Quote from: Fido0650 on December 07, 2025, 07:13:07 AM

Quote from: uvmcatamount14 on December 06, 2025, 10:53:08 PMIt is the OAC. Beating up on Wilma, Cap, Musky, et al. means squat. D3's Big Game James. Little F Geoff.

No one in D3 fears playing  the Purple Raiders anymore.

This is patently untrue. While their mystique has lost its luster with NCC's ascension, 99% of teams are intimidated by both Mount's history and on field talent. Mount is everyone's biggest game of the year (NCC excepted), playoffs included.

Truth is, hegemony is not a thing in D3 like it used to be. The on-field talent has risen across the board, and the game has changed a ton over 20 years. Can't stay on top forever.

Quote from: WRMUalum13 on December 08, 2025, 03:36:11 PM

Quote from: blue_jays on December 08, 2025, 03:33:52 PM

Quote from: D3fanboy on December 07, 2025, 02:00:23 PM2021 - ran into a buzzsaw with NCC in the semis, no shame
2022 - needed a hail mary bounce off of a BW player to win the conference (after being up 17-0 at half, the only other score was the hail mary)  made a run to the Stagg Bowl.  Offense didn't show up until the 4th quarter after a 21-0 hole
2023 - Alma.  Was the Dartt masterpiece until 12/6/25
2024 - great run to the Stagg Bowl after a couple of turds in OAC play.  The end of the 1st half coaching blunders took away any chance of an upset
2025- peaked in week 2 (or was it the 3rd quarter of game 1?)  went through the motions for much of the OAC year and laid the program's biggest egg yesterday

can't wait to see what is in store for the 2026 Raiders

I know you all might have talked yourself into this being a possibility at the time, but there was no way that NCC team was gonna lose in 2024. Lehnen was not going to be denied regardless of how close the game ever got. They were a juggernaut for a reason.

Did you miss the 2023 Stagg Bowl?

Admittedly yes, NCC was a clearly better team last year, but I don't think a Mount upset was outside the realm of possibility. I mean Lehnen is only 2/4 in Stagg Bowls

I did not miss the 2023 Stagg Bowl, and that game was precisely why Lehnen wasn't going to lose in 2024. They were a team of destiny and you could see it right from Week 1.

Quote from: D3fanboy on December 07, 2025, 02:00:23 PM2021 - ran into a buzzsaw with NCC in the semis, no shame
2022 - needed a hail mary bounce off of a BW player to win the conference (after being up 17-0 at half, the only other score was the hail mary)  made a run to the Stagg Bowl.  Offense didn't show up until the 4th quarter after a 21-0 hole
2023 - Alma.  Was the Dartt masterpiece until 12/6/25
2024 - great run to the Stagg Bowl after a couple of turds in OAC play.  The end of the 1st half coaching blunders took away any chance of an upset
2025- peaked in week 2 (or was it the 3rd quarter of game 1?)  went through the motions for much of the OAC year and laid the program's biggest egg yesterday

can't wait to see what is in store for the 2026 Raiders

I know you all might have talked yourself into this being a possibility at the time, but there was no way that NCC team was gonna lose in 2024. Lehnen was not going to be denied regardless of how close the game ever got. They were a juggernaut for a reason.

Quote from: Coach.myers on December 07, 2025, 09:03:25 PMNESCAC soccer isn't pretty, but they have won 8 of the last 11 tournaments and have had a team in 10 of 11 semis. Last possession oriented team to win was Messiah.

Apparently you don't watch enough soccer. University of Chicago put together one of the greatest seasons in D3 history in 2022 en route to an undefeated title where they beat a NESCAC team in the final 2-0. UChicago has been possession oriented and technical since Mike Babst arrived in 2013 and brought the program to new heights.

Quote from: New Tradition on November 17, 2025, 10:22:39 AM

Quote from: blue_jays on November 17, 2025, 09:55:25 AM

Quote from: Jbothe on November 16, 2025, 02:54:31 PMNorth Central/IWU was closer than expected. Did IWU have a lot of time of possession?  NC miss some scoring opportunities? 

It was a Week 10 contest for a team that already clinched who just wanted to get into the playoffs healthy. Just playing with their food.

Don't discredit Wesleyan.  They came to play and Smythe and Nazha are the real deal.  Cardinal defense couldn't keep Smythe contained.  I feel like he could have rushed for a lot more than 63 if they wanted.  They had a great game plan and executed it as well as they could have.  Offensively, NCC had a ton of success between the 20s but due to some funky stuff had a rough time closing out drives.  Some drops on some shots they took on first down as well as penalties and a few tfls eventually got them behind the sticks a few times.  They should have it cleaned up in the next few weeks. 

I'm not discrediting IWU, but I am saying its Week 10 before the playoffs. Not the same intensity. If NCC was playing Wheaton in Week 10, that's a different level of focus. Also I'm sure the coaches don't want to show anything on tape that they're saving for the playoff run.
Wheaton hung 65 on IWU down in Bloomington this year. IWU was the 5th-best CCIW team this year. NCC was not in danger of losing this game.
McNeal being injured though is a big deal.

Kudos to UChicago on a great bounceback season after last year's disappointment. Hopefully the young guys continue to improve and they can better this season's result, they are certainly capable.
Unfortunately their lack of scoring punch bit them at the worst time once again. Just need to find a Yetishevsky type who can put the offense on their back and score clutch goals. (I woulda said find a Max Lopez type but as one of the top 2 offensive talents in school history, that's asking too much).

Quote from: Jbothe on November 16, 2025, 02:54:31 PMNorth Central/IWU was closer than expected. Did IWU have a lot of time of possession?  NC miss some scoring opportunities? 

It was a Week 10 contest for a team that already clinched who just wanted to get into the playoffs healthy. Just playing with their food.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on November 11, 2025, 04:50:33 PMI just don't see it that way. Wash U's associate membership in the CCIW isn't being revoked when the scoreboard hits 00:00 up in Sun Prairie a week from Saturday (if indeed the Bears end up repping the league in the Isthmus Bowl). It was revoked 14 months ago. It's just that the revocation doesn't take effect until Wash U's 2025 season ends. Think of it as being the football-conference equivalent of being given two weeks' notice in the business world.

Wash U's forced departure from the league has absolutely nothing to do -- nada, zero, zilch -- with how the Bears are actually faring on the football field against the rest of the CCIW. And if the revocation announcement back in September 2024 had included telling Wash U that it couldn't represent the CCIW in the Isthmus Bowl in 2025 because the Bears would no longer be in the league once the regular season ended, it probably would've struck most people as being ungracious and deeply unfair. If you earn the bid you should get the bid, regardless of whether you're going to be in the league next season or not.

Oh I agree with you on all counts. I just found UChicago's recent experience with the MWC amusing.

Quote from: GusD on November 11, 2025, 02:55:17 PM

Quote from: Kovo on November 11, 2025, 09:40:22 AM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on November 10, 2025, 11:54:53 PMI'm not sure why it would be embarrassing for the CCIW if Wash U represents the league in the Isthmus Bowl. After all, the Bears have done so twice before; that means that half of the Isthmus Bowl's four-year history has featured Wash U as the CCIW's representative. The Bears have finished in the top third in five of the six years that they've been in the league, and in the 2025 preseason coaches poll the CCIW braintrust forecast that the Bears would make it six out of seven by slotting them -- you guessed it -- third behind North Central and Wheaton.

If the CCIW's nine full members thought it was relevant to consider where the Bears were going to finish this season, they wouldn't have shown Wash U the door in the first place. But they didn't, so they did.

Quote from: WUPHF on November 10, 2025, 05:57:15 PMMore embarrassing for the CCIW is the record against Washington University.

7-0 vs. Carroll
6-1 vs. Illinois Wesleyan
7-0 vs. Carthage
7-0 vs. Elmhurst
6-1 vs. Millikin
7-0 vs. North Park
5-1 vs. Augustana

I'm not sure why this is embarrassing, either. While the jury was out as to how well Wash U would compete in the CCIW when it first came in, the Bears immediately disabused CCIW football fans of the notion that the Bears would be anything other than an upper-tier team. And because that was established quickly and then maintained, again, it's hard to see why anyone should be red-faced about the likelihood of an Isthmus Bowl bid for Wash U that was so predictable that the coaches, in fact, went right ahead and predicted it.

Ok ---I will change it to this---the Institutions that voted to rid themselves of WashU should be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves. (since it looks like they are ducking competition i.e. "if you can't beat them ---kick them out").  IMHO.

I know, I know, there are sooooo many reasons to bring in a full member, that dismissing an academically elite very competitive football program makes sense.

This is basically what I meant by my post. While it may be interpreted that way, I don't think it's primarily a case of ducking competition. But I do think it's an embarrassment to the CCIW to have a member be good enough to represent the conference in a bowl game in which the sound of the final buzzer means that team's conference membership is immediately revoked and the team is a conference member no more. Like I said—-thanks for representing us so well. Now, you're out. 🫠

I mean, UChicago baseball got the boot from the Midwest Conference recently because a bunch of the coaches (led by Beloit's coach/AD) thought they were too good/a threat to win the auto bid. So they voted them out in baseball, but the MWC still kept them in football (you won't find a more sensitive bunch than baseball coaches...). Keep in mind, UChicago did not win the MWC tournament during their time in the league, but they did have some quite good squads and individuals during that time.

So UChicago baseball rejoined the UAA in 2025, and in its first year, qualified at-large for the NCAA postseason for the first time in program history. They proceeded to knock Beloit out of the playoffs and reached the regional championship decider game.

Quote from: kansas hokie on November 10, 2025, 12:04:16 PMsome thoughts on the bracket...

Chicago and Wash U in same pod??? that's #8 and 9 ranked teams!

Lazy and bad bracketing right there. Potential conference match-up in round 2 should never happen.

Quote from: WUPHF on October 22, 2025, 09:31:31 AM

Quote from: VASoccerDad on October 21, 2025, 06:22:04 PMI wonder if they ever thought of a neutral site tournament- say in Nashville or Richmond.

UAA Volleyball has a postseason tournament, but they play at a UAA school, rotating each year.  I know nothing of volleyball, but in terms of recovery, they seem to be able to play more games per weekend than other sports.

The idea of a conference tournament gets brought up periodically, but the league continues with the status quo.

They should keep the status quo, the model works well and puts the right emphasis on regular season results mattering. I always have beef with conference tournaments where an average team gets hot for 2 or 3 games and grabs the AQ.
Plane travel is expensive, and the UAA schools have rightly emphasized that being in class as much as possible matters. A conference championship weekend works well in some sports (cross country, tennis, volleyball). But I always hear complaints about 2 games in a weekend in soccer being too taxing, so not cramming in extra games for a conference tournament makes sense to me.
Volleyball players are used to playing 2-3 matches per day on busy weekends, it's just part of their grind and how the sport is run. It's a sport reliant on explosive movements in a small area versus continuous running like soccer.

Quote from: WUPHF on October 20, 2025, 03:02:14 PM

Quote from: kansas hokie on October 20, 2025, 01:43:15 PMYes, I think U Chicago can host both due to using (and having) two fields. NCAA requires over half of your home games using the field used for NCAA hosting but I'm sure the leaders at U Chicago can make that work. Don't think the same is available to Emory, Wash U, or Brandeis so while all may earn the right to host (and at least 1-2 of those four will have "protected" seeds it seems), this year the women have priority for hosting the first/second rounds so those other three schools would travel.

Right, only Chicago has multiple fields.  Others can correct me if I am wrong, but the grass field is also used by the baseball and softball teams so interestingly, Chicago might not be able to host both Spring sports in the same weekend, though I have no idea...

Due to its sizable width, the Stagg grass accommodates baseball and softball simultaneously. The fences run right up next to each other in center/right center, and the two programs play on the same day all the time during the spring. The baseball field has monster power alleys, it's one of the largest fields in D3 for sure. If you hit a home run at UChicago (especially with all the cross breezes coming off the lake), you've really done something. There were some years in the past where there were less than 4 combined home runs hit at J. Kyle Anderson Field in a full season.

For reference, this is an aerial view of the outdoor fields:
https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/2023/6/12/facilities-athletic-fields.aspx

Quote from: Gregory Sager on September 18, 2025, 11:26:13 AMMSOE is hardly a walk in the park. The Raiders repped the NACC in last season's D3 tourney and gave Gustavus Adolphus a legitimate battle in the first round up in Saint Peter before falling by a score of 2-1. In fact, the Raiders went to the other side of the lake and thumped Calvin at Zuidema Field, 5-1, in this year's season opener. They'll contend for the NACC title again this season, which is not the same thing at all as being a top-half UAA team -- but there's always two or three NACC teams every year that have to be taken seriously by teams from tougher conferences.

MSOE is definitely progressing, but swapping them in for the likes of Calvin is a purposeful move to have a more winnable game, regardless of MSOE's result with Calvin this season. It is soccer and anyone can be beaten on any given day (look at UC's relatively dismal performances against Carthage over the years, for example). My point is the Maroons used to put together the hardest/top 3 schedule in the nation consistently, and they are shifting away from that for more winnable games. My confidence in the program is at a low ebb, as this feels like a return to the old days of UC being a middle of the pack, average-to-decently good kind of team whose time in the national spotlight is behind them.

Quote from: kansas hokie on September 18, 2025, 08:46:54 AMChicago has played a TOUGH schedule and done well with it, they will be strong. Wash U also talented, North Park win is a good one for them. Brandeis still in there too with Case.

Emory non-con will be a stellar record it seems so if they don't win UAA then it's at least two bids.

if we used today's Massey ratings in place of NPI and gave out bids today...UAA would have 5.

Last year, at large cut-off was 35, right now those 5 are all top 25 teams in Massey. Remember, United Soccer coaches poll makes no real impact in bids now, it's fun to look at, but means nothing in the end. We'll see what NPI says in a month.

I don't quite agree on UChicago. When you look at this year's schedule versus the previous decade or so, they have subtly shifted to easier non-con opponents than in years past (adding MSOE and Aurora and not playing Calvin, for example). I don't blame them, they need wins. Their previous coaching regimes (Babst/Flinn/Sitch) always scheduled the hardest possible slate because they were testing themselves for the postseason and knew they were good enough to win 80 percent of those games or more.
Unfortunately, UChicago is still in rebuild mode after last year's disaster season. Their defense is quite impressive, but their anemic offense will be their undoing. They're likely a middle of the pack UAA team at this point, and I don't see them making the postseason, which is the minimum standard for a program of their caliber. Trust me, I'd love to see the Maroons return to their former glory, but it could take years to get there.

Quote from: IC798891 on July 16, 2025, 11:18:44 AM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on July 16, 2025, 10:33:22 AM

Quote from: IC798891 on July 16, 2025, 09:54:14 AMWhen a significant change happens that is going to positively impact a segment of people and negatively impact another segment of people, getting the opinions of both segments of people to tell the complete story is literally Journalism 101.

Again, it's a press release.  The only intent is to shape the narrative that this is good; they do not want to give space for another opinion.  The point is to try and convince people this is good for everyone.

Do you hear yourself? It's NOT good for everyone. People are telling you, directly, that this is NOT good for them.

That's the other side of this shift of the entire model of D3 sports — ignoring those voices is journalistic negligence

Frankly, journalism has nothing to do with it. The employees putting out these press releases (SIDs/Athletic Communications) are being told to announce the deal, put in a nice quote that makes the endeavor sound positive, and that's that. I bet the majority of SIDs oppose these Flo deals, but it's not their job to push back. Their AD tells them what to do, and they do it. Just like any other job under the sun, you do what your boss tells you to do, or you no longer have a job.

If you want a journalistic callout of Flo, look to the local city newspaper or the university student newspaper. But don't put any of this on the hardworking SIDs, who bust their humps with 60-80 hour work weeks 9-10 months a year, doing everything they can to serve the student-athletes.