Polls and conference tournaments

[2xfaux]

Two questions?

Is there a reason TCNJ ,#11 in the poll here, does not show up at all in the NSCAA rankings.


Is there a reason that some conferences don't have tournaments (SCAC and UAA don't seem to) and is there some sort of logic to the number of teams that get into various conference tournies.  NESCAC-8  Centennial-5 etc.?

[JHUFAN]

I can answer the Centennial Conference Tournament question. At the end of conference play the #4 place team plays the 5th place team on Wednesday at the higher seeds field.The winner then becomes the 4th seed for the Tournament which plays on Saturday#1vs#4,#2vs#3. The winners play Sunday for the Conference Championship.
I guess its a way to give 5 teams the opportunity to play for the Championship in an eleven team conference

[Jim Matson]

On the poll question, the NSCAA uses a regional ranking system to build their national poll.  So as the NSCAA has TCNJ at No. 5 in their latest regional poll, there is no way that TCNJ would make the national poll.  In their system, all regions need to be represented to some extent.

In the D3soccer.com poll, the voters think that TCNJ is actually the 11th best team in the country, regardless of regions.  Our poll has no regional component; there is already the NSCAA regional poll and the NCAA regional poll.  Our goal is to have the most accurate NATIONAL poll.

Of course, no poll has any effect on the NCAA committee - except their own regional poll.  Ours is just for fun

[sean-o]

Two questions?

Is there a reason TCNJ ,#11 in the poll here, does not show up at all in the NSCAA rankings.

TCNJ is ranked fifth in the South Atlantic Region by the NSCAA. The way the NSCAA national rankings work is that each of eight regions must be represented in each of 1-8, 9-16 and 17-24. So outside of one No. 4 team, only those ranked Nos. 1-3 regionally appear in the national rankings.

Is there a reason that some conferences don't have tournaments (SCAC and UAA don't seem to) and is there some sort of logic to the number of teams that get into various conference tournies.  NESCAC-8  Centennial-5 etc.?

There's a really good reason the UAA doesn't have it: travel. There's no feasible way to add another weekend of travel to schools that range from Chicago to Atlanta to upstate New York.

Allow me to add that, as a UAA follower, I wouldn't want a conference tournament anyway. Each goal and each game mean so much more because a single loss, or even tie, can seriously damage a team's championship chances. You really have to follow a conference like this to realize how tough the season is.

But its not like trailing in the UAA means the games are insignificant. Along with the benefit of being a multi-regional conference, the UAA has consistently gotten three to four (and a few years ago, five) teams into the postseason on both men's and women's sides.

I guess my biggest problem with tournaments is that they have this odd effect of making several conferences' postseason presence very ... middling. Let me explain:

Let's say No. 4 seed Millikin of the CCIW were to win the conference tournament over No. 1 seed Augustana, No. 2 seed Wheaton and No. 3 seed Ill. Wesleyan.

That would be an exciting result, sure. Millikin would add a cindarella story. But now Augustana has to take one of 21 national at-large berths because they played so well during the regular season. So that would give the CCIW two postseason teams.

But both Wheaton and Ill. Wesleyan, already somewhat bubble teams, would have to take another loss by definition. (Well, they could get a draw, too, if they lost in penalty kicks.) This favors a team, like Chicago, that might be able to end its season with a win, even without winning the conference tournament.

So in my mind, Augustana, the regular-season champion, winning makes it more likely the CCIW gets three teams. If any of the others win in an upset, then the CCIW is more likely to get just two.

Anyone who follows a conference tournament disagree? Consider that this is based on my own madness watching all the upsets in conference tournaments on the final weekend.