Monthly Archives: September 2008

In the fold

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Since we’re entering 2008 – 2009 schedules into our system, this is a good time to mention that nine teams are now “active” members of Division III. That means they are eligible for rankings and post-season participation.

The nine members who are fully in the fold are:

• Bethany Lutheran (UMAC)
• Crown (Minn.) (UMAC)
• Maine-Presque Isle (Independent)
• Minnesota-Morris (UMAC)
• Mount Aloysius (AMCC)
• Northwestern (Minn.) (UMAC)
• Penn State-Berks (NEAC)
• SUNY-Purchase (Skyline)
• Salem (Independent)

Four of these schools are in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) along with St. Scholastica, Martin Luther and Northland. That leaves Presentation as the only UMAC team that isn’t a full member yet.

This also brings the active Division III membership to 429 schools, a net increase of seven from 2007 – 2008 since Maryville (Mo.) and non-D3hoopsters Cal State-East Bay are headed to Division II.

Assuming the NCAA keeps the same policy as last year, schools in the third or fourth year of the four-year process to become active members are not eligible for the post-season. But games against them count in the primary tournament selection criteria. That means games against the following teams are regional contests:

Fourth Year

• Mitchell (NECC)
• Mount Mary (Independent)
• Presentation (UMAC)
• Morrisville State (SUNYAC)

Third Year

• Lancaster Bible (Independent)
• La Sierra (Independent)
• Lyndon State (NAC)
• North Central (Minn.) (Independent)
• St. Vincent (PrAC)

There are four teams in the second year of their provisional status. Games against these teams don’t count as regional contests, but we will track them on our site.

• Franciscan of Steubenville, Ohio (AMCC)
• Geneva of Beaver Falls, PA (PrAC)
• Penn State-Harrisburg (NEAC)
• St. Joseph’s of Brooklyn, NY (Independent)

Three schools are in their first year of provisional status – Cincinnati-Clermont, Spalding (Ky.) and Cobleskill (NY) State. There are also seven schools in the exploratory phase, most of which are in the Nebraska or Georgia. We’ll wait to track these guys, but you can see the list here.

Other than the schools who became eligible for post-season play, the real winners are the teams in the West region who have a few more places they can get regional games.

Obscure stuff? Yep. But hopefully it comes in handy come regional ranking time. 🙂

All the King’s H-O-R-S-Es

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“Off the floor, off the scoreboard, off the backboard, nothing but net…”

Remember that commercial featuring Larry Bird and Michael Jordan making trick shots for the right to eat MJ’s Big Mac? Ever wonder what it would be like to really play an NBA star in H-O-R-S-E?

David Kalb, a graduate of Capital University, found out earlier this month. He entered a contest sponsored by a lawn mower company in which the winner had a chance to play NBA superstar Lebron James in a game of H-O-R-S-E. As Marcia Smith of the Orange County (Calif.) Register explains, Kalb has had an interesting journey from the small town of Bucyrus, Ohio to his Southern California showdown with James.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can see Kalb versus “King” James here.

Dallas and the NEAC

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In an era where the price of a barrel of oil has gone through the roof, where air travel has become slower, more expensive and less convenient and where conferences as big as the WAC have talked about making changes to their schedules to save money, the North Eastern Athletic Conference has expanded into that bastion of the Northeast: Dallas, Texas.

I almost don’t have to say anything more, do I?

This is what pursuit of the automatic bid can do to you. We don’t know how the conference will schedule itself this season or how it will actually determine who gets the AQ (remember, that’s the conference’s decision, not the NCAA’s), but at some point, someone will be getting on a plane from New York or Pennsylvania to Dallas and seemingly vice versa.

I’m not sure this is what Division III is all about. I can’t imagine what the Division IV crowd would think of such a thing. I also can’t imagine what these schools are thinking: It’s not like these are the University of Chicagos, NYUs and Case Western Reserves of the world, large research institutions with endowments to match. The NEAC is made up of athletic departments so small that one coach told me a couple years ago their program could only schedule 22 games because that was all they could afford, not the Division III standard 25.

I feel for the University of Dallas, which has lived the lonely life of an independent ever since leaving the American Southwest Conference early this decade in hopes of gaining admission to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. And I feel for the NEAC, which has seen its membership change faster than the Law & Order cast,  but I can’t see spending all this money in pursuit of an automatic bid. And if the conference doesn’t play a full round-robin in order to save money, then why bother? You’d only be crowing an illegitimate champ.

Championship access is all well and good, but at what cost?

Goodbye to a D3 lifer

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Earlier in the offseason Pat posited an interesting theory that there are two kinds of successful Division III coaches – lifers who spend a long career at a particular college and those who pursue jobs at other levels after gaining success here.

By that theory, today we say good bye to a Division III lifer in Southern Maine Coach Gary Fifield. He spent his entire college coaching career in Gorham, Maine after coaching high school ball in Vermont. Over that 21-year run, he won an astounding 541 games, took his team to five Final Fours and became the face of a highly successful program.

I only interacted with Coach Fifield a couple times during the Huskies’ recent playoff runs. My impression is that he was very loyal to his players and inspired the same loyalty in return. One of his players told me that the thought of winning a national championship for him gave her goose bumps.

He never engaged me in small talk – it’s fitting that there isn’t a standard quote from Fifield in the University’s release – but his answers to my substantive questions were thoughtful. And I felt that his program was focused on his players, and not him. He was calm and composed on the sidelines in intense situations, whether it was a jubilant win or a heart-breaking loss.

Loyal, thoughtful, calm and focused on his players. In retrospect, it’s easy to see why he inspired loyalty and enjoyed such a successful run.