2017 NCAA Tournament

[Mr. Ypsi]

They were Elite 8 last year, losing to St. Thomas at home. But still, impressive...

Oh, geez. I knew that, having just posted recently that IWU ALMOST matched them '12-'14 with FF, Sweet 16, FF.

[Smitty Oom]

I saw on twitter that the NABC Coach of the Year was Stephen Brennan from Babson, and I would like to congratulate him and his team for a very deserving National Championship Title. He had a lot of talent and in my eyes recruiting is the most important aspect of being a Collegiate Basketball Coach. But I think that he would have been the third or fourth coach I would have given the honor "Coach of the Year." I would have voted Grey Giovanine, bringing a team to the Final Four that graduated two All-Americans and a handful of other seniors that were the main players for Augie the past 3 years. There is also a good argument for Eric Bridgeland of Whitman who had an undefeated season and Final Four appearance before losing a tough battle to Babson. Tim Howell is a very good player but he isn't in the same tier as Flannery is (and not many that have played D3 hoops are so that is not a shot at Howell), he just doesn't affect the game in as many ways. Not to mention there were two other D2 transfers on the Beaver National Championship squad. In my eyes both of those Coaches did more with less than Brennan did. But it is hard to argue against the Coach that is holding the Walnut and Bronze at the end of March. I would just like to hear what you guys all think about this? I know it is not of significant importance but it is a good talker in the d3 hoops abyss that is April to October.

[iwumichigander]

Congrats to Babson on it's first ever championship! Also a congrats to the three other teams in Salem--all 3 have a chance to be back soon. Giovanine has a dangerous group of talent coming back but the way he handled himself was disrespectful and arrogant once again. Ripping his jacket off in the Williams game and making it seemingly all about himself. It looked like he was having words with babson players post game unfortunately. As an annual goer of the Salem Final Four its really a shame seeing such poor sportsmanship.

In the CCIW, we've gotten quite used to Grey Giovanine.  A standing joke is giving an over/under on how many minutes into a given game he will fling his jacket into the crowd (they actually have a designated 'jacket retriever', unless that is just an 'urban legend').  He is clearly a coaching 'genius', but his 'act' wears thin.

But hard to argue with the results - this is three straight final fours, and two title games, though no titles.  Since they lost 4 of their last 5 games before the postseason, did ANYONE serious predict coming within a blocked layup of winning the title?!

i had the coat coming off in the first five minutes and he made it until the 2nd half which must be some kind of record! Arrogant - yes, but what coach does not have some type of ego.  Good x and o coach - yes.  Good team next year - yes, but so will at least three others in the CCIW so expect another battle next season with CCIW beating each other up.
Is the coat coming off a motivator to his players - yes, to a certain extent.  Does he constantly talk to his players all game - yes, particularly when free throws being shot which is not too classy.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I saw on twitter that the NABC Coach of the Year was Stephen Brennan from Babson, and I would like to congratulate him and his team for a very deserving National Championship Title. He had a lot of talent and in my eyes recruiting is the most important aspect of being a Collegiate Basketball Coach. But I think that he would have been the third or fourth coach I would have given the honor "Coach of the Year." I would have voted Grey Giovanine, bringing a team to the Final Four that graduated two All-Americans and a handful of other seniors that were the main players for Augie the past 3 years. There is also a good argument for Eric Bridgeland of Whitman who had an undefeated season and Final Four appearance before losing a tough battle to Babson. Tim Howell is a very good player but he isn't in the same tier as Flannery is (and not many that have played D3 hoops are so that is not a shot at Howell), he just doesn't affect the game in as many ways. Not to mention there were two other D2 transfers on the Beaver National Championship squad. In my eyes both of those Coaches did more with less than Brennan did. But it is hard to argue against the Coach that is holding the Walnut and Bronze at the end of March. I would just like to hear what you guys all think about this? I know it is not of significant importance but it is a good talker in the d3 hoops abyss that is April to October.

There is a reason that for the first time, I believe, in our history we gave it as a Co-Coach of the Year honor: Bridgeland and Giovanine.

[Smitty Oom]

I almost went to the All-American page to see if d3hoops selected their Coach of the Year, and then decided to just post my message anyways. Now I look dumb LOL!

http://www.d3hoops.com/awards/all-americans/men/2017

I think that d3hoops did a great job making all of their selections!   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm giving him a little time before I call, but I suspect Brennan was under a tremendous pressure to win this year.  With the team he had, anything short of that title would've been a disappointment.  At the same time, he had to keep his players from feeling the pressure.  I've not seen a bigger difference in demeanor on a coach than on Brennan pre and post championship game.

I'm happy for him getting some recognition.

[Mr. Ypsi]

An off-season hypothetical for your discussion pleasure: had Duncan Robinson not transferred to Michigan, he would have been a senior at Williams this year.  Would Joey Flannery have still been national POY, or would it more likely have been DR?

[Mr. Ypsi]

(Don't know where to post this, but I'll do it here.)  Read a great line today (referencing the indefinitely postponed vote on Trumpcare) - they didn't suffer a defeat; they had an 'alternative victory'.  I can hardly wait 'til this reaches sports: can you envision Grey Giovanine saying 'We didn't lose the title game; we had an alternative victory'!

[Mr. Ypsi]

An off-season hypothetical for your discussion pleasure: had Duncan Robinson not transferred to Michigan, he would have been a senior at Williams this year.  Would Joey Flannery have still been national POY, or would it more likely have been DR?

I'm currently watching the Michigan/Oregon game.  Just to complicate matters, I'd say Flannery would have no chance against the D1 Robinson, but DR looks almost nothing like the 'wispy' guy I saw in Salem.  I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the Michigan strength coach is better than the Williams strength coach (if they even have such a specialist), so the Williams senior DR might not be the UM DR.  While he is greatly improved, he still is a defensive liability against D1 players, which is why he is not a starter.  But he is still a GREAT shooter, whether D3, D1, or NBA.

[Pat Coleman]

Haven't we had moral victories for decades?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Haven't we had moral victories for decades?

Yeah, but alternative victories seems somehow different.  After all, alternative facts are hardly equal to moral facts!

[iwumichigander]

An off-season hypothetical for your discussion pleasure: had Duncan Robinson not transferred to Michigan, he would have been a senior at Williams this year.  Would Joey Flannery have still been national POY, or would it more likely have been DR?

I'm currently watching the Michigan/Oregon game.  Just to complicate matters, I'd say Flannery would have no chance against the D1 Robinson, but DR looks almost nothing like the 'wispy' guy I saw in Salem.  I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the Michigan strength coach is better than the Williams strength coach (if they even have such a specialist), so the Williams senior DR might not be the UM DR.  While he is greatly improved, he still is a defensive liability against D1 players, which is why he is not a starter.  But he is still a GREAT shooter, whether D3, D1, or NBA.

Ypsi, not many stentght and conditioning coaches have the credentials of the guy at Michigan.  He has a reputation of taking 190 lbs weaklings and turning them into NBA type bodies.  John Belien pursued him for two years to get him to come to Michigan.

[Greek Tragedy]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this...

I really have no interest in D1 women's softball, but the field was announced this weekend and something unique happened. Every team from the SEC got a bid. That's 13 teams from one conference made the NCAA tourney.

For women's softball, there are 32 AQs and 32 at-large bids. I think there are around 300 teams in D1.

I imagine, because of how D3 is set up, we would never see a whole conference represented. Even if D3 was set up like D1, that would be a crazy sight to see all 8 WIAC teams in the NCAAs or all 9 CCIW teams...maybe all 11 NESCAC teams, heck, we had 5.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this...

I really have no interest in D1 women's softball, but the field was announced this weekend and something unique happened. Every team from the SEC got a bid. That's 13 teams from one conference made the NCAA tourney.

For women's softball, there are 32 AQs and 32 at-large bids. I think there are around 300 teams in D1.

I imagine, because of how D3 is set up, we would never see a whole conference represented. Even if D3 was set up like D1, that would be a crazy sight to see all 8 WIAC teams in the NCAAs or all 9 CCIW teams...maybe all 11 NESCAC teams, heck, we had 5.

Not only did the SEC get all 13 in, 8 of them were seeded (only top 16 are seeded) ... the Pac 12 got 8 of it's 9 teams in. So that's 21 out of 64 teams from 2 conferences and 19 of the 32 at large bids.
Had to have a look at some of those records.. Missouri was 11th in conference at 7-16 and a conference worst 29-26 overall record.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this...

I really have no interest in D1 women's softball, but the field was announced this weekend and something unique happened. Every team from the SEC got a bid. That's 13 teams from one conference made the NCAA tourney.

For women's softball, there are 32 AQs and 32 at-large bids. I think there are around 300 teams in D1.

I imagine, because of how D3 is set up, we would never see a whole conference represented. Even if D3 was set up like D1, that would be a crazy sight to see all 8 WIAC teams in the NCAAs or all 9 CCIW teams...maybe all 11 NESCAC teams, heck, we had 5.

D3 women's tennis this year saw six NESCAC squads get in (in a 49 team tournament), including a 6-9 Amherst squad.  So, just about anything is theoretically possible, I suppose.