2016 NCAA Tournament

[Flying Weasel]

Messiah's field is inside a track, so it can't be the maximum size.  I think the largest field that fits inside a track is around 74 x 115, or something like that.  OK, you could go longer if you sacrifice width, or wider if you sacrifice length.   

[calvin_grad]

Calvin's field is also inside a track, but their grass field may be a little narrower than the typical turf field.  There's not a lot of room between the sideline and the edge of the track.  I've been to a number of games there, but don't have a great feel for how it compares to other fields width-wise.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Any Tufts folks or NE fans know why Tufts is playing at Bello (turf) instead of Kraft (grass)?

First thought on Messiah-Calvin.  Calvin will not beat themselves nor lose control.  Should be a good game.  However, Messiah home field obviously a big advantage and I think the large size of the field helps Messiah as well.  Calvin will not be able to swarm the middle of the field and close down as effectively as they did against ONU and CMU.  That will be key to game IMO with Messiah also having more dangerous offensive threats coming from all directions and positions than Calvin can produce.

How much bigger is their field than "normal"?

I thought I remembered comments in the past about Calvin having a grass field on the the smaller side with perhaps less width.  Could be wrong.  Also seems like turf fields, like at CMU and many other places, tend to have tighter dimensions.  I would assume Messiah is the maximum possible at 120x80.  It's a very big field so keeping up with a very skilled team that also has a ton of pace is difficult.

I believe Messiah is somewhere around 74/76 by 115 ish. It plays great for the style they use.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Sweet 16 Participation By Region

New England -- 4

Central -- 3 (sort of surprising and Wheaton isn't even one of them)

East -- 2

Mid-Atlantic -- 2

West -- 2

South Atlantic -- 1

Great Lakes -- 1

North -- 1

Didn't the South Atlantic and Great Lakes have the most bids.... Under performing much?   

[oldonionbag]

I know I'm biased and beating a dead horse, but I would wager Bowdoin and/or Middlebury would still be in the tournament...

[PaulNewman]

I know I'm biased and beating a dead horse, but I would wager Bowdoin and/or Middlebury would still be in the tournament...

Perhaps, but that's easy to think in a vacuum.  You have to place them in one of the brackets where they were likely to go and tell us who would be displaced or account for NESCAC teams having to play each other in the second round. 

There's no question that NESCAC deserves more than one Pool C as a general rule.  The problem this year is that none of the other NESCACs made a clear claim via their results.  Midd had full control of getting a bid and just suffered too many disappointing setbacks, especially given how good (like top 5 in the country good) many projected them to be.  IMO last year Midd got screwed.  This year, especially after knowing what happened last year, they really have no one but themselves to blame.  Bowdoin had the two wins over Tufts  but not a lot else with a relatively mediocre overall season.  Williams got stuck in kind of a no man's land spot and almost certainly would have gotten a bid if they could have pulled out the last game at home with Midd (or even secured a draw which was very unlucky as Midd literally scored with a second left in double OT).  It's true that those three had resumes very similar to teams like Rochester, Wash U and OWU that got in, but no one has gone to the mat arguing that those teams should have made it either.  What they did have, except for Wash U which has two wins in seven overall ranked games, is three and four ranked wins.  And then there was the Wheaton (MA) wrinkle, and in hindsight one could make a strong case that Wheaton was perhaps more deserving than Babson or some other Pool Cs.

All that said, NESCAC has a better than fair chance to get two teams into the Final Four.  Amherst is favored to get there.  And Tufts now has home field and a wounded Sweet 16 opponent.  UMass-Boston still has a lot of very good players, but they are not close to full strength with their stud striker/leading scorer out and when "the other guy" disqualified started 22 of 22 games, is the team's maybe 5th leading scorer, and described on their website as "perhaps the most effective and skilled midfielder in the Little East Conference."  UMass also may be a little hesitant about how they are going to play/behave after this past weekend, and they can't afford to be hesitant.  They must play on an edge to have a chance but without boiling over.  Tufts is very strong-minded and together, and have a good number of big, physical players.  We always talk about Tufts' skill and possession game, but they are also very capable of being physical themselves and won't be intimidated for a second. Bottom line....Tufts has to be heavily favored in that game and I'll be shocked if UMass wins.  And then Tufts would have at least a fair chance against the survivor of the other game on its home field.  Tufts already has beaten Amherst and Rowan, considered two of the top 5 teams in the country all season, so beating Trinity or Kenyon is very doable.

[PaulNewman]

Sweet 16 Participation By Region

New England -- 4

Central -- 3 (sort of surprising and Wheaton isn't even one of them)

East -- 2

Mid-Atlantic -- 2

West -- 2

South Atlantic -- 1

Great Lakes -- 1

North -- 1

Didn't the South Atlantic and Great Lakes have the most bids.... Under performing much?

LOL.  That's part of why I posted the info but you certainly put a stamp on it!  I'll speak mostly for Great Lakes.  Oberlin was one of the hotter teams in GL and did not get in.  Ohio Northern (because of SoS) got a bad draw, in part because Calvin (low SoS) also got a bad draw.  OWU got a tough draw playing CMU at CMU and that game could have gone either way.  CMU then had to play Calvin and CMU showed very well. I can't speak for Hanover, as I couldn't understand how high they got regionally ranked but had an AQ anyway.  I didn't expect Hanover to last long.  DePauw won a game and was very competitive losing a toss-up game to Redlands.  As for the South Atlantic, I did not see Kean deserving a bid over several other teams.  Montclair was a volatile mess, and Rowan really faded and got a bit unlucky drawing a Tufts team that I'm sure was very confident they would go down to Jersey and get a win.  W&L got a tough draw and was never going to be favored to get past F&M on F&M's home field.  And Lynchburg very easily could have advanced, losing a heartbreaker in OT.

Calvin is the textbook case for the flaws of SoS.  Certainly in many cases a weak SoS does reflect teams with great records who aren't very competitive against top competition, but Calvin is a clear exception.  ONU is another.  And Kenyon might not have made the tournament either of the last two years (because of SoS) if they hadn't won every critical game down the stretch, as they were regionally ranked towards the bottom until the last ranking when they vaulted to #1.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Tournament Bracket Extravaganza Standings

MAF: Rd1= 44 points  Rd2= 44 points  Total 88 points
5/8 Elite 8 teams left and 4/4 Final 4 teams left

Shooter: Rd1= 44 points  Rd2= 40 points  Total 84 points
5/8 Elite 8 teams left and 3/4 Final 4 teams left

LastGuy: Rd1=42 points  Rd2= 52 points  Total 94 points
8/8 Elite 8 teams left and 4/4 Final 4 teams left

Swibbles: Rd1= 54 points  Rd2= 28 points  Total 82 points
6/8 Elite 8 teams left and 4/4 Final 4 teams left

NJrexSoccer03: Rd1= 44 points  Rd2= 36 points  Total 80 points
6/8 Elite 8 teams left and 3/4 Final 4 teams left

D3 Scout: Rd1= 42 points  Rd2= 32 points  Total 74 points
5/8 Elite 8 teams left and 4/4 Final 4 teams left

Pelinho: Rd1= 48 points  Rd2 40 points  Total 88 points
6/8 Elite 8 teams left and 3/4 Final 4 teams left

Just4Kix: 5/8 Elite 8 teams left and 3/4 Final 4 teams left


***Please double and triple check your score. I apologize in advance for any errors or miscalculations!!***

Round 1 is worth 2 points
Round 2 is worth 4 points
Round 3 is worth 8 points
Round 4 is worth 16 points
Round 5 is worth 32 points
Champion is worth 64 points

[blooter442]

Just found the video of the second goal in Rutgers-Newark's 2nd goal against ETown - what a hit. They have a camera at the back corner of the goal and usually when you see those videos it just shakes and bounces up but this one you can hear the shot hit the back metal part of the goal. Pretty cool.

https://youtu.be/RLzybL5nArY?t=44s

[oldonionbag]

Kids also got some HOPS!

[Mr.Right]

Yes...RUN might have the best camera angle I have ever seen. Not to far from the field but just high enough to not just watch the action and the ball BUT player spacing and movement off the ball. I have enjoyed watching them all season as I caught maybe 4-5 of their games. Also, love just the crowd noise and no announcers...Gives you a good feel of the atmosphere without nitwits talking over each other

[Mr.Right]

I know I'm biased and beating a dead horse, but I would wager Bowdoin and/or Middlebury would still be in the tournament...

They might or they might not be as that is not the point. Point is they should have been in the tournament.

[Mr.Right]

Any Tufts folks or NE fans know why Tufts is playing at Bello (turf) instead of Kraft (grass)?

Tufts Men had played on Kraft field since the 1980's. They used to play on a grass field down near the turf field which is now a parking lot I believe. It is amazing to watch all these facility upgrades and construction by many Nescac schools as in the 1980's they had not changed much from the 1950's I would guess. Now to get the "best" kids they have to be "wowed" by facilities. 

I will say that besides Wesleyan(CT), Tufts had the worst field in Nescac. Wesleyan has been using the same field since the 1930's and it just SO BAD. If any team needs to go to turf it would be Wesleyan. Like Wesleyan, Tufts grass field was a bit narrow and VERY CHOPPY. It was Hard to get anything going on the floor on that field. The bonus of the field was the location as Tufts used to draw a HUGE ROWDY CROWD and it was a definite advantage being right on campus. Kind of like Conn College.

Shapiro once again made a wise move to go to the turf. I am old school in the fact that I like grass fields but I understand fully why teams are going to turf more and more and I myself am not afraid of change so I do not mind. The ONE THING THAT DRIVES ME NUTS is turf fields like Tufts with Lacrosse and Field Hockey lines. Midd's turf field is nice because it is just for futbol. I do not mind football lines because I can get a good read of where players are taking shots from and get a good read in distance control from everything from GK Punts to long balls switching the field. IDK

[Brother Flounder]

Any Tufts folks or NE fans know why Tufts is playing at Bello (turf) instead of Kraft (grass)?

Tufts had on Kraft field since the 1980's. They used to play on a grass field down near the turf field which is now a parking lot I believe. It is amazing to watch all these facility upgrades and construction by many Nescac schools as in the 1980's they had not changed much from the 1950's I would guess. Now to get the "best" kids they have to be "wowed" by facilities. 

I will say that besides Wesleyan(CT), Tufts had the worst field in Nescac. Wesleyan has been using the same field since the 1930's and it just SO BAD. If any team needs to go to turf it would be Wesleyan. Like Wesleyan, Tufts grass field was a bit barrow and VERY CHOPPY. Hard to get anything going on the floor on that field. The bonus of the field was the location as Tufts used to draw a HUGE ROWDY CROWD and it was a definite advantage being right on campus. Kind of like Conn College.

Shapiro once again made a wise move to go to the turf. I am old school in the fact that I like grass fields but I understand fully why teams are going to turf more and more and I myself am not afraid of change so I do not mind. The ONE THING THAT DRIVES ME NUTS is turf fields like Tufts with Lacrosse and Field Hockey lines. Midd's turf field is nice because it is just for futbol. I do not mind football lines because I can get a good read of where players are taking shots from and get a good read in distance control from everything from GK Punts to long balls switching the field. IDK

Middlebury's lines are good but the turf, itself, sucks.....

[Mr.Right]

the Turf is from 2007 and needs a big time upgrade