Due to professional, family, and HS BKB commitments during the
#d3hoops
season, it's time for me to end the D3bubble project.
It has been a joy to meet coaches & others from all over! I look forward to the great content from
@d3datacast
, etc. and will still be around the game.
D3 Champs Cmte. proposals:
-
#d3fb
could go to 40 as early as 2024. Stagg Bowl after holidays.
- Pairwise (all sports) maybe 25-26
- Pools B/C to merge
- Allow extra flight(s) for bracketing
- Increase per diem again
(all pending approval higher up & budget)
#NCAAconv
Here's a candidate for
#d3hoops
photo of the year, from the conclusion of last Saturday's
@WoosterSports
game against Wabash. If you look carefully, there is a D3 legend in the crowd. Photo credit to longtime Wooster photographer Matt Dilyard.
It's chaos in the American Rivers Conference semifinals!
(4) Loras 79
(1) Central 67
Final
(6) Coe 78
(2) Dubuque 73
Final
The Duhawks and Kohawks will face off for the sole bid in the ARC.
#d3hoops
The most important thank-you goes to the men & women who make
#d3hoops
special. Student-athletes, coaches, managers, SIDs, ATCs, ADs, & support staff, you're the best!
#whyD3
May the life lessons, the love of the game, the memories, & the friendships last a lifetime!
Just FYI on such a big day, I will be away from the computer all day. I am headed to Kent State for the high school wheelchair basketball state championship game, where my younger son is playing for
#1
Wooster HS and I will be on the broadcast crew.
#notd3hoops
Wabash's win over Wooster today was their 4th in a row against the Scots. It is the first time this century that any conference foe has beaten Wooster four consecutive times.
#d3hoops
NCAA increased it from 350 to 400 miles in which it will pay for a school to charter flight to site. Charleston is 380 miles from Orlando, so NCAA will only cover cost of a bus. Told Charleston is going to pay for charter on its own on way down for team and families and bus back.
Just read a tweet from a D1 head coach raving about the terrific atmosphere with 3800 fans at his team's game last night. Meanwhile, the Calvin/Hope contest also had 3000+. We have something special in D3, especially at some venues that routinely draw well.
The cold reality of Selection Monday is that most bubble teams whose seasons end today were just one or two possessions from getting in. A key bucket, a defensive stop, a tough call.
A dozen or more teams that make the field were one possession from being left out.
#d3hoops
Whenever I watch a
@YUathletics
home game, I appreciate the high production quality from the
@macslive
crew. They set a high bar for the rest of
#d3hoops
in that category.
I like that the best first-round matchups have a range of tip-off times (EST) on Friday.
#d3hoops
1:00 Hopkins/Yeshiva
3:05 Oswego/Hood
4:20 Wheaton/Hope
4:30 DeSales/Babson
4:50 Rochester/Eastern
5:00 Rowan/Susq.
5:10 Nichols/RPI
5:30 St John's/Calvin
6:30 UMHB/Chapman
This quote expresses powerfully how
@NCAADIII
Athletics can be transformative for our students in all kinds of roles, whether athletes or support staff.
#d3hoops
Sure, I’m just a manager. But there’s no way I couldn’t say all this after 4 unforgettable years in this program.
Thank you,
@DuhawkMBB
,
@cmart2323
, & more...
Your men's
#d3hoops
Sweet 16
* likely hosts
(4) Oswego at (1) Randolph-Macon*
(7) UW-W vs (3) Hopkins
(3) UW-O vs (1) Rowan
(4) North Park at (2) Mt Union*
(4) Keene St at (1) Swarthmore*
(10) Nichols vs (3) Stockton
(5) UMHB at (1) C. Newport*
(3) Wheaton vs (2) St Joseph
Game of the Day:
#1
Christopher Newport (0-0) at
#8
Hampden-Sydney (0-0), 7:00 EST
#d3hoops
Video:
What a way to start the season, with the defending national champion Captains heading west to face the Tigers in Fleet Gym.
While I run predictions on the men's side of
#d3hoops
, I love seeing the women's game also supported well, by
@d3hoops
and fans. This clip shows a good crowd at Baldwin-Wallace in the OAC tournament.
The games have all been played and it's NCAA men's
#d3hoops
selection time.
Last few in
Carnegie Mellon
Mount Union
St Thomas TX
First four out
Nichols
Albertus Magnus
Washington & Lee
Illinois Wesleyan
(Bubble resumes on the follow-up post.)
Hampden-Sydney 62
Guilford 57
Final
#d3hoops
Hampden-Sydney announced their presence as a title contender by thrashing the defending champs on opening night and has been the computers'
#1
for most of the season. The Tigers will play for the national championship on Saturday!
St Mary's will host a postseason game for the first time in school history. The Cardinals appeared in the first MIAC playoff, in 1985, then didn't qualify again until 2020. SMUMN got a road win that year, but has never played at home in the tournament.
#d3hoops
Calling all
@smumn
Basketball fans. Let’s pack the place Tuesday at 7:00 vs Hamline as we host our first ever playoff game! We need the loudest CHEERING section possible! These guys deserve it.
It seems silly that
@Jack_davidson33
is only on the third team, but remember that
@astonfrancis2
didn't make the NABC first team either, even as he destroyed the tourney scoring record in leading Wheaton to the D3 final four.
I will stick with the
@d3hoops
AA teams.
#d3hoops
It's time for small-college March Madness! All 32 first-round NCAA men's
#d3hoops
tourney games will be played today. Here are the early games with my lines and unofficial seeds. (1/2)
By my count, there are 17
#d3hoops
players in the 50 semifinalists for the Bevo Francis Award:
Josh Angle (Sr, CMS)
Raheem Anthony (Sr, SMCMN)
Octavio Brito (So, Keene St)
Luke Chicone (So, John Carroll)
Jack Clement (Sr, Ohio Wesleyan)
Tyson Cruickshank (Sr, Wheaton IL)
(1/2)
Here's the webpage for the Bevo Francis Award, which contains the updated Watch List of 50 players, plus information about Bevo Francis himself, and historical information about the previous winners of the award:
@rioredstorm
@RioPresident
@URioGrande
It's the best day of the year in
#d3hoops
! Championship Saturday includes 34 men's conference title games, 4 pairs of semifinals, plus the UAA title on the line. Here are the games of greatest national interest.
Game of the Day
D3 student-athletes vs Turkey, 2:00 local
Whether with teammates or at home, the men and women of
#d3hoops
will demolish the meats, sides, and dessert, enjoying time with loved ones before taking on finals and holiday tourneys.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Here are the new computer consensus rankings, with the same top 24 teams as the
@d3hoops
poll (Shenandoah is our
#29
), but in a very different order. The computers like the ODAC a lot, as well as Dubuque and Redlands.
#d3hoops
The ODAC goes 1-2-3 in the new computer consensus rankings. Coe makes the week's biggest jump, and Hopkins, NYU, and Nebraska Wesleyan move into the top 25.
#d3hoops
Last update for tonight (10:30pm EST), with the Northwest & SCIAC title games still in progress.
Locks: 36 (auto bids in blue)
Near-locks: 17 (at-large in bright green)
Other auto bids: 6 (in red)
Still in play: 5 (bubble & bid thieves)
#d3hoops
As of New Year's Day, here is my projection for the 2024 men's
#d3hoops
NCAA field. There are 22 Pool C (at-large) bids this year, but several will evaporate due to surprise conference tourney champs ("bid thieves") in leagues that have at least one strong team.
#11
Middlebury (14-2) 86
#4
Keene St (15-1) 82
Final
This game was everything you could want in a Monday night
#d3hoops
contest: packed gym, terrific production, and a great game decided only in the final seconds.
While it's
#d3hoops
Championship Saturday, I am behind the mic all day for the Ohio HS wheelchair basketball playoffs. For that reason, I will be away from the computer until well into the evening, and will have limited opportunity to post about the bubble picture.
Six early-round
@adaptivesportoh
high school wheelchair basketball playoff games are being contested today at Wooster HS. I will be providing updates throughout the day.
Wabash senior guard Jack Davidson is doing everything he can to try & send the Little Giants into the Sweet 16. Davidson has 40 points, including 7/11 3FG.
Wabash 81
Emory 78
2nd - 3:40
#d3hoops
Three weeks before Selection Monday, this is my current projection for the men's
#d3hoops
NCAA field.
New teams since the last update are
@ElmhurstBluejay
(at-large, replacing Montclair St.),
@WhitworthMBB
(projected NWC champ), and
@wjhoops
(PAC).
UW-Whitewater 77
Oswego 74
Final
#d3hoops
Whitewater had to win the WIAC tourney just to make the NCAA field, and the bid thief Warhawks are now headed to Fort Wayne.
The Warhawks could face the WIAC rival Titans for a 4th time in the national semifinal.
#d3hoops
Oberlin (6-14, 2-9) 71
Wooster (15-4, 9-2) 68
Final
#d3hoops
After coming close last season, Oberlin defeats Wooster for the first time since 1988. In that game 35 years ago, the Scots had a first-year head coach named Steve Moore.
Sunday morning men's
#d3hoops
update.
Clinched auto bids: 35 (blue)
Near-locks: 21 (bright green)
Other auto bids: 5 (red)
Still in play: 3
Sunday upsets could give us another bid thief (ODAC) or another bubble team (Centennial).
Rose-Hulman 82
Wooster 80
Final
#d3hoops
A barrage of threes (14/28) and a gutsy defensive performance put the Engineers into tomorrow's championship game (4:30) against Hampden-Sydney. For the first time since 2009, the Scots are in the consolation game, vs Widener at 2:15.
With Selection Monday less than a month away, here is my latest projected NCAA men's
#d3hoops
field. There are five new teams this week: Illinois Wesleyan (CCIW), Whitman (NWC), Westfield St (MASCAC), Marietta (at-large), and Conn College (at-large). 🧵
We roll into day two of March Madness for men's
#d3hoops
!
Of the five unofficial double-digit seeds still playing, I had two favored and another only a slight underdog, but UT-D and Whitworth pulled big upsets on the road.
This is from D2, but if you're too young to have seen it, this is well worth the watch. Anthony Atkinson scored 10 points in the final 45 seconds to lead Barton College (NC) to a national title.
Anthony Atkinson's heroics in the 2007 D-II National Championship will never ever get old.
It's one of the greatest crunch time championship performances in the history of sports.
Seriously.
In the midweek update of my NCAA men's
#d3hoops
tournament projections, three new teams (all from the at-large pool) have moved in since Monday: Pomona-Pitzer, Emory, and Albertus Magnus. Teams in bright green are locks or near-locks to get in.🧵
NCAA Men’s
#d3hoops
Tourney Quarterfinal Postgame Press Conf:
Jack Davidson and Tyler Watson talk about the building process of the
@WabashBBall
program.
@wabashathletics
will travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana for the semifinals!
#NCACPride
Goodness gracious at Mount Union throttling a short-handed Marietta! Having already won at Wooster, the Purple Raiders are making a strong case for being the most dangerous team in the region.
#d3hoops
#23
Illinois College (11-0) 82
Augusta IL (3-9) 78
Final - OT
#d3hoops
Down 22 in the second half, the Blueboys come all the way back to avoid an upset.
NCAC semifinals:
(2) Wooster 79
(3) Wittenberg 62
Final
#d3hoops
Led by 26 from Ashton Price, the Scots make it 8 in a row over Witt and reach the NCAC title game for the 25th time in the last 27 seasons.
Wooster also hits 18 wins for the 35th consecutive season.
No bid thief in the NCAC, as
@WabashBBall
wins their first league championship.
(1) Wabash 85
(2) Wooster 84
Final - OT
#d3hoops
For the first time since 2002, Wooster will not be in the NCAAs, ending the Scots' D3 record streak of appearances at 18.
Intriguing
#d3hoops
games...
Friday
Elmhurst/Calvin
Williams/DeSales
Swarthmore/VWU
Farmingdale/Stevens
CMU/Rowan
PSU-H/Hood
Anderson/Hope
WLU at Wash U
Saturday (maybe)
NWU at Trinity TX
Tufts at NYU
Calvin at JCU
Williams at Oswego
Hope at CWRU
Loras at UW-P
St Joe CT at RMC
A pair of Virginia teams remain at the top of this week's men's
#d3hoops
computer consensus rankings, which otherwise had a lot of shuffling. Johns Hopkins, Mount Union, and NYU are the big risers, and Hood moves into the top 25.
If you want to reward the
#d3hoops
regular season but not just award the AQ to the regular-season champ, there is always the WCC tournament style, where the top two seeds get a triple bye.
Through Thursday's games, here are my latest NCAA men's
#d3hoops
tournament projections. 🧵
5 new teams today: Clark (NEWMAC), Gustavus (MIAC), Behrend (AMCC toss-up), Roger Wms. (CCC), & Stevens (at-large).
Near-locks: 28 (bright green)
Other auto bids: 27
Up for grabs: 9
Getting the
#d3hoops
computer up & running for 2022. Taking a page from
@FFTMAG
and
@LogHanRatings
with Excel-based tables, here's a taste of what's to come. Uncertainty is high this early, so plenty of good teams are listed as on the bubble (in yellow) for now.
New NCAA men's
#d3hoops
tournament projections, two weeks from Selection Monday. Four new teams this time: RPI (LL), Wooster (NCAC), St Norbert (NACC), and Stockton (at-large). Everyone in bright green is a lock or near-lock. 🧵
#d3hoops
OAC semifinals:
(4) Marietta 79
(1)
#8
John Carroll 75
Final
#d3hoops
Down 18 in the second half, the Pioneers rally to upset JCU. Marietta still needs to win OAC final at
#4
Mount Union. This defeat may well send JCU on the road next weekend.
A look ahead to Friday's men's
#d3hoops
sectional (sweet 16) games, including updated probabilities of each team hoisting the walnut & bronze in Fort Wayne.
Even with 400+ teams,
#d3hoops
still has the feel of a small community. More than one person (whom I had never met in person) made the point of stopping by to speak.
We have something special, folks. Don't take it for granted. Enjoy the rest of the season!
Teams the committee loves (more than my model)
Buena Vista
Tufts
Montclair St
Trine
B-W
Whitworth
mid-tier WIAC schools
Teams the committee loves not
Dubuque
Augsburg
Wartburg
Pomona
Middlebury
Trinity CT
Texas schools
Teams in weak conferences
#d3hoops
My goodness, just got home & saw
@unweagles
about to easily beat
@SJU_Basketball
in Collegeville. That's an impressive win, and certainly the upset of the night.
#d3hoops
Six weeks before Selection Monday, here is my projected men's
#d3hoops
field. There are 8 new teams this week: Nichols (CCC), Hobart (LL), Clark (NEWMAC), Whitworth (NWC), Mary Baldwin (USA South), Nebraska Wesleyan (at-large), St Thomas TX (at-large), & Williams (at-large).
Game of the Day
#15
Widener (10-1) at Hood (8-2), 8:00 EST
Video:
The two best teams in the MAC Commonwealth face off in the league opener, and the Blazers need to hold serve at home.
#d3hoops
Trine 66
Trinity (CT) 54
Final
#d3hoops
First trip to the NCAA tournament. Down 10 with under two minutes left in the sectional final. A final four opponent that was a basket away from being undefeated. After all that, the Thunder will play for the national championship!
With five weeks until Selection Monday, here are my latest men's
#d3hoops
projections. There are 8 new teams this week: WPI (NEWMAC), St Lawrence (LL), Wooster (NCAC), Worcester St (MASCAC), Geneva (PAC), St Norbert (NACC), and TCNJ (at-large).
#d3hoops
March begins today in
#d3hoops
! Regular season conference titles and hosting rights are on the line all over the nation, and a balanced NESCAC gets its tournament gets underway.
Perhaps the best home-court atmosphere of the day was at UMHB, especially in the final minutes as the Cru rallied.
Mary Hardin-Baylor 88
Chapman 81
Final
#d3hoops
It will be a Lone Star State battle tomorrow, after the Texas teams eliminated both West Coast visitors.
A few more thoughts on last night's sectional in Ohio, my first experience as a neutral observer in the latter stages of the NCAA
#d3hoops
tournament... 🧵
Credit to the
@purpleraiders
operations & SID staffs for their professionalism & organization. Thank you!
Three weeks before Selection Monday, here is my latest forecast of the men's
#d3hoops
tourney. This weekend, seven new teams moved in: Hobart (LL), Worcester St (MASCAC), Wisc. Lutheran (NACC), Wabash (NCAC), Fontbonne (SLIAC), Williams (at-large), & St Thomas TX (at-large). 🧵
A terrific Texas pod ends with an unbelievable finish! Mary Hardin-Baylor hits a 3 at the buzzer to advance to the Sweet 16, beating East Texas Baptist, 72-70.
#d3hoops