We’re getting down to the final week-plus of the season and Matt Snyder, the Calvin basketball fan, blogger and budding bracketologist has posted a take on the men’s basketball Field of 61.
Projecting a bracket with only one automatic bid in the books is hardly an easy process, especially considering there are 40 conferences to define champions for. Pick regular season champs, pick teams higher in the regional rankings. Or in their case, pick whoever is highest in the RPI.
No perfect way to do it.
Here’s their take. It’s a little hard to picture the CSAC getting three teams in the field over a second team from the UAA, but no projection is perfect. At least, not many are. Matt has done a good job projecting regional rankings and knows the strength of schedule formula better than the committee.
Well thanks for the vote of confidence (albatross of death) for McMurry, which is going into an 8-team ASC tournament that is balanced as I can remember. The geographic isolation and conference parity might make this a one-team conference, especially if Concordia-Texas (which might the team with the toughest style for UT-Dallas to face) beats the Comets on the first day!
Best case scenario for the ASC… Trinity or Coloardo College or Austin College gets the SCAC Pool A bid, and the ASC gets a Pool A and C bid. The ASC Pool A and C bids get to host games on the first weekend (and the committee giving one of the 3 byes for geographic reasons to this part of the country.)
Hopefully Hobart noticed you picked RPI to win the LL tourney and the Pool A bid in Geneva this weekend.
Sure the Statesmen played awful against the Engineers on 2/18 but the season series is split 1-1. Hoping for a rebound literally and figuratively this weekend.
Hopefully you noticed I didn’t actually pick anything. 🙂
Of course! I give Synder credit – if I was in his shoes I might have picked the same outcome given the lopsided result on 2/18.
Pat: thinking here is that Middlebury will get by Amherst and then to title game vs. Williams. Even without winning the NESCAC, think that both teams are #1 seeds since nobody else will have laid a glove on them (When Williams lost it was w/o Whittington, and Midd was sans Sharry @ Wmstown). Think there’s an ncaa bias against two ones from same conference but personnel wise, records, and s-o-s, both have a season’s worth of productivity to rely on. My other two top seeds are Va.Wesleyan ( if they survive the ODAC tourney) and Stevens Point. Whitworth can be the 1st of the 2 seeds (#5 overall) but their s-o-s is weak for somebody at this level. Then it would be Wooster (overall #6, but shaky lately0. Then a logjam between Concordia, St. Thomas, Amherst & WPI. Haven’t seen the first two, and know that Amherst’s s-o-s is suspect but having scouted both, know that LordJeffs have better offense, firepower, depth and athletes. WPI’s ‘O’ seems too shaky for this level. Your thoughts on these projections. Will we see you at Williamstown? Clubbo.
Based on latest results-some big hits to dreams of dancin’. Concordia now down several notches. WesConn’s stumbling to the wire makes it more probable that LEC gets one bid. Looks like LaRoche & P-S Behrends both get in. Oswego St. based on their overall season should get a bid but doubt gets to host. Wabash which hasn’t been consistent in Feb. may have played themselves to the sidelines. Looks like Newjersey City will be a tough out for anybody. Maybe Ramapo gets in but don’t see 3 from NJAC. Last shot for River Falls today but think they’re catching Pointers at a bad time. E.-Mennonite & R-Macon still in the discussion. ODAC should get 3 which helps them.