FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

kiko, I agree that there has been no indication in past years - but they have never faced a season where three of the four brackets may be formed around teams from Wisconsin on west!  IF they really do select what I would say are the clear top candidates for #1 seeds (as of this week), there could be a MANY flights in round one!!  The bean counters would engage in mass suicide.

[wally_wabash]

Teams don't get shipped anywhere, guys. That's not how it works.

[iwu70]

Very proud of my TITANS today, playing WC tough, esp. after going down quickly 0-20 in the first Q, fighting back to make a game of it at 27-all late in the third.  Very tough on the pick 6 off of the deflection.  Ben Bouie had a great game with two INTs.  Wheaton an excellent team and proved just a bit tougher than the TITANS in red zone, short field situations where IWU really had a chance to take the lead but just couldn't score on several drives with a short field due to those poor punts.  My congrats to all the seniors and their families.  Sad not to see Artie Checchin there and honoured too.  He surely deserves it.  Congrats to WC on a great game and surely another 10-0 season upcoming.  I thought the Titans would be 7-3 or 8-2 and so it has come to pass, or likely will.  A really good season, but WC just too good today.  Congrats to WC on the CCIW championship, very likely. 

I headed inside after the game to watch the IWU basketball scrimmage vs. Hanover.  That was a much happier outcome! 

IWU70

[kiko]

kiko, I agree that there has been no indication in past years - but they have never faced a season where three of the four brackets may be formed around teams from Wisconsin on west!  IF they really do select what I would say are the clear top candidates for #1 seeds (as of this week), there could be a MANY flights in round one!!  The bean counters would engage in mass suicide.

They'll just build a bracket so that a bunch of teams that are within 500 miles of one of the #1s are bracketed together.  You seem to be suggesting that somehow one team from the Upper Midwest would be anointed as a #1 and would be dropped into a bracket consisting entirely of teams from another region.  There are plenty of ways to assign #1 seeds to the most deserving teams and still only need early round flights for games involving D3 geographic orphans.

[kiko]

While the Green Weenies failed to justify their existance today (),  I will reiterate what I've said each of the past several seasons -- for those of us who lived through the Western Vikings' heyday, beating Augustana will never get old.  Congrats to the North Central for making it 10 in a row over the Vikings with the win in Rock Island today.

[thunderdog]

Teams don't get shipped anywhere, guys. That's not how it works.

Wally,
Not trying to start an argument here, but how did Mt Union end up in the East region in 2013? With North Central staying in the North?

I'll fully acknowledge u know way more about the d3 seeding process than I do, but it seems as if teams have been "shipped" to different regions in the past. TIA

[USee]

Wally is reiterating what Mr. Ypsi already explained. There are not longer any "Regions" to be shipped to. They don't do North, South, East and West for the national tournament. They pick the field, select the 4 #1 seeds and then find the closest schools to those #1seeds to build the bracket. If you look at the past couple years you will see a mix of teams in each bracket.

[Titan Q]

Teams don't get shipped anywhere, guys. That's not how it works.

Wally,
Not trying to start an argument here, but how did Mt Union end up in the East region in 2013? With North Central staying in the North?

I'll fully acknowledge u know way more about the d3 seeding process than I do, but it seems as if teams have been "shipped" to different regions in the past. TIA

My take is that you're just using some terms that don't fit the Division III tournament bracketing process...but that your premise is accurate.  Mount Union can end up in a bracket with teams from the East region.

[Titan Q]

Wally is reiterating what Mr. Ypsi already explained. There are not longer any "Regions" to be shipped to. They don't do North, South, East and West for the national tournament. They pick the field, select the 4 #1 seeds and then find the closest schools to those #1seeds to build the bracket. If you look at the past couple years you will see a mix of teams in each bracket.

Exactly.

The regions go out the window once the teams are selected...they have nothing to do with bracketing.  Geography does - in a huge way - but not the regions.

[USee]

Congratulations to Coach Mike Swider and his coaches and team for clinching the AQ to the playoffs and at least a share of the CCIW title for the second year in a row. Winning games @NCC and @IWU, who are both legit top 20 teams, is not an easy task and certainly not easy without your top players. The job guys like Jordan Langs, Josiah Sears, Jesse Scott and the other assistants have done to upgrade the talent on the Wheaton roster, in particular the depth, has paid off huge in a season like this one. The defense has stayed pretty healthy all season but the offense has really gone through some tough times with injuries. The next guy up has been a big deal for the Thunder this year and the coaches deserve credit.

[Kovo]

While the Green Weenies failed to justify their existance today (),  I will reiterate what I've said each of the past several seasons -- for those of us who lived through the Western Vikings' heyday, beating Augustana will never get old.  Congrats to the North Central for making it 10 in a row over the Vikings with the win in Rock Island today.

You are correct, Sir,   Augie now leads the all time series with NCC 55-29-1, and that is after 10 in a row.  If we beat Augie every year of my life (and I live to be 110), it won't get old.  I only wish that we returned some of those beatings that they used to administer to us-----like the 65-0 beat down that they handed Coach Thorne in his inaugural season.

[thunderdog]

Wally is reiterating what Mr. Ypsi already explained. There are not longer any "Regions" to be shipped to. They don't do North, South, East and West for the national tournament. They pick the field, select the 4 #1 seeds and then find the closest schools to those #1seeds to build the bracket. If you look at the past couple years you will see a mix of teams in each bracket.

So what importance do the regional rankings hold then if there are no regions? Are u saying there are no regions for determining the top 4 only? Or does that hold true throughout the remainder of the bracket being completed?

[Titan Q]

Wally is reiterating what Mr. Ypsi already explained. There are not longer any "Regions" to be shipped to. They don't do North, South, East and West for the national tournament. They pick the field, select the 4 #1 seeds and then find the closest schools to those #1seeds to build the bracket. If you look at the past couple years you will see a mix of teams in each bracket.

So what importance do the regional rankings hold then if there are no regions? Are u saying there are no regions for determining the top 4 only? Or does that hold true throughout the remainder of the bracket being completed?

The regions play heavily in the Pool C selection process.

The regions do no matter in picking the top 4 seeds, and the regions do not matter in building the bracket.

[USee]

Great game in Bloomington today. Winning on the road in the CCIW against top 20 competition is very tough. IWU is a very good team. Wheaton had their hands full. Full credit to IWU for coming back. Wheaton was up 20-0 and IWU had run 3 plays on offense. IWU ran just 19 plays in the first half. At the end of the first quarter Wheaton had 200 yards of offense to IWU's 10. It looked like a rout was on. Not to be.

Johnny Peltz came in, not in relief of Bowers, but in a predetermined plan to give him a series or two, and Ben Bouie made a great break on the ball on 3rd and 8. Peltz was a little late with the throw but Bouie made a great play. The Titans scored on a post pass a few plays later to make it 20-7. Bowers mis handled a 3rd down snap that resulted in another Wheaton turnover in the second quarter and IWU turned it into 3 points. Bouie then made his second pick of the day with 10 seconds to go in the half in the IWU end zone keeping the 10 pt margin at the half. That second pick was big. Wheaton was in easy FG range.

The second half was a wind blown field position game with dominant defense and a few big plays on offense mixed in. IWU used the wind in the 3rd period to score 2x and tie it (Wheaton mixed in a pick 6) and then in the 4th quarter the Thunder pretty much took over. Wheaton ran for 192 yds and Danny Puknaitis, who is effectively the 5th running back for the Thunder, had 24 carries for 92 yds and his longest gain was 9 yards. He was a workhorse. Bowers played really well and IWU limited him a little by spying Fahey on him in the second half.

I would totally disagree that Wheaton feels like they "got away with one" or were "badly outplayed". That is just wrong. IWU has a good team and they made some plays. The 2 Bouie interceptions were great plays by that kid. Shoemaker-Gilmore is as good a runningback as you will see in D3 and Austin Wagner stepped up and ran by some people. Wheaton endured some haymakers from a very good team and was still able to win. That's a credit to their team. The TD throw Bowers made in the 4th was sick and the subsequent 3rd down completion to Z. Lindquist to the 1 that set up the final TD was 2 guys making a huge play when their team needed it.

If this team can figure out a way to win the next two games and get healthy, they will be a very tough out in the playoffs.

[wally_wabash]

Teams don't get shipped anywhere, guys. That's not how it works.

Wally,
Not trying to start an argument here, but how did Mt Union end up in the East region in 2013? With North Central staying in the North?

I'll fully acknowledge u know way more about the d3 seeding process than I do, but it seems as if teams have been "shipped" to different regions in the past. TIA

In 2013, the Mount Union bracket had 2 north teams, 3 East teams, and 3 South teams.