]

Haverford still not in the Top 25 is mind boggling...

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Haverford still not in the Top 25 is mind boggling...

Haverford and Lycoming both top 10 in Massey...Messiah not even receiving votes? Crazy world.

Also surprised CMU is even ranked? 2 ties this weekend? Interesting.

OWU is #4 in Great Lakes region and Denison isn't ranked in top 10 for that region but Denison is top 25 and OWU is RV.

[lastguyoffthebench]

I was going to comment on that CMU slot as well.  The win over Messiah and close lose to Kenyon has them extremely overvalued...

Some big games today:

F&M at Muhlenberg
Eastern at Wilkes (never discredit a home team in some windy weather).
OWU at DePauw
Plymouth St at Middlebury
Stevens at Rutgers-Newark
Alvernia at Hood
Miseri at Kings
K-zoo at Hope
York at Wesley (for a strong position in the CAC table)
Messiah at Widener (upset special, where Widener can steal a point)
Wartburg at UW-Platteville

[lastguyoffthebench]

What is the cut-off for NCAA regional rankings?  Will today's results be factored in to the release?

[PaulNewman]

Haverford still not in the Top 25 is mind boggling...

Haverford and Lycoming both top 10 in Massey...Messiah not even receiving votes? Crazy world.

Also surprised CMU is even ranked? 2 ties this weekend? Interesting.

OWU is #4 in Great Lakes region and Denison isn't ranked in top 10 for that region but Denison is top 25 and OWU is RV.

Agree with all of this.  Seems like there is like a 2 week (at least) delay reaction in the polls, and of course by the time they catch up a team like Haverford may finally lose again (and so they still may not get in).  Don't get CMU at all.  Or DePauw.  Or Denison.  I guess it's the "Salisbury effect" where once some teams get in they're hard to get out of there.

[Flying Weasel]

What is the cut-off for NCAA regional rankings?  Will today's results be factored in to the release?

Just like everything else, it's based on results through to and including Sunday.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

from http://www.d3soccer.com/columns/christan-shirk/2015/ncaa-regional-rankings-coming-next-week

Results versus Ranked Teams

Prior to 2013, a team's results versus ranked teams (one of the primary criteria) was based upon the official clarification in the Manual that "once a team is ranked  . . ., it is always considered ranked."  That was changed starting in 2013 with ranked teams being defined as those teams ranked "at the time of selection" (Pre-Championship Manual, pg. 21), in other words, only the teams ranked the previous week.

Obviously, for the first weekly regional rankings of the season, there is no previous ranking and thus there are no results versus ranked teams.  Consequently, the regional data sheets (see section further down) for the first weekly rankings do not include teams' records verus ranked opponents, but starting with the second weekly rankings this criteria is in play and is among the criteria listed in the regional data sheets.

For the . . . first weekly rankings:	N/A (no previous rankings)
second weekly rankings:	results versus teams ranked in the first weekly rankings
third weekly rankings:	results versus teams ranked in the second weekly rankings
final unpublished rankings:	results versus teams ranked in the third weekly rankings

FW,

Just want to clarify and sorry for beating a dead horse...so say Team A beats first week and second week regionally ranked Team B, but then third week Team B is not regionally ranked. Does this stil count as a win vs Ranked opponents for Team A? I am just confused on that process. Thanks in advance for any clarification!