From now until the end of the regular season you may well see a lot of Division III buzzwords floating about on our front page, here in the Daily Dose and on our message boards. Pool A, Pool B, Pool C, OWP, OOWP … what do those all mean?

Pool A, Pool B and Pool C are the labels given to groups (also known as Pools) of bids awarded to the playoffs. The field is 61 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams culminating in the Final Four and national title games in Salem, Va. (men) and Bloomington, Ill. (women).

Understanding Pool A is fairly simple — let’s just pretend that ‘A’ stands for automatic. Those are the automatic bids that are awarded. There are 42 conferences with men’s automatic bids and 43 conferences with women’s automatic bids. Every conference other than the UAA awards its automatic bid to the winner of a conference tournament.

If you are not in one of those conferences, there is one bid set aside for you, which is what’s referred to as Pool B. The best team out of that group, which includes independents and (for men only) the Great South Athletic Conference teams, gets a bid as well.

Every eligible team not already selected is dropped into Pool C, which consists of 18 men’s and 20 women’s at-large bids. At-large bids are determined using the NCAA’s criteria, which includes regional winning percentage, strength of schedule, head-to-head competition, results against common opponents and results against regionally ranked teams.

If your conference has an automatic bid and your team doesn’t win it, then you are only eligible for Pool C bids. If your conference doesn’t have an automatic bid, you are eligible for Pool B or, if you don’t make that cut, Pool C.

Q: Why is the women’s tournament 64 but the men’s only 61?
A: There are more schools with women’s basketball teams than men’s basketball teams. As more schools join Division III (or more women’s-only schools go co-ed), the men’s tournament will grow to 64. In fact, we only need one more eligible team to get a 62-team men’s basketball NCAA Tournament field.

Q: How can my team guarantee it will get into the playoffs?
A: Win your conference’s automatic bid. There’s no guarantees otherwise.

Q: If the two best teams are in the same region, will they be placed in separate brackets?
A: This is at least possible, but highly unlikely. They don’t seed this tournament like a D-I tournament, unfortunately. Teams are placed in groups according to geography and seeded, though keeping teams from having to travel 500 miles in the first round is more important to the NCAA than maintaining proper matchups. We can expect from history that the women’s basketball committee will do its best to separate the top teams. The history in men’s basketball is mixed at best.

Q: There are a lot of criteria to go through. How can I tell where my team stands?
A: The NCAA releases regional rankings over the final weeks of the regular season, starting today. However, being No. 6 in one region doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ahead of a team that’s No. 7 in one of the other seven.

Q: So if I’m ranked seventh in these rankings, I’m in the playoffs?
A: No. There are still the 42/43 automatic bids. They’ll all get in first. Take the automatic bids out of the rankings (and keep in mind some conferences don’t have anyone in these rankings) and one Pool B team, then the remaining 18/20 get in.

Q: We’re ranked in the D3hoops.com Top 25. Since the bracket has more than 60 teams, we should be in, right?
A: Unfortunately, no. We would love to be able to say that’s the case, but remember that there are still all those automatic bids. Plus, the NCAA doesn’t agree with us as to who the best at-large teams are.

Q: Can you explain more about the various playoff selection/regional ranking criteria?
A: Absolutely. We have a whole section of our FAQ devoted to the NCAA Tournament, with that and game dates and the list of conferences with automatic bids.

Q: I have a question you haven’t answered. What do I do?
A: E-mail info@d3sports.com and/or post below in the comments section.

NCAA · Pool B · Pool C · primer · Regional rankings · Tournament

As promised in the championship handbooks, a final set men’s and women’s regional rankings for the 2009-10 season have been released.

Remember there are three ways a game can be classified as in region.

Through games of Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010.

Men’s rankings

Atlantic Region
1. William Paterson 24-2 25-2
2. Merchant Marine 22-4 23-4
3. Richard Stockton 19-6 20-7
4. Rutgers-Newark 16-6 20-7
5. SUNY-Old Westbury 20-7 20-7

East Region
1. St. John Fisher 21-5 22-5
2. Plattsburgh State 20-6 21-7
3. Medaille 22-4 23-4
4. Oneonta State 21-6 22-6
5. Nazareth 17-8 18-9
6. Ithaca 15-7 18-8

Great Lakes Region
1. Wooster 23-4 23-5
2. Hope 16-3 21-7
3. Wilmington (Ohio) 20-6 21-7
4. John Carroll 18-6 20-6
5. Calvin 15-4 19-9
6. Wittenberg 17-7 21-7

Middle Atlantic Region
1. St. Mary’s (Md.) 22-3 24-3
2. Albright 20-5 21-5
3. Cabrini 25-2 25-2
4. Franklin and Marshall 23-4 23-4
5. DeSales 21-4 22-5
6. Lycoming 17-6 21-6
7. Wesley 16-6 19-8
8. Messiah 15-6 16-9
9. York (Pa.) 17-7 19-7

Midwest Region
1. Washington U. 20-2 23-2
2. Carthage 18-3 22-5
3. St. Norbert 21-3 22-3
4. Illinois Wesleyan 19-7 20-7
5. Defiance 21-5 23-5
6. Wheaton (Ill.) 17-8 18-8
7. Anderson 20-5 22-5
8. Augustana 16-9 16-10

Northeast Region
1. Williams 24-0 26-1
2. Middlebury 20-3 24-3
3. Rhode Island College 20-7 20-7
4. Brandeis 19-6 19-6
5. MIT 21-3 22-4
6. Colby 17-5 19-6
7. Bridgewater State 18-5 19-7
8. Gordon 23-4 24-4
9. Western Connecticut State 18-7 19-7
10. WPI 19-7 20-7
11. Albertus Magnus 22-5 22-6

South Region
1. Guilford 26-2 26-2
2. Eastern Mennonite 18-3 22-4
3. Texas-Dallas 22-4 23-5
4. Randolph-Macon 16-6 22-6
5. Virginia Wesleyan 20-5 22-5
6. Maryville (Tenn.) 16-3 23-4
7. Austin 20-7 20-7
8. Mary Hardin-Baylor 22-5 22-6

West Region
1. Whitworth 23-2 25-2
2. UW-Stevens Point 22-4 23-4
3. UW-Whitewater 22-5 22-5
4. St. Thomas 20-4 23-3
5. Central 21-2 23-4
6. Chapman 17-1 23-2
7. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 17-5 21-6
8. Carleton 19-9 19-9
9. UW-La Crosse 16-8 17-9

Women’s Rankings
Atlantic Region Record Overall Record
1. Kean 25-0 26-1
2. Marymount 23-1 26-1
3. William Paterson 25-2 25-2
4. Farmingdale State 25-1 25-1
5. Mount Saint Mary 21-5 22-5
6. Mary Washington 20-4 21-5

Central Region Record Overall Record
1. Illinois Wesleyan 23-1 26-1
2. Washington U. 20-2 23-2
3. Carthage 19-3 22-4
4. UW-Stevens Point 19-6 21-6
5. Chicago 19-6 19-6
6. UW-Whitewater 19-6 20-7

East Region Record Overall Record
1. Ithaca 22-3 22-5
2. Rochester 17-6 19-6
3. Medaille 24-1 25-2
4. Cortland State 24-3 25-3
5. RPI 14-9 17-10
6. Utica 20-6 21-6

Great Lakes Region Record Overall Record
1. Hope 24-0 27-1
2. Thomas More 25-2 25-3
3. DePauw 22-2 25-3
4. Mount Union 21-4 24-4
5. Washington and Jefferson 23-3 23-4
6. Calvin 19-3 24-4

Mid-Atlantic Region Record Overall Record
1. Moravian 25-2 25-2
2. Messiah 21-3 23-4
3. Lebanon Valley 23-3 23-4
4. McDaniel 20-6 20-6
5. Muhlenberg 21-5 21-5
6. Scranton 20-5 22-5

Northeast Region Record Overall Record
1. Amherst 27-0 27-0
2. Colby 20-4 23-4
3. Bowdoin 17-6 20-6
4. Tufts 17-4 20-5
5. Williams 18-6 18-7
6. Emmanuel 20-5 22-5
7. Western Connecticut 21-5 22-5
8. University of New England 22-5 23-5
9. Southern Maine 20-8 20-8
10. Babson 25-3 25-3

South Region Record Overall Record
1. Christopher Newport 27-0 28-0
2. Louisiana College 21-2 24-2
3. Roanoke 21-3 23-3
4. Howard Payne 21-7 21-7
5. Ferrum 19-6 21-7
6. Mary Hardin-Baylor 20-6 21-6

West Region Record Overall Record
1. George Fox 19-1 25-2
2. Puget Sound 18-3 23-4
3. Redlands 21-4 22-5
4. Simpson 18-4 22-5
5. Gustavus Adolphus 20-5 20-6
6. St. Thomas 21-7 21-7

No tags

The fourth women’s regional rankings of the 2009-10 season have been released. We are waiting on the men’s.

Remember there are three ways a game can be classified as in region.

Men’s rankings

Atlantic Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1.William Paterson 22-2 23-2
2.Merchant Marine 20-4 21-4
3.Rutgers-Newark 16-5 20-6
4.Richard Stockton 19-5 19-6
5.Ramapo 17-7 18-8

East Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1.St. John Fisher 20-4 21-4
2.Plattsburgh State 17-6 18-7
3.Oneonta State 19-5 20-5
4.Ithaca 15-6 18-7
5.Medaille 20-4 21-4
6.New York University 15-8 16-8

Great Lakes Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1.John Carroll 17-5 19-5
2.Wooster 20-4 20-5
3.Hope 13-3 18-7
4.Calvin 13-3 17-8
5.Thomas More 19-6 19-6
6.Wilmington 17-6 18-7

Middle Atlantic Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1.St. Mary’s (Md.) 20-3 22-3
2.Albright 18-5 19-5
3.Franklin and Marshall 21-4 21-4
4.Cabrini 23-2 23-2
5.Lycoming 16-5 20-5
6.DeSales 19-4 20-5
7.Messiah 15-5 16-8
8.York (Pa.) 18-6 19-6
9.Wesley 14-5 17-7

Midwest Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1.Washington U. 19-2 22-2
2.Carthage 16-3 20-5
3.Wheaton (Ill.) 17-7 18-7
4.Illinois Wesleyan 18-6 19-6
5.St. Norbert 19-3 20-3
6.Anderson 19-4 21-4
7.Defiance 18-5 20-5
8.Augustana 16-8 16-9

Northeast Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1.Williams 22-0 24-1
2.Middlebury 19-2 23-2
3.MIT 21-2 22-3
4.Colby 17-4 19-5
5.Brandeis 18-6 18-6
6.Rhode Island College 18-7 18-7
7.Bridgewater State 16-5 17-7
8.Gordon 20-4 21-4
9.Western Connecticut 17-6 18-6
10.WPI 17-6 18-6
11.Eastern Connecticut 17-8 17-8

South Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1.Eastern Mennonite 17-2 21-3
2.Guilford 23-2 23-2
3.Texas-Dallas 20-3 21-4
4.Virginia Wesleyan 19-4 21-4
5.Randolph-Macon 14-5 20-5
6.Maryville (Tenn.) 14-3 21-4
7.Austin 19-6 19-6
8.Mary Hardin-Baylor 19-5 19-6

West Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1.UW-Whitewater 21-4 21-4
2.St. Thomas 20-2 23-2
3.Whitworth 21-2 23-2
4.UW-Stevens Point 20-4 21-4
5.Central 19-2 21-4
6.Chapman 17-1 23-2
7.UW-La Crosse 16-7 17-8
8.Claremont–Mudd-Scripps 15-4 19-5
9.Augsburg 17-7 18-7

Women’s rankings

Through games of Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010.

Atlantic Region Record Overall Record
1. Kean 23-0 24-1
2. William Paterson 24-1 24-1
3. Marymount 21-1 24-1
4. Mary Washington 19-3 20-4
5. Farmingdale State 23-1 23-1
6. Mount Saint Mary 20-4 21-4

Central Region Record Overall Record
1. Illinois Wesleyan 21-1 24-1
2. Carthage 19-2 22-3
3. Washington U. 19-2 22-2
4. Chicago 19-5 19-5
5. UW-Whitewater 18-5 19-6
6. St. Norbert 20-3 20-3

East Region Record Overall Record
1. Ithaca 21-2 21-4
2. Rochester 16-6 18-6
3. Medaille 22-1 23-2
4. Cortland State 21-3 22-3
5. St. Lawrence 18-6 18-6
6. Skidmore 19-3 20-4

Great Lakes Region Record Overall Record
1. Hope 21-0 24-1
2. Thomas More 22-2 22-3
3. Washington and Jefferson 22-2 22-3
4. DePauw 19-2 22-3
5. Calvin 17-2 22-3
6. Capital 17-6 18-7

Mid-Atlantic Region Record Overall Record
1. Moravian 23-2 23-2
2. Muhlenberg 20-4 20-4
3. Lebanon Valley 22-2 22-3
4. Messiah 19-3 21-4
5. Scranton 19-4 21-4
6. McDaniel 18-6 18-6

Northeast Region Record Overall Record
1. Amherst 25-0 25-0
2. Colby 19-3 22-3
3. Bowdoin 17-5 20-5
4. Tufts 17-4 20-5
5. Williams 18-6 18-7
6. Emmanuel 17-5 19-5
7. Western Connecticut 19-5 20-5
8. Eastern Connecticut 17-8 17-8
9. Southern Maine 18-7 18-7
10. Babson 22-3 22-3

South Region Record Overall Record
1. Christopher Newport 24-0 25-0
2. Roanoke 20-2 22-2
3. Louisiana College 18-2 21-2
4. Mary Hardin-Baylor 19-5 20-5
5. Howard Payne 20-5 20-5
6. Texas-Dallas 18-6 19-6

West Region Record Overall Record
1. George Fox 17-1 23-2
2. Puget Sound 17-2 22-3
3. Redlands 19-4 20-5
4. Gustavus Adolphus 20-4 20-5
5. Coe 17-7 18-7
6. St. Benedict 20-5 20-5

in-region records · NCAA · NCAA Tournament · Regional rankings · selection criteria

The third men’s and women’s regional rankings of the 2009-10 season have been released.

Remember there are three ways a game can be classified as in region.

Through games of Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010.

Men’s rankings

Atlantic Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. William Paterson 21-1 22-1
2. Merchant Marine 18-4 20-4
3. Rutgers-Newark 13-5 17-6
4. Ramapo 16-6 17-7
5. Richard Stockton 17-5 17-6

East Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. St. John Fisher 18-4 19-4
2. Medaille 20-2 21-2
3. Oneonta State 17-5 18-5
4. Stevens 17-5 17-5
5. New York University 14-7 15-7
6. Plattsburgh State 13-6 15-7

Great Lakes Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. Hope 12-2 17-6
2. John Carroll 15-5 17-5
3. Wooster 18-4 18-5
4. Calvin 11-3 15-8
5. Wittenberg 14-5 18-5
6. Thomas More 17-6 17-6

Middle Atlantic Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. Albright 17-4 18-4
2. Franklin & Marshall 20-3 20-3
3. Lycoming 14-4 18-4
4. St. Mary’s (Md.) 16-3 18-3
5. Cabrini 20-2 20-2
6. DeSales 17-4 18-5
7. York (Pa.) 16-5 17-5
8. Messiah 13-4 14-7
9. Catholic 14-5 16-6

Midwest Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. Washington U. 17-2 20-2
2. Carthage 14-3 18-5
3. St. Norbert 19-2 20-2
4. Wheaton (Ill.) 15-7 16-7
5. Illinois Wesleyan 17-5 18-5
6. Anderson 18-3 20-3
7. Defiance 16-5 18-5
8. Augustana 15-7 15-8

Northeast Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. Williams 21-0 23-1
2. MIT 20-1 21-2
3. Middlebury 17-2 21-2
4. Brandeis 17-5 17-5
5. Colby 16-4 18-5
6. Bridgewater State 15-4 16-6
7. Rhode Island College 16-7 16-7
8. Eastern Connecticut 16-7 16-7
9. Gordon 18-4 19-4
10. WPI 16-5 17-5
11. Western Connecticut 15-6 16-6

South Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. Eastern Mennonite 14-2 18-3
2. Guilford 20-2 20-2
3. Texas-Dallas 17-3 18-4
4. Virginia Wesleyan 18-3 20-3
5. Austin 18-5 18-5
6. Randolph-Macon 13-4 19-4
7. Maryville (Tenn.) 13-3 19-4
8. Mary Hardin-Baylor 17-5 17-6

West Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. UW-Whitewater 19-4 19-4
2. UW-Stevens Point 19-3 20-3
3. St. Thomas 18-2 21-2
4. Whitworth 19-2 21-2
5. Central 17-2 19-4
6. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 14-3 18-4
7. Chapman 17-1 22-2
8. Augsburg 15-7 16-7
9. UW-La Crosse 14-7 15-8

Women’s rankings

These women’s rankings should include corrections we supplied to the NCAA this past week.

Atlantic Region Record Overall Record
1. Kean 22-0 23-1
2. William Paterson 22-1 22-1
3. Farmingdale State 22-0 22-0
4. Mary Washington 17-2 18-3
5. Marymount 18-1 21-1
6. Mount Saint Mary 18-4 19-4

Central Region Record Overall Record
1. Illinois Wesleyan 19-1 22-1
2. Carthage 17-2 20-3
3. Washington U. 17-2 20-2
4. Chicago 17-5 17-5
5. UW-Whitewater 16-5 17-6
6. UW-Stevens Point 16-5 18-5

East Region Record Overall Record
1. Ithaca 20-2 20-4
2. Skidmore 18-2 19-3
3. Rochester 15-5 17-5
4. Medaille 20-1 21-2
5. Cortland State 18-3 19-3
6. Utica 16-5 17-5

Great Lakes Region Record Overall Record
1. Hope 19-0 22-1
2. Thomas More 21-1 21-2
3. Washington and Jefferson 20-2 20-3
4. DePauw 17-2 20-3
5. Calvin 15-2 20-3
6. Mount Union 17-3 20-3

Mid-Atlantic Region Record Overall Record
1. Lebanon Valley 21-1 21-2
2. Moravian 20-2 20-2
3. Messiah 17-2 19-3
4. Muhlenberg 17-4 17-4
5. Scranton 18-3 20-3
6. Gettysburg 21-2 21-2

Northeast Region Record Overall Record
1. Amherst 24-0 24-0
2. Tufts 16-3 19-4
3. Colby 18-3 21-3
4. Williams 18-5 18-6
5. Emmanuel 14-5 16-5
6. Bowdoin 16-5 19-5
7. Western Connecticut 18-4 19-4
8. Eastern Connecticut 16-7 16-7
9. Babson 20-3 20-3
10. Southern Maine 16-7 16-7

South Region Record Overall Record
1. Christopher Newport 22-0 23-0
2. Roanoke 18-2 20-2
3. Mary Hardin-Baylor 18-4 19-4
4. Louisiana College 16-2 19-2
5. Mississippi College 18-5 18-5
6. Howard Payne 18-5 18-5

West Region Record Overall Record
1. George Fox 15-1 21-2
2. Puget Sound 15-2 20-3
3. Occidental 18-3 19-4
4. Gustavus Adolphus 19-3 19-4
5. Cal Lutheran 18-4 18-5
6. Coe 15-7 16-7

basketball · d3 · d3h · d3hoops · hoops · men · NCAA · Regional rankings

A little over a year ago at the NCAA convention, a proposal to make all of the NCAA’s data public was defeated. Enough peer pressure was put on and, in our opinion, misinformation spread, that the proposal was eventually withdrawn.

A compromise, it was said, would be to make public the data in a handful of sports, through posting PDF files, rather than issuing each school a login to a system that already exists for members of regional ranking committees to use.

We know full well the embarrassment of incorrect data and how D3sports.com people must now check every sport’s championship handbook on its release to make sure that the right number of Pool B and Pool C teams are being awarded. This year, in fact, the women’s basketball committee again had to revise their handbook, having promised twice as many Pool B bids as the numbers actually provided for.

So while they won’t open all of their data, they have opened women’s basketball up for us to look at. We always figure the more eyes on data, the better. That’s why our data has always been open and public, and corrections come in throughout the season. That’s because our system, like the NCAA’s, is reliant on schools entering schedules and results, and sometimes typos occur, or sometimes schools just don’t understand what defines a regional game.

At the bottom of this week’s women’s basketball release on the NCAA Web site there are links to PDF files for each of the eight regions which contain the numbers for each team. What we’re concerned with is the first number: the regional win-loss record. That’s the basis for every other number when calculating strength of schedule.

Compare those numbers to the regional record listed with our strength of schedule numbers. This file is currently through the same day, Sunday, Feb. 7. While we continually audit our own database to make sure no errors occur, we have not been able to audit theirs until now.

committee · Division III · errors · fact check · rankings · Regional rankings · women's basketball