Although this is a topic that we beat to death several years ago on the message board, perhaps it’s time to bring it up again. Chuck E.T. blogs about memorable sports team nicknames and we have several of our own in Division III, some of which he mentions.

So, in the spirit of the Adrian Yos, the Wheaton Chaff, the Neumann Hellos, the Linfield Fly, etc., give us your best re-nicknaming of a current Division III team. And I can think of some new ones that have presented themselves since we last did this exercise, but I’ll give you folks a fair shot at putting them out there first.

All I ask is that you try to limit yourselves to a handful so the first people out of the gate don’t take all the good ones from the latecomers. 🙂

Just a heads-up, D3hoops.com and D3football.com will be moving to a new server tonight. The plan is to get started around 9 p.m. ET. If successful, the sites would be down for about a half-hour. After the move, some items might not function correctly, but we will do our best to track those things down and fix them.

If you see anything out of the ordinary, e-mail info@d3hoops.com.

The message board will not be affected.

Earlier this season Coach C sparked a spirited discussion with a well written entry about whether it’s worthwhile for Division III schools to play Division I schools. Given tonight’s top story, I thought it was worth reviving the discussion.

I always wonder how “our guys” stack up against the big guys? Not Duke or Villanova, but if our top teams played their bottom teams, would they win? Tonight’s game between No. 5 Puget Sound and Division I UC Riverside (0-8) was a good case study.

Puget Sound is ranked highly, though some may argue perhaps too highly. We’ll see whether that’s the case when they play top-ranked IWU next week. UPS also plays an unusual, frenetic style of play. I’m not sure whether that makes them more or less likely to succeed against DI. But UPS is certainly a capable standard bearer for D3.

Meanwhile the UCR Highlanders (“who wants…to live…for-ever!”) are near, if not at, the bottom of Division I. For those who like such indices, the Wolfe rankings have UC-Riverside No. 693 overall, behind more than 50 Division III schools including UPS (No. 676). UCR also drubbed Redlands 162-123 in an exhibition back in November.

In the first half it was Puget Sound that was behind, trailing by as many as 18 points and 13 at the break. But the Loggers rolled (get it?) out of the locker room and cut the lead quickly. UPS and UCR battled back and forth over the final 10 minutes before the Loggers put the game away on Josh Walker’s defensive rebound at 113-111.

This isn’t the first time a D3 team has beaten a DI. Defending national champion Williams beat defending Patriot League champion Holy Cross 78-71 in 2003. And D3 tallied two victories over D1 teams last year (HSC over Longwood, Gettysburg over Navy). But more often than not, the results aren’t pretty. See West Virginia 83 W&J 33.

A recent article in the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call offers one explanation on why these match-ups are more frequent right before Christmas. It also underlines the good and bad of these match-ups.

On the bright side, wins like the UPS victory are special moment. When Swarthmore beat Lafayette, Coach O’Hanlon says the Garnet “celebrated like they had just won the NCAA.” That sounds good.

But the idea that DI teams are trolling for easy wins because their students are busy with exams is patronizing. Plus it’s not like our players don’t have academic concerns of their own. By the way, Lafayette beat Dickinson by 20.

So where do I fall on these match-ups? I still think one size doesn’t fit all. Division III teams should make these decisions for themselves based on the likelihood of being competitive, financial considerations and whatever else factors into it. It’d be tough to tell the kids at Puget Sound that they shouldn’t have played what was a memorable game for them.

But in my inglorious athletic career, the only thing that ticked me off more than getting my butt kicked was getting it kicked by someone who wasn’t even trying their hardest.

So, considering the UPS victory, where do you stand?

Okay, so I was wrong. Again.

A couple weeks back on Hoopsville, Dave McHugh asked me which teams I had ranked ahead of No. 12 Randolph-Macon, on my men’s ballot. “Ha,” I clucked, “try all of them!” As is frequently the case, hindsight set in about an hour later and I realized that was a stupid thing to say. I’ve quietly made my peace with RMC by putting them on my last ballot and singing their alma mater in a remorseful tone.

That being said, from what I heard of last night’s webcast, Justin Wansley is a beast and this team is solid. They won two games in two nights against Top 25 teams (No. 21 Lincoln and No. 18 St. John Fisher) with different styles. I can only say:

Lift the chorus, speed it onward;
Ne’er let praises fail!
Hail to thee our Alma Mater,
Randolph-Macon hail!

Elsewhere the McMurry men have had a rough three days, losing to Louisiana College (3-6) and ASC favorite Mississippi College by 23. The Christmas break comes at a good time for the Indians (6-3, 5-2) who had won six in a row before this mini-skid.

Both teams at Franklin are now 8-1 after the men beat Earlham in OT last night. The male Grizzlies, whose lone loss comes to Eckerd (9-1 in Division II), play North Central (6-0) on December 28 in Naperville in an interesting clash of teams below the radar.

And nice win for the No. 12 University of Mary Washington women yesterday morning, 68-63 over Concordia (Neb.) who has been to the NAIA Division II semifinals two of the past three seasons. It’s even nicer when you get that win in Honolulu.

Mele Kalikimaka, everyone.

OK, I’m stumped with Southern Maine’s loss to Salem State on Saturday, I’m trying to figure out who I should vote for as my new women’s No. 1 team. Anyone have any suggestions? I see 5 to 6 possibilities out there, but I haven’t fully weighed the pros and cons of each.