Well, despite all the discrepancies, inconsistencies, omissions, and errors that are to be found in the handbook, I do think that the one number that really matters, the number of Pool B berths, is correct as 3 . . . just barely. I was short two Pool B schools in my breakdown in the opening post, and that resulted in a calculation of just 2 Pool B berths. As it stands, if there are 28 Pool B schools as I think is the case, there are just enough to hold onto that third berth. One less and it’d be down to two.
Anyway, let me run down what I found in the manual in this post and in the next one I will provide what I think is the correct breakdown of the D-III schools and calculation of the tournament field.
The following discrepancies exist between Appendix D and the summarized sponsorship data on page 13:
[1] Eligible teams in automatic-qualifying conferences (Pool A): pg. 13 - 367, App. D - 356
[2] Eligible Pool B teams: pg.13 - 21, App.D - 31
[3] Provisional institutions (not eligible for the championship): pg.13 - 13, App. D - 9
[4] Declared NAIA (not eligible for the NCAA championship): pg. 13 - 2, App. D - 1 (but App. D lists another one as NAIA declared, but summed as a Pool B eligible)
[5] Reclassifying institution (not eligible for the NCAA championship): pg. 13 - 1, App. D - 3
[6] The above discrepancies (#1 - #5) result in the following differences in sums:
Division III institutions sponsoring men's soccer: pg. 13 - 404, App. D - 400
Institutions eligible for NCAA championship: pg. 13 - 388, App. D - 387
[7] It appears that the page 13 sponsorship data summary is including the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) schools in the Pool A total as if the conference is an automatic-qualifying conference. However, the conference only becomes an AQ conference next year, 2010/11, and the given total of 39 conferences meeting automatic qualifying requirements correctly does NOT include the UMAC. This error might be the consequence of last year's handbook which erroneously noted in Appendix D that the UMAC becomes an AQ conference in 2009.
[8] The calculation of the 3 Pool B allocations shown on page 14 can only be accomplished by rounding up.
Eligible Pool B teams/Access ratio = 21 / 9.41 = 2.23, Pool B allocations: 3 teams
This is a departure from prior practice in which the Pool B calculation was always rounded down (or truncated) to a whole number. For example, take the information from the handbooks of the past 4 years.
2008: Eligible Pool B teams/Access ratio = 35 / 9.18 = 3.81, Pool B allocations: 3 teams
2007: Eligible Pool B teams/Access ratio = 41 / 9.05 = 4.53, Pool B allocations: 4 teams
2006: Eligible Pool B teams/Access ratio = 43 / 9.14 = 4.70, Pool B allocations: 4 teams
2005: Eligible Pool B teams/Access ratio = 43 / 9.06 = 4.75, Pool B allocations: 4 teams
The understood reason for rounding down was to never provide a greater access ratio to Pool B schools than Pool A schools, thus never providing the slightest incentive for a school to remain independent or a conference to remain below the eligibility standards for automatic-qualifying.
The following schools are missing from Appendix D and are not included in the given totals for their respective conferences or region's Pool B:
[9] SUNY-Morrisville should be listed in the East Region as a member of the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) and eligible for Pool A/C. (They competed they provisional membership last year.)
Update the total of NEAC Pool A/C schools in the East Region from 4 to 5. [10] Berry College should be listed in the South Atlantic Region as an independent and as a provisional member not eligible for the tournament. (They are entering their first year of provisional membership.)
Update total of South Atlantic Pool B provisional members not eligible for the tournament from 0 to 1. [11] Covenant College should be listed in the South Atlantic Region as an independent and as a provisional member not eligible for the tournament. (They are entering their first year of provisional membership.)
Update total of South Atlantic Pool B provisional members not eligible for the tournament from 1 (see #2 above) to 2. [12] Howard Payne should be listed in the West Region as a member of the American Southwest Conference (ASC) and eligible for Pool A/C.
Update total of ASC Pool A/C schools in the West Region from 13 to 14. The following schools are not properly classified in Appendix D:
[13] Spalding of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) is listed as a Pool A/C school, but is a provisional member not eligible for the tournament. (They are entering their second year of provisional membership.)
Update total of SLIAC Pool A/C schools in the Central Region from 9 to 8 and update the total of Pool B provisional members not eligible for the tournament from 0 to 1. [14] North Central an independent in the North Region is listed as an eligible Pool B school, but is a provisional member not eligible for the tournament. (They are entering their fourth and final year of provisional membership.)
Update total of eligible Pool B schools in the North Region from 15 to 14 and update the total of Pool B provisional members not eligible for the tournament from 0 to 1.Sources of current provisional members status used in items #9-#11, #13-#14: The NCAA News: Four schools achieve active DIII membership for 2009-10 (Aug 10, 2009)
Current NCAA Division III Provisional, Reclassifying and Exploratory MembersThe following sums are in error in Appendix D:
[15] The North Region Pool B totals say there are 15 eligible schools. But the list of schools shows fourteen eligible schools and 1 declared NAIA.
Update total of eligible Pool B schools in the North Region from 14 (see #6 above) to 13, and update the total of NAIA declared from 0 to 1. [16] The West Region Pool B totals say there are 3 eligible schools, 1 provisional member, 1 reclassifying school, and 1 declared NAIA. That adds up to 6, but only 5 schools are listed and only two are eligible. No school is missing that I can tell.
Update total of eligible Pool B schools in the West Region from 3 to 2. [17] At the beginning of Appendix D it states that there are 395 total eligible teams. I have no idea where this number comes from as it doesn’t jive with what follows in Appendix D or with what is on page 13 nor with any updated values based on the errors noted above.
[18] Finally, and not necessarily an error, but I find it interesting that of three schools in the reclassification process from D-III to D-II, Lincoln (Pa.) and CSU-East Bay continue to be included as D-III soccer programs but ineligible for the tournament, while the Maryville (St. Louis) is no longer listed as being a D-III program at all. Not sure if this was intended or and oversight/omission. Of course, it makes no difference as they are ineligible in any case. I can only guess that maybe since Maryville has already become a full member of a D-II conference, they are out while the others who are not members of a D-II conference yet remain listed.
Lincoln (Pa.): in third and final year of process, is/was and independent in D-III, has remained an independent thru the process and will join the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) next year (2010/11) when it is a fully active and eligible D-II program.
CSU-East Bay: in second year of process, is/was and independent in D-III, is a “scheduling partner” with the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) this season. Not sure what the technical difference is between being a “scheduling partner” and a member, but they are listed in the conference standings.
Maryville (St. Louis): in second year of process, was a member of the D-III St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) last year (2008/09), its first year in the process, starting this year (2009/10) is a member of the D-II Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).
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