2015 NCAA Tournament

[Pat Coleman]

There's probably a little flexibility for weather, and even more so for games that follow byes, where nobody is playing the night before.

[Greek Tragedy]

Curious what people think is the best 1st game is.

I think St. Norbert has a lot to prove and this is their chance. A home game vs a good team from a power conference.

VWU and John Carroll could be another good game.

Concordia at Stevens Point could be good. Concordia is hot afyafter knocking off the #1 and #2 NACC seeds on the road. Point still rememberS their struggles in the tourney last year and they just dropped one at home to middle-of-the pack Oshkosh.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Curious what people think is the best 1st game is.

I think St. Norbert has a lot to prove and this is their chance. A home game vs a good team from a power conference.

VWU and John Carroll could be another good game.

Concordia at Stevens Point could be good. Concordia is hot afyafter knocking off the #1 and #2 NACC seeds on the road. Point still rememberS their struggles in the tourney last year and they just dropped one at home to middle-of-the pack Oshkosh.

Your first two are pretty good candidates.  I'd add WPI @ SJF, OWU v. Olaf @ UWW, Albertus v. Springfield @ Dickinson, and DePauw @ WashU.  Seems like far more quality first-round games than usual this year.

[John Gleich]

St. Olaf/Ohio Wesleyan and IWU/Dubuque as well.

Curious what people think is the best 1st game is.

I think St. Norbert has a lot to prove and this is their chance. A home game vs a good team from a power conference.

VWU and John Carroll could be another good game.

Concordia at Stevens Point could be good. Concordia is hot afyafter knocking off the #1 and #2 NACC seeds on the road. Point still rememberS their struggles in the tourney last year and they just dropped one at home to middle-of-the pack Oshkosh.

Your first two are pretty good candidates.  I'd add WPI @ SJF, OWU v. Olaf @ UWW, Albertus v. Springfield @ Dickinson, and DePauw @ WashU.  Seems like far more quality first-round games than usual this year.

Yeah, yeah, what he said.


One of the things that I LIKE about this bracket is that, though there are several quality, intriguing games in round 1, they are, by and large, atypical match-ups and though there are a few tough round 2 match-ups, there isn't a "Bracket of Death" and it isn't like things are weighted heavily in certain directions and lightly in others.

Of course, Wash U/Augustana and St. Norbert/St. Thomas might disagree... but with the exception of some pretty seemingly unavoidable difficult match-ups like these (if you swap one team out, then it's going to be a tough match-up for somebody else) the bracket is very well balanced and it should be a very entertaining tournament.

[Greek Tragedy]

Biggest favorite vs underdog?

Mount Union vs Neumann?
Wooster vs Misericordia
Whitworth vs LaGrange

[ronk]

Curious what people think is the best 1st game is.

I think St. Norbert has a lot to prove and this is their chance. A home game vs a good team from a power conference.

VWU and John Carroll could be another good game.

Concordia at Stevens Point could be good. Concordia is hot afyafter knocking off the #1 and #2 NACC seeds on the road. Point still rememberS their struggles in the tourney last year and they just dropped one at home to middle-of-the pack Oshkosh.

I'll choose what Pat referred to as an 8-9 game: Catholic-Alvernia

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Per RMC 4pm game: They moved the game because they felt it made no sense for teams, especially the Catholic/Alvernia winner, to be sitting around hotel rooms and such all day Saturday for a night game that they will most likely stay at a hotel that night for as well. Allows teams to get home that night.

[Greek Tragedy]

The only reason the casual fan may think St. Norbert is getting hosed is because they have to play St. Thomas in the 2nd round, provided they win, as the host team. But we all know that the only reason they are hosting is because St. Thomas' women are hosting. The Tommies are still neing treatwd as the #1 seed in that regional with a 1st round matchup against Northwestern,  a team from arguably the worst league in the Midwest (geographically speaking), if not the nation.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Let's also remember... there is a chance St. Norbert would have been sent elsewhere if St. Thomas could have hosted. It isn't like they just pick up a pod and move it to another location. When they lose the chance to host where they want the game... it has an affect that can be felt in many pods.

[John Gleich]

Concordia at Stevens Point could be good. Concordia is hot afyafter knocking off the #1 and #2 NACC seeds on the road. Point still rememberS their struggles in the tourney last year and they just dropped one at home to middle-of-the pack Oshkosh.

I'm not sure how hot Concordia really is. Massey has them at 117, right behind Eau Claire and River Falls (who they lost to in game #3 by 16). They also lost to Dubuque in the first game of the year.

They did beat Edgewood twice (who Point squeaked by in OT at home early in the year) but the NAthCon didn't have a single hot team. Aurora and Benedictine shared it with Concordia a game behind in a real meat grinder. The NACC only had one real signature win in the non-conference... Benedictine over IWU in the first game of the year. The next best win was either Aurora's win over La Crosse or their won over Millikin (though, like Edgewood's *almost* against UWSP, both Aurora and Benedictine lost close games to North Central as well). The NACC was 22-32 in non-conference, compared to WIAC's decidedly down 46-35.  As a conference, the NACC was #33 with a conference SOS of #34 (out of 47, including independents). That's just 5 worse than their neighbors the Midwest conference, who was just 23-31 (the conference's signature win being Ripon's win over Calvin? The next closest is St. Norbert over Oshkosh or North Park?).

Let's also remember... there is a chance St. Norbert would have been sent elsewhere if St. Thomas could have hosted. It isn't like they just pick up a pod and move it to another location. When they lose the chance to host where they want the game... it has an affect that can be felt in many pods.

I guess it's likely that Stevens Point was the beneficiary there? SNC has been sent to Point before (10-11, 09-10, the latter being more like this team than the former).

[Greek Tragedy]

Per RMC 4pm game: They moved the game because they felt it made no sense for teams, especially the Catholic/Alvernia winner, to be sitting around hotel rooms and such all day Saturday for a night game that they will most likely stay at a hotel that night for as well. Allows teams to get home that night.

That doesn't make any sense. Washington DC (Catholic) to Ashland,  VA is 2 1/2 hours away. Reading,  PA (Alvernia) to Ashland is 3 1/2 hours away.

Back about 10 years ago, the Lawrence fans were complaining about driving 7 1/2 hours to Storm Lake, IA to play Buena Vista on Thursday,  get back at the crack of dawn Friday and then play a 7 pm game on Saturday.  (I think it was BV).

Why not play a 7 pm game at RMC so the other team doesn't have to get up so early. Who cares if you get home late!

Well, unless I'm completely missing something here.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Per RMC 4pm game: They moved the game because they felt it made no sense for teams, especially the Catholic/Alvernia winner, to be sitting around hotel rooms and such all day Saturday for a night game that they will most likely stay at a hotel that night for as well. Allows teams to get home that night.

If that is the reasoning (and no weather issues), the earlier poster has a right to be pissed that they sold tickets for a 7pm game, THEN changed the time.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Per RMC 4pm game: They moved the game because they felt it made no sense for teams, especially the Catholic/Alvernia winner, to be sitting around hotel rooms and such all day Saturday for a night game that they will most likely stay at a hotel that night for as well. Allows teams to get home that night.

That doesn't make any sense. Washington DC (Catholic) to Ashland,  VA is 2 1/2 hours away. Reading,  PA (Alvernia) to Ashland is 3 1/2 hours away.

Back about 10 years ago, the Lawrence fans were complaining about driving 7 1/2 hours to Storm Lake, IA to play Buena Vista on Thursday,  get back at the crack of dawn Friday and then play a 7 pm game on Saturday.  (I think it was BV).

Why not play a 7 pm game at RMC so the other team doesn't have to get up so early. Who cares if you get home late!

Well, unless I'm completely missing something here.

I highly suspect Catholic or Alvernia (especially Alvernia) may be arriving the day/night before so they can have a shoot around that day at RMC. They might be arriving on Friday to practice. This decision isn't made without the other school(s)' input. And every year is different.

Let's also remember... there is a chance St. Norbert would have been sent elsewhere if St. Thomas could have hosted. It isn't like they just pick up a pod and move it to another location. When they lose the chance to host where they want the game... it has an affect that can be felt in many pods.

I guess it's likely that Stevens Point was the beneficiary there? SNC has been sent to Point before (10-11, 09-10, the latter being more like this team than the former).

The committee looked back at four years of match-ups in the NCAA tournament... there is a good chance they didn't want to have St. Norbert go to a place they had played at often.

[John Gleich]

Per RMC 4pm game: They moved the game because they felt it made no sense for teams, especially the Catholic/Alvernia winner, to be sitting around hotel rooms and such all day Saturday for a night game that they will most likely stay at a hotel that night for as well. Allows teams to get home that night.

That doesn't make any sense. Washington DC (Catholic) to Ashland,  VA is 2 1/2 hours away. Reading,  PA (Alvernia) to Ashland is 3 1/2 hours away.

Back about 10 years ago, the Lawrence fans were complaining about driving 7 1/2 hours to Storm Lake, IA to play Buena Vista on Thursday,  get back at the crack of dawn Friday and then play a 7 pm game on Saturday.  (I think it was BV).

Why not play a 7 pm game at RMC so the other team doesn't have to get up so early. Who cares if you get home late!

Well, unless I'm completely missing something here.

Not quite Storm Lake. It was St. Peter, Minnesota... so 5 1/2 instead of 7 1/2.

They played Gustavus Adolphus on Thursday night and then came back to Stevens Point on Saturday. That was the infamous "Drunk Viking/General Admission" game where LU fans were out tailgating until 5 minutes before the game... and then wanted front row seats right under the basket on the LU end. Quandt was as full that night as it has been since the Dick Bennett/Terry Porter days when Eau Claire was still relevant and Point's biggest rival.

That was SP vs. LU #2... could have been SP vs GAC #3.

[Greek Tragedy]

Concordia at Stevens Point could be good. Concordia is hot after knocking off the #1 and #2 NACC seeds on the road. Point still rememberS their struggles in the tourney last year and they just dropped one at home to middle-of-the pack Oshkosh.

I'm not sure how hot Concordia really is. Massey has them at 117, right behind Eau Claire and River Falls (who they lost to in game #3 by 16). They also lost to Dubuque in the first game of the year.

Really, John? It's tourney time and I claim they're hot because they've won 7 games in a row including 2 on the road against higher seeded teams. You counter by telling me they lost the 1st game of the season...27 games ago. I'm sure their confidence is high and they are obviously playing well.