Announcing the 2026 Windy City Shootout from Ignite D3 Events! This event is full and finalized for Nov. 22, 2026, featuring six teams from four different regions playing underneath the bright lights of Chicago's NOW Arena, home of the G-League's Windy City Bulls. This one-day classic is highlighted by a trio of programs that reached the 2026 NCAA Tournament, and four teams that won 19 games or more in 2025-26, including the defending champions out of the NACC and ASC. The 2026 schedule is as follows:

12:00 PM – Colorado College vs. UW-Stevens Point (Women)
2:15 PM – Centre College vs. UW-Stevens Point (Men)
4:30 PM – Millikin vs. MSOE (Men)
6:45 PM – Mary Hardin-Baylor vs. Aurora (Men)

Ignite D3 Events already has its 2027 events on the horizon and opportunities for teams to enjoy similarly great experiences paired with high-level matchups in venues across the country. For details and interest, email Paul Combs at paul@ignitepartnersllc.com or call at 608-778-7988.

Quote from: saratoga on March 18, 2026, 05:32:09 PMRiley has certainly put together some very nice & informative articles that's for sure.

I know Dave likes to mention the Scranton win over Pitt didn't count for the Lady Royals in their record but it certainly counted on Pitt's schedule & record & Riley has another great article he wrote after that upset (?) back in Nov. that I encourage any basketball fan to read.

I appreciate it! Yes, the link to that story on the Scranton win over Pitt is here, for any who are interested in some more background on the nation's No. 2 team.

https://open.substack.com/pub/d3wbbscoop/p/a-royal-day-in-the-steel-city-scranton?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=p194d

Quote from: Etchglow on September 05, 2025, 04:59:58 PM

Quote from: UMHB03 on September 05, 2025, 04:06:23 PM

Quote from: Etchglow on September 05, 2025, 10:51:51 AMGame notes are up!

https://cruathletics.com/documents/2025/9/5/2025_FINAL_BETHEL_NOTES.pdf

Missed on Teutsch from above, but all the other few guesses were right haha.

Odd that Teutsch isn't on the 2-deep. Did I miss something?

He is on the roster, wonder if hurt or something?

Yes. Per @CouchCru17 on X, he is dealing with an injury. Also reported that Da'Marion Morris "is recovering from injury and questionable for Saturday."

Quote from: Crubacker on September 05, 2025, 11:38:57 AMThat QB from Bethel is a gunslinger.  85 TD's in 2 yrs---- it will be a real test for the secondary if we don't get pressure on the QB

Correct. And after the fact, I realized Illinois College's stats from 2023 were wrong on Chance's player bio. He in fact had 98 passing TDs in those two years, not counting 10 more rushing TDs (article has since been updated). Explosive player for sure, though I'm not entirely sure what kind of O-Line he has in front of him, and that will play a factor in how much time he actually has in the pocket.

The ASC has announced that Leslie Schuemann will take over as commissioner beginning on Sept. 1, replacing David Flores. She is currently the Deputy Commissioner of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in D2.

https://ascsports.org/news/2025/8/13/football-leslie-schuemann-named-commissioner-of-the-american-southwest-conference.aspx

Yep, it's on Cisco's published schedule for August 30. First time I can remember that UMHB has scrimmaged a JUCO on the weekend prior to the season opener.

Your 22 at-large teams in the 2025 tournament:

Springfield sneaks in after being on the outside looking in for the last few days. George Fox fell out after this morning's loss to Lewis & Clark. 3 of the first 4 out were from Region 10 (GFU, Trinity, Hardin-Simmons).

1   Christopher Newport
2   Huntingdon
3   Redlands
4   Texas Lutheran
5   Salisbury
6   UW-Whitewater
7   Gettysburg
8   Baldwin Wallace
9   CWRU
10   Simpson
11   Ramapo
12   Randolph-Macon
13   Central
14   Eastern
15   Lewis & Clark
16   Williams
17   UW-Stevens Point
18   RPI
19   Emory
20   Wartburg
21   UW-Eau Claire
22   Springfield

Quick look at the NCAA Tournament picture as it currently stands:

Current AQ qualifiers: St. Thomas (TX) (SCAC), Belhaven (CCS), Messiah (MAC Commonwealth), Lebanon Valley (MAC Freedom), Immaculata (Atlantic East)

Current at-large bid picture if the season ended today (using NPI through 5/5):

Selection Order    Team
1   Christopher Newport
2   Huntingdon
3   Salisbury
4   Texas Lutheran
5   WashU
6   UW-Oshkosh
7   Chapman
8   Ramapo
9   Swarthmore
10   Randolph-Macon
11   Tufts
12   Emory
13   Lewis & Clark
14   Eastern
15   Central
16   UW-Stevens Point
17   Wartburg
18   RPI
19   UW-Eau Claire
20   Rochester
21   Hardin-Simmons
22   George Fox

First 4 Out (courtesy of @D3Softball on X): Nebraska Wesleyan, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Catholic, Trinity (TX)

I'll just leave this here for those interested.

Complete NPI report from the NCAA, detailing the dials being used for the formula AND explanation for how the committee decided on each specific dial: https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/baseball/d3/2024-25D3MBA_NPIReport.pdf

If you're interested in going further in-depth, this is an NPI webinar from the NCAA for all interested (targeted at coaches, SIDs, ADs specifically), detailing the above information directly from those who are overseeing NPI for D3 Baseball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG_TXUXLb1c

This info is readily available to the public...found it in about 30 seconds with a google search at the beginning of this season.

Quote from: Teddy_Ballgame on May 05, 2025, 07:13:58 PM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 05, 2025, 06:46:16 PMIt's a strict numerical formula.  The non-pool A teams will be selected in ranked numerical order until no pool C bids remain.

Sure, but who controls the formula, the data it's being fed, and the results it spits out? I won't accept any rankings or values I disgree with unless Frank Pericolosi or Scott Winterburn can replicate the alleged rankings with a calculator and graph paper.

Nobody is "controlling" the formula. It's a numerical formula that has been publicly published to the public. And there is no way for the committee to change that formula in any form or fashion. The data is purely the results of all D3 games, so there's no manual input of any results into the system.

I only say that because the idea that the committee could manipulate data to somehow alter who gets in is just false. As we've seen in fall and winter sports, NPI can be replicated to a T by non-committee members (such as Matt and Zac Snyder and Scott Peterson), which tells you that it's a completely straightforward approach from the NCAA based purely on the NPI information that has been published.

That was a terrific game. SCAC Tournament has been awesome the last two days. Credit to Concordia for weathering the storm and immediately responding in the Top of the 10th. Now we'll see if they can get past Trinity and force another game tomorrow!

McMurry's season isn't necessarily over, but man, it'll be a long week for them watching the rest of the conference tournaments play out. Warhawks will obviously be squarely on the bubble, and have to hope for a max of 2-3 bid thieves, based on the way things look right now.

Austin College is in a position for a major turnaround. Bringing in Phillips gives the 'Roos that 1-2 punch in the post with Brooklyn Matthews being the other go-to in the frontcourt. Matthews is set up to have a huge senior season. On top of that, the guards/wings are all experienced and talented in their own right. Having depth in the rotation shouldn't be an issue, which is something they'll need if they indeed go more up-tempo than they have in years past. Excited to see how Coach Hunt's first year in Sherman plays out.

UMHB has announced its new head coach, as Sam Patterson, most recently an assistant at D1 Oral Roberts, is taking the reins of the program. Also spent 13 years at Baylor, including 7 as the video coordinator.

Press release from UMHB: https://cruathletics.com/news/2025/4/21/mens-basketball-sam-patterson-named-mens-basketball-head-coach.aspx

Yes, that's a good point on the athletic fees, Ron. Completely my bad on misinterpreting the scholarship structure. It does appear MavChamp was correct in noting that in Texas, funding is given to state schools for athletic operating expenses, but scholarships themselves stem from the athletic fees, fundraising, and donations. I do remember Sul Ross needing approval from the Texas State System Board of Regents before it could apply and begin the transition to Division II, because at the time, it sounded like their athletic budget would need to be expanded, and the board would need to approve that aspect before steps towards D2 could be fully taken.

I think the D3 model makes better sense, especially at a football school, for a number of reasons. It wouldn't be the biggest surprise if SRSU eventually opted to return to D3...it would certainly help if a couple of LSC schools decided to go D3 as well and expand the ASC's West Texas footprint.

Agreed. I just think from their standpoint, scholarships go a long way in recruiting, especially as a public school. Not impossible to recruit without them, considering they were D3 for as long as they were, but it's hard to see where the benefit would be to SRSU returning to D3.

And yeah, the travel thing may have been used more for PR reasons than it actual reality, but I think about the future ASC setup. If SRSU returned to make it 7, they'd still need 4 non-conference football games and 13 non-conference basketball/soccer/volleyball.  In non-football sports, you hardly even have to play outside your league in the LSC. That saves money, because you're not spending several thousand to fly your men's basketball team to Colorado/Oregon/California or bus them to Arkansas for two games. Financially, it'd work fine with football...but it's all the other sports that would be of concern compared to the LSC schedule.