The power of the pen, or in this case the keyboard, allows me the luxury of writing about some pretty fun stuff at this time of year. Unfortunately the situation is such that I can’t get to everything or everybody. There are 122 teams in this NCAA Tournament and they’re all story-worthy in some way, shape or form.
That’s where you, our loyal reader, comes in.
I’m throwing out a challenge within this blog. Let’s get to know all 122 NCAA Tournament teams. Here’s how you can help. Tell us, in 50-or-so words, the most interesting thing about the team or teams that you follow. Or to think of it another way: What’s “Division III” about your particular team? I’ll start us off with a few and hopefully that will get the ball rolling. The goal is to educate everyone about every team in the tourney.
Men’s
WPI: The old fogeys in the crowd will like the way senior guard Ryan Flynn plays. Flynn kicks his legs back when he shoots jump shots, ala Dick Barnett, who was a key contributor on those New York Knicks NBA championship teams from a few years ago. Only recruited by two Division III schools, Flynn was the team’s leading scorer in the NEWMAC semis and finals.
Amherst: Reserve forward Adolph Coulibaly is an artist with the basketball, literally. The Brown transfer was one of two students commissioned for an art exhibit that featured portraits of 25 of the most influential individuals in American sports history.
Baldwin Wallace: My arrival in Berea for a game earlier this season was greeted by a story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer telling how Tori Davis, the likely All-American forward, hopes someday to work on ESPN’s basketball coverage. He may end up on ESPN’s highlights this season, the way things have played out for the OAC champs, as Davis has developed a knack for last-second heroics.
York (N.Y.) Kwesi Liverpool, who had played previously for three seasons, left the team earlier this season in an effort to find work, but returned midway through when he found he missed the game too much. In 17 games since his return, Liverpool is shooting 62 percent from the field and averaging better than 13 points-per-game.
Women’s
Baruch- Sophomore Chiresse Paradise didn’t intend to go to Baruch, but came on a visit when her friend Naesha Tyler-Moore decided to consider coming from the Chicago area. After some pickup play, several Baruch players went to head coach Machli Joseph and told him to recruit the “other” girl from Chicago. Paradise and Moore both came to the school and Paradise was CUNYAC Player of the Year on a team that won the league title for the first time.
Wesleyan- The Cardinals will make a return trip to Virginia for their first-round NCAA game, which is particularly convenient for the family of the school’s top player. Wesleyan’s season started in Arlington, the native city of its All-American candidate Hannah Stubbs (whose family was an annual listener to D3Hoops.com’s Wesleyan webcasts) and will now continue in Fredricksburg, on Mary Washington’s campus, against Muhlenberg.
That’s half a dozen for you. Help us put a checkmark next to the other 116 on our list.
I just happen to think this is an interesting fact about the Wash U women, even though it’s not interesting trivia about this year’s team specifically. Beating them in the tourney is a good sign.
1998-2001: National Champions
2002: Lost to Wisconsin-Stevens Point(National Champion)
2003: Lost to Trinity(TX) (National Champion)
2004: Lost to Wisconsin-Stevens Point(4th Place)
2005: Lost to Millikin (National Champion)
So 8 out of the last 9 years, Wash U has either won the title or lost to the team that won the title(and the exception was still a trip to the final four).
The Medaille College Lady Mavericks of Buffalo, N.Y. are one of the great stories of this tournament. From a 5 win doormat in 2003, to a perfect conference season in 2006 masterminded by coach Pete Lonergan, the Mavs make their first ever NCAA tournament appearance, a 25 win, 1 loss, sophomore and freshman powered force to be reckoned with in this championship, and in years to come.
Medaille will be featured in my “Around the Nation” column this week. And an added did you know on them…Coach Lonergan is also a broadcaster in his spare time…he’s the radio analyst for the University of Buffalo men’s basketball team
Is he related to former Catholic coach, Maryland assistant, and now Vermont coach Mike Lonergan?
The Mary Washington women follow a rather unusual scoring pattern, by class:
The freshman class averages 31.2 points per game
The sophomore class averages 18.1 per game
The junior class averages 19.1 per game
The senior class averages 7.0 per game
Four of the 15 players that dress for Simpson are two-sport athletes (Jayna Fischbach, Ashley Katch, and Sarah Pearson play volleyball; Whitney Franker is the starting goalie for the women’s soccer team). A fifth, junior Tessa Van Oosbree competed for the Simpson volleyball team as a freshman and as a sophomore.
Widener Coach Dave Duda says Kris Clarkson is the best player he’s ever had at the Chester school. Before the season started, he issued a challenge to Kris, warning that he might end up “the most underachieving player [he’s] ever had” unless he focuses. It’s worked as Clarkson has been phenomenal in winning MACC Player of the Year.
Alvernia Coach Mike Miller is making his first trip to the NCAA tournament as the Crusaders’ head man. But he is no stranger to success, serving as Jack McCloskey’s assistant and head coach at Reading high where he instructed current Cleveland Cavalier Donyell Marshall.
Muhlenberg Point Guard Kristen Piscadlo hopes to travel to Australia this summer as part of a Division III All-Start team. Aside from Basketball, she hopes to give surfing a try down under.
On a completely unrelated note, did you know that when it duck quacks it has no echo? Scientistis haven’t been able to figure out why.
You’re free to try that last one out as a pick-up line…
Mythbusters tackled that issue last year. I forgot the outcome, but I believe the duck did actually have an echo.
13 down, 109 to go. NO relation to Mike that I’m aware of…
Illinois Wesleyan’s 5-man post rotation features two sets of identical twins – Chris/Cory Jones @ Andrew/Zach Freeman. Cory (#42) and Zach (#30) are the starters with Chris (#34) and Andrew (#24) coming off the bench.
Pretty neat.
http://www.iwuhoops.com/twins2.jpg
http://www.iwuhoops.com/cc1.jpg
http://www.iwuhoops.com/illinich.jpg
http://www.iwuhoops.com/twins.jpg
I just realized that I can’t count, but can’t edit my post above either. That should say 7 of the last 8 years for Wash U.
Ursinus coach Kevin Small is in his 6th season in Collegeville and has three conference championships under his belt, along with two Jostens finalists, Mike McGarvey (2006) and Dennis Stanton (2004). Word is that McGarvey’s brother will suit up as a freshman for the Bears next season. Should he have half the play of his brother, expect Small to be contending for more championships.
Mississippi College runs a 13 man rotation and had outscored their opponents by a 16 point per game margin, 82 to 66. Despite averaging 82 points as a team, only one player averages more than 10 per game, and that’s Tyler Winford at just 10.3 per contest.
Transylvania is a team on an island…somewhat. They are the only Midwest region team in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Centre College is just an hour south of Transylvania and they are in the South region while Thomas More, about 90 miles north of Transylvania is also in the South. Thank the Heartland Conference who allies with the Midwest.
Christopher Newport has played 19 of their 27 games at home and two on neutral floors, including a mid-season 114-112 loss against Lincoln, their first round opponent. Captains coach CJ Woollum said before the season that no one will play CNU because of their past history in the NCAA. Granted, the Captains aren’t as strong as they’ve been in the past…but c’mon people..
Baruch men’s guard Cheick Fadika is originally from Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), went to high school in Rabat, Morocco, and speaks English, French, and Dioula fluently while he is also conversational in Spanish.
Farmingdale State’s Dashawn Warren and Peter Lipka are a combined 120 for 223 from beyond the arc this year, that’s a 53.8% hit rate.
Carroll, Widener, William Paterson, and Utica all share the same nickname: Pioneers.
So do Plattsburgh State, Catholic, and St. John Fisher: Cardinals
Plattsburgh State is closer to Montreal than any other D3 school. I don’t envy those who live in Plattsburgh, especially at this time of year, but Montreal is a killer town. Take the Plattsburgh exit on Interstate 87, and you should be looking for the signs that read “Sortie” (French for ‘exit’).
Hamilton’s official team colors are buff and blue. I can just hear that conversation… “I have a pair of buff curtains at home and they just brighten up the room with those blue ruffles. Hey – buff and blue, they can be the colors for the Continentals!”
And in light of Gordon’s silliness, almonds are members of the peach family.
There are a bunch of Tigers…but that’s the most popular sport mascot I believe. So props anyway to DePauw, Occidental, Trinity (TX)…and a few others I am probably missing.
The Maryville University Men’s and Women’s teams both advance to the National Tournament for the second time in three years.
Women’s Coach, Chris Ellis, has proven Maryville Women’s basketball to be a phoenix while reviving it from near death 5 years ago. He has now led the Saints to 42 straight regular season conference victories (3 straight undefeated conference seasons) in the Saint Louis Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SLIAC) and huge victory for the program when defeating national powerhouse Washington U this season on the Maryville campus. The Lady Saints are led by Senior Player of the Year, Carrie Snyder, who is in an inside/outside threat with great footwork in the post and a great touch outside the arc. The Lady Saints play 12-15 players every game, and therefore, play an extremely aggressive tempo on both ends of the floor. Senior point guard Courtney Vickery leads the attack and senior Fallon Rehmert is one of the leading three point shooters in the conference. Rehmert hit the game tying shot in the conference tournament championship to force overtime and an inevitable victory and berth in the NCAA’s.
The Men are led by 5th year coach, Matt Rogers. Rogers’ intensity comes out in all of his players as the team is consistently overmatched with a lack of height, yet battles in each game to the very end…and this year with great success. The Saints have seen many ups and downs this season due to a second year of a rash of injuries. Back up center, Jason Rezabek and freshmen shooting guard, Marcus Vanden Heuvel have spent most of the season in street clothes due to back and knee injuries respectively.
These injuries and too numerous others have led to the 5 starting seniors (Elwell (PG), Hebl (SG), Regan (OG), Klein (PF), and former Conference Player of the Year and 1st Team All-Midwest Region, Stephen Bash to play the bulk of the minutes in the second half of the season. Bash returned this season after rehabbing a reconstructed knee in 200-405. The speed and scoring ability of the four guards and the power and agility of Bash in the middle makes the Saints very difficult to match up against and they will come at you from all angles defensively.
Coach Rogers believes that his team is the true MVP because they seem to have a different hero in each game. Like their peers on the women’s side, the Saints often play upwards of 14-15 players a game and a very uptempo brand of basketball. Only 4 players on the team average over 20 minutes a game, and only senior point guard and the team’s floor leader, Tim Elwell, averages over 25 minutes a game.
If the Saints can stay healthy, they are able to play with anyone in the tournament. They have demonstrated a high level of play this year as witnessed by victories over NAIA powerhouses McKendree College and Missouri Baptist University early this season.
Further research indicates duck quacks do echo. That factoid was not all it’s quacked up to be. It should be billed as an urban myth. Just wanted to clarify and not duck my responsibility to all of you.
Okay, I’m done.
As a fellow Maryville fan, I applaud Sanchopanza’s writeup on the Saint’s Men’s and Women’s teams. HOWEVER, his statement regarding “if healthy, playing with anyone in the tourney” may be a tad optimistic – let’s credit it to youthful enthusism….
Gordon, I’m leaving it to you to tell us who the school “Gordon” is named after…That’s the price you pay for being silly 🙂
Nice job Pat Cummings and Simpson SID…
we’re making progress…
Received an e-mail with a good one…someone asked me to check in to whether this is a unique thing…It’s a neat note for the 2 teams involved
This weekends women’s NCAA-III game between Salem State & Brandeis will have the following matchup.
5 players from the same city (Peabody)
Lauren Orlando-Brandeis
Courtney Tremblay-Brandeis
Melissa Macchi-Salem State
Allie Vaccarro-Salem State
Becca Antonio-Salem State
4 players from Peabody High School who played together on the same team
for Coach Heil.
Lauren Orlando
Melissa Macchi
Allie Vaccaro
Becca Antonio
Yeah, Mark…get crackin on the record book that will tell you THAT!
Oh…and a random fact about Gordon, Mann that is…he almost went to Gordon College!
Very well. As penance here is the answer…
Gordon College is named for the Reverend Dr. A. J. Gordon who founded the school in 1889. The school was originally based in Boston but moved to Wenham because of space constraints. The old facilities were sold to MIT.
So why are they the Scots?
A common surname in Scotland now, the Gordons were a historically prominent family in Northeast Scotland. The family has its own crest and a fight song of a sort:
A Gordon for me, a Gordon for me
If ye’re no Gordon, ye’re no use to me
The Black Watch are braw, the Seaforths and a’
But the cocky wee Gordons the pride of them a’!
Hm. Kind of catchy.
What is more mysterious to me is Gordon’s animal-like insignia which you can see here — http://www.gordon.edu/athletics/. It reminds me of NYU
While we’re at it, you know what would be awesome? If Gordon College had a special introduction for their team that went like this…
Opposing team introduced. Pause.
Lights go dark. Pause.
Bag pipe marching music begins to play, slowly, growing louder. The lights are brightened slowly using a dimmer switch, only a plaid pattern casts its striped aura on the court. And then the locker room door bursts open with the players dribbling out in unison to center court, wearing tear-away kilts instead of warm-up suits.
Now THAT would be intimidating!
Cortland State: It’s the first time the Cortland men and women have both reached the NCAA tournament since 2000. That season, each Red Dragons team won the SUNYAC Championship. The Cortland men, led by First Team All-American Tom Williams, advanced to the Sweet 16. The Cortland women received a first round bye, and lost to St. John Fisher in the 2nd round. The very next year, First Team All-American Kate Smith took the Red Dragon women’s basketball team to the Sweet 16.
The senior class for the Cortland men’s team started their career on a five win team that nearly finished last in the SUNYAC. The Red Dragons have four players averaging double digits. Among them, Dave Maggiacomo. Maggiacomo transfered to Cortland from Dutchess CC and was playing intramurals when he was asked to try out for the team. In his second season, he’s Cortland’s top shooter off the bench.
The Cortland women have made the NCAA tournament two out of the last three seasons. Cortland upset Ithaca in the first round of the 2004 tournament on the South Hill before falling at Rochester. Interestingly enough, Cortland opens the tournament Friday night, against Rochester.
Also, I’m surprised Gordon or Mark hasn’t brought up the York (NY) vs. York (PA) first round game on the men’s side.
Did you know that the Hope women and the Hope men have not lost a game at the new Devos Center!
Farmingdale has only been a four year school for a few years now and are in the NCAA tournament for the first time.
Baruch men and women are in the tournament and I know it is the first time for the women and I believe the first time for the men.
Jose Rembibas of WPU has played and coached in a final four. He was a member of the 89 Seton Hall final four team and has coached the WPU Pioneers to two final fours and one national championship game.
courtesy U of R Sports Info director Dennis O’Donnell
Rochester (Women): Lots of teams have balance – 3 or 4 in double figures. The Yellowjackets have it too – no one is averaging in double figures through 25 games. Eight are getting between 5.3 ppg. and 9.8 ppg…. If you are looking for a predictor for a national finalist – take Scranton and chalk it up to Rochester. In 2004, Bowdoin lost in the title game to Wilmington. Eight months later, the Polar Bears played in Rochester’s season-opening Chuck Resler Tournament (and beat UR in the Resler Final). Scranton is booked for the Resler for November, 2006. The other teams are Montclair State (with former UR assistant Beth O’Boyle coaching) and Clarkson – which is the alma mater of UR head coach Jim Scheible. He earned his first coaching win in 1989-90 as the head coach of Clarkson – and he got it at UR’s Palestra over SUNY Albany in OT.
UW-Stout seven-footers John and Jacob Nonemacher weren’t recruited by coach Eddie Andrist — they e-mailed a bunch of schools and he was one of three coaches who responded seriously.
More from a Daily Dose post in July.
Take care of two here
Scranton Men:
2 NCAA Championships (’76 & ’83)
4 Final Fours
20th NCAA Apperance
17th Freedom Conference Championship
**Has faced William Paterson three times in the NCAA Tournament
2000 WP 60-58 OT 1st Rd
1981 WP 87-70 1st Rd
1977 US 78-69 Elite 8 Scranton finished 3rd
33-19 NCAA Record
**Has been hit with numerous injuries to as many as 5 players at one time. Two are lost for the remainder of the season. Coach Carl Danzig along with Lycoming coach Don Friday named Co-Coach of the Year (Both served as asstants under Pat Flannery at Bucknell).
Scranton WOMEN
1 NCAA Championship (1985)
7 Final Fours
22nd NCAA Apperance (one from the record set by Salem State)
18th Freedom Conference Championships
43 NCAA victories most in Div. III
** 9 players have played in all 27 games this year for the Royals
** Head Coach Mike Strong is in his 26th season with a record of 634-131, 2nd all-time in victories behind Phillip Kahler (St. John Fisher)
Could someone list the schools that are sending both Men’s and Women’s teams to the dance this year? What is the farthest a twosome has ever reached in the same year? ie both men’s and women’s from a school reached final four etc?
Schools sending both men’s, women’s teams:
Baldwin-Wallace
Baruch
Calvin
Carroll
Cortland State
DePauw
Hope
Maryville (TN)
Messiah
Norwich
Randolph-Macon
Scranton
Trinity (TX)
UW-Stout
Thanks – more than I expected – Is Maryville Tn correct, or did you mean Maryville Mo, which definitely is sending both teams?
while we’re at it…
anyone wanna tackle a list of 1st-time tournament participants?
In the midst of writing, clipping audio and other d3 chores, otherwise i’d try to do it myself…
UW-Stevens Point had teams in both Finals Four in 2004 (also in women’s hockey the same weekeend).
An SID submission:
Lincoln (23-4): In his second year as head coach, Garfield Yuille has compiled a 44-11 record. In the previous five years, Lincoln was 44-75. In five February games, Kyle Myrick averaged 42.8 points, 10.2 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 steals. This is Lincoln’s first trip to the NCAA tournament. Lincoln has won nine consecutive games, all by double digits, average margin of victory 28.4 points.
Maryville(TN) and Maryville(MO) are each sending both squads. Sorry about that.
The Brandeis women are in the NCAA tournament for the first time ever, and it is the first time since 1978 that Brandeis has sent a basketball team of either gender to the NCAA DIII tournament.
When Brandeis comes to Maine to play this weekend, it will be a homecoming for forward Christine Clancy, who hails from Yarmouth, Maine. (Yarmouth, ME is halfway between Portland, ME and Brunswick, ME). Christine Clancy is a two sport star at Brandeis– she also plays on the tennis team.
Bethany College has been around since 1840 in West Virginia, and has to my knowledge little if any experience with the Division III Basketball Tournament minus their first trip and loss in last year.
I’m hoping the twins, Mike and Matt Drahos can bring some great last run to their careers with the Bison, and hopefully Scott Mezyk who often runs point can get a little limelight before he graduates as well. They’re a seasoned team, and put up a good run this year, I only hope it doesn’t end now.
One thing I find amusing about the matchup with Transylvania, besides they are both very, very, old schools with alot of history, is that out of all the teams in the Tournament, they are the only two affiliated with the Disciples of Christ Church. Just an extra-amusing sidenote.
You forgot St. John Fisher has both the mens and womens in the tourny.
Fisher men- 6-8 different players can be the star on any given night when this team is on from behind the arc not much can beat them.
Don’t let McGee get open behind the arc or he will beat you
Fisher Women-The game lies in the hands of the inside outside dominance of Melisa Hartmen and Kathy Baum. Hartmen will kill you on the inside with points, boards and steals, Baum can hit the three like no one else
Also on Fisher…correct me if wrong, but I believe that one of their players, Nick Bennett, is working as an accountant while taking grad school classes
Yup and Raymie Aumen is also currently taking grad classes
THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER enters NCAA tournament play at (25-3) with losses to only Wittenberg by 2 in the NCAC tournament final, Ohio Weseleyan by 3, and Baldwin Wallace by 5 in OT. They were ranked number 1 in the nation for several weeks and in the top 3 the entire season. They are led by NCAC player of the year sophomore James Cooper averaging over 19 pts per game. Also, 1st team senior forward Tom Port averaging over 15 pts per game, big man junior Tim Vandervaart 14 pts per game, Bob Cousy award finalist senior guard Kyle Witucky 9 pts. per game, and NCAC Newcomer of the Year Freshman Brandon Johnson 10 pts per game complement Cooper. The Fighting Scots average 99 points per game while yielding only 76 per contest. They are led by head coach Steve Moore who posts a 437-102 record while at the College of Wooster.
keep em coming…Like to hear from some of the folks out west…
Wheaton is a much better road team than home team. The Thunder made it through the CCIW undefeated on the road, but lost 3 games at home. Though they did avenge two of those loses at home in the CCIW tournament. Their only road loss this season was at Calvin, a very ugly game.
This is their sixth NCAA appearance. They have made it to the second round twice, losing to Stout in 1997 by 5, and getting run over (like everyone else) by WashU in 1999.
Wheaton was led in scoring by Junior Elizabeth Fox who is 5-10 and plays the post, but also often brings the ball up the floor. Not far behind her is 6-2 sophomore Jill Trenz who was a preseason First-Team All-American. Trenz is a tremendous defender with 106 blocks already this season. Her scoring dropped off a little this year, but the team is more balanced.
Junior Brittnay Cooper is a very athletic 3 guard, who plays hurt and is averaging 10 points a game. Senior co-captain Irene Kim is very quick and continues to amaze people with her hustle even though she does it all the time. Freshman Chase Pouns is a very good shooter and defender. Wheaton has some depth at the guard position, but not quite as much at the post.
Wheaton Coach Beth Baker is 371-144 in her 20 seasons at Wheaton. Her teams are always defensive minded and this team is no exception, as they have allowed only 49.8 points per game.
Last season they beat Millikin by 17 points, but didn’t face them in the conference tournament. It was Millikin’s last loss of the season. This year, Wheaton has as much talent as last year (even if the depth has shifted from the post to the guards) and is capable of going far in the tournament. But this is still a rather young team, with only one senior still on the floor, because of injury. They are the only team to beat Hope this season, but they have struggled against some teams whose talent wasn’t their equal, but matchuped up well with them nonetheless.
I am excited to see how far they can go. I am cautiously optimistic.
I’d love to see a post about which teams got jobbed in getting into the postseason and how screwed up the NCAA’s numbers only system is in getting the right teams into the tournament… I hate to say this because people are going to call me a whiner, but the OAC should get at least two teams in EVERY year… It is one of the BEST D3 conferences every year in basketball, and not getting two teams in is a joke…
Here is an attempt to look at the “jobbin'” done by the NCAA.
If it is the best 59 teams, identify your computerized rating service, don’t count conference games any different than a game against some D1, some NCCAA or a USCAA school and count down to 59. Otherwise let’s go with these premises.
First Premise– Does each conference get one bid?
If yes, 59 total minus 37 = 22 bids.
Second Premise– Do members who do not have an official conference deserve proportional access? If yes, then the NCAA’s access ratio of 1 bid : 9.22 teams (which is the number of Pool A automatic conferences divided into the total number of members of those conferences) provides 4 bids (41 divided by 9.22). 22 – 4 = 18 bids.
Third premise–We are going to find the best 18 teams that did not get into the Tourney by virtue of Pool A, either winning the whole conference (Carnegie-Mellon or Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) or the Post-season Tourney, like the other 35.
Nine of the Pool C bid teams won their regular season championship.
These teams are: York PA (CAC), Augie IL (CCIW), Baruch NY (CUNYAC), Widener(MAC-C), Calvin (MIAA), Wooster (NCAC), Trinity TX (SCAC), Cortland St (SUNYAC), and Gordon (CCC). Carleton was Co-Champs with St Thomas in the MIAC. We have 10 teams that were no slouches that lost in a Tourney. 18 bids – 10 bids = 8 bids left.
Fourth premise–Strong conferences who had several strong teams got multiple bids.
CCIW gets 3 bids: North Central the tourney winner Pool A, Augie, the regular season winner, and IWU finished tied for second in regular season.
WIAC gets 3 bids: Whitewater, the regular season and tourney winner, La Crosse, finihsed 4th and lost in the tourney semis and Stout finished 2nd and lost in the Tourney finals.
8 bids minus 3 bids accounted for = 5 bids.
Who is left to get the 5 bids?
Carroll – finished 2nd to undefeated Lawrence in the conference and the tourney.
Tufts – Finished tied for 3rd in the conference and lost in the Tourney finals to Amherst.
Randolph-Macon -Finished 2nd in the Conference and the Tourney to VWC.
Occidental – Finished 2nd in the SCIAC.
Utica – Finished 2nd in the E8 behind SJF, lost in the Tourney finals and was the 4th ranked team in the East Region in the week before the Tourney.
IMHO, the weakest case that many of us made or the #18 Pool C bid (especially my #18) was Utica!
IMHO, the OAC was weak this year. Mount Union and basketball! All of D3 gets to smile about Purple Raider basketball, until…I don’t want to think about that. Where was JCU? Otterbein? Capital? Instead of Michigan-Dearborn and Masters, what if ONU had scheduled and beaten in-region opponents Bethany and Lake Erie? I guarantee that they would be in the tournament. The NCAA wants us to schedule D3 teams. ONU gave away 2 chances to show how much better they were than anyone else in the Great Lakes Region.
Who got jobbed? I cannot make a strong case that anyone is sitting home who should be here, unlike the days of 48-team tourneys, like 1999, when my McMurry team sat home with 22-3 and only 1 “official” D3 loss.
The NCAA had some kind of standard before where you got 1 bid for every 7 teams in your conference. The ASC has 16 teams, so why is it they don’t get 2 bids to the NCAA tournament based off that standard? Have they changed their rules or are they breaking their own standards so they don’t have to spend money?
dballa, the NCAA standard is one bid for every official conference of 7 members. The NCAA standards are not 1 bid per 7 members (or 2 bids for 10 members like the NAIA).
Off-line or on the ASC board, I will elaborate.
Yeah, I wish we had enough members in all the team sports to split into East and West conferences. But with UDallas leaving in 2001, Texas Wesleyan getting cold feet and going from D2 to NAIA in 2002, Austin College leaving in 2006, UT-Tyler getting extremely strong, and the rumors of a new conference across the south (maybe rumors, and nothing more, of MissColl and LaCollege leaving) it is just not the time.
One point of clarification on post #44.
Winning a Pool A conference and losing the tourney does not guarantee a Pool C bid.
It is just that those teams were very strong to begin with!
dballa, When the D3 tournament was 64 teams in the 90’s they used to award eight bids to each region. This resulted in the strong conferences in regions getting multiple bids. We used to expect three or four NJAC teams in the tournament every season.
Sara Heitkamp is the best player in Division 3.
Capital will win the 2006 National Championship.
As a response to #44, I would say this… You got me… I am an ONU fan, and thought they should have been in with a 21-6 record with 5 of their losses coming to teams that at one point in the year were ranked in the D3hoops.com Top 25, three of those losses coming to teams who finished in the top 10 (one to #3 Wittenberg and two to #6 BW who they also beat once, lost one game in OT, and lost the other by 2 points.)
I will also say this. If the only way to make the postseason next year is to stay in region and win games, maybe they should not go out to the San Francisco tournament which they won against NAIA teams, and instead schedule Hiram and Kenyon or someone in the NCAC who is a bottom feeder. That will certainly make their in region record look mighty good to the NCAA selection committee… They scheduled a tough Wittenberg squad at their place, and played them well. They scheduled Defiance out of conference, who is usually pretty stong, and just because they had a bad year, the team gets penalized? I’m not sure I get it.
Now, if ONU would have taken care of business against BW the first time or in the conference title game when Tori Davis hit a contested 10 footer in the lane to send it to overtime, and would have knocked off Wilmington, even once, they would have been in. I understand that. But I think there are flaws in saying “we only count in region games when determining the tournament field.”
Just to put this in perspective for a moment… I want someone to tell me how LaCrosse, who you say finished fourth in the league, and lost in the conference semifinals, is more deserving than a team like ONU, who finished second in the league and tournament to the #6 ranked team in the country…
My two cents. I hope it makes sense a bit. I think there are many great teams in this tournament, and I look forward to following it. I guess I’m just trying to make sense as to why the team I root for didn’t make it. Good luck to all teams in the tourney.