Dave’s Top 25 Ballot (’22-’23) – Week 3

Trey Barber has missed a few games for CNU, but going into the Week 3 voting the Captains were still undefeated. Will they remain #1 on my ballot next week? (Courtesy: CNU Athletics)

I hope this finds everyone well. The Top 25 voting this past week ended up being less “fluid” than I expected, especially how the season started. I considered taking some extra time to dive into the details of every team, but figured this wasn’t exactly the time to blow up a ballot just because there wasn’t a lot of results. We really need to see some more games from a lot of teams to better understand things this season. That said, it’s amazing how some teams have already played more than a third of their games!

Due to a lot of things going on right now, this is going to brief this week (it’s already a few days late). Before getting to this week’s Top 25, here is a reminder of what my ballot was for last week’s D3hoops.com Top 25:

1 – Christopher Newport
2 – St. Joseph’s (Conn.)
3 – Mount Union
4 – Case Western Reserve
5 – UW-La Crosse
6 – Keene State
7 – Johns Hopkins
8 – Randolph-Macon
9 – Williams
10 – Rochester
11 – Emory
12 – Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
13 – Middlebury
14 – Oswego
15 – Mary Washington
16 – Calvin
17 – Nazareth
18 – Heidelberg
19 – Swarthmore
20 – Guilford
21 – Muhlenberg
22 – Wheaton (Ill.)
23 – UW-Oshkosh
24 – Catholic
25 – Stockton

St. Joseph’s remains in the second-slot of my ballot, though their last real challenge was Tufts a few weeks ago. (Courtesy: St. Joseph’s Athletics)

Now to how I voted in the Week 3 poll and maybe some comments if needed:

1 – Christoper Newport (unchanged)

2 – St. Joseph’s (Conn.) (unchanged)

3 – Mount Union (unchanged)

4 – Case Western Reserve (unchanged)

5 – Keene State (up 1)

6 – Williams (up 3)
I continue to be nervous about the Ephs. I like the make-up of their team, but worried the schedule hasn’t been much of a test. They beat SUNY Oneonta top follow up the win over RPI plus didn’t let Wesleyan trip them up. As a result, I figured I should move them up my ballot a little further. One small issue: Williams won’t play again until Dec. 29th though that will be a great holiday test against Clark.

7 – UW-La Crosse (Down 2)

8 – Rochester (Up 2)

9 – Randolph-Macon (Down 1)

Johns Hopkins fell a few more spots on my ballot after I thought more of the Muhlenberg result. Carson James is leading JHU in scoring this season at 16.3 ppg while handing out 4.3 assists per contest. (Courtesy: Johns Hopkins Athletics)

10 – Johns Hopkins (Down 3)
The Blue Jays didn’t do anything for voters to move them downward. They didn’t play any games. However, I had other teams moving around in the 5-10 slots plus the Muhlenberg result was still on my mind. I am not sure I reacted to the result enough last week (moving JHU down two) considering Muhlenberg had a loss to Swarthmore (five points in overtime). So, I moved Hopkins down a few more spots to where they felt more comfortable especially with others around them.

11 – Emory (unchanged)

12 – Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (unchanged)

13 – Middlebury (unchanged)

14 – Oswego (unchanged)

15 – Mary Washington (unchanged)

16 – Calvin (unchanged)

17 – Nazareth (unchanged)

18 – Heidelberg (unchanged)

19 – Swarthmore (unchanged)

20 – Guilford (unchanged)

21 – Muhlenberg (unchanged)

22 – UW-Oshkosh (Up 1)

Freddie Ricks III leads the Celts in scoring (16.3 ppg) while being one of three in double-figured. Ricks and others have a number of eyes on St. Thomas (Texas) this season. (Courtesy: St. Thomas (Texas) Athletics)

23 – St. Thomas (Texas) (unranked)
I was wondering how long until I was voting for the Tommies Celts. I know they have a loss to what seems like a good Redlands team, but it was how they handled Trinity (Texas) – a team that isn’t what we expected them to be this season. Plus there are wins over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and East Texas Baptist that gives the impression this UST team is for real especially now that they fully qualify for NCAA stuff.

24 – Catholic (unchanged)

25 – Stockton (unchanged)

Dropped off:

Wheaton (Ill.) (Previously 22)
Admittedly, I am not sure what to think or do with the CCIW. Some teams are off to what look like terrific seasons and others stubbing their toes. Wheaton had an OT loss to one of those former squads – Elmhurst – and it left me scratching my head. I am going to have to dive in on the CCIW likely before the next vote and figure things out. Maybe Wheaton will show back up on my ballot at that point. For now, there are just so many teams across the country to consider small things seem to be reasons to make changes.

So that’s my ballot for Week 3. With already some interesting results (Hampden-Sydney knocking off CNU), we shall see what the pre-holiday break poll may look like.

The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops: December 15, 2022: What clicked for Chicago in its massive comeback?

Last night gave way to a huge win for #21 Chicago. Not only did the Maroons back up their 8-0 record with a victory over #13 Wisconsin-Whitewater, but it was also Chicago’s first “big” win of the year. Coming into the matchup, their most notable win was a road defeat of Carroll, 70-61.

It seemed for the first three quarters that, despite what Chicago did defensively, the Maroons could not find a rhythm offensively, a testament to Whitewater’s defensive effort. Defense kept Chicago in the fight entering the fourth quarter, but still, trailing 45-35 with 10 minutes left, it seemed the Maroons’ first loss of the year might come in the very near future. In fact, Whitewater hit a three 1:30 into the fourth, taking an 11-point lead.

Then the comeback began.

A 9-2 Chicago run in the span of about three minutes cut the deficit to four, 50-46. Sophia North then took charge, scoring the Maroon’s next 7 points, the final two of which took the lead, 53-52. And Chicago never looked back. The hosts walked away with a 63-58 win, and an incredible resume boost in the process.

But what went so well for Chicago in that final quarter? What did the Maroons do right? I tried to answer a few of these questions as reflected on the victory this morning. Here’s a few of my thoughts…

For one thing, Sophia North got the ball in space, able to score with remarkable ease. She had been Chicago’s main source of offense all evening, with 15 through three quarters. But once the 4th began, perhaps due to the score, perhaps due to Whitewater’s defense seeming more spread out, North put 11 on the board. That included the seven-point span with under five minutes left that eventually gave the Maroons the lead. She was 4-of-6 from the field, and 2-of-2 at the FT line in the 4th.

Chicago NEVER sent Whitewater to the free-throw line in the fourth, a rare occurrence in tight games. Especially from a team who needed to play aggressive defense down the stretch in order to have a chance at victory. But Chicago was incredibly disciplined on that end of the floor in the final quarter, and forced the Warhawks to shoot the ball, rather than attempt to draw fouls. That might be the most impressive statistic, in my opinion.

Speaking of the free-throw line, the Maroons made plenty of trips there throughout the fourth, finishing 10-of-12 at the line. Six of those attempts came in the final 20 seconds, when Whitewater had no choice but to intentionally foul and hope Chicago missed. But the Maroons did not, and the ability to convert at the line down the stretch will serve Chicago well in UAA play, where I anticipate a lot of single-digit results this season.

Another factor was how well Chicago matched up with Whitewater in the post. Aleah Grundahl had a total of five points in the contest, and was held scoreless on three shots in the five minutes she played in the fourth. Whitewater’s go-to offensive weapon in the paint, Chicago made it tough on her to find open looks, which forced more three-point attempts from the Warhawks.

Those are four takeaways I had from that fourth quarter. If you have others, please drop them below. Everyone sees the game from a different perspective, which is one of the things I enjoy so much about sports across the board.

Getting to some other results from last night, here’s a few thoughts I had as I scrolled through the D3hoops.com scoreboard and checked in on various games…

Albertus Magnus actually did give Springfield a good test, and kept it closer than I had anticipated, considering the final was 79-65. Springfield only led 21-19 at the end of the first quarter, but outscoring Albertus Magnus by a combined 38-27 in the second and third quarters was the difference. Strong showing from Springfield’s Kayla Madden, who had 27 points, on 10-of-21 shooting, and was 5-of-9 from 3-point range.

The NACC is going to be a fun conference to follow this year. And the preseason “favorite” is not even in the top 4 in the standings right now! Concordia-Chicago is 5-0 in NACC play, St. Nobert is 4-0, Concordia (WI) is 4-1, and Aurora is 3-1. Aurora looked impressive in its eighth win of the year last night, trouncing Eureka (who admittedly is not a team in the national conversation at just 2-6), 98-63. Still, the offense from Aurora has been stellar. The Spartans have scored 90 points three times already this year.

Keep an eye on UW-Stevens Point in the WIAC. Matt Hockett has his team off to an 8-2 start, with notable wins at Millikin and Carroll, along with a victory over UW-Platteville that looks really good right now. The two losses to UW-Stout and St. Nobert aren’t bad either. Stevens Point is now ranked No. 40 by Massey, and has a matchup against Wheaton (#64 by Massey) on Dec. 29 that could be another resume builder. That said, 2-5 St. Mary’s (MN) gave UWSP a real fight last night, though UWSP came out with an 81-79 OT win. Alexa Thomson’s layup gave the Pointers the lead with 59 seconds left, and UWSP held St. Mary’s scoreless for the final minute.

Amongst the biggest jumps forward in Massey’s ratings was Capital, who took down Olivet, 48-38, last night at home. Capital, now 8-2, rose 11 spots to #89 according to Massey, with the victory.

We will see what happens in tonight’s action. No particularly notable matchups, though I am interested to see if Greensboro moves to 5-0 in USAC play with a win over Ferrum tonight. Greensboro has looked fairly good this season, though the schedule that they’ve played hasn’t been particularly impressive. Still, if they keep playing well in the USAC, an automatic bid could be coming their way. Enjoy the evening!