It’s hard to get too much further north in Division III than Duluth, Minn., although Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound are a few miles further north in Washington. While on a family vacation here I took the opportunity to stop in at St. Scholastica.
The school is a member of both the NAIA and NCAA which is declaring for the NCAA playoffs this season for the first time in a while. So, predictably, there were questions about how the NCAA did some things, etc.
I think St. Scholastica has the makings of a schedule that can get it into the tournament in men’s basketball. They’ve gone out of their way to schedule West Region games, inviting only in-region teams to their tipoff tournament and getting into another tournament that has solely West Region opponents. They play UW-Stout, UW-Superior and UW-Eau Claire and Hamline in terms of “nearby” non-conference opponents and should end up with 12 or 13 regional games. That could get them in in a 60- to 61-team tournament.
At least we can be relatively sure the committee won’t look past a first-time competitor. The men’s committee put dual member St. Joseph’s (Maine) into the field in its first year declaring for the NCAA postseason.
Occasionally I make campus visits when I’m out of town in places where we don’t have as many contributors. (Last summer I stopped by Keene State.) As I do, I’ll write about them here.
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Old School · July 26, 2005 at 7:08 am
I’m guessing the Upper Midwest Conference doesn’t have an AQ (in terms of conference tourney winners or the reg. season winner). I looked up some info on St. Scholastica and the conference and know that the conference has teams in both the NAIA and the NCAA (similar to the WSUC back in the days when Whitewater and Platteville were D3 and Point and Eau Claire were NAIA).
Anyway, tried to look up some stats on previous years but no luck on the website.
Pat Coleman · July 26, 2005 at 10:11 am
Right — they don’t have enough NCAA members yet to qualify for an automatic bid. Everyone in the conference (for basketball, anyway) is either already in the NCAA or in the process of joining, however.
martin · July 26, 2005 at 1:28 pm
Pat – again you caused me to waste time. The northern most schools in D3 (I think) based on the north latitude (decimal) of the school’s address are:
Whitworth (Spokane) – 47.75
Puget Sound (Tacoma) – 47.26
Pacific Lutheran (Tacoma) – 47.15
St. Scholastica (Duluth) – 46.82
UW-Superior – 46.72
I think the northernmost school in the continental US playing in the NCAA is the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks (47.92). The Fighting Sioux hosted the D2 national championship this past year. I guess the NCAA is not all that concerned about a convenient location.
diehardfan · July 26, 2005 at 4:23 pm
martin… did you go to the university of chicago or something? hehehe (wink)
I love that you looked that up, totally something I would have done if I had the time
diehardfan · July 26, 2005 at 4:24 pm
incidentally, Pat, I wish you were my dad… I try to get my family and friends to look at D3 schools just because they’re there all the time and they never let me
I was like 3 minutes from steven’s point several times earlier this summer!
"The Roop" · July 26, 2005 at 5:21 pm
While 12 or 13 DIII games might get them in the tournament via Pool B, can a 12-16 team really improve enough in one year to earn the points necessary using the selection criteria ??? I’m guessing selection criteria isn’t changing.
Pat Coleman · July 26, 2005 at 7:53 pm
Ugh… I’m not old enough to be your dad!
And Roop, I didn’t make any claims as to whether they were good enough to make the tournament. That isn’t the issue. Read more closely what I actually did say.
diehardfan · July 26, 2005 at 10:08 pm
I wasn’t saying you are… just you know, I think it would be cool if my real dad (who is in his FIFTIES, hehe) thought hopping around and visiting DIII colleges just to have been there was a fun way to spend family vacations.
(Am I the only one who’s curious to see how the kids reacted to this random visit?)
"The Roop" · July 26, 2005 at 11:14 pm
Pat,
You were being theoretical and I was being rhetorical.
Diehardfan,
Yes, you are.
Pat Coleman · July 26, 2005 at 11:42 pm
The kids got to do something more fun with my wife and their grandparents.
Last year on our trip to New Hampshire we counted 41 D-III schools where we either passed a sign for the school on the interstate or passed through the town itself. (New Paltz State, for example, didn’t have a sign off I-84 in New York.)
And there’s no room for rhetoric — this is a BLOG! (Oh, wait, whoops.)
Ralph Turner · July 27, 2005 at 12:48 am
Talk about generating some excitement, CSS’s getting to the tourney might really help the UMAC.
Kinda fun pulling for the underdog. I hope they have the type of season that earns it!
And diehardfan, my family gives me strange looks when I want to drive around the campus of D3′s.
Old School · July 27, 2005 at 1:32 am
diehardfan,
That hurts that you didn’t tell my you were “3 minutes from Stevens Point” several times…
diehardfan · July 27, 2005 at 1:28 pm
Okay Pat, you’re off the hook… Ralph, would you like to be my dad instead?
(I just get sillier and sillier…)
"The Roop" · July 27, 2005 at 7:43 pm
I think diehardfan is just looking for someone to pay off her student loans. I told her previously that that’s what you get for going to college.
sager · July 28, 2005 at 12:20 am
Martin, don’t forget Finlandia (Hancock, MI) – 47.13 N latitude. I had a friend from Hancock during my student days at North Park whom I used to tease by telling her she lived so far north that compasses were unreliable there.
"The Roop" · July 28, 2005 at 5:23 pm
Findlandia is still a Provisional D3 for now.
"The Roop" · July 28, 2005 at 5:25 pm
As is Finlandia.