The ASC is responding to the difficult situation facing its members by asking the Division III championships committee chairs to put more weight on seedings, and less on savings, when selecting sectional hosting sites during the tournament.
In one sense, there isn’t a lot the ASC can do to control this trend. They can’t change their geographic isolation in Division III. They probably can’t single-handedly change the committee’s frugality. But there is one thing they do – they can win more of the games they do play, even when they are on the road.
The Miss College men got a tough draw by traveling to the defending champs, so I can’t pick on them. But the HPU women missed a huge chance to make a statement about conference strength.
Instead of hosting as the seeds suggested they should, the Yellow Jackets headed to Iowa where Luther hosted the sectional. HPU could’ve showed the committee the error of their ways by winning the sectional. Even winning one of two games would’ve helped their argument. Instead they played one of the worst games in the sectional semis that I’ve ever seen.
The statistics are brutal but they don’t tell the full horror story. The Yellow Jackets looked frustrated and out-of-sorts through most of the second half. They forced shots in hopes of drawing fouls that weren’t called all game, pulled back on open fast breaks and failed to foul when they needed to after a missed attempt to tie the game.
“Well, things would’ve been different had HPU hosted instead of getting stuck on the road.”
Maybe. But their opponent, Puget Sound, had an equally long trip and still found a way to win. Plus the small crowd made for a very neutral environment. It’s not like HPU had to play in front of thousands of blue-painted, screaming Luther fans. That was left to Wash U, who won the sectional.
I’m not trying to kill Howard Payne. They have a ton of talent. Maybe the Yellow Jackets just had “one of those days” on the wrong day. And this conference has made big strides in its depth.
But for the ASC women to make a stronger case for hosting sectionals, they’ll need to do better than the one-win performance the confernece had in this year’s tournament. Asking is fine, but it’s even more persuasive when you win.
Hmm,
I agree that the ASC could have performed better this year. However, winning shouldn’t be a prerequisite for the ASC, SCIAC and NWC getting what the rest of the country already gets — hosting privileges that correspond to their seedings.
Barring that, perhaps simply the basic courtesy of knowing which schools are in the league might be a nice start.
But for the ASC women to make a stronger case for hosting sectionals, they’ll need to do better than the one-win performance the confernece had in this year’s tournament. Asking is fine, but it’s even more persuasive when you win.
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Didn’t Hardin-Simmons win enough games last year in getting to the Final Four to merit hosting a sectional in your mind?
They won a sectional on the road. I think that meets even your extreme standard for hosting.
Acktem, which season are you referring to? 05-06 or 06-07? (In 05-06 McMurry hosted the first 2 NCAA rounds as ASC tournament champs while HSU got ousted by ETBU in the first round of the ASC tournament and had to sweat it out just to get in to the NCAA.) Or are you referring to the sectional HSU won out West in 05-06?
Last year was the year Hardin-Simmons got to the Final Four. That’s how I followed it.
Pat’s right. What’s the point in seeding the tournament if it doesn’t get the top seeds the advantage of not having to travel? No #1 seed should ever have to play a tournament game on anyone else’s home floor, period. To do otherwise is to invalidate the entire concept of seeding.
The problem with retroactively attaching sectional hosting rights to how a team performs in the tournament is that tournament seeding and hosting rights should never be contingent on potential future performance. They should be rewards for succeeding in the regular season/conference postseason.
And you’d think that the selection committee, of all people, would have at least a general idea of who’s in what conference.