WBB: NESCAC

Started by Senator Frost, March 12, 2005, 09:18:11 AM

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Red

The NCAA sticks with seating provided that the highest seeded team has a gym that meets all of their standards of court availability, adequate practice facilities, adequate lodging in the area, and adequate size of gym.  The only thing Bates missed was that Alumni only holds 750, and the NCAA regulations say that a gym must hold 1000 people to host a sectional

As to whether the four best teams made the final four:  I think that was moot when Bates and USM had to meet in the sweet sixteen.  I believe that both of them were in the top 4.  Also, Bates beat USM badly in Lewiston, and took them to overtime at USM.  At their level, the best teams should always win at home, but as close as the game was at USM, I think that it shows that Bates would likely have won on a neutral court.

I believe that to truly determine the best team, the sectionals also need to be on a neutral court.  I don't know how expensive an endeavor this would be, but there must be some decent sized d3 gyms whose teams would no longer be playing, that would be fairly cheap for the NCAA to rent if necessary.

Steve

Which final four team are you leaving out Red?

Senator Frost

Good idea about the neutral court. I disagree strongly with that 1000 seating thing. This is D3 and teams should be rewarded without regard to gym capacity. Bates is one of the poorer NESCAC schools. Maybe they felt they had better things to do with their $ given that they do not have an endless supply. So less people would have seen the game, hardly a big deal. Interest would have been heightened and those who wanted a ticket would have had to hustle and some may have gotten shut out. Again, hardly a big deal.  Bates would have gotten the home game they deserved.
 No question in my mind Bates was the better team since they went to overtime AT USM as was stated.
Steve-of course Red State Blue State was irrelevant. So was fact (even if true) that Millikin wasn't complaining.

Mr. Ypsi

Steve and Senator Frost,

My dad is from Portland, and we have a cabin on Sabbathday Lake (10 miles from Auburn), so I feel (semi)qualified to step in on this fight.

I LIKE Lewiston/Auburn, but ...  

Senator, you have enough hotel rooms - are you kidding?!  WHERE are you imagining these rooms to be?  Aside from the fact (apparently) that the gym at Bates is too small to meet NCAA standards, where exactly are these (imaginary) hotel rooms??  

I admit that I haven't been to Lewiston in nearly two years, and maybe they've been on a building boom, but nearly all the 'hotels' I know of are by the 'coast' (i.e., near Portland).  The Lewiston/Auburn I knew two years ago would be stretched thin to host more than 3-400 people.

(Message edited by cabonney on March 15, 2005)

Paul Clancy

I'm a big fan of the neutral court idea, and in this case, the sweet irony would have been to play the USM/Bates game at Bowdoin, which was good enough for a sectional last year - and where neither Bates nor USM has won the past two years.  The facts on home courts speak pretty plainly for themselves:

USM loses to Bates in Lewiston and Bowdoin in Brunswick; Bates loses twice to Bowdoin in Brunswick and beats them in Lewiston; Scranton last year loses to Bowdoin at Brunswick and beats Bowdoin this year in Scranton; Bowdoin beats Emmanuel for several years in Brunswick then goes to the Yawkey center and loses.

There are certainly exceptions, and the fact they are so notable and noteworthy just proves the general case.  Neutral courts should be the venue for "big" games, and the sectionals qualify.

Lloyd Christmas

Wow, just a couple of days on the road and we've got all sorts of things on this board. Good stuff.

First, congrats to Scranton on the big win. Holding an opponent to 43 points, whether one of the best or just average, is quite an achievement. Best of luck. USM was dismissed by a lot of people because of the Jones thing, but they've exceeded expectations. They should be lauded for their effort.

While Bates is one of the "poorer" NESCACs (Bowdoin's endowment is larger than Colby + Bates combined), they built an ice hockey rink on campus suitable for a DIII team, but yet have no hockey teams. Odd. A venue for a sanctioned varsity sport would have made more sense (and allowed them to host).

Bates knew they wouldn't be able to host the sectional at the beginning of the season. Everyone knew they had to win games away from home in that round if they made it, so arguing for a neutral site now smacks of sour grapes.

Cabonney, Brunswick has no problem housing the visiting teams and fans for sectionals and B-wick is considerably smaller than L-A. Hotels is a non-issue.

Nancy, run back to the ECAC...er...UAA board. You can figure out where to hang that second-straight "Not Good Enough" banner. This board is reserved for teams making the Sweet 16...all three of them. Best of luck with Pine Manor next year.

d-mac

And then there were FOUR... or really eight!
This weekend... the best of the best are crowded
But before then... we tell you who we think are the best... on "http://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville">Hoopsville"!!!


Eight teams in the nation can see where the road finishes. But who is going to get past the final two exits?

Millikin took out Calvin in a hard fought battle... to earn their way to the Women's Final Four. So is this Illinois team ready to go? Coach Lori Kerans will let us know. Her #6 ranked Big Blue Ladies are the lowest ranked team remaining, but still battle tested and ready for their semi-final game with Southern Maine.

The #1 ranked Scranton Lady Royals sure had a tough road to drive as they took on last year's championship finalist, Bowdoin College in the Elite Eight. Scranton showed why they are the #1 team in the nation, knocking off the Polar Bears. So do the Lady Royals have anything left in the tank for Randolph-Macon in the semi-finals? Coach Mike Strong answer that question and if that #1 ranking adds any pressure.

On the men's side, Rochester is still marching... even though mid-way through the season, most thought they had no chance. But their star player returned... and they knocked off not only last year's Final Four finalist Amherst in the Sweet 16... but then took out a suddenly hot SUNY-Potsdam team in the Elite Eight. Now, Rochester has been here before, and Coach Mike Neer has the experience. But how does his team prepare for a tough Final Four match-up with Calvin.

Calvin - people warned us about. They are the only team left in this men's tournament that has played every game to get here. First Wheaton, then Aurora, finally Mississippi College fell to the side of the Knights. Then came MIAA conference foe - and champion Albion. Which Calvin disposed of 60-52... to take their drive to Salem... for the first time since they won the national title in 2000.
So, what will Coach Kevin Vande Streek use from that last title run to help his team get past Rochester and into the title game? We will ask him that and much more (including if he saw Albion's buzzer beater Friday night? Jared did!).

And then there is York College (PA)... 11-15 last year... flew under many radars most of the year... and now they are in the first Final Four in the school's history.
Coach Jeff Gamber has traveled to Salem before, but never with a team playing. Now, after 28 years... he in Salem as a participant. But, this trip is completely new to Coach Gamber and the Spartans, who until this year had never won a NCAA Tournament game. We will talk to the coach of York and see if he has yet to come down from the high of beating Kings on Saturday to lock up the trip to Salem.

So come join us online and LIVE from 8-10PM Eastern!

Red

As for the hotel issue, There is a large hotel in Auburn just accross the "scogg" from downtown Lewiston, plus there's a Ramada, Motel 6, and Super 8 in Lewiston just so you can choose your price.  On top of that USM players and fans would just travel on game day, and go home afterwards like Bates did, so there's only 2 teams that need hosting.  Believe me LA can handle it.

As for Lloyd's comments about sour grapes:  who cares?  It seems clear from arguments stated by Frost et. al. that on a neutral court Bates would have likely won.  That's not saying that the game last week was unfair, or unjust, and I'm not trying to whine.  All I was saying, and many seemed to agree, was that a system truly designed to determine "the best team" should play the big games on a neutral court.  D1 is not played completely on neutral courts for both men and women for no reason.  I was just suggesting a possible improvement for the future, not complaining about the past.

I'd prefer to spend my time being proud of Bates'school record accomplishments this year rather than annoyed about one game.

Senator Frost

Red: And there are more hotels. I thought Bates was the best team I saw this year. I saw Bowdoin too, I might add. My opinion is small comfort.Maybe one day they will have a neutral site deal just like the D1's. When you think about it, why shouldn't everyone be trated the same???

Steve

Women's basketball in DI wasn't played on all neutral sites until a couple of years ago.  Now both the men and women play in a pod system, and sometimes lower seeded teams can play closer to home than higher seeded teams, if there is an upset.

Steve

On the men's side, Illinois gets to play in Indy, Chicago, and St. Louis.  If Syracuse had played a little better they could have played the sectional at home.

Red

Syracuse could not have played the sectional at home.  Part of the D1 system is that all the games are on a neutral court.  Syracuse may have gotten a higher seeding in a different bracket, but the NCAA would not have put Syracuse in their home bracket.  Example:  Two years ago with Carmello Anthony Syracuse got a #2 seed, but was still sent to another bracket so they wouldn't be at home.

Close to home or far from home, the fact is it's not at home.  That makes a tremendous difference. Example:  Emmanuel is much closer to Brunswick than Ithica, NY, but Bowdoin lost to Emmanuel and beat Ithica.  Note that Ithica and Emmanuel were fairly evenly matched.  The most important factor wasn't how far Bowdoin was away from home, it was just that they were away from home.

Steve

Well, Tennessee women are playing in Knoxville in the first round of the tourney

Mr. Ypsi

Red and Senator,

I think of 1500-2000 as a BARE minimum for being able to accomodate teams, fans (and other travellers), but I forgot that Bates can only hold 750 and was therefore ineligible by NCAA standards anyway.

Hotel/motel accomodations WAS a moot point!

Senator Frost

Yoo Hoo-Anybody home?? Hope I'm not disturbing something but I just heard Trinity is looking for a Head Coach. It will be interesting to see if Trinity really wants to win or if they give the job to a Downhill Specialist who knows someone. Trinity Women used to be at or near the top and I'm guessing they want to return. We will see.