Monthly Archives: January 2008

Top 25 News and Notes–Week 6

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In the abbreviated week since the Week 5 poll was taken, the teams that made up the women’s Top 25 compiled an overall record of 28-2, and the only two losses were both in Top 25 matchups—with, in each case, the higher ranked team winning. As a result, the Week 6 poll looks amazingly like its predecessor. Nineteenth-ranked Baldwin-Wallace and #20 Lake Forest swapped positions, but otherwise the top 22 teams in last week’s poll remained the same in this week’s edition.

The men compiled a relatively pedestrian 30-8 record, but five of those 8 losses were confined to just two teams, last week’s #3 UW-Stevens Point (which went 0-2 and fell to #14) and then-#11 Brockport St. , losers of three games. Brockport, however, was the only Week 5 ranked team to fall out of the Week 6 poll; this is partly because the heirs apparent had generally bad weeks too—the top 5 teams in the ‘others receiving votes’ category had a composite 5-4 record this week.

This week could well see more of the same. Among the 51 games on the schedules of the Top 25 women’s teams this week, just one matches ranked teams: #15 Southern Maine at #25 Eastern Connecticut this Saturday. Then men’s schedules, on the other hand, are chock full of great matchups, including key games in the CCIW (#10 Elmhurst at #5 Augustana Sat.) and ODAC (#17 Virginia Wesleyan at #11 Guilford Sun.), as well as the Little Three matchup of #4 Williams and #3 Amherst (Saturday at Amherst) and the annual JP Morgan Chase Tournament, featuring #1 Rochester as well as unbeaten and unranked Geneseo St. and a dangerous Brockport St. team looking to rebound from their miserable beginning of 2008.

Debutantes:
Women: None this week.
Men: It’s a happy new year for #24 California Lutheran, which parlayed a Jan. 1 victory over then-#3 UW-Stevens Point into a first-ever berth in the D3Hoops.com Top 25. Congratulations to the Kingsmen!

Streakers:
Women: Twelfth-ranked DePauw has now received votes in the last 120 consecutive polls. Carroll is off to a good start in matching that string, having received votes in 10 straight polls.
Men: #20 Wooster, the holder of most of the men’s poll records, extended one of them this week, receiving votes for the 130th consecutive time. If Wooster were to drop from the voting rolls (something that’s not happened since the poll’s inception in 1999), it would take #3 Amherst (next best at 86 weeks) about 3 years to equal this streak. It would take #14 UW-Whitewater about about 8 years to do it, but they’re off to a good start by receiving votes for the 10th straight week. Mississippi College dropped from the voting rolls for the first time in 45 weeks.

Milestones:
Women: Sixth-ranked Messiah is a Top 10 team for the 50th time in this poll. Lake Forest dropped a notch to #20, but still achieved a Top 25 ranking for the 20th time, while #13 Kean is ranked for the 10th time. #12 DePauw was left out of the Week 10 poll in the 1999-2000 season, but has received votes in every other women’s poll ever compiled, making this week their 130th appearance among the votegetters. Other votes-received milestones achieved this week include #24 Capital (90 weeks), Wheaton (IL) (90), #18 George Fox (75), Puget Sound (50), Washington & Jefferson (40), and William Paterson (25).
Men: Top-ranked Rochester achieved three milestones with this poll: their 90th week in the voting, 60th appearance in the Top 25, and 40th berth among the Top 10. #9 Puget Sound is a Top 10 team for the 30th time. #3 Amherst is ranked for the 90th time in 130 polls. #13 Wheaton (IL) and #15 UW-Whitewater each made their 60th appearance in the Top 25 this week, while #17 Virginia Wesleyan is ranked for the 40th time and received votes for the 60th time. #20 Wooster has received votes in all 130 polls, and is joined in the achievement of votegetting milestones by #5 Augustana (80 weeks), #8 Hope (80), UW-Platteville (60), and Roanoke (30).

High-Water Marks:
Women: With the women’s poll virtually static, no new highs were set, but several were equaled, including #2 UW-Whitewater, #7 Thomas More, #8 McMurry, #10 Illinois Wesleyan, and #17 Tufts.
Men: Top 25 debutante #24 Cal Lu is at an all-time high ranking, while #2 Brandeis equaled their best-ever mark.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: There was very little shaking and almost no moving among the women this week. The biggest move was made by Puget Sound, which shed 78 points and dropped from #23 out of the rankings. The largest upward movements were virtual baby steps, gains of 27 and 26 points by #17 Tufts and #18 George Fox respectively, neither of which was enough to change their ranking. #24 Capital moved into the Top 25, despite actually losing six points from their Week 5 total.
Men: Former #11 Brockport St. had a dismal 0-3 week which cost them 327 points and their berth in the Top 25. Then-#3 UW-Stevens Point dropped two straight, shedding 244 points and eleven slots in the poll. The Pointers were knocked off at home by #12 UW-Oshkosh, which gained 153 points and six places in this week’s poll.

Rant: What’s with the baggy uniforms?

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I am certainly not a fashion expert or a style guru – being color “deficient” doesn’t help! However, when it comes to recent trends in uniforms, I feel I have to speak up!

 What are with the baggy uniforms? There are some guys out there playing with shorts that don’t stop until they are below their knees – some women might compare them to carpi’s! And the uniform tops are so baggy they look more like a baggy t-shirt one would wear to bed! Seriously?! Do they have to be that baggy?!

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t want to go back to the days-of-old where the uniforms were as tight as spandex and the shorts probably revealed far more than many wanted to know. But, the recent trend has been to the rather far extreme. As I said, shorts on some guys (mainly small guards) end up below their knees and tops on most guys are so baggy I think guys are battling for more than position under the basket, they are trying to get unwound from an opponents jersey.

 There is another problem. The uniforms are so loose and the shorts hardly ever tied tight, that there is quite a bit of time wasted while referees ask for players to constantly tuck their jerseys back in. It is a rule, after all, that uniforms be tucked in so the uniform doesn’t come into play during a game.

If a ball touches a player’s uniform on the way out of bounds, even if it might not touch the player’s body, it is considered having touched his body. So, refs want the uniforms tucked in to avoid issues like this. Of course, uniforms are so baggy these days, it doesn’t matter if they are tucked in. That’s because sometimes the ball might touch a uniform but the player is actually two feet from the ball!

It is really ridiculous! Do the uniforms really have to be this baggy? If this is a fashion “thing”, what exactly are the players trying to “say” or represent? And who exactly is in charge of picking the size of the uniforms? Can we chat about not giving the 5’6″ point guard an XL, but more like a M or L at most?

I am worried that if these uniforms keep getting bigger and baggier, some championship game is going to be decided by them. Imagine a guard bringing the ball up the court, but only dribbling in one hand. That’s because he has the other hand holding up his shorts. However, his defender then decides to get aggressive and the guard needs to use both hands to protect the ball. That results in his shorts sliding down, he trips, the ball comes lose, the defender (who is now using one hand to hold his shorts up) gets a free lay-up at the buzzer for the win. Now, that would be a strange finish to a game! And all thanks to a baggy jersey!

Southern Hospitality: Coaches speak

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That’s “coaches speak” rather than “coachspeak” because I felt like we got some really well thought-out responses in speaking to coaches on the Southern Hospitality tour this week in the deep South.

In all I talked to 13 coaches with the recorder rolling, as well as a couple of others. Most interviews were preceded or followed by some more discussion off the record. Those discussions are great background for me to use in understanding what’s going on.

But I spotlight four coaches in this section, three of them from Georgia and one from Alabama. They have varying levels of experience in Division III and in coaching, varying lengths of time at their schools. But if you listen, you’ll hear some common themes.

For Mitch Cole, at Birmingham-Southern, it’s building a team from scratch. The program itself has been there throughout, obviously, with the infrastructure in place. But every player is new this year after the school did not field a team last season. The things that have to be micromanaged by the coach are somewhat surprising. Listen to his interview for more.

For Philip Ponder, at Oglethorpe, it’s a battle to grow into a competitive program with a young team.

For Lee Glenn, at Piedmont, the concern is getting numbers into the program. And taking care of a newborn baby, as his wife gave birth about five hours after this interview concluded. (Congrats!)

For Jason Zimmerman, at Emory, it’s also getting adjusted to Division III. He’s new to Emory, with a team that has six seniors but not a lot of experience. He has something to say about how Division III players compare with Division I players, having coached at both levels.

But the benefits of some of the schools are interesting as well. Listen in to each take.

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Top 25 News and Notes–Week 5

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Continuing the electoral tradition started by their forebearers, the women’s and men’s poll voters struggled through waist-high snow to once again caucus last night to cast their votes for the top D3 teams in the country. The Week 5 caucuses have always been seen as a crucial step in securing the nomination of the pollsters; exactly half of the teams ranked #1 in Week 5 have gone on to the regular season poll championship, with three of those 9 teams going on to win national championships.

This year, the men’s voters stuck with the front-runner, Rochester, while the women’s caucus showed its belief in “a school called Hope.”

Rochester had held a slight poll advantage on Brandeis in the weeks leading up to last night’s caucus, and they maintained their slight advantage, outpolling the Judges by 14 points. Finishing a strong third was UW-Stevens Point, a program which had won two of the last three Week 5 caucuses, each time parlaying that victory into a regular season poll championship in March (and, in 2005, winning the national election in Salem.)

On the women’s side, Mary Washington had held a lead in the polls since the beginning of the electoral cycle, but was widely seen to have been bested in Sunday’s debate with #2 UW-Whitewater, causing them to tumble to a fifth-place finish in the caucuses. Moving up to seize the victory was Hope, the 2006 champions and host for this year’s election. Howard Payne, which despite its masculine-sounding name is a candidate for the women’s nomination, was edged out of second-place by the hard-charging Warhawks from Whitewater.

Although unable to garner enough support to crack the Top 25 finishers, the women of Washington U. did receive some caucus support, becoming the only program to attract votes in each of the 130 women’s caucuses. I say “only” because, for the first time ever, nobody attending the women’s caucus was willing to cast a vote for Scranton. The Royals, winners of the Week 5 caucus in the 2004-05 season, have been ranked in all but seven of the polls taken in the 8+ year history of the women’s caucuses, and reached the #1 overall ranking three times in that span. Wash U. may not be far behind them, as one gaffe or misstep may cost them the scant seven votes they received last night.

Rochester and Hope each have tough debates in their immediate futures. Hope will travel to Grand Rapids next week to square off with arch-rival Calvin, while the Yellow Jackets will participate in the always-tough Chase Tournament against a field that includes #11 Brockport St. But for this week, to the victor belong the spoils, and it’s on to New Hampshire!

Debutantes:
Women: A debutante of sorts, the six first-place votes earned by UW-Whitewater were the first in that program’s history. Whitewater becomes the 35th program to receive votes for #1 in the 130 week history of the women’s poll.
Men: The unbeaten Coast Guard Bears received their first-ever poll vote this week. Congratulations!

Streakers:
Women: Although it can hardly compare to Scranton’s and Wash U.’s streaks, Calvin had an impressive 37-poll voting streak come to an end this week. #3 Howard Payne has now received votes in 25 straight polls, and in each of them they have been within the Top 25. Other programs extending votes-received streaks include #22 Rochester at 30 weeks, #21 Medaille at 25 weeks, and #10 Illinois Wesleyan and #19 Lake Forest, each at 20 weeks. #6 Messiah has now been in the Top 25 in 80 consecutive polls, with the team they beat in Cancun, #12 DePauw, a little over a year behind at 60 straight weeks. The teams ranked fourth and fifth, NYU and Mary Washington, each extended their Top 10 streaks to ten weeks.
Men: Worcester Polytech joins the list of programs with lengthy voting streaks snapped; the Engineers had been mentioned in the last 43 polls but received no votes this week. #2 Brandeis extended its voting streak to 20 weeks, while #3 UW-Stevens Point has been a Top 10 team in 20 straight polls.

Milestones:
Women: Top-ranked Hope celebrates its 100th week as a Top 25 team in style, ascending to the top of a regular-season poll for the first time ever. #11 UW-Stevens Point is ranked for the 70th time overall, while the No-Nicknames of #8 McMurry are a Top 10 team for the tenth time. Poll veterans #4 NYU and #15 Southern Maine each notched their 120th week of being among the vote-getters, while #22 Rochester received votes for the 80th time.
Men: Fifth-ranked Williams is a Top 25 team for the 70th time; other ranking milestones were reached by #14 Elmhurst (30 times), #25 Occidental (20 appearances), and #23 Mass.-Dartmouth (10 weeks.) Williams’ archrival, #4 Amherst, is listed among the vote-getters for the 110th time, joining #15 Wheaton (IL) (90 weeks), Rowan (40), Elizabethtown (30), and #2 Brandeis (20) in reaching votes-received milestones.

High-Water Marks:
Women: Second-ranked UW-Whitewater has reached a new poll high each week this season. #7 Thomas More, and #17 Tufts also set new high-water marks, while #8 McMurry and #10 Illinois Wesleyan tied their highest-ever rankings.
Men: #2 Brandeis and #13 Stevens have set or matched new high-water marks in every 2007-08 poll, and this week was no exception.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: The pattern all season has been that the major poll moves have been downward, and this week is no exception. Four teams experienced drops of over 100 points, led by #5 Mary Washington (-119 points and 4 slots) and #25 Oglethorpe (-118/-8), while no team gained more than 99 points (that being #2 UW-Whitewater, which moved up three places.)
Men: #14 Elmhurst beat then-#8 Hope in Orlando and was rewarded with a 140-point and 7-position gain in the poll. #20 Capital (-148 points and 8 poll placements) and #12 Guilford (-135/-6) suffered the largest drops for the week. Two programs bypassed the “Others Receiving Votes” category altogether: #25 Occidental heading up (going from 0 points last week to 80 this week), and then-#24 Calvin heading out (no votes this week, after receiving 70 in the last poll.)

Streakin’ into 2008

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With the season revving up again, it’s worth noting the eight teams who are still undefeated. That means they haven’t lost to any opponent yet, regardless of their level of play. Sorry, Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark, but it was too difficult to make these lists using only Division III games.

There are three other teams that sport double-digit winning streaks in conference, none of whom are ranked. Then there are those teams who are still looking for their first win.

Without further adieu – and with a nod to the folks on the message boards who are tracking this stuff – here are a few streaks to watch the rest of the way.

Undefeated

Most of these teams have a winning streak as long as their list of games played this season. That makes sense – good teams win games and make the playoffs, at least in their conference, where they eventually lose or win the national title.

Elizabethtown is the exception to the rule. The Blue Jays have 10 wins overall dating back to last season when they missed the four-team MAC Commonwealth playoff. They head to York (Pa.) this weekend where they’ll face fellow bluebirds Johns Hopkins. If E-town leaves town with two Ws, its next big test will be January 19 at home versus DeSales (8-1).

Here are the other undefeated teams with their next big test.

– Elizabethtown (9-0, 10 wins overall)
– Williams (10-0): From 0 to difficult in 8 days, the Ephs play winless Mitchell on Friday and archrival Amherst on January 12.
– Rochester (9-0): Next weekend’s Chase Tournament is very deep with ranked Brockport State, upstart Nazareth and undefeated Geneseo State involved.
– Coast Guard (8-0): After Lesley on Saturday, the Bears won’t be able to coast by WPI (7-3) to start NEWMAC play.
– Emerson (8-0): The Lions play Rivier, who gave No. 15 Wheaton (Ill.) a fight before falling in overtime. Later Emerson travels to Nashua to play Rivier on the road. I’m really fighting the urge to make a “Lake and Palmer” joke here.
– Mass-Dartmouth (8-0): Next week the Corsairs play Salem State (9-1), who appears on this list for a different good reason.
– Stevens (8-0): The Ducks have a big weekend ahead at RIT and Nazareth (7-1). Other than a win against CCNY (1-10), Stevens hasn’t played a road game this year.
– Geneseo State (6-0): The Chase Tournament looms large for the Knights as it does for Rochester

Masters of their domain

Here are the longest active winning streaks in conference play, dating back to last year or longer if necessary. This includes conference playoff games but not games against conference opponents in the NCAA tournament. Why? Because. So there.

– Aurora: 14 straight in NATHC
– Salem State: 12 straight in MASCAC
– Centre: 10 straight in SCAC
– Manhattanville: nine straight in Skyline; plays in MAC Freedom this year
– Averett: nine straight in USAC
– Wooster: nine straight in NCAC

I feel your pain

I’ve never played for an undefeated team, but I’ve played for a winless one. If you’re a competitive person, it’s painful beyond words. Since I’ve also played on a one-win team, I also know that one win makes a huge difference. Here’s hoping all these guys are on the right side of at least one score this year.

– Rockford (0-9 this season, 18 straight overall)
– Albertus Magnus (0-8, 14 overall)
– Mitchell (0-10, 13 overall)
– Delaware Valley (0-9, 12 overall)
– Alma (0-11, 11 overall)
– Denison (0-11, 11 overall)
– St. Mary’s (Minn.) (0-9, 11 overall)
– Philadelphia Bible (0-9, 11 overall)
– Colorado College (0-10, 10 overall)
– Maine-Presque Isle (0-7, 10 overall)
– Monmouth (0-8, 9 overall)

Something’s gotta give

You may already know who heads the list for longest active conference losing streak. According to my count, Caltech hasn’t won a SCIAC game in (5^3 + 4^3 + 3^3 + 2^5 + (1 x 11)) tries. But they can probably point out multiple math errors in that last sentence. At least one of these teams is guaranteed to drop off the list since Centenary moved into the PnAC and plays Marywood twice.

– Caltech: 259 straight in SCIAC
– Austin: 17 straight in SCAC/ASC
– Centenary: 17 straight in PnAC/Skyline
– Marywood: 16 straight in PnAC
– Crown: 16 straight in UMAC
– Lynchburg: 14 straight in ODAC
– Elmira: 14 straight in Empire 8
– Bard: 13 straight in NEAC/Skyline
– Rockford: 13 straight in NATHC
– Luther: 12 straight in IIAC
– MCLA: 11 straight in MASCAC
– Beloit: 10 straight in MWC

If time permits, I’d like to get the list of undefeated and winless women’s teams. And I’m sure there are errors with the men’s lists. In fact, I made them…uh…on purpose. Yeah, that’s it. On purpose. So go ahead, see if you can find them and post them below. Please?