The daily dish on Division III basketball
The NCAA national office is closed because of inclement weather (I got an autoresponse from the men’s basketball contacts, though nothing from the women). We don’t know whether we’ll get regional rankings today.
If we get them, I’ll post a new Dose topic. Otherwise, uhm, great weather we’re having, huh? 🙂
For many years, people have asked when I would be doing D3baseball.com. The answer was always “never.”
Well, never say never, because we’ve opened the doors on D3baseball.com. Though it’s not a brand-new site. Like D3hoops.com itself, D3baseball.com is an existing site that is coming under the D3sports.com umbrella. Jim Dixon’s Division III Baseball Online is now part of the family.
I’ve written more on the D3baseball.com Daily Dose about how the site came about, how it will be run, etc., but we hope you will stop by the site, which is probably about 85% complete.
Then scurry back here — we have some playoffs coming up!
Both #1 teams fell this week and were replaced with grizzled veterans of the top rank. On the women’s side, top-ranked Messiah was upset by Moravian and fell 4 spots. The new women’s #1 is Bowdoin, which is nothing new for the Polar Bears. They have been the top team in the women’s poll 24 times, including seven weeks earlier this season, and haven’t been outside the top ten since early in the 2001-02 season, a record streak that has now reached an incredible 86 weeks. Trailing Bowdoin by just 6 votes is Calvin, who defeated #8 Hope to lay claim to the MIAA championship. Moving up to third is Howard Payne, continuing their amazing run that has seen them match or better their all-time highest ranking in each of this season’s 12 polls.
Two-time champion UW-Stevens Point surged back into the men’s #1 spot this week, capturing 21 first place votes. This is the 18th time the Pointers have held the top spot; like their counterparts from Bowdoin, they are second on the list of all-time top rankings (Carthage leads the men with 22 top rankings, while Washington U. has been atop the women’s poll 53 times.) Former #1 Amherst fell back into a tightly-packed group with the other two teams to have held the top ranking this season, #2 Virginia Wesleyan and #4 Wooster. Just 24 points separate these three teams. Overall, 45 men’s teams were mentioned on at least one ballot; this is the widest dispersal of votes this late in a season since the 2000-01 season, when 49 teams received Week 11 votes.
Women’s #23 Chicago lost for the fifth time in their last six games and fell out of the women’s poll, leaving the fourteenth-ranked male Maroons alone to defend Hyde Park’s honor. The departure of the distaff Maroons leaves just three schools with both of their hoops teams ranked: Hope College (women #8, men #10), Washington U. (women #12, men #11) and New York U. (women #7, men #20.) These schools are no strangers to poll success: there has been at least one Wash. U. team ranked in 117 of the 121 weeks of D3Hoops.com polling, while Hope and NYU have appeared in one or both polls 91 and 89 times, respectively.
Debutantes:
Women: #25 Fitchburg State has reeled off 21 straight victories after a season-opening loss to Mt. Holyoke, and sits alone atop the MASCAC. This week the Falcons joined the top 25 for the first time ever.
Men: #23 Mary Hardin-Baylor enters the men’s Top 25 poll for the first time ever. The Crusaders have won 16 consecutive games, placing them atop the ASC-West, and become the second ASC team (after UT-Dallas) to make their poll debut this season. Stevens Institute of Technology has won 10 straight games and holds a slender half-game lead in the Skyline Conference at 19-4. The Ducks debut as vote-getters with 4 points this week.
Congratulations to the Falcons, Crusaders, and Ducks!
Streakers:
Women: Sixth-ranked Scranton is a member of the top 10 for the 25th straight week. #19 Illinois Wesleyan took a tumble in the poll, but still extended their ranking streak to 10 consecutive weeks. #11 DePauw also slid in the poll, falling out of the top 10 for the first time in 22 weeks, but extended their votes-received streak to 110 consecutive weeks. #22 Baldwin-Wallace has received votes in 30 straight poll weeks, and Norwich has attracted votes in 10 straight polls. Williams saw the end of a vote-getting streak that extended back 26 weeks to the beginning of last season.
Men: The three record streaks in the men’s poll all hit significant milestones this week. #3 Amherst has now been ranked for a record 75 straight weeks. #4 Wooster‘s top 10 streak has now reached 50 straight polls, and their voting streak stands at a perfect 120 weeks. Congratulations to the Lord Jeffs and Scots! #6 Wittenberg and #21 Puget Sound have each been ranked for 50 consecutive weeks. Ohio Northern fell out of the top 25 for the first time this season, but still extended their votes-received streak to 25 weeks. #20 NYU, Carthage, and Keene St. have each received votes in the last 10 polls.
Milestones:
Women: #11 DePauw received votes for the 120th time, a mark exceeded only by the triumvirate of #6 Scranton, #12 Washington U., and #13 Hardin-Simmons, each of which has been supported in all of the 121 polls in D3Hoops.com’s top 25 history. Mt. St. Mary and Puget Sound each attracted votes for the 40th time; Luther is a vote-getter for the 20th week; and Norwich received votes in their 10th poll. #4 Southern Maine is a top 10 team for the 60th time, while #20 Wilmington is a top 25 team for the 60th time. #21 McDaniel is ranked for the 20th week; #19 Illinois Wesleyan received their 10th ranking this week.
Men: #21 Puget Sound makes their 50th appearance as a top 25 team this week. For #3 Amherst, this is the 80 ranked week. #2 Virginia Wesleyan is ranked for the 30th time, and #13 Worcester Polytech is in the top 25 for the 20th time. Fourth-ranked Wooster has received votes in each of the 120 men’s polls in D3Hoops.com history, and has now been in the top 10 in 90 of them. #11 Washington U. received votes for the 75th time, and #2 Virginia Wesleyan attracted support for the 50th week. Rochester is a vote-getter for the 80th time; #9 Augustana and #10 Hope received votes for the 70th week apiece; and Bluffton and Grinnell each received a single vote, bringing their all-time voting appearance totals to 10 each.
High-Water Marks:
Women: As noted above, #3 Howard Payne set a new high this week, reaching or tying a high-water mark in the 12th straight poll. #2 Calvin, #17 Lake Forest, and debutante #25 Fitchburg St. each established new all-time high ranks, while #9 McMurry tied their high-water mark.
Men: #15 Aurora set a new high-water mark this week, their fourth this season. #17 Guilford and debutante #23 Mary Hardin-Baylor also set all-time highs in this poll.
Movers and Shakers:
Women: Rochester dropped games to UAA foes #7 NYU and #14 Brandeis, and subsequently dropped 231 points and 10 places this week, landing at #16. Illinois Wesleyan also lost two conference games and slid nine spots to #19, donating 211 points back to the field. Moving up were UAA conference-mates #12 Washington U. (up 5 places) and #14 Brandeis (up 7 spots), each of which gained 121 points in this week’s poll.
Men: Most of the movement in this week’s poll was downward. Then-#15 Carthage lost twice and fell out of the poll, leaving 172 poll points behind. Ohio Northern, which has been ranked as high as #2 this season, also dropped out from the #19 spot, shedding 133 points. #8 St. Thomas lost one game and won another in double overtime, causing them to drop 123 points and 5 poll placements. The biggest upward mover was #22 Trinity (CT), which parlayed a win over then-#1 Amherst into a 107-point gain and entry in the top 25.
Reporting from high above the floor at Oosting Gymnasium, where No. 1 Amherst is playing at Trinity (Conn.) and Amherst fans have made the relatively short trip down I-91 to Hartford and are making their presence felt.
Although Bantam fans outnumber Amherst fans about two and a half to one, the Amherst fans are loud. So loud, in fact, they couldn’t even manage to keep their mouths shut for the national anthem.
It’s senior day here at Trinity and the Bantams are off to a big lead early, up 14-6 with 15:19 to go in the first half.
And I’ve been in the Northeast so long I actually recognize one of the officials.
Tune in to WRTC-FM (link on our scoreboard page) to hear the Trinity students call the game. I’ll continue to update this blog entry but will also be downstairs on occasion taking pictures.
Regardless, not as packed as the games I saw last night, where NYU’s Coles Center was overflowing. Not to the tune of the 2,496 they announced, but probably in the 2,000 range. There was more crowd, and a lot more crowd control, at that game. Hopefully we don’t need it here.
Memorable crowd moments of last night:
•A student photographer for NYU, whom I had spoken briefly to earlier in the game and seemed very mild-mannered, yells “F— You!” at the top of his lungs after a call that he apparently didn’t agree with.
•NYU fans beneath one of the baskets waving pom-poms right behind the ears of a Rochester women’s player attempting to inbound the ball, with crowd control students literally pulling on two kids’ shirts to hold them back.
•One older Rochester fan talking to the NYU students sitting directly behind Rochester’s bench, apparently riling them up by holding a Rochester banner.
•An NYU fan in his mid-20s shouts at Rochester as they come down the floor, trailing 14-6 with 9:50 or so left: “You guys are on pace to score less than 24 points! You stink!” Three seconds later, easy layup for U of R. Five minutes later that had turned into an 11-0 run for Rochester and a 17-14 NYU deficit.
It has been almost a month since McDaniel Coach Bob Flynn suddenly died at his home near Baltimore, MD. In that time, the coach has certainly not been forgotten. His famous red towel is draped over his chair on the McDaniel bench; the team and students still wear “Flynn’s Friends” t-shirts; and as the Green Terror men’s basketball team continues to deal with the loss of a man who was resurrecting the program they still find ways to win and continue the progress Coach Flynn began just two years ago.
Last Wednesday, the team upset Johns Hopkins University which made two things possible (which Gordon Mann also points out in his recent blog), the Blue Jays now have to play Ursinus for the regular season crown and the #1 seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament and McDaniel has a chance to still make the same tournament.
Coach Bob Flynn could not be more proud.
Just the other day, I ran across an article in The (Baltimore) Sun, written by a man who certainly knows Baltimore sports. Simply titled: A Sideline Salute, Paul McMullen’s article brought a tear to my eye, reading about a man who never quit improving himself, his team, or those around him.
Last month I went to Coach Flynn’s viewing and at first was confused. I thought that possibly the funeral home was hosting multiple viewings at the same time. It was nearly impossible to find a parking place and people were streaming in and out of the building like it was an open house. Only after I got out of my car and walked into the funeral home did I realize all these people (adults, teenagers, and kids) were here for one reason… Coach Flynn.
This was actually the second viewing and the funeral home was almost completely full of those wishing to say goodbye and console the Flynn family. I was told the night before, a line wrapped throughout the modest building and out the door on what was just the beginning of a very cold week for Baltimore.
As I looked around, I saw coaches from all over the region. Coach Harney of St. Mary’s who played for Coach Flynn when Harney was a student at SMC and Flynn was working his first magic in resurrecting a program. Coach Dickman of Hood who is Maryland’s all-time winningest high school coach and now in his fourth year of starting a new men’s program at Hood, who had now coached against Flynn both in high school and college. Coach Brett Adams of Villa Julie, who said Coach Flynn was one of those men who was always a phone call away in case help or a sounding board was needed.
There were numerous other coaches from the region and one who had traveled up from Florida that day. I never got his name, but he spoke with me for about 15 minutes about his first coaching job working along side Coach Flynn. He even talked about how Coach Flynn subtly tried to recruit his son, who wasn’t even thinking about Division III schools. I believe the story ended with Coach Flynn saying, “after you look around and you’re no longer interested in Division I or II, giving me a call.”
Referees and administrators mingled with friends and family. And even the current Cardinal Gibbons high school team was there – a team still influenced by what Coach Flynn did for his alma mater over six seasons.
While there were not that many tears, there was certainly sadness and mourning. The line was at least a half hour long, winding its way through several rooms and the hallways. At the end was Tina Flynn, Bob’s wife. She was standing, smiling, and taking every opportunity to say talk with and listen to stories from every single person who passed through the line. Some people she knew well, others – like myself – she only knew through either other people’s stories or reputation.
When I walked up and introduced myself, I hardly had a chance to say how sorry I was when she told me how many great stories and material about her husband she had heard had been on D3hoops.com and Hoopsville. She followed that by up asking me if she could get a copy of that material. I was stunned. I thought we were supposed to be there to consol her. But she was consoling us. And she was reliving Bob Flynn’s life and affect on people through us… and she seemed to thrive on it. Every person who had a story or memory was asked to email or send it to her – something I still need to finish for her.
I got a chance at the beginning of this season to talk with Coach Flynn at the Provident Pride of Maryland Men’s Basketball Tournament at Goucher College. I told him I was impressed with how far the team had come in such a short time and I was looking forward to watching the improvement this season.
And while he is no longer around, it has been nearly a month and the team he was resurrecting in Westminster, MD is still experiencing its best season in recent memory. And while I try and remain impartial in my coverage, I will certainly be rooting on the Green Terror.
And I am sure Coach Flynn is looking down and rooting them on as well.