2016 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[jknezek]

Congrats to Springfield and Maryville for making the tournament as the highest profile non-rankable teams with sterling seasons rewarded with NCAA AQs.  Also a nod to Geneva, St. Norbert, St Josephs (ME), Penn State-Behrend and Texas-Dallas.  I think St. Thomas was in regardless but congrats to the them for achieving the MIAC double and first NCAA appearance since 1995.

The much anticipated Wheaton (Ill) season ended last night in a CCIW finals loss to a formidable Carthage squad.  Certainly not the season any of us could have anticipated for the Thunder.

Wheaton lost one of its greatest senior classes in school history with 3 of them playing professionally after college. The fact they took a step back was inevitable, although the early season losses and ties were a bit shocking considering they've rolled those same teams in the past. Could be a couple years before they get back on the national stage.

As many here will recall, following the 2014 season a very talented sophomore at Messiah, Danny Brandt (son of former coach David Brandt), transferred at first for just a few days to Louisville, then (I believe) for spring 2015 to a community college, then for fall 2015 to Florida Atlantic University (a D2 school) where he had to sit out the season, then finally to Wheaton where he played only 4 games this fall (with 2 starts) and scored just one goal--the only goal in the regular season loss to North Park.

Does anyone know his status for 2017 and perhaps even 2018?  I assume he had a major injury of some sort this fall, since he must have been one of the best players on the Thunder squad this year.  Is this assumption correct?  I'd love to see him return to form before he graduates.  Ironically, had he stayed put at Messiah, he'd be part of a team with a solid chance for another Final Four, and no doubt he'd be an important part of that story.  Perhaps he will help Wheaton get back to the tournament next fall...

Florida Atlantic is a DI school. I believe he transferred to Palm Beach Atlantic, a DII.

[KICKIN95]

I don't understand the logic of leaving Loras out and putting Dubuque in, makes no sense!  Loras by default was the top team in the North left after AQ's and Pool B and Dubuque jumps them, complete CRAP!

[PaulNewman]

Wow!  Stunning.

And a ton of killer first and second round matchups.

[Shooter McGavin]

Shooters Pool C Picks

I am looking at this as if I were the selection committee. I am going in order and not focused on regional inbalance. I am also using Ryan's classification of teams that he designed nicely for us. +K Ryan! Obviously we don't know the secret rankings and some teams will surely switch around. Based off what we have from the last rankings and the conference tournaments I'll maike my picks with all the above in mind...so here we go!!

1. Rowan
2. Newark
3. F&M
4. W&L
5. Babson
6. Oneonta St
7. Rochester
8. Brandeis
9. DePauw
10. Tufts
11. Middlebury
12. OWU (think they will jump CMU in secret rankings)
13. Chapman
14. St. Lawrence (hard to judge when they get slotted)
15. Etown
16. CMU
17. Wash U
18. Loras
19. ONU (Could be the Etown of 2015--not surprised if they get snubbed)
-------------------------------------------------
RIC
Oberlin
Macalester
Colorado College
Emory

Believe I missed 2? Kean and Dubuque? WOW!! I am shocked that Midd got left out. Loras and Macalester not so much but Midd...tough break!!

[PaulNewman]

And no Middlebury???  Again?  SLU over Midd?  Kean over Midd?  Wash U over Midd?  Dubuque???

[blooter442]

It's currently 2:25 a.m. in China and I wouldn't be awake if not for my flight being delayed and getting in very late. That being said, I was (somewhat) pleasantly surprised to see Brandeis make it: not because of their resume, but because they were - at various points in the season - 3-3-1 and 5-4-3, hardly NCAA-worthy let alone worthy of a Pool C selection. So a quick homer shout out to my Judges for pulling it together and salvaging what I (the eternal pessimist/pragmatist) thought was a season to be forgotten.

Annoyingly, I can't get the selection show stream to work! Guess I'll have to see the full bracket posted for myself, although I did see that Brandeis could very well have a second-round matchup at Babson. Would be an excellent chance for the Judges to avenge that 2OT defeat earlier in the year, although they'd have to get by a gritty UNE side first.

[blooter442]

On another note, surprised to see that Midd. got snubbed again. Wow. That said, I remember we were talking of their SoS being less-than-great last year, and - anecdotally speaking - I didn't see any major changes in terms of out-of-conference tests being added to their schedule this year. Could be wrong.

[Bucket]

On another note, surprised to see that Midd. got snubbed again. Wow. That said, I remember we were talking of their SoS being less-than-great last year, and - anecdotally speaking - I didn't see any major changes in terms of out-of-conference tests being added to their schedule this year. Could be wrong.

Strength of schedule was actually higher than it was last year. I just think the Panthers fell prey to a couple of crushing results at the end of the year, OT losses to Bates and Hamilton, the latter in the NESCAC semis.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

MAF Pool C Projections

In no order...
1. Rowan
2. Newark
3. Babson
4. Brandeis
5. Tufts
6. Middlebury
7. Oneonta St
8. Rochester
9. St. Lawrence
10. F&M
11. Etown
12. W&L
13. DePauw
14. CMU
15. OWU
16. ONU
17. Chapman
18. RIC
19. Wash U
------------------------
Loras
Macalester
Colorado College
Oberlin
Dubuque
Emory
Kean

I also missed 2 but had Macalester and Loras on the outside looking in...also had Kean and Dubuque out as well. Surprised Middlebury missed out but the 19th slot was a toss up for me between RIC/Loras/Colorado/Macalester/Oberlin. Did not see Kean or Dubuque getting that last slot.

[PaulNewman]

Might as well pencil in Chicago at Final Four.  A weak looking quadrant with next best team Carthage who Maroons already dispatched with relative ease.  Other regions look loaded except Cortland section looks pretty soft.

[PaulNewman]

And I was right about the needed 4th option on the poll question...all three got in (Tufts, OWU, SLU).

How about first round games like Calvin vs ONU, Montclair vs CNU...

[Flying Weasel]

And the committee again has Messiah going thru Montclair St. or Christopher Newport.

The next pod down is pretty strong: Carnegie Mellon-Ohio Wesleyan-Calvin-Ohio Northern

Besides the 1st round game (2nd time in four years they got Centenary), Messiah got no favors for being one of only two remaining undefeated teams.  Looking at other places where Messiah could have been slotted in, Cortland State and F&M got what looks like easier pathes to the Elite 8.

[Flying Weasel]

Since noone actually posted it . . .

POOL C AT-LARGE BERTHS
Dubuque
Babson
Brandeis
Carnegie Mellon
Chapman
DePauw
Elizabethtown
Franklin and Marshall
Kean
Ohio Northern
Ohio Wesleyan
Oneonta State
Rochester
Rowan
Rutgers-Newark
St. Lawrence
Tufts
Washington and Lee
Washington U.

POOL B AT-LARGE BERTH:
UW-Whitewater

[Flying Weasel]

Might as well pencil in Chicago at Final Four.  A weak looking quadrant with next best team Carthage who Maroons already dispatched with relative ease.  Other regions look loaded except Cortland section looks pretty soft.

Yeah, at first glance, it's not a very balanced, evenly distributed bracket.

[NEsoccerfan]

Question for all the D3 historic junkies out there:

On paper, when was the last time we saw a team end the season with such an impressive on-paper resume as Chicago had this year? (Undefeated; .971 win%; .642 SOS; 8-0-1 RVR)?