So that’s it. Done for another year.
And while we’re thankful for the rest after an incredibly full four weeks, we know that once we’re fresh we’ll be winsomely looking at the schedules, wishing we had some place to go this weekend.
Perhaps we can stave off the post postseason blahs by sharing some of our thoughts on the 2005-2006 campaign.
Here are my two-cents (plink, plink)…
– Mmm…crow: Since I was in Springfield for those festivities, please allow me to publicly eat my crow here regarding Virginia Wesleyan’s run.
Last week on Hoopsville Dave McHugh asked me how I felt about the Mid Atlantic and Atlantic regions’ showing in the tournament. Pretty good provided Virginia Wesleyan doesn’t get skunked by IWU, I said.
In my mind the Marlins validated more than themselves with their incredible run. They gave other teams outside the touted Great Lakes region and CCIW a reason to feel good about 2005-2006.
Consider that Virginia Wesleyan’s smallest margin of victory in this run was a one-point come-from-behind victory over Lincoln (Mid-Atlantic). Or that SUNY-Farmingdale (Atlantic) went down to Virginia Beach on short rest and gave the Marlins all they could handle.
That certainly says something about the Marlins who thrived under pressure. As Pat Coleman commented on the message board, Ton Ton Balenga is Mr. March and the finned champs were incredibly clutch.
But seeing Virginia Wesleyan topple the CCIW’s best and one of the elite Great Lakes teams made me realize the difference between the best teams there and everywhere else was not as stark as thought. Amherst (Northeast) pushed Wittenberg to the end. Wooster got dumped by upstart Transylvania. The CCIW’s other tournament teams lost to west reps St. Thomas and Puget Sound.
I still think the CCIW was the toughest conference to win and the Great Lakes Region was the deepest. But, in retrospect, Virginia Wes’ run showed that the rest of the country was much more than also-rans.
– The Flying Dutchwoman: Bria Ebels’ run through the women’s side was something to behold. She zipped past opposing guards like they were stuck in mud. Her three-point range gave the Flying Dutch a big lead early against Wash U and put the game away against Southern Maine. And she was a fantastic rebounder.
How good? With a lot of talented rebounders at his disposal, Coach Brian Morehouse put 5-foot-7 Ebels down low to rebound opponents’ missed free throws. The first time I noticed it I thought it was a mistake. It caught the eye of a couple veteran coaches at Springfield too. Then I saw her leap up and snatch the ball away from the taller forwards. It was like something out of the Matrix.
Three separate observers told me how impressed they were with Ebels play, comparing her to Division I talent and the fastest guards Division III has tried to glimpse as they blow past you to the rim.
Hope’s strength was in its balance. But Bria was the cornerstone of that championship castle.
– Indelible images: A few images that will comfort me during the slow summer days ahead. Steve King Senior (Calvin College alum) proudly screaming “That’s my son” to the crowd after Steve Junior’s shot put Messiah in the NCAA tournament.
Morehouse wrapping Ebels in a bear hug and carrying her to the end of the bench as she left the court one last time.
The animated expressions and inspired play of Lincoln’s Kyle Myrick and Southern Maine’s Ashley Marble – two players whose joy for the game shone brightly on Division III’s biggest stage.
And I’m sure you have your own memories, whichever teams you follow.
So what were they?
The Flying Dutchwoman(good thought) made the play of the tournament against Scranton when(Hope 56-54) she drove the baseline past her defender knowing she was going to come up against Tiffany Williams(who deflected many shots this weekend) had the confidence in herself to do it, and was able to pull it off with a reverse layup. A championship play!
*****
“But seeing Virginia Wesleyan topple the CCIW’s best and one of the elite Great Lakes teams made me realize the difference between the best teams there and everywhere else was not as stark as thought.”
*****
Gordon, remember, Illinois Wesleyan neither won the CCIW regular season nor the conference tournament. (IWU finished 2 games behind Augustana in the regular season and lost to North Central in CCIW tourney title.) And I think this gets at the simple point that people like myself have made this season — that the CCIW was probably the “best conference” in the nation this year. Augustana, North Central, Elmhurst, and Illinois Wesleyan (listed in order or conference tourney seeding) were just about dead even as all of the head-to-head scores show, and Illinois Wesleyan’s tournament run indicates just how tough that group of 4 was this year.
Titan:
I’ll agree that the CCIW was the best conference this year. And your point about the top of the CCIW being even is a fair one. Beating up on each other speaks to the conference’s parity. But I was surprised at the CCIW’s and Great Lakes’ inability to dominate the other good teams when it mattered most.
There were 8 teams from the Great Lakes in the men’s draw. Those 8 collectively went 10-8…not too impressive, perhaps. But only three of those losses came to non-GL teams: Bethany and Wooster lost to Transylvania (as did Mississippi College) before they were ousted by Wittenberg, and Wittenberg lost to Va. Wesleyan in the title game. There were a total of 5 GL-vs.-GL games in the first three rounds. All 8 GL teams were in the same sectional, so the best we could hope for was one representative in Salem, which is what we got. Overall, the GL teams went 5-3 against non-GL teams and eliminated the NESCAC and HCAC champions…and won the women’s title. If not for the nice run by Transylvania, I’d be perfectly satisfied with the performance by the GL teams in the tournament.
Bob,
I’m sure that if IWU had won the title they would be acclaimed as the nation’s best as the last left standing.
Let’s see: Lawrence beat St. Thomas, who beat North Central, and IWU beat Lawrence at Lawrence.
Puget Sound beat Augustana and then IWU beat UPS on a neutral floor (which as we know, happened twice).
They may not have been the Pool A bid but they were the CCIW’s best team in the tournament.
I think Gordon stated what a lot of us from the Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic regions have known for a while. The teams in these regions are better than a lot of people think. Farmingdale is a program to be watched, they have been competing as a four year program for a fairly short time. They are losing their top three scorers this year and I want to see how much if any they slip this season. I think the CUNY is the weakest of the three Atlantic conferences but they have been improving, their problem usually seems to be depth.
I think that two or three other NJAC teams would have gotten as far or farther than WPU did. NJCU and Ramapo definitly could have gotten at least as far and I believe that Stockton probably could have also. The NJAC is one of three or four of the top ten conferences in D-III that is not a two or at most three team show. Occasionally a team in the NJAC will step out and have an incredible season but most years there are three or four teams within one or two games of each other entering the last three or four conference games in regular season. The other conferences I see like that every year are the CCIW, WIAC and possibly the OAC.
The biggest problem facing the NJAC and the MAC dual entities is they are the only really strong conferences that each other can schedule for regional games due to proximity. There are Centennial and CAC schools that are accessable on the fringes and if the NCAA goes with the four region proposal it will improve greatly for these conferences but for now I am going by what is in place.
This is why the NJAC is going back to the two division format with the teams playing a double round robin in division and the other divisions teams once each for a total of 13 conference games as opposed to 18. They are playing the system some to allow the NJAC teams to schedule more out of conference teams to improve their chances of placing more teams in the NCAA tournament. This will help teams avoid having 7 regional losses and 5 or 6 are in conference losses and that is basically what cost NJCU, Ramapo and Stockton better pool C chances.
It was a fun tournament run this year, best Salem ever and maybe the best entire Final Four ever, from title game to third-place game.
Among the things I’ll remember:
Lincoln fans showing up in force.
Devastated Lincoln players
Devastated Wittenberg players
York fans and administrators standing around our broadcast position courtside after their first-round win, listening to Pat Cummings and Jody May call Villa Julie’s first-round win at Baruch.
The vaguely surreal feeling of having ESPN cameras hovering over us while we’re trying to call the Widener/William Paterson game.
The even more surreal feeling of walking ESPN’s producer through some of the great stories in the other brackets before they settled on following whomever came out of the UW-Whitewater regional.
Dave and I having two “buzzer bummer” endings at York before Virginia Wesleyan made up for it later. We defined a buzzer bummer as a team having a final shot to win the game but missing badly (Catholic) or not getting a shot off (York).
Singing the anthem at the last basketball game in York’s Wolf Gym. Becoming a trivia answer wasn’t my goal, just avoiding having to listen to Whitney Houston for a second straight night!
Standing in the lobby while Marques Fitch was on Hoopsville, talking about the man he’d potentially be guarding the next night, Adam Dauksas, calling him “solid.” An Illinois Wesleyan person scoffed and predicted it would be used as bulletin board material. (This was a person in position to make it happen.) Doesn’t seem like it worked in retrospect.
Amherst coach Dave Hixon’s patience while he and I waited for play-by-play man Pat Cummings to remember that we were interviewing the coaches at halftime of the third-place game. Thanks to the Wittenberg fans who saw me trying to get Pat’s attention so we could get that question on the air.
… then having to glare at that same group of fans later, hoping to keep their incessant comments about the opponents and the officiating from continuing to be heard over our broadcast.
Once every time we broadcast together I throw a little Keith Jackson cadence into my call to see if Pat notices. Not sure if he did but I know Dave did.
And finally, Pat grabbing Dave Macedo for his postgame interview on our NCAAsports.com broadcast before CSTV could get him on air. (Relax, broadcast rights gurus, CSTV was in a commercial and we had the rights to do so.)