2017 NCAA Tournament

[WUPHF]

I would say Rochester is more swing offense than Princeton style...but every offense shares elements with others.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I would say Rochester is more swing offense than Princeton style...but every offense shares elements with others.

I talked to Luke before the game... some stuff he told me was just between us for understandable reasons... but I can say this:

The only thing the have from Grinnell is his encouragement for them to shoot and gain confidence in shooting. Otherwise, they take parts of the Princeton stuff long with Beilien stuff in their offense. However, he doesn't call plays from the sideline. They see what they have in front of them and go into their different sets accordingly. It really is a hodgepodge of different ideas and looks being run as if a team had a motion offense... but that isn't part of their system.

[sac]

I doubt we've ever had two teams reach the Final Four with 8 losses.

[AllStar]

[kiko]

What struck me the most about this is:
(1) Only two of the final four were ranked in the top ten at the start of the tournament, and
(2) Collectively, the final four have beaten just one top ten team between them in the tournament.

We all thought this year was wide open... this would certainly support that idea.

[Gregory Sager]

I've been collecting data for a couple of charts I'll post later in the week regarding d3hoops.com's preseason poll performance in terms of predicting the Final Four, and this actually isn't a bad year for the pollsters. It's not a great year, either, but it's not nearly the disaster that last year was, when Benedictine became only the sixth team in the history of the d3hoops.com poll to reach Salem after having been left off of everybody's preseason ballots.

[Mr. Ypsi]

What struck me the most about this is:
(1) Only two of the final four were ranked in the top ten at the start of the tournament, and
(2) Collectively, the final four have beaten just one top ten team between them in the tournament.

We all thought this year was wide open... this would certainly support that idea.

The early game teams were #1 and #3, with two losses between them.  The later game teams were both ORV, with 16 losses between them.

As to point #2, true, but they beat all the teams who beat the top ten teams!

[Mr. Ypsi]

I've been collecting data for a couple of charts I'll post later in the week regarding d3hoops.com's preseason poll performance in terms of predicting the Final Four, and this actually isn't a bad year for the pollsters. It's not a great year, either, but it's not nearly the disaster that last year was, when Benedictine became only the sixth team in the history of the d3hoops.com poll to reach Salem after having been left off of everybody's preseason ballots.

Williams is now the seventh team to reach Salem despite zero preseason points.  And IIRC you were among the many who felt Augie deserved zero preseason votes due to their graduation losses (they finished 18th due to voters who seem to automatically give initial votes to teams who did well the year before).

[nescac1]

This year's Final Four features three teams that should be loaded for awhile.  Whitman has NO seniors.  The only threat to Whitman becoming a regular in Salem is the possibility of a D1 program poaching Coach Bridgeland, if he has any interest -- he's now quickly turned two different previously anonymous programs into rapid massive successes.  He is right in the sweet spot of youth and great experience (now over a decade as a head coach) that D1 schools covet.  And he's already been interim coach at Pepperdine, a big plus for D1 programs.  An undefeated year plus a national title would probably be the cherry on the Sunday ... I'd be surprised if that occurs if he DIDN'T get some serious D1 interest. 

Williams has only one contributing senior, and while he's our top player, there are a ton of young guys with substantial unrealized upside on the roster.  The Ephs are just now scratching the surface and despite no longer having the luxury of being under the radar all year, they should be a contender for the next two years.  Augustana is in the same boat, seemingly, with so many frosh and sophomores playing key roles right now. 

Babson is the polar opposite: with Flannery, Nelson, Droney, Rice, and Bohmiller all graduating, it could be tough sledding for Babson next season.  They will certainly be playing with a sense of purpose and desperation this weekend.  Speaking of Jacks and Bohmiller, any word on their health status?  Bohmiller I assume is out for the year.  Jacks seems to be struggling in the very few minutes he is playing in the tourney.  If those two guys were healthy, Babson would be the favorite; as is, it's amazing they've gotten this far with two of their top five missing.  Flannery is just SO good that he can carry them vs. anyone it seems. 

[ronk]

This year's Final Four features three teams that should be loaded for awhile.  Whitman has NO seniors.  The only threat to Whitman becoming a regular in Salem is the possibility of a D1 program poaching Coach Bridgeland, if he has any interest -- he's now quickly turned two different previously anonymous programs into rapid massive successes.  He is right in the sweet spot of youth and great experience (now over a decade as a head coach) that D1 schools covet.  And he's already been interim coach at Pepperdine, a big plus for D1 programs.  An undefeated year plus a national title would probably be the cherry on the Sunday ... I'd be surprised if that occurs if he DIDN'T get some serious D1 interest. 

Williams has only one contributing senior, and while he's our top player, there are a ton of young guys with substantial unrealized upside on the roster.  The Ephs are just now scratching the surface and despite no longer having the luxury of being under the radar all year, they should be a contender for the next two years.  Augustana is in the same boat, seemingly, with so many frosh and sophomores playing key roles right now. 

Babson is the polar opposite: with Flannery, Nelson, Droney, Rice, and Bohmiller all graduating, it could be tough sledding for Babson next season.  They will certainly be playing with a sense of purpose and desperation this weekend.  Speaking of Jacks and Bohmiller, any word on their health status?  Bohmiller I assume is out for the year. Jacks seems to be struggling in the very few minutes he is playing in the tourney.  If those two guys were healthy, Babson would be the favorite; as is, it's amazing they've gotten this far with two of their top five missing.  Flannery is just SO good that he can carry them vs. anyone it seems.

It was described by the Babson coach during his interview on Hoopsville last night; I don't recall the exact words so it's best left to be heard on the archive replay.

[sac]

This year's Final Four features three teams that should be loaded for awhile.  Whitman has NO seniors.  The only threat to Whitman becoming a regular in Salem is the possibility of a D1 program poaching Coach Bridgeland, if he has any interest -- he's now quickly turned two different previously anonymous programs into rapid massive successes.  He is right in the sweet spot of youth and great experience (now over a decade as a head coach) that D1 schools covet.  And he's already been interim coach at Pepperdine, a big plus for D1 programs.  An undefeated year plus a national title would probably be the cherry on the Sunday ... I'd be surprised if that occurs if he DIDN'T get some serious D1 interest. 

Williams has only one contributing senior, and while he's our top player, there are a ton of young guys with substantial unrealized upside on the roster.  The Ephs are just now scratching the surface and despite no longer having the luxury of being under the radar all year, they should be a contender for the next two years.  Augustana is in the same boat, seemingly, with so many frosh and sophomores playing key roles right now. 

Babson is the polar opposite: with Flannery, Nelson, Droney, Rice, and Bohmiller all graduating, it could be tough sledding for Babson next season.  They will certainly be playing with a sense of purpose and desperation this weekend.  Speaking of Jacks and Bohmiller, any word on their health status?  Bohmiller I assume is out for the year.  Jacks seems to be struggling in the very few minutes he is playing in the tourney.  If those two guys were healthy, Babson would be the favorite; as is, it's amazing they've gotten this far with two of their top five missing.  Flannery is just SO good that he can carry them vs. anyone it seems.

All the returning players are nice but getting to Salem involves more good fortune than people want to accept.  All of those teams won a close game that they maybe could have lost and maybe don't win next year.  You never know.

[nescac1]

Oh, no doubt SAC.  I mean just look at Augustana -- last year's loaded, heavily-favored, senior-dominated squad fell one game short of Salem, while this year's "rebuilding" team made it.  Match-ups, injuries, luck, peaking at the right time, they all play a huge factor.  But I do think Whitman (in particular), Augustana, and Williams all look fairly loaded heading into next year, along with a few other squads that bring nearly everyone back (North Central, Whitewater, Swarthmore, River Falls, Wash U. ...). 

[Gregory Sager]

I've been collecting data for a couple of charts I'll post later in the week regarding d3hoops.com's preseason poll performance in terms of predicting the Final Four, and this actually isn't a bad year for the pollsters. It's not a great year, either, but it's not nearly the disaster that last year was, when Benedictine became only the sixth team in the history of the d3hoops.com poll to reach Salem after having been left off of everybody's preseason ballots.

Williams is now the seventh team to reach Salem despite zero preseason points.

We both miscounted, Chuck. Williams is the eighth team to reach Salem despite zero preseason points.

2002: Otterbein (national champion)
2002: Rochester (4th place)
2005: Calvin (3rd place)
2005: York PA (4th place)
2008: Ursinus (4th place)
2009: Franklin & Marshall (4th place)
2016: Benedictine (2nd place)
2017: Williams (?)

And IIRC you were among the many who felt Augie deserved zero preseason votes due to their graduation losses (they finished 18th due to voters who seem to automatically give initial votes to teams who did well the year before).

True, which doesn't look good for me now, although you're the one who said that Trevor Seibring was going to be the CCIW Most Outstanding Player this season. Seriously, though, given the circumstances I'll defend my charge that picking Augustana 18th in the preseason poll was ridiculous. The Doggies lost their top six scorers/rebounders/minutes-eaters to graduation. As you said, it was a case of voters automatically giving their initial votes to teams who did well the year before, because in the same breath I pointed out that Elmhurst, which had lost nine seniors from the year before, nevertheless drew a little bit of support in the preseason poll as well.

I strongly doubt that the pollsters who put Augie 18th or higher on their preseason ballots were doing their homework. Augustana returned three rotation reserves -- Dylan Sortillo, Chrishawn Orange, and Pierson Wofford (who left the team a month and a half ago) -- plus a trio of marginal end-of-the-bench guys in Jacob Johnston, Michael Hoekstra, and A.J. Dollmeyer (who has played a grand total of two minutes in the tourney thus far and is clearly now the third-string center). Nobody who took a long and serious look at Augie at the end of last season would've projected them anywhere near 18th in the nation in the 2016-17 preseason poll, because nobody could've foreseen: a) the phenomenal improvement of Johnston from garbage-minutes scrub as a junior to All-CCIW second-teamer as a senior; b) the emergence of sophomore Nolan Ebel, who was essentially relegated to JV duty last season, as a worthy successor to Hunter Hill at PG; c) the addition of a valuable D2-transfer contributor in Brett Benning; or d) the important roles that freshmen Micah Martin, Lucas Simon, and Donovan Ferguson would play for Augie this season.

[Gregory Sager]

This year's Final Four features three teams that should be loaded for awhile.  Whitman has NO seniors.  The only threat to Whitman becoming a regular in Salem is the possibility of a D1 program poaching Coach Bridgeland, if he has any interest -- he's now quickly turned two different previously anonymous programs into rapid massive successes.  He is right in the sweet spot of youth and great experience (now over a decade as a head coach) that D1 schools covet.  And he's already been interim coach at Pepperdine, a big plus for D1 programs.  An undefeated year plus a national title would probably be the cherry on the Sunday ... I'd be surprised if that occurs if he DIDN'T get some serious D1 interest. 

Williams has only one contributing senior, and while he's our top player, there are a ton of young guys with substantial unrealized upside on the roster.  The Ephs are just now scratching the surface and despite no longer having the luxury of being under the radar all year, they should be a contender for the next two years.  Augustana is in the same boat, seemingly, with so many frosh and sophomores playing key roles right now. 

Babson is the polar opposite: with Flannery, Nelson, Droney, Rice, and Bohmiller all graduating, it could be tough sledding for Babson next season.  They will certainly be playing with a sense of purpose and desperation this weekend.  Speaking of Jacks and Bohmiller, any word on their health status?  Bohmiller I assume is out for the year. Jacks seems to be struggling in the very few minutes he is playing in the tourney.  If those two guys were healthy, Babson would be the favorite; as is, it's amazing they've gotten this far with two of their top five missing.  Flannery is just SO good that he can carry them vs. anyone it seems.

It was described by the Babson coach during his interview on Hoopsville last night; I don't recall the exact words so it's best left to be heard on the archive replay.

I can't recall what he said about Jacks, but he indicated that Bohmiller has had a relapse of his concussion symptoms. While he didn't want to commit one way or the other and he made it clear that it's all up to the trainers and medical staff, the tone of his voice seemed to indicate that he doesn't expect to have Bohmiller available in Salem.

[hopefan]

Oh, no doubt SAC.  I mean just look at Augustana -- last year's loaded, heavily-favored, senior-dominated squad fell one game short of Salem, while this year's "rebuilding" team made it.  Match-ups, injuries, luck, peaking at the right time, they all play a huge factor.  But I do think Whitman (in particular), Augustana, and Williams all look fairly loaded heading into next year, along with a few other squads that bring nearly everyone back (North Central, Whitewater, Swarthmore, River Falls, Wash U. ...).

Westminster, Mo