We are less than a week from Selection Monday and that means looking ahead at who is going to make it… and who isn’t.
Pool A teams are obvious. Win the tournament with an automatic bid up for grabs, and you get in the post-season.
But those who don’t win those tournaments, don’t have automatic bids available, or are independents are now being grouped into two different groups with all the other schools from around the nation.
So, how does the National Committee chose who will get Pool B and Pool C bids? By regional records.
Yes, I know, we have been through this all season… and the last few seasons. But, let me point out a team that could get into the tournament thanks to a loop-hole in this regional record rule.
Nebraska-Wesleyan. A few times this season, on this show, it has been stated that unless NWU was able to earn a .500 record, they would not be eligible for the NCAA Tournament. Well, it turns out, we were wrong.
According to the NCAA, teams below .500 are not prohibited.
Well, that’s a relief. If Goucher went and won the CAC Tournament, they would be 6-20 overall. At least we know the NCAA will allow them into the NCAA tournament, despite the below .500 record. But, that also means that Nebraska-Wesleyan is also eligible.
Yes… if the Prairie Wolves win their last two games of the season, they will finish 11-16 overall and 8-1 in the West Region. The import thing to keep in mind is that regional record. With just one loss in region and with the NCAA officially saying that no team below .500 is prohibited from the tournament, NWU could get one of the handful of Pool B bids available.
Talk about taking advantage of a loop-hole. Nebraska-Wesleyan might get into the tournament while only playing nine Division III games all season. That’s less than forty-percent of their games this season.
Unless a team plays a schedule that has more than 75% Division III, they shouldn’t be allowed in the tournament… besides having a losing record.
Now, this comes down to regional schedules. Teams are encouraged to play teams in their region, or a 200-mile radius. But NWU is simply not playing opponents outside of their region. It results in all of their Division III opponents being regional foes, but still only giving them a total of nine games.
I am sure some would argue that Nebraska-Wesleyan simply can’t schedule teams without a lot of travel. Fine, then explain to me Colorado College’s schedule. They are more isolated from Division III schools the Prairie Wolves, yet this season’s schedule has 15 of their 24 games against Division III opponents; with six of them in-region.
Yes, NWU is playing more regional games, but Colorado College is at least scheduling most of their games with Division III opponents. NWU could skate into the Division III tournament with barely a Division III schedule.
The NCAA has to do something about this. Whether they let NWU into the tournament or not, they need to change a few rules.
1 – If you are an independent school, you better have a .500 record or better to make the tournament.
2 – A team’s schedule must have a strong majority of Division III teams.
3 – Fix the “regional” problem.
There was talk that next season, games played in the winter break at tournaments, would probably be declared as regional games… no matter who the opponent was or where the game was played. This was to allow teams to have more regional opponents, while getting the chance to travel to other tournaments.
Well, that “rule” has been tabled. Now, there is talk about changing the “regional” games to the four actual regions the NCAA recognizes. This along with maybe pushing the “mileage” circle from 200 miles to 300 miles or more may work as well.
What ever the NCAA does, they have to make these regional records mean a bit more and be less restrictive on opponents. To compare teams from different regions… based on regional records… in an effort to place them in the NCAA Tournament is not the best solution.
If so, based on regional records, Nebraska-Wesleyan will have a better chance than Lincoln to get into this year’s NCAA Tournament. Lincoln has played a total of four opponents outside of Division III or Nebraska Wesleyan’s 18 teams, including only two or three D3 teams… since January 1.
Hmmm. I suspected that there was no NCAA rule against teams with losing records getting at-large bids, but last month I was told otherwise.
D-Mac, you’ve left out one very important point in your rant about Nebraska Wesleyan. The Prairie Wolves may be an independent by D3 standards, but NebWes is actually part of a conference. That conference, the Great Plains Athletic Conference, consists of NebWes and twelve other teams. All twelve of those other teams are NAIA members (NebWes is dual NCAA/NAIA affiliation, but they always declare for the NCAA for postseason purposes). The GPAC, which has no divisions, plays a conference slate that’s halfway between a single round-robin and a double round-robin: Six opponents twice each and six opponents once each, for a total of 18 conference games.
NebWes thus only has seven non-conference spots available on their schedule. They’ve used all seven of them to schedule West Region opponents … plus, they’re taking part in the new West Region indie tourney to get a possible two more regional games under their belts.
NebWes is making a good-faith effort to play by D3’s rules. Their conference is the real constraint here, not their geographic isolation.
And two years I was told otherwise as well. Unfortunately today we found out that was incorrect.
I am glad that NWU is making an actual effort to schedule West Region games this year — it’s in stark contrast to previous seasons, where they have played as few as four games. And with the AD there being a recent chair of the national committee, their scheduling practices were puzzling, to say the least.
I agree – it’s not quite fair to complain about them when they’re tied in a conference. Isn’t one of their fellow conference mates going to start the process of conversion?
Doane was described as “exploring the possibility” of entering the provisional pipeline to enter D3, or words to that effect.
I would think that considering there is a rule in Division III bylaws stating that schools must schedule 50% in-region to be eligible for the tournament makes this fair game. NWU apparently has an exemption, and I don’t see why that’s fair.
Perhaps they were grandfathered in because of their circumstance. It’s better to have them D-3 and perhaps hope they can convince the rest of those schools to come along for the ride.
You know, there is a clause in the championship rules that states a team must play 50% of its schedule against in-region d3 opponents, but then the NCAA allows for a petition to get around this. All they need to do is stop taking petitions or start turning them down.
I too think the regional issue can be a bit of a problem. I think there should be a minimum number of regional games played and minimum against D3 opponents. I don’t think its fair that teams can play 10 regional games and be ranked ahead of others and have a better shot at getting into the tournament. I know they face geographical obstacles but the NCAA should make some provision. Winning % is winning % but the more regional game syou play the reater risk of a loss. Chapman’s women fall into the same mold as NWU. I don’t dispute their qualifications, because they have proven themselves over the years. But there should be some minimum imposed, in my opinion, to place teams on a more level playing field that makes them more similar when it comes to tournament selection and seeding and regional ranking.
‘Tis fortunate I’m not one of the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens’ team or their fans today, but I feel their pain! In their penultimate game, P-P defeated the formerly Top 25 ranked Occidental Tigers, moving into a tie for second in the SCIAC with said Occidental. Then P-P’s final game was a win by 16 at Redlands (.333 on season), who just 8 days before had pulled off a major upset on the Tigers’ home-court by 6.
Now, even Occidental’s own radio commentators had predicted the Tigers were Tourney Toast because their final game was merely the inevitable double-digit trouncing of win-less (that’s right, win-less) Caltech.
Lo and behold, the decision of the At-large selectors is that Occidental gets to attend The Big Dance, and poor Pomona-Pitzer is left to cry in their spritzers! When my college played P-P, our cheerleaders favorite taunt was “Pluck the Sagehens!” Well, Pomona-Pitzer has been egregiously plucked this time around. Of course, it’s entirely possible that these talented Tigers will claw their way to the D3 championship game, and I wish them good luck. Yet, even that scenario would not lessen one jot the inanity of leaving Pomona-Pitzer out. This has completely turned me off D3 Hoops for this year. Who knows how many more pathetic, equally “plucked” D3 colleges are weeping around the country as I write this?
If you had swept Oxy you’d have a great case for clearly being better than Oxy. However, Occidental has a similar regional winning percentage and a significantly higher QOWI.
There’s reason to consider other teams ahead of Oxy, but Pomona-Pitzer is not one of them.