Bracketology Projection

[wally_wabash]

I can't be upset that IC didn't get in.

They had two losses, which most years ends the discussion. They also had a 27-14 lead over Cortland they couldn't hold.

I think the one spot you could maybe quibble with was Hobart dropping out of the RR despite two RR results, including a win over the R1 4. But it's also true that we don't need to rank every LL team. And it's hard to rank Hobart without ranking Union too.

Either way, Ithaca was in the drivers' seat. A win over Cortland puts them in, and they were in control of that game. And as I said, with only 5 at large bids, two losses almost never gets you in. This system isn't perfect, but it almost always lets you in if you take care of what's in front of you. IC just couldn't finish off the Red Dragons (or the Engineers), and it cost them.

I believe I read somewhere that both the 2nd and the Final Regional Rankings count towards a team's RRO record. If so, then Union and Hobart were counted. IMO...The problem for Ithaca and one way the committee justified moving Johns Hopkins ahead of Ithaca was that Susquehanna showed up as RR on the final list. That gave Hopkins a RRO win. As I conjectured before they may have been looking for a way to even things up to the CC after dissing them in 2019.     

There was a whole domino effect there.  Lycoming ended up being ranked in Region 1's final rankings, which gave Susquehanna an RRO win, which made it feasible (even if disagreeable for me) for the River Hawks to be ranked.  Should Lyco have been ranked?  In front of a Widener team that Lyco lost to the week before?  Kind of a similar situation to WashU in The 5.  The difference for me is that I don't believe there was collaboration between RACs 1 and 2 to get Susquehanna ranked, so Lyco showing up there doesn't seem quite as shifty.  WashU's ranking was done transparently in spite of the criteria to build Wheaton's profile.  I'm not sure that's the job the RACs are assigned to do, but that's what it has kind of evolved into.     

[USee]

Seems like the national committee was fine with what every RAC did including the 5. They have the power to change things and didn't. Not sure why that's not enough.

In the end, the role of the regional committee is to position the teams in THEIR region to succeed in a national playoff and get as many of their teams in the dance as possible. The bottom of the regional rankings, for years, has been a place to bolster rankings and resume of the contenders. That certainly didn't change this year.

[Captainred81]

So our discussion is between Wheaton, Bethel, Johns Hopkins, UW-L and B-SC.

I'm not sure who I would send home to allow H-SU in.  If these 5 go 5-0 this weekend, then we can say the committees' did a good job.  Criteria or not, Wheaton needs to be in the post season.  UW-L seems like a no brainer as well.  These 2 teams are legit contenders. 

The other teams are good and have the ability to win some game, but...they could have been replaced and no argument from me. 

[Baldini]

32 Playoff teams by D3 Massey rankings (overall D3 rankings).

1 - North Central (1)
2 - Mount Union (3)
3 - Mary Hardin-Baylor (5)
4 - UW-Whitewater (6)
5 - St. John's (7)
6 - Wheaton (8)
7 - Johns Hopkins (9)
8 - UW-La Crosse (10)
9 - Muhlenberg (12)
10 - Central (13)
11 - Linfield (15)
12 - Bethel (17)
13 - Trinity (20)
14 - Cortland (22)
15 - Delaware Valley (25)
16 - Birmingham-Southern (32)
17 - Salisbury (34)
18 - Washington & Lee (42)
19 - Redlands (43)
20 - Huntingdon (48)
21 - RPI (49)
22 - Carnegie Mellon (55)
23 - Aurora (64)
24 - DePauw (65)
25 - Albion (67)
26 - Lake Forest (78)
27 - Springfield (89)
28 - Rose-Hulman (93)
29 - Endicott (122)
30 - Framingham State (161)
31 - Greenville (181)
32 - Anna Maria (200)

Highest ranked not to make the playoff was Hardin-Simmons (14). 

[wally_wabash]

So our discussion is between Wheaton, Bethel, Johns Hopkins, UW-L and B-SC.

I'm not sure who I would send home to allow H-SU in.  If these 5 go 5-0 this weekend, then we can say the committees' did a good job.  Criteria or not, Wheaton needs to be in the post season.  UW-L seems like a no brainer as well.  These 2 teams are legit contenders. 

The other teams are good and have the ability to win some game, but...they could have been replaced and no argument from me.

I think it is very cool that we avoided any C vs. C games in the first round.  Maybe a happy accident, but that's one the committee got right (intentional or no). 

[Ralph Turner]

In the UMHB bracket, we should get a chance to evaluate TUTX  & BSC versus the ASC.

[HSUCowboy2015]

So our discussion is between Wheaton, Bethel, Johns Hopkins, UW-L and B-SC.

I'm not sure who I would send home to allow H-SU in.  If these 5 go 5-0 this weekend, then we can say the committees' did a good job.  Criteria or not, Wheaton needs to be in the post season.  UW-L seems like a no brainer as well.  These 2 teams are legit contenders. 

The other teams are good and have the ability to win some game, but...they could have been replaced and no argument from me.

I strongly feel like all 5 will win their games, but BSC gets a rematch against a team they already picked apart to begin the season. I will be anxious to see the results Trinity puts up against MHB in the first round and then BSC against MHB in the second round. That will give us HSU fans a gauge of how to examine if we got completely screwed on an even playing field of all three having to travel to Belton.

[BSCpanthers]

In the UMHB bracket, we should get a chance to evaluate TUTX  & BSC versus the ASC.

That's only if UMHB beats Trinity. 

[HSUCowboy2015]

In the UMHB bracket, we should get a chance to evaluate TUTX  & BSC versus the ASC.

That's only if UMHB beats Trinity.

I think it's going to be a good game, however I think UMHB wins by 17.

[Baldini]

Is their a bracket challenge anywhere this year?

[ncc_fan]

Is their a bracket challenge anywhere this year?

Go to General Football > Pick-Ems > Bracket Challenge

[Ralph Turner]

Trying to find the appropriate board on which to place this comment...

Now that we are the round of 8/quarterfinals, we have some very good games. It would not surprise any of us to see any of these teams in the Stagg.
Yes, there would be Cinderella story lines, but I am really looking forward to these games, as are most of you.

How much effect would a simple petition to the Competition Committee have to stagger the games, if only by 1 hour?

If I were Czar, I would start the EST game at 12:00 EST, the North Central game and the UWW game at 12:00 CST, because of the northern latitude, and hoping to keep the game in an optimal time frame with respect to temperature and weather, and then schedule the UMHB game (in Texas) at 1:00 CST.

Would a petition change the current situation?

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Trying to find the appropriate board on which to place this comment...

Now that we are the round of 8/quarterfinals, we have some very good games. It would not surprise any of us to see any of these teams in the Stagg.
Yes, there would be Cinderella story lines, but I am really looking forward to these games, as are most of you.

How much effect would a simple petition to the Competition Committee have to stagger the games, if only by 1 hour?

If I were Czar, I would start the EST game at 12:00 EST, the North Central game and the UWW game at 12:00 CST, because of the northern latitude, and hoping to keep the game in an optimal time frame with respect to temperature and weather, and then schedule the UMHB game (in Texas) at 1:00 CST.

Would a petition change the current situation?

I think Pat has discussed this in recent podcasts as well.

[MRMIKESMITH]

Week 3 WAY TOO EARLY Unofficial DIII Bracketology

Just a reminder, because teams are within 600 miles of each other. It was mentioned last year that they didn't really want to force that condition. Wanted players to have great experience.

At Large Selections:
Hardin-Simmons (8-1)
UW-Whitewater (8-2)
Union (NY) (9-1)
Trine (9-1)
Wheaton (8-2)

Bubble Team:

9-1 Susquehanna/Ursinus
9-1 George Fox
9-1 Stevenson
9-1 Rowan
9-1 Chicago
9-1 DePauw
9-1 Heidelberg
9-1 Bridgewater/Shenandoah

[Toby Taff]

Week 3 WAY TOO EARLY Unofficial DIII Bracketology

Just a reminder, because teams are within 600 miles of each other. It was mentioned last year that they didn't really want to force that condition. Wanted players to have great experience.

At Large Selections:
Hardin-Simmons
UW-Whitewater
Union (NY)
Trine
Heidelberg

I could easily see a 9-1 Susquehanna as an at-large.

UMHB fanboy here, but I think there is a very real chance for HSU. It will come down to UMHB's defense. They are coming around, but you have inexperienced sophomores calling those defensive sets. You could be looking at a 2 loss UMHB trying to get an at large bid to play every game on the road.