Bumblin' B's

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

WOW... it just got as chilly as a winter's wind off the Mighty Mac! That brings back memories... :-)

[John Gleich]

WOW... it just got as chilly as a winter's wind off the Mighty Mac! That brings back memories... :-)

I'm pretty sure that their terms like Troll were endearing... Being from Illinois myself, they called me a FIB... Fabulous Illinois Bucko, or something like that...     

[KnightSlappy]

Better a Troll than a Yooper.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yeah, this troll knows it is the 'Mighty Mac'; calling it the 'Big Mac' instead is an inside joke with my sons.  I must have been hungry when I posted!

[smedindy]

Better a Troll than a Yooper.

***AHEM***

My girlfriend is from Houghton and went to Northern Michigan. I wouldn't mess with her. 

[KnightSlappy]

Better a Troll than a Yooper.

***AHEM***

My girlfriend is from Houghton and went to Northern Michigan. I wouldn't mess with her. 

My parents both graduated from Michigan Tech, so I'm prepared to deal with it.

[Gregory Sager]

d-mac beat me to it on the season - for a winter sport, I'd say no one is as isolated as UMPI (Finlandia might be their nearest competition)!  I'm surprised they get nearly all their games in (even if we often didn't hear the results for weeks!)

I can't speak to UMPI, but I went to Michigan Tech for a year (right across Portage Lake from Finlandia) and they're just used to the snow... they have the machinery to deal with it.

To contrast, it's much more common for a place like Nashville to shut down with an inch of snow than for the U.P. to shut down with anything less than... I dunno... 18 inches?  (That's at one time... the year I was there, we got 229 inches.  Just about average...)

I hear ya - I was in Birmingham (AL) one time when two inches fell - I'm trying to drive normally, everyone else is utterly freaked out!  For Finlandia, I was forgetting that the NCAA finally showed common sense and moved them to the West.  EVERY Great Lakes opponent was over 400 miles away and required a crossing of the Big Mac (regardless of equipment, can be VERY dicey in mid-winter)!

Big Mac is not the preferred nomenclature. Mighty Mac, please.

I got buddies who died face down in the muck so that you and I could enjoy this family restaurant bridge!

[KnightSlappy]

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/ncaa/ncaa/sports+and+championship/general+information/championships+administration/basketball+pre-championship+manual

The pre-championship manual has been released.

I see some errors, but a big takeaway is the Home/Away multiplier has been changed from 1.4/0.6 to 1.25/0.75. Yay!

[oldchap]

I'm a little confused as to the status of Chapman University. They were accepted this year into the SCIAC, although I understand that they weren't eligible to participate in Conference play until next year, and therefore do not qualify for a Pool A berth.

In the last several years, as an Independent, they were a Pool B contender. This year, I thought that being officially part of the SCIAC although not participating in Conference play, Chapman would have been removed from Pool B contention but still eligible for Pool C.

However, I see from the manual that they are counted as one of the 5 Pool B candidates in the West region.

Is this correct? Can anyone enlighten me on the process?

[Ralph Turner]

Wednesday, February 8. First of three regional rankings released.
Wednesday, February 15. Second regional ranking.
Wednesday, February 22. Third and final regional ranking.

Region   # of Eligible Team/Bracket Ratio  # of RankedTeams

Atlantic Region                     31/6.5                            5  (Rounded up  32.5=5)
East Region                         37/6.5                            6   (Rounded up  39=6)
Great Lakes Region              42/6.5                            6   (Truncated       39=6)
Mid-Atlantic Region               60/6.5                           9    (Truncated       58.5=9)
Midwest Region                    50/6.5                            8    (Rounded up   52=8)
Northeast Region                 75/6.5                           12    (Rounded up   78=12)
South Region                      50/6.5                            8     (Rounded up    52=8)
West Region                       60/6.5                            9     (Truncated        58.5 =9)

[Ralph Turner]

Pool B  I count 11.

St Joseph's Brooklyn -- Atlantic
UMaine Presque Isle  Northeast
GSAC -4               South  (Maryville, LaGrange, Piedmont and Huntingdon)
Rust                    South
North Central         West
Neb Wesleyan         West
Finlandia                  West (any team in the West Evaluation Region plus Admin Region #3 is in-region)
UC-Santa Cruz         West

[KnightSlappy]

Pool B  I count 11.

St Joseph's Brooklyn -- Atlantic
UMaine Presque Isle  Northeast
GSAC -4               South  (Maryville, LaGrange, Piedmont and Huntingdon)
Rust                    South
North Central         West
Neb Wesleyan         West
Finlandia                  West (any team in the West Evaluation Region plus Admin Region #3 is in-region)
UC-Santa Cruz         West

Another situation that would be greatly improved if 'adjacent states' were added to the in-region criteria. Finlandia could be moved back to the GL Region (geographically they don't belong in the West), but they could still play Minnesota and (even more) Wisconsin teams in regional play.

[Ralph Turner]

Pool B  I count 11.

St Joseph's Brooklyn -- Atlantic
UMaine Presque Isle  Northeast
GSAC -4               South  (Maryville, LaGrange, Piedmont and Huntingdon)
Rust                    South
North Central         West
Neb Wesleyan         West
Finlandia                  West (any team in the West Evaluation Region plus Admin Region #3 is in-region)
UC-Santa Cruz         West

Another situation that would be greatly improved if 'adjacent states' were added to the in-region criteria. Finlandia could be moved back to the GL Region (geographically they don't belong in the West), but they could still play Minnesota and (even more) Wisconsin teams in regional play.

Finlandia plays 3 teams that are in the Great Lakes Region.

They play 15 teams that are conventionally in the West Region and get credit for the 3 lower peninsula schools in Administrative Region #3 to make 18 West Region Games.

I like the assigning of Finlandia Men to the West Region.

Adding the "adjacent states" to the "in-region" list would add another layer over and above the 200-mile radius rule to the criteria.

[KnightSlappy]

An adjacent state rule would (more or less) eliminate the 200 mile rule. Pat brought an area around Maryland to my attention that would still likely need the 200 mile rule, but adjacent states would more fairly eliminate the 'edges' of the regions.

Calvin 'should' be in the midwest region, but they're not. This would help Calvin find regional games as well.

[oldchap]

Pool B  I count 11.

St Joseph's Brooklyn -- Atlantic
UMaine Presque Isle  Northeast
GSAC -4               South  (Maryville, LaGrange, Piedmont and Huntingdon)
Rust                    South
North Central         West
Neb Wesleyan         West
Finlandia                  West (any team in the West Evaluation Region plus Admin Region #3 is in-region)
UC-Santa Cruz         West

I'm sorry if I haven't followed prior discussions on this subject but Chapman is listed under Pool B in the West on Page 71 of the manual. Is this an error?