Monthly Archives: January 2006

4 teams, 2 regions, 1 rainy Ohio night

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Business has me in northwestern Ohio area this week, along the I-75 corridor between Toledo and Dayton. Naturally, I checked the D3 schedules and saw that I was just 30 miles from both Bluffton, OH and Ada, OH, where both Bluffton and Ohio Northern were hosting HCAC and OAC contests respectively.

I saw most of the first half of Manchester at #25 Bluffton and all of the second half of Wilmington at #22 Ohio Northern…

Some immediate thoughts re: Bluffton…

1. Bluffton is a decent basketball team, but they are small. A good chunk of time in the first half with four players on floor that went 5’8, 6’2, 6’2, 6’2. They shoot the ball well form the perimeter. Take away their “J” and you take away their bread and butter. 4 of their first 5 baskets were from beyond the arc. While this was the first time I’ve seen them play, but first impressions are lasting ones…the Beavers seem vulnerable to cold streaks with their jump shots (I witnessed a 4 to 5 minute FG drought)…that could spell trouble for a team that comes out to play them tight.

2. I found both Bluffton and Manchester overpursuing on defense – they’d collapse when the ball came down low and find an open man outside. Bluffton got past CMU and the voters recognized their efforts more quickly than many other occasions…it’s unusual to see a team go from 0 votes to #25…given what has transpired so far this week, Bluffton might be in a bind to stay in the Top 25, even if they win out this week.

3. Very nice court in my first visit to an HCAC facility. Seating on only one side of the gym, half of which are actual seats (a bit cramped) and the upper section which are open benches. A impressive crowd for a game over winter break.

4. Room for improvement: C’mon…you don’t need to practice dunks before the game while the other team is on the court…as was happening on and off from a few players with 50 to 25 minutes remaining in the warmup.

With six minutes remaining in the first half, I hightailed it out down Ohio 103 and turned right onto Ohio 235 which took me straight into Ada to ONU. ONU’s campus is huge, for D3…reminded me a bit of UW-Whitewater in terms of its size.

1. Wilmington certainly seemed for real. There had clearly been some question about it given their weaker non-conference schedule and the 15 point loss to JCU.

2. Both ONU and Wilmington are all over the court on defense – never letting their intensity level fall. Neither team made egregious mistakes with the basketball, but both teams managed to step up their defense and force the other team to make mistakes they otherwise wouldn’t be making against weaker opponents. Witnessing this game made it clear to me that the OAC is right there with the NCAC, CCIW, MIAA, and WIAC in terms of high-level competition over the rest of D3.

3. Neither team allowed easy baskets – fighting for every point they had. Both move the ball with precision.

4. ONU never led in the 2nd half, the closest they got was a 54-54 tie with 3:56 remaining.

5 Another good crowd for a winter break game…the ONU Sports Center is an older facility but it’s huge and would seem a worthy host for postseason action as it has in the past. Unusual to see the huge scoreboards down just above the baskets mounted on the wall. Lowest scoreboards I’ve seen in basketball…almost to the point where it would seem to impact your vision when shooting.

6. Glad to know there should be room for both teams in the tournament if they continue their winning ways. ONU has 3 losses now, but they are quality.

7. Wilmington now has to go to B-W. If they win there…well…good things.

8. Funny random D3 moment…walking out the gym and Wilmington players were walking towards their locker room when one player uttered, “If we’re not Top 25…” Could you have found a better time to say that…and they surely don’t know who I am.

Oh yeah, IWU lost tonight…

Could reforms get rolled back?

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Two years ago, a package of reforms was passed in Division III, eliminating redshirting and shortening preseason practice schedules along with other measures. However, this month, some of those proposals are back on the table for reinstatement, and the voting population could be very different.

In 2004, school presidents and chancellors made up more of the voting body than ever before, but this year, it will probably be back to business as usual, with athletic directors making the votes on behalf of their institutions.

John Fry, president of Franklin & Marshall, told Inside Higher Ed, “2004 was a step forward. If we don’t see that same level of presidential involvement, those gains will be lost.”

The online publication looks deep into this topic.

We got letters

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We used to get this kind of letter all the time, but it’s been a while, so when I got a handwritten note with no return address in the mail the other day, it took me back a bit. Once upon a time we would get mail from the father of a prominent Division III player, replete with stats the father had hand-compiled, and I was wondering if this was about to be something similar.

… You do very professional work which is appreciated by basketball fanatics like myself. I’m an ex-college coach and still do personal basketball instruction. I live near the (location withheld) so I try to attend as many games as I can within a two-hour drive. …

The letter, on lined paper, written in all caps, had a clipping inside, a photocopy of a player’s bio from a school’s media guide. The letter was extolling the virtues of the particular player, who had reached a milestone on the particular night he saw them play.

… I sat with/in the midst of the (school withheld) sparse fans and to their little enjoyment (player name withheld) had a 22 point night and played bigger than his listed height. …

This could be just a low-tech version of something we see on the message board occasionally, a little rah-rah boosterism of a particular player by a non-neutral party. Whether this was a parent, uncle, grandfather, or truly just a fan, I don’t know. But it was amusing nonetheless. Keep the letters coming. It’s great to see people who care this much.

Rant: Division I Games

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Ok… I want to start this rant with my congratulations to the University of Puget Sound Loggers and the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans. They both got recent wins over Division I opponents (University of California – Riverside and Princeton respectively). It was the first victories for D3 schools over D1 teams in a year. And as a Division III program, it certainly looked impressive (especially on an ESPN crawl).

But… that’s it! They didn’t even count!

In the grand scheme that is everything Division III, a game against a Division I opponent means as much as a game against a high school squad. It’s the same as if you played the game in the pre-season. And it doesn’t matter if you play the game in the first week of the season, half-way through the season, or at the end of the season… the game doesn’t count.

Period!

Sure, you can have your record indicate the game (win or lose), but for everyone else… and those who matter in Division III… it’s just erased.

The game is a wasted date on a schedule. It doesn’t count towards your overall Division III record; it doesn’t count towards your regional record; and it won’t help you get into the NCAA Championship Tournament.

Teams that schedule Division I opponents have nothing to gain… and everything to lose.

If you win the game, sure people talk about it. But if you need a Pool B or C bid at the end of the season, that win won’t help you. There won’t be any comments of “well, we should include Carnegie-Mellon because they beat Princeton” on the Selection Committee’s conference call at the end of February. If the comment was there, someone is sure to add “yeah, but they lost to Bluffton University. You know… the team from Ohio.”

I have heard almost every argument to keep scheduling Division I opponents. It’s a great recruiting tool; it allows our players to have their parents attend a game; there is money in it for our program. None of these are a good reason to play the game.

How is it a great recruiting tool? I can’t imagine a recruit telling people he rather go to Catholic University than another school, because CUA losses every year to American. Is the recruiting tool that a coach can guarantee a player at least one game he is going to play in… because the game will be out of hand at some point, so everyone on the bench will play? Your recruiting tool should be the fact you schedule the toughest Division III schedule possible. And because of it, the program is looked at as a top D3 team and a perennial pick for the post-season.

How does the argument that parents attending a game work? I heard one program argue a few years back that when they traveled to New Jersey to play a D1 opponent, it was great for the parents of the players who might not get to a game normally. Again, I would like to point out I don’t know how a parent can say with a straight face they were glad to see their son play against a team they didn’t have a chance beating. How about telling the parents, instead of Princeton… we’ll make sure to schedule Ramapo College so that you can see us play some of the best basketball in the region… against one of the best teams in the region.

And money?! I understand most schools have trouble financing their programs… but the good teams are the ones scheduling these games and the good teams are certainly not the ones struggling financially. This isn’t the Coppin State University men’s program (Division I, by the way) that takes a yearly trip around the nation playing programs much better than them to get money to help pay the bills (though, they are known to pull a few upsets).

Coppin State isn’t getting into the NCAA Tournament unless they win their conference. So, losing those games really doesn’t hurt them.

Puget Sound, Carnegie Mellon, Catholic and many of the others have a very good chance of getting into the NCAA Tournament without winning their conferences. But, they are shooting themselves in the foot scheduling Division I games in season.

Instead of scheduling a Division I opponent… why not schedule another regional game against whoever they want. They could choose an easy team… or a tough team. Either of those will have some weight on the Selection Committee. The easy team – an extra regional win. The tough team, a win gets them more notice and a stronger schedule… and an extra regional win.

So, stop with the “we’re playing a Division I team tonight” or “wow, we beat a Division I team tonight.” Great! Good for you! It must have been cool to be at that game!

Now tell me… how exactly did it help your season or your post-season chances?

A sad day for D3hoops.com

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Sigh.

The day I’ve been fearing for months has finally arrived. Independence Air has announced it is ceasing operations effective Thursday night, Jan. 5.

This might not mean much to most of you readers, but Independence’s hub was at Washington Dulles airport (IAD for you travel geeks) and it quickly became a favorite of mine because it offered cheap flights to a good number of places where Division III schools are located. I took six flights on Indepdence in the past 15 months, and sent Keith McMillan places via Independence on a few other occasions for D3football.com.

We’ve enjoyed the convenience, the service and the price, which enabled us to see teams such as Wheaton, Illinois Wesleyan, Aurora and the final Hope/Calvin game in the Holland Civic Center last season, not to mention a half-dozen football games. But we also had to figure that such bargains couldn’t last. We’ll have to work harder for bargains in 2006.

Is it too late to start collecting Wendy’s cups?