NCAA TOURNAMENT 2024

[Kuiper]

They would lose every away game due to travel and win every home game due to travel.

Obviously the same applies to the Final Four :-)

With travel distance, weather differences, and jet lag largely equalized, the difference might be which coaches can effectively keep their players away from the strip the longest!

[Soccerfan14]

Hey everyone, first time posing here. Had a son play in the NESCAC a few years back. Heard about the boards and would follow here and there. However, been following recently as the NESCAC got 8 bids this year and has 3 teams in the final 4! Thought of an idea and wanted to share it here.

When it comes to professional sports, fans and analysts alike love ranking teams and debating their greatness—whether it's professional sports dynasties or college powerhouses. In the spirit of the Final 4 and Thanksgiving why not spark a fun conversation in the D3 soccer space. Every single year one team emerges from hundreds of others and is crowned champions. Their stories are filled with incredible talent, grit, and championship moments.

So, I thought it would be a fun idea to try and rank the last 10 NCAA Division III champions. These teams played in different years, under different circumstances, and faced unique challenges. Some dominated with raw talent and tactical precision, while others relied on resilience and timely performances to claim their titles. Comparing across different seasons requires some subjectivity, but that's what makes these debates so engaging.

Hoping this can spark some fun conversations and bring back memorable moments, players, teams, and coaches from the last 10 years that we can be grateful to have experienced.

Here's a quick look at the last 10 NCAA Division III men's soccer champions and their records:

• 2023: St. Olaf (20-3-3)
• 2022: University of Chicago (22-0-1)
• 2021: Connecticut College (19-4-1)
• 2019: Tufts (20-2-2)
• 2018: Tufts (18-0-3)
• 2017: Messiah (24-2-0)
• 2016: Tufts (14-5-2)
• 2015: Amherst (17-1-2)
• 2014: Tufts (17-2-4)
• 2013: Messiah (24-1-1)

Feel free to use whatever system or factors you would like such as raw talent, S.O.S., dominance, adversity, legacy etc. Every single one of these teams was obviously great as their seasons culminated in a national championship, so I expect this to be challenging!

[PaulNewman]

1) Messiah 2013
2) Chicago 2022
3) Tufts 2018
4) Amherst 2015
5) Tufts 2019
6) Tufts 2014
7) Messiah 2017
8) Conn College 2021
9) St Olaf 2023
10) Tufts 2016

[SKUD]

Hope it was a great thanksgiving.

W&L vs the evil empire.

What is your pick?

[PaulNewman]

I appreciate the entertainment education, and while I can see the entertainment bonfire roaring, I thought I'd show my appreciation by tossing some kindling into the blaze....

Rate Final Four combatants from best to last in the following categories...

Best Academic Institution

Best Coach/Coaching Staff

Best GK

Best Striker

Best CB/CB Combo

Best Playmaking Midfielder

Most Attractive Style of Play

Most Resilient Team

Best Past Decade

Best Coaching Tree

Most Impressive (Toughest) Road to Final Four

Best Partisan Poster

Best Alumni/Support Base

Best Town/City Where School Located

Best Home Pitch

Best Mascot/Nickname

Most Feared Mascot (Generals, Mammoth, Camel, Panther)


***List is fluid so please add categories as you like


******BONUS ESSAY COMPONENT.....Should Vassar become the 12th member of NESCAC?  Why? Or Why not?

[northman]

That's a great list, PN.  Let's see if anyone bites...

[northman]

And, BTW, Vassar would be a good academic and geographic fit.  That said, adding Hamilton was awkward from a travel standpoint, but it did expand the conference schedule across most team sports to an even 10 teams.  11 opponents would be an awkward number.

[jknezek]

Vassar has no football team. They would be a huge outlier in the NESCAC. The better question is, "would Vassar start a football team for a NESCAC invite?" I suspect it would be a very strong consideration.

[jknezek]

Hope it was a great thanksgiving.

W&L vs the evil empire.

What is your pick?

W&L vs the field is a no brainer. Take the field. But I think they match up well with NESCAC schools. I'm going Conn sadly. The best team Middlebury has beaten this year is Williams. They went 0-3-1 against Tufts, Amherst and Conn (0-1-1). They haven't shown they can win yet. Of course 2 more ties might do it anyway.

Amherst went 1-2-1 against said opponents. 1-0-1 against Conn. While the win came early, it's still an advantage. Conn knocked them out of the NESCAC on PKs, so two games, no wins for Conn yet.

W&Ls best win is Dickinson. Or maybe Lynchburg but the Red Devils closed them out. And Dickinson just isn't a NESCAC quality team this season. They had nice pieces, but a strong, big, fast defense was going to shut them down... Ahem, NESCAC.

Conn... Go with momentum. They have it. All the confidence in the world right now. Enough skill, obviously, to back it up. I see the ties, the bad end of regulation season loss is a long time ago. So is the early loss to Amherst that was partially avenged. 11 goals so far in the tournament. They are riding high and I'm not sure W&L has the offense to go with them if they give up a goal or two. Not sure anyone can keep them off the board.

[SimpleCoach]

I think it will be an Amherst Conn final.  Don't think W&L has it to beat Conn, and not sure if Middlebury can really step into this game and rise to the occasion.

SC.

[PaulNewman]

Speaking of momentum, W&L is riding momentum just as much or more than Conn.  This semi should be dubbed The Momentum Bowl.

The other semi is a classic Green Bay Packers vs Chicago Bears old-school backyard brawl.  Three yards and a cloud of dust. Not entirely fair to Midd, or even to Amherst, but let's call this one The Backyard Brawl (at Caeser's Palace with hype video narrated by John Facenda.

Calling it right now...if W&L and Conn go to PKs the shootout will live up to billing as greatest PK shootout in D3 men's soccer NCAA tournament history.

All that said, I'll stick with Conn for a win in regulation or OT. I'll go against my better instincts and pick Midd to finally get by Amherst although also would be stunning to see the Mammoths lose.

Winner...Conn...Jake Creus gets GW in national final.

Darkhorse F4 MVP pick...Will Joseph, W&L.


****If you are too young to get the Facenda reference, google him and listen to at least 60 seconds of him riffing on the Frozen Tundra or the bruising collisions of Dick Butkus...

[PaulNewman]

That's a great list, PN.  Let's see if anyone bites...

They won't, northman.

A lot of big cattle, no hat or big hat, no cattle....however that goes.

[PaulNewman]

Vassar has no football team. They would be a huge outlier in the NESCAC. The better question is, "would Vassar start a football team for a NESCAC invite?" I suspect it would be a very strong consideration.

I agree Vassar should and probably has considered something like starting football as a way into NESCAC. But don't forget Conn with no football. I don't see football as necessarily a deal breaker...and in the end Vassar may want to identify with some of the (at least perceived) less athletics-obsessed academic elites more so than the more traditional, button downed BB/finance NESCACs.  Like Swat, Haverford, Carleton, Grinnell, Macalester, Oberlin...and even Reed.

[Caz Bombers]

Vassar has no football team. They would be a huge outlier in the NESCAC. The better question is, "would Vassar start a football team for a NESCAC invite?" I suspect it would be a very strong consideration.

I agree Vassar should and probably has considered something like starting football as a way into NESCAC. But don't forget Conn with no football. I don't see football as necessarily a deal breaker...and in the end Vassar may want to identify with some of the (at least perceived) less athletics-obsessed academic elites more so than the more traditional, button downed BB/finance NESCACs.  Like Swat, Haverford, Carleton, Grinnell, Macalester, Oberlin...and even Reed.

If you go back only 20 years Vassar was what Bard is today. Sports are just extracurricular activities and they don't care if they win or lose (mostly lose).

They put some $ and elbow grease into it and raised themselves up to kind of lower third NESCAC all-sports level. I think they could be even better if they want to be.

IMO Skidmore is a slightly better fit for NESCAC #12 if it ever comes to it, because of geography and sport sponsorship.

[FBALLISLIFE]

I know we covered from a competition perspective, but can we talk about what an absolutely boneheaded idea it was to host this tournament final in Las Vegas from a logistics point of view?  Everyone has to fly, and the hotels are nearly all sold out or in the $1000+ range for a single night.  It seems there is a 300k+ person convention/rodeo in town the same weekend (which is easily knowable) on top of Amazon, and others.  That's quite a commitment for families that want to see their kids play in the final four, not to mention the scores of young alums who otherwise would attend, but are being shut out by cost.

The NCAA also always had a travel rule that required the semi-final losers to vacate their hotels after their loss.  Are they enforcing that here, where everyone is required to fly?

Don't mind me, I'm just salty for having to spend my Christmas budget on red-eye flights and hotels.