D3baseball.com Daily Dose

Here’s the official NCAA release. Now is your chance to sound off.

The NCAA Division III Baseball Committee has announced the 53 teams that will compete in the 2007 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
Six teams will compete at three first-round sites; seven teams will compete at five first-round sites. All first rounds will use a double-elimination format. Thirty-three conference champions qualified automatically.
Winners of the eight first-round tournaments will qualify for the double-elimination championship at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin, May 25-29.
DATES/SITES/SEEDINGS:

May 16-20
Hosted by Eastern College Athletic Conference, Harwich, Massachusetts
1. Wheaton (Massachusetts) (31-11)
2. Eastern Connecticut State (34-10)
3. Williams (25-8)
4. Curry (27-7)
5. Keene State (29-13)
6. Western New England (27-10)
7. St. Joseph’s (Maine) (30-10)

Hosted by Ferrum College, Ferrum, Virginia
1. Emory (35-7)
2. Salisbury (32-8)
3. York (Pennsylvania) (29-12)
4. Methodist (29-13)
5. Bridgewater (Virginia) (21-21)
6. Ferrum (22-16)
7. Villa Julie (24-20)

Hosted by College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio
1. Wooster (40-5)
2. Otterbein (31-11)
3. Hope (28-11)
4. Marietta (28-14)
5. Ohio Wesleyan (24-13)
6. Mount St. Joseph (33-9)

Hosted by Alvernia College, Boyertown, Pennsylvania
1. Kean (35-8)
2. The College of New Jersey (32-9)
3. Johns Hopkins (35-9)
4. Gwynedd-Mercy (30-10)
5. Frostburg State (31-13)
6. Elizabethtown (22-16)
7. Wilkes (24-10)

Hosted by Ithaca College, Auburn, New York
1. Cortland State (35-4)
2. Ithaca (24-13)
3. St. John Fisher (26-11)
4. Manhattanville (23-17)
5. Trinity (Connecticut) (28-6)
6. Skidmore (20-18)
7. Westfield State (20-15)

Hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois
1. Luther (29-9)
2. Illinois Wesleyan (32-11)
3. Carthage (32-11)
4. Washington U. in St. Louis (30-9)
5. Webster (30-12)
6. Augustana (Illinois) (32-12)
Hosted by Chapman University, Orange, California
1. Chapman (35-5)
2. Pacific Lutheran (32-7)
3. Texas Lutheran (35-8)
4. Texas-Dallas (32-11)
5. George Fox (30-9)
6. Pomona-Pitzer (29-11)
7. Austin (22-23)

Hosted by University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point
1. Wisconsin-Stevens Point (28-14)
2. St. Thomas (Minnesota) (32-10)
3. Ripon (21-13)
4. St. Olaf (31-8)
5. Wisconsin-Oshkosh (32-10)
6. St. Scholastica (36-6)

(Our guest bracketologist, as you may recall, is an assistant coach in the Central Region.)

Final predictions for the NCAA tournament. I hope your team made it.

Automatic Qualifiers (33)
*Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference = Frostburg St (MD) (31-13)
*American Southwest Conference = TX Lutheran (32-8-1)
*Centennial Conference = Johns Hopkins (MD) (34-9)
*College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin = Carthage (WI) (32-11)
*Commonwealth Coast Conference = Curry (MA) (27-7)
*Great Northeast Athletic Conference = Western New England (MA) (25-8)
*Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference = Mt. St. Joseph (OH) (33-9)
*Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = Luther (IA) (29-9)
*Liberty League = Skidmore (NY) (20-18)
*Little East Conference = Eastern Connecticut (34-10)
*MAC Commonwealth Conference = Elizabethtown (PA) (21-15)
*MAC Freedom Conference = Wilkes (PA) (23-10)
*Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference = Westfield State (MA) (20-15)
*Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association = Hope (MI) (28-11)
*Midwest Conference = Ripon (WI) (21-13)
*Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = St. Thomas (MN) (32-10)
*New England Small College Athletic Conference = Williams (MA) (26-8)
*New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference = Wheaton (MA) (31-11)
*New Jersey Athletic Conference = The College of New Jersey (31-8)
*North Atlantic Conference = St. Joseph’s (ME) (30-8)
*North Coast Athletic Conference = Ohio Wesleyan (24-14)
*North Eastern Athletic Conference = Villa Julie (MD) (26-16)
*Northwest Conference = Pacific Lutheran (WA) (32-7)
*Ohio Athletic Conference = Otterbein (OH) (31-11)
*Old Dominion Athletic Conference = Bridgewater (VA) (21-21)
*Pennsylvania Athletic Conference = Gwynedd Mercy (PA) (30-10)
*Skyline Conference = Manhattanville (NY) (23-17)
*Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = Pomona Pitzer (CA) (29-11)
*Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference = Austin College (TX) (22-23)
*St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = Webster (MO) (30-12)
*State University of New York Athletic Conference = SUNY-Cortland (35-4)
*USA South Athletic Conference = Ferrum (VA) (23-16)
*Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = UW-Stevens Point (28-14)

*Conference Season Completed, team has secured automatic qualifier

Independent Qualifiers (6)
1. Chapman (CA) (35-5)
2. Emory (GA) (35-7)
3. Salisbury (MD) (32-8)
4. St. Scholastica (MN) (36-6)
5. Washington (MO) (30-9)
6. Washington & Jefferson (PA) (31-11)

At-Large Qualifiers (14)
1. Wooster (OH) (40-5)
2. Kean (NJ) (35-8)
3. Illinois Wesleyan (32-11)
4. St. Olaf (MN)
5. UW-Oshkosh
6. TX-Dallas (32-11)
7. Keene State (NH) (29-13)
8. Millsaps (MS) (35-11)
9. Rhodes College (TN) (36-10)
10. George Fox (OR) (30-9)
11. Ithaca (NY) (25-12)
12. Ramapo (NJ) (29-13)
13. St. John Fisher (NY) (26-11)
14. Trinity (CT) (28-6)

Groupings and Rankings for Tournament
Central
(1) IL Wesleyan
(2) Luther
(3) Washington (MO)
(4) Millsaps
(5) Rhodes
(6) Webster

Mid-Atlantic
(1) The College of NJ
(2) Johns Hopkins
(3) Kean
(4) Gwynedd Mercy
(5) Wilkes
(6) Ramapo
(7) Elizabethtown

Mideast
(1) Wooster
(2) Otterbein
(3) Washington & Jefferson
(4) Mt. St. Joseph
(5) Carthage
(6) Hope

Midwest
(1) St. Olaf
(2) UW-Oshkosh
(3) St. Thomas
(4) UW-Stevens Point
(5) Ripon
(6) St. Scholastica

New England
(1) Wheaton
(2) Eastern Connecticut
(3) Western New England
(4) Williams
(5) Keene State
(6) Curry
(7) St. Josephs (ME)

New York
(1) Cortland State
(2) Ithaca
(3) St. John Fisher
(4) Trinity
(5) Skidmore
(6) Manhattanville
(7) Westfield State

South
(1) Emory
(2) Salisbury
(3) Frostburg State
(4) Ferrum
(5) Bridgewater
(6) Villa Julie

West
(1) Chapman
(2) Pacific Lutheran
(3) TX Lutheran
(4) TX Dallas
(5) George Fox
(6) Pomona Pitzer
(7) Austin College

Last Five In
George Fox (OR) (30-9)
Ithaca (NY) (25-12)
Ramapo (NJ) (29-13)
St. John Fisher (NY) (26-11)
Trinity (CT) (28-6)

Last Five Out
Methodist (NC)
Marietta (OH)
Wartburg (IA)
SUNY Oneonta
Augustana (IL)

NOTES
It is really tough predicting what the NCAA committee will do when you cannot see all the criteria that they consider. Four favorites (Wooster, IL Wesleyan, UW-Oshkosh, and St. Olaf) were ousted from their conference tournaments which resulted in some lost At-Larges for other solid teams. Since Marietta went down in two and York and Methodist had poor performances this past weekend, I believe that will ultimately cost them their spots. Overall, I believe the first 9 or 10 at larges are in. Thank you for the opportunity to try this out, and lets hope for a great tournament season.

Hello everyone, the amateur bracketologist is back.

Going into this weekend, I stated I would rank the top 30 teams nationally in regards to their chances for a
pool B/C bid to the NCAA tournament. To do this, I first ordered the NCAA committees regionally ranked teams in order of their in-region winning percentage and then calculated as many QWOI power rankings as I could for the teams on the list.

By my calculations, if your team does not have a regional record above .700 (35 teams currently do) you will probably be on the outside looking in. Of course a lot can change with the conference tournaments this weekend. These rankings do include teams that still have yet to play their conference tournament. I did this
so the fans of those teams had an idea of where they sit if they do not win their conference tournament and the AQ.

So without further ado, here are my top 30 teams for the remaining 20 Pool B/C bids:

1. Chapman (CA) Pool B/C
2. Wooster (OH) Pool C
3. Emory (GA) Pool B/C
4. Kean (NJ) Pool C
5. Eastern CT State Pool C
6. Salisbury (MD) Pool B/C
7. IL Wesleyan Pool C
8. St. Olaf (MN) Pool C
9. UW-Oshkosh Pool C
10. Otterbein Pool C
11. TX-Dallas Pool C
12. Washington (MO) Pool B/C
13. Marietta (OH) Pool C
14. St. Scholastica Pool B/C
15. Ithaca (NY) Pool B/C
16. Transylvania (KY) Pool C
17. Washington & Jeff (PA) Pool B/C
18. George Fox Pool C
19. Luther (IA) Pool C
20. Williams (MA) Pool C
21. Millsaps (MS) Pool C
22. Rhodes (TN) Pool C
23. Wartburg (IA) Pool C
24. St. Thomas (MN) Pool C
25. Keene State (NH) Pool C
26. SUNY Oneonta Pool C
27. Thomas More (KY) Pool B/C
28. Trinity (CT) Pool C
29. Rensselaer (NY) Pool C
30. Ramapo (NJ) Pool C

The committee does not look to pull equally from each region. They will take the top remaining Pool B then Pool C teams remaining.

My thought is that George Fox is the last lock on the board regardless of what happens to teams in their conference tournaments. Feel free to debate, but I feel these are the only teams that will be able to legitimately say they have a shot at a pool B/C bid come Sunday night/Monday morning based on regional record and QOWI power ranking. Sunday afternoon I will have my final Bracketology prediction.

The NCAA Division III baseball committee released its third regional rankings of the 2007 season Thursday afternoon.

The number of teams ranked is relative to the number of teams in each region. These rankings take into account the same criteria the NCAA will use to select and seed at-large teams for the playoffs.

The first record listed is the overall record, followed by record in regional games, according to the NCAA.

Central
1. Illinois Wesleyan 27-7 30-9
2. Wartburg 23-8 26-11
3. Luther 23-7 26-9
4. Washington U. 29-7 30-9
5. Augustana 25-9 30-10
6. Carthage 24-9 28-11

Mid-Atlantic
1. Kean 30-6 35-8
2. New Jersey 27-6 32-9
3. Johns Hopkins 30-9 34-9
4. Gwynedd-Mercy 27-10 30-10
5. Ramapo 25-10 29-13
6. Alvernia 26-13 27-13
7. Arcadia 22-10 24-13
8. Frostburg State 17-6 27-13

Mideast
1. Wooster 32-3 39-3
2. Otterbein 24-7 27-10
3. Marietta 24-8 28-12
4. Washington and Jefferson 24-8 28-9
5. Transylvania 26-9 29-10
6. Thomas More 23-8 25-9
7. Hope 23-8 28-11

Midwest
1. St. Olaf 24-6 29-6
2. UW-Oshkosh 30-8 30-8
3. St. Thomas 22-8 28-9
4. UW-Stevens Point 22-9 25-14
5. Ripon 15-5 18-13
6. St. Scholastica 19-4 33-6

New England
1. Wheaton (Mass.) 30-10 31-11
2. Eastern Connecticut 26-5 30-9
3. Williams 18-6 21-7
4. Keene State 21-9 25-11
5. Western New England 24-6 27-10
6. Curry 17-5 23-7
7. Trinity (Conn.) 24-6 28-6
8. Babson 23-14 25-14
9. Southern Maine 20-12 25-13

New York
1. Cortland State 28-4 35-4
2. Ithaca 19-7 24-11
3. St. John Fisher 21-10 23-10
4. Oneonta State 21-8 23-9
5. Rensselaer 20-8 23-8
6. Rochester Tech 17-8 21-10

South
1. Emory 32-6 35-7
2. Salisbury 25-6 32-7
3. York (Pa.) 24-12 29-12
4. Methodist 24-12 29-13
5. Millsaps 28-10 35-11
6. Rhodes 27-10 36-10

West
1. Chapman 28-2 35-5
2. Pacific Lutheran 28-6 32-7
3. Texas Lutheran 27-8 35-8-1
4. Texas-Dallas 29-9 32-11
5. George Fox 25-9 30-9
6. Pomona-Pitzer 23-8 29-11

This past week was an interesting one. First, I would like to thank all of those who checked over the AQs to make sure I had the right conferences. I would like to apologize to the North Atlantic and North Eastern Athletic for leaving them out the first time. Second, kudos to Ralph for catching the bid allocation error. Also this time, I used the NCAA rankings to assist me in selecting the Independent and At-Large qualifiers. I also made sure that the IQs and At-Larges had completed 32 games. It is amazing how much the records can be off from the ones I compile because coaches forget to report their scores to the NCAA database so the selection committee has all the information. So without further ado I give you the breakdown of the bids and then seed them in the tournament!

Automatic Qualifiers (33 Pool A)
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference = Frostburg St (MD) (27-13)^
American Southwest Conference = TX Lutheran (32-8-1)
*Centennial Conference = Johns Hopkins (MD) (34-9)
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin = Illinois Wesleyan (30-9)
*Commonwealth Coast Conference = Curry (MA) (27-7)
*Great Northeast Athletic Conference = Western New England (MA) (25-8)
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference = Translyvania (KY) (30-9)
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = Wartburg (IA) (26-11)
Liberty League = Rensselaer (NY) (27-8)
Little East Conference = Eastern Connecticut (30-9)
*MAC Commonwealth Conference = Elizabethtown (PA) (21-15)
*MAC Freedom Conference = Wilkes (PA) (23-10)
*Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference = Westfield State (MA) (20-15)
*Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association = Hope (MI) (28-11)
*Midwest Conference = St. Norbert’s (WI) (24-8-1)
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = St. Olaf (MN) (27-6)^
New England Small College Athletic Conference = Tufts (MA) (22-9)
*New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference = Wheaton (MA) (31-11)
New Jersey Athletic Conference = The College of New Jersey (31-8)
*North Atlantic Conference = St. Joseph’s (ME) (30-8)
North Coast Athletic Conference = Wooster (OH) (35-3)
*North Eastern Athletic Conference = Villa Julie (MD) (26-16)
*Northwest Conference = Pacific Lutheran (WA) (32-7)
Ohio Athletic Conference = Marietta (OH) (28-11)^
*Old Dominion Athletic Conference = Bridgewater (VA) (21-21)
*Pennsylvania Athletic Conference = Gwynedd Mercy (PA) (30-10)
*Skyline Conference = Manhattanville (NY) (23-17)
*Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = Pomona Pitzer (CA) (29-11)
*Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference = Austin College (TX) (22-23)
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = Webster (MO) (27-12)
*State University of New York Athletic Conference = SUNY-Cortland (35-4)
*USA South Athletic Conference = Ferrum (VA) (23-16)
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference = UW-Oshkosh (28-8)

*Conference Season Completed, team has secured automatic qualifier
^Tie in conference, best overall record taken

Independent Qualifiers (6 Pool B)
1. Chapman (CA) (35-5)
2. Emory (GA) (35-7)
3. Salisbury (MD) (30-7)
4. St. Scholastica (MN) (31-6)
5. Washington (MO) (30-9)
6. York (PA) (28-10)

At-Large Qualifiers (14 Pool C)
1. Kean (NJ) (33-7)
2. George Fox (OR) (23-9)
3. Ithaca (NY) (23-10
4. Otterbein (OH) (27-10)
5. TX-Dallas (32-11)
6. St. Thomas (MN) (26-9)
7. Luther (IA) (26-9)
8. Washington & Jefferson (PA) (26-6)
9. Methodist (NC) (28-11)
10. Rhodes College (TN) (36-10)
11. Trinity (CT) (28-6)
12. Augustana (IL) (29-10)
13. SUNY Brockport (24-15)
14. Mt. St. Joseph’s (OH) (30-9)

Groupings and Rankings for Tournament
Central
(1) IL Wesleyan
(2) Washington (MO)
(3) Augustana
(4) Rhodes
(5) Webster
(6) Hope

Mid-Atlantic
(1) The College of NJ
(2) Johns Hopkins
(3) Kean
(4) Gwynedd Mercy
(5) Wilkes
(6) Frostburg State
(7) Elizabethtown

Mideast
(1) Wooster
(2) Marietta
(3) Transylvania
(4) Otterbein
(5) Washington & Jefferson
(6) Mt. St. Joseph

Midwest
(1) St. Olaf
(2) UW-Oshkosh
(3) Wartburg
(4) St. Thomas
(5) Luther
(6) St. Scholastica
(7) St. Norbert

New England
(1) Eastern Connecticut
(2) Western New England
(3) Wheaton
(4) Tufts
(5) Curry
(6) St. Josephs (ME)
(7) Westfield State

New York
(1) Cortland State
(2) Rensselaer
(3) Ithaca
(4) Trinity
(5) SUNY Brockport
(6) Manhattanville

South
(1) Emory
(2) Salisbury
(3) York
(4) Methodist
(5) Ferrum
(6) Bridgewater
(7) Villa Julie

West
(1) Chapman
(2) TX Lutheran
(3) Pacific Lutheran
(4) George Fox
(5) Pomona Pitzer
(6) TX Dallas
(7) Austin College

Last Five In
Rhodes College (TN) (36-10)
Trinity (CT) (28-6)
Augustana (IL) (29-10)
SUNY Brockport (24-15)
Mt. St. Joseph’s (OH) (30-9)

Last Five Out
Carthage – Great week has them moving up the board
Thomas More – Losing 2 of 3 vs Washington & Jefferson haunts them
Ramapo – Not a good conference tourney run drops power ranking down to 9.25
Keene State – Two losses since last post, need a strong run in tourney to get in
SUNY Oneonta – quick exit in conference tourney dashes any hopes

Falling Out
Edgewood – Can’t go 2-2 for the week at home against teams behind you in conference
Averett – QOWI under 9 won’t get you in even with that record
Millsaps – Same as Averett
Keene State – See Above
Thomas More – See Above
King’s – Losing conference tournament hurts their cause
Arcadia – Same as King’s
Salve Regina – Had to win conference tourney after I calculated a power ranking under 9
La Roche – Gave Frostburg AQ currently due to better overall record, conference tourney win puts them in.

Moving In
Augustana – Strong finish making the early conference struggles disappear
Wilkes – Sweep through tourney for the conference’s AQ
Frostburg State – Better overall puts them in over La Roche, can’t wait to see them play in the tourney
Elizabethtown – Sweeping through tourney has Owls flying high
Transylvania – Regular season MCAC champ, should get in even if they lose tourney
St. Norberts – Going 3-1 vs Ripon puts them in the MWC driver seat
Ithaca – Flip a coin between them and York for the last IQ spot
SUNY Brockport – Power ranking of 9.8 makes the committee forget about the record
Methodist – Power ranking in the 9.8 range gets them in
Villa Julie – Keystone swept them in the championship, but get the AQ since Keystone is still provisional

NOTES
I ranked the IQs and At-Larges this time for some added discussion. Both Gwynedd Mercy and John’s Hopkins won 2 on the last day to get the conferences AQ. Two of the last five are sending them gifts as we speak. Lack of quality teams in the Midwest and Central could make for some interesting arrangements come tourney time. Mid-Atlantic is very strong as those top three teams would be a #1 seed in three other regions. Mt. St. Joseph is the only team I put in the tournament with an At-Large or IQ without being ranked by the committee. It is a strong region and finishing 1 game out from Translyvania should put them in. They probably should get to the conference tournament championship game to be safe. Otherwise I will put my money on Thomas More or Carthage getting the other spot. I hope everyone enjoys this week’s version. I might try to put one out next Sunday as well. Until then.

The NCAA announced that they have corrected an error in the allocation of the bids in the 2007 Division III Baseball Handbook. D3baseball.com broke the story earlier today. My role in this story was to review the much-anticipated 2007 Handbook upon its release on April 20. (After carefully following Division III sports for the past seven years, I have learned that there is much to learn about the process in the Handbook for the respective sports.)

The errors in the 2007 Handbook seemed especially egregious in the original download. The list of teams seemed to be lifted from the 2005 Handbook in “cut and paste” fashion as the top line of page 32 states. Hartwick was still playing baseball. Mt. St. Vincent and Rockford were listed in two places and New Jersey City University was still an independent in the New York Region. The lists of schools did not match the tabulations. It just looked sloppy. I pointed these out to Pat Coleman and Jim Dixon. Cooler heads prevailed. The most knowledgeable D-III authority in the country and the D3baseball.com guru were able to get the information where it needed to go.

This might not be much of a story were the context of this next error not understood in the recent history of NCAA’s administering the Division III playoffs. We learned of a change in the Pool B allocations in men’s basketball in the last week of the 2006-07 regular season. When the 2007 men’s basketball brackets were released, the NCAA did not even know that Mary Hardin-Baylor and Mississippi College were in the same conference, the American Southwest Conference.

The NCAA announced that the official standard for the 2006-07 season for distance would be msn.mappoint.com “shortest distance”. There was even an administrative ruling placed in a special bulletin to university officials that “in-region” games that were contracted and scheduled under the previous standard would be honored as in-region. The new “msn.mappoint” standard allowed the ferry ride across Lake Michigan to qualify as the “shortest distance” for the men’s basketball game between Hope and Carthage to be a “200-mile” radius “in-region” game!

When the 2007 men’s basketball brackets were released, the NCAA did not even know that Mary Hardin-Baylor and Mississippi College were in the same conference, the American Southwest Conference.

However, the biggest impact of the mileage standard switch occurred in the seedings of the football playoffs. Pat Coleman noticed that the change in the official distance standard made it possible for South Region No. 7 Millsaps to be bused to No. 2 UMHB, keeping the seedings intact. Several other fans tried that same software and got the same answer. You could bus Millsaps to UMHB and send No. 5 Washington and Jefferson 20 miles into Pittsburgh to play No. 4 Carnegie Mellon in a first round game. Wow! What a bracket! The change in the standard was not considered by the football selection committee.

As a result, South Region ranked No. 3 Hardin-Simmons did not get the anticipated first round playoff game, but instead was sent to its conference rival for a first-round game. One could write a Master’s thesis on the impact of such scheduling permutations; the ASC has seen many of them.

The nature of this “rant” has changed to a sincere plea for Indianapolis to improve the quality of the support that we Division III fans get. To the NCAA: You hail “best practices” for your member institutions, yet you cannot administer a playoffs without glaring deficiencies in the processes you use. Your Handbooks have numerous mathematical and tabulation errors. You don’t even use the same format for all of the Handbooks. The 2007 Men’s Basketball Handbook 2/22/2007 revision is quite explicit in the calculation of the bids. That clarity was not present in the 2007 Baseball Handbook. The 2007 Women’s Basketball Handbook presents the conferences alphabetically, so you have to search for the other conferences in the region. In fact, the 2006 Men’s Soccer Handbook seems to be the most complete and most informative.

In the “real” world, there are major consequences for that failure to execute, yet we continually see these errors in Division III.

Your errors in Pool B for baseball were because someone responsible for the Championship in that sport did not verify the minute details. In the “real” world, there are major consequences for that failure to execute, yet we continually see these errors in Division III.

I hope that the next “self-study” that the NCAA implements will consider the poor quality of support that we are getting in Division III. I do not expect the Committee Chairs of the various committees from our respective universities to double-check these processes in the administration of the championships. You, the NCAA, have numerous customers: your member institutions, their governing boards, your student-athletes, the parents who have decided that the NCAA Division III model of “pure” amateur collegiate athletics is the correct one for the sons and daughters, and the very loyal D3 fans who contribute the campus environment. We need the NCAA to give us a better value for the services that we seek.

Why don’t you “open-source” your public data, such as the game scores, schedules, opponents’ opponents’ records, etc, to permit registered users and fans to proofread and update your data?

We sometimes wonder if the quality of support that we Division III fans receive is part of the diversity of the NCAA, i.e., all of the quality goes to Division I and Division III gets what is left. Supposedly, you “pursue excellence” and ostensibly a job with the NCAA is supposedly prestigious opportunity to work in this field.

The home page says — “The “national office” — Approximately 350 paid professionals that implement the rules and programs established by the membership. The national office staff is located primarily at the headquarters office in Indianapolis, Indiana.”

From the examples that we have seen this year, a bunch of “amateurs” have beaten the “pros.”

The NCAA Division III baseball committee released its second regional rankings of the 2007 season Thursday afternoon.

The number of teams ranked is relative to the number of teams in each region. These rankings take into account the same criteria the NCAA will use to select and seed at-large teams for the playoffs.

The first record listed is the overall record, followed by record in regional games, through May 1.

Central
1. Luther 20-4 23-6
2. Wartburg 21-5 24-8
3. Illinois Wesleyan 22-5 25-9
4. Washington U. 27-7 28-9
5. Augustana 21-9 26-10
6. Edgewood 18-8 22-9

Mid-Atlantic
1. Kean 26-4 30-6
2. New Jersey 23-5 28-8
3. Johns Hopkins 25-7 29-7
4. Arcadia 22-8 24-11
5. Ramapo 24-8 28-11
6. Alvernia 25-11 26-11
7. Gettysburg 23-9 24-10
8. Franklin & Marshall 16-7 21-12

Mideast
1. Wooster 26-2 33-2
2. Otterbein 21-6 24-9
3. Washington and Jefferson 22-6 26-7
4. Transylvania 21-9 24-10
5. Thomas More 21-6 23-7
6. Marietta 20-7 24-11
7. Ohio Wesleyan 16-6 20-11

Midwest
1. St. Olaf 20-4 25-4
2. UW-Oshkosh 26-8 26-8
3. Ripon 14-2 17-10
4. St. Thomas 18-8 24-9
5. UW-Stevens Point 18-9 21-14
6. St. Scholastica 14-3 25-5

New England
1. Eastern Connecticut State 23-4 27-8
2. Western New England 22-4 25-8
3. Keene State 21-7 25-9
4. Wheaton (Mass.) 26-9 27-10
5. Williams 13-6 16-7
6. Trinity (Conn.) 22-6 26-6
7. Curry 17-5 23-7
8. Southern Maine 18-9 22-10
9. St. Joseph’s (Maine) 24-7 26-7

New York
1. Cortland State 25-4 32-4
2. Ithaca 15-5 20-9
3. RPI 20-8 23-8
4. Brockport State 20-8 23-12
5. Oneonta State 21-8 23-9
6. St. John Fisher 14-6 14-6

South
1. Emory 32-6 35-7
2. Salisbury 23-6 30-7
3. York (Pa.) 23-9 28-9
4. Methodist 23-10 28-11
5. Rhodes 27-10 36-10
6. Mary Washington 20-10-1 24-11-1

West
1. Chapman 25-2 32-5
2. Pacific Lutheran 28-6 32-7
3. George Fox 25-6 30-6
4. Texas-Dallas 28-7 31-9
5. Texas Lutheran 24-8 32-8-1
6. Pomona-Pitzer 23-8 29-11

Lets hear your comments on who is going to be in and who is out.

rkwachholz39 starts us off with this post:

Okay everyone, I hope you are ready for some good water cooler talk. I am going to play D3 Bracketologist for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. All records and information is updated as of April 30, 2007 regarding records and conference standings. Also, any teams that have not completed 30 games to this point have been left off any potential Independent or At-Large Qualifiers. First, I will rundown the list of qualifiers. Then, I will give you my thoughts on placement and seeding. Here we go!

Automatic Qualifiers-I hope I have the right conferences (Pool A)
CCIW = Illinois Wesleyan (25-9)
IIAC = Wartburg (24-8)
SLIAC = Webster (25-10)
Centennial = Johns Hopkins (29-7)
MA Commonwealth = Lebanon Valley (20-16)
MA Freedom = King’s (26-9)
NJAC = Kean (30-6)
PennAC = Arcadia (24-9)
Heartland = Mt. St. Joseph (28-7)
MIAC = Hope (25-10)
North Coast = Wooster (35-3)
Ohio = Otterbein (24-7)
President’s = Washington & Jefferson (26-7)^
Midwest = St. Norbert’s (21-7)^
Minnesota = St. Olaf (25-4)
Wisconsin = UW-Oshkosh (26-8)
*NEWMAC = Wheaton (27-10)
*GNAC = Western New England (25-8)
Commonwealth Coast = Curry (23-7)
Little East = Eastern Connecticut (26-8)
NESCAC = Tufts (22-9)
MaSCAC = Westfield State (16-13)
City UNYAC = Mitchell College (15-7)^
State UNYAC = SUNY-Cortland (32-4)
Liberty = Rensselaer (23-8)
Skyline = Manhattanville (20-15)
Allegheny Mountain = La Roche (23-15)
*Old Dominion = Bridgewater (17-20)
* SCAC = Austin College (22-23)
*USA South = Ferrum (23-16)
American Southwest = TX Lutheran (32-8-1)
*Northwest = Pacific Lutheran (32-7)
*SCalIAC = Pomona Pitzer (26-10)

Independent Qualifiers (Pool B)
Univ of Washington (28-9)
St. Scholastica (29-5)
Salisbury (30-7)
Emory (35-7)
Chapman (32-5)

At-Large Qualifiers (Pool C)
Luther (24-7)
Edgewood (23-9)
College of New Jersey (28-8)
Gwynedd-Mercy (24-9)
Thomas More (23-7)
Univ of St. Thomas (24-9)
Salve Regina (23-9)
Keene State College (25-9)
Trinity (26-6)
York (28-9)
Rhodes College (36-10)
Millsaps (35-11)
Averett (31-12)
TX-Dallas (31-9)
George Fox (29-6)

*Conference Season Completed, team has secured automatic qualifier
^Tie in conference, best overall record taken

Groupings and Rankings for Tournament
Central
(1) Wartburg
(2) IL Wesleyan
(3) Rhodes
(4) Millsaps
(5) Luther
(6) U of Washington
(7) Webster

Mid-Atlantic
(1) Kean
(2) Johns Hopkins
(3) College of NJ
(4) Kings
(5) Arcadia
(6) Gwynedd-Mercy
(7) Lebanon Valley

Mideast
(1) Wooster
(2) Mt. St. Joseph
(3) Otterbein
(4) Washington & Jefferson
(5) Thomas More
(6) Hope

Midwest
(1) St. Olaf
(2) UW-Oshkosh
(3) St. Thomas
(4) St. Scholastica
(5) Edgewood
(6) St. Norbert

New England
(1) Eastern Connecticut
(2) Western New England
(3) Curry
(4) Trinity
(5) Wheaton
(6) Tufts
(7) Westfield State

New York
(1) Cortland State
(2) Rensselaer
(3) Keene State
(4) Salve Regina
(5) LaRoche College
(6) Manhattanville
(7) Mitchell College

South
(1) Emory
(2) Salisbury
(3) York
(4) Averett
(5) Ferrum
(6) Bridgewater

West
(1) Chapman
(2) TX Lutheran
(3) George Fox
(4) Pacific Lutheran
(5) TX Dallas
(6) Pomona Pitzer
(7) Austin College

Last Four In
Salve Regina
Edgewood College
Averett
Gwynedd Mercy

Last Five Out
SUNY Oneonta
Methodist
Ramapo
Augustana
Penn State Behrend

NOTES
I am an assistant coach in the Midwest, so much of the selections were based on winning percentages than looking at each schedule. I know the ratings index will factor in a lot. Only teams with winning percentages above .700 were considered for Independent and At-Large Qualifiers. I left out Keystone because I am not sure if they are still provisional. Williams College, St. Joseph’s (ME) could move in once they have played enough games. Austin College winning the SCAC created the opportunity for 3 SCAC teams to get in. Loses by Illinois Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins, Kean, Mt. St. Joseph, Wooster, St. Olaf, UW-Oshkosh, and SUNY Cortland would bump some of the last four in from the tournament. I will be back next Tuesday with the updated projection. Have fun with this!

It is playoff time. This weekend there are six automatic bids (Pool A) up for grabs as teams look to join Ferrum in the 2007 Regional Playoffs. I have looked at the conferences with no tournament and those tournaments that are ongoing and ending this weekend.

The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Northwest Conference, and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference are the only conferences with an automatic bid with no end of the season tournament and the regular season champion gets the automatic bid.

This is the final weekend for the SCIAC where Pomona-Pitzer is tied with La Verne at 13-5. Pomona-Pitzer plays Cal Tech (0-18) three times and La Verne has three games against Whittier (10-8). If La Verne wins out, they hold the tiebreaker (2-3 against Pomona-Pitzer) and get the automatic bid. Cal Lutheran (12-6 ) has an outside chance if Cal tech and Whittier can kock off the top teams in the conference. Pomona-Pitzer has an outside chance at a pool C bid but it looks like only one team in the SCIAC will get a playoff bid.

The MIAA has games as late as May 8th but the conference champions should be determined before that. Conference leaders Adrian (15-5) and Hope (15-5) have a three game advantage over the third place teams with four games left to play.

In the NWC, Pacific Lutheran (18-3) is in control and with one win at Puget Sound this weekend will get the automatic bid over George Fox who finished the season with a 19-5 conference record. Both Pacific Lutheran and George Fox are ranked near the top in the west region and it is expected that whoever finishes in second place to recieve a pool C bid.

Two conferences Championships have been held. Ferrum won the USA South Athletic Conference and Salisbury won the Capital Athletic Conference. Only the USA South has an automatic bid so Salisbury has to wait for the selection committee. It is expected that Salisbury will get a Pool B bid with the regular season conference champion York (Pa.) in the running for a pool C bid.

This weekend will see five conference tournaments. The Great Northeast Athletic Conference, New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference, Old Dominion Athletic Conference, Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, and Great South Athletic Conference

The GNAC tournament has started with Western New England posting a win againd Rivier and Johnson & Wales upsetting Suffolk in the double elimination tournament. The double elimination NEWMAC championship begins on Saturday morning with top-seeded Wheaton squaring off with Babson in the first game and MIT and Coast Guard meeting in the second game. The ODAC tournament features the top six teams in the conference. Virginia Wesleyan, Hampden-Sydney and Bridgewater both started the tournament off with wins. The SCAC tournament started last weekend with Rhodes, Millsaps, Austin and Southwestern (Texas) all advancing to the second round. The GSAC tournament does not get an automatic bid but the four team conference starts today at Maryville College.

Of all the teams playing only Wheaton and maybe Rhodes is expected to get a Pool C bid if they do not win their conference tournament. I wish all teams luck as it is essential if one wants to move on to win this weekend.

The rest of the tournament to be played (grouped by ending date) are:

May 5, 2007: CCC, NEAC, MACC, ASC.

May 6, 2007: NAC, MASCAC, SUNTAC, SKY, MAFC, CC, PnAC.

May 7, 2007: NJAC.

May 11, 2007: NCAC.

May 12, 2007: LEC, CUNYAC, OAC, HCAC, PrAC, IIAC, CCIW, WIAC, SLIAC, MWC, UMAC.

May 13, 2007: AMCC, NorAC, MIAC, NESCAC.

The NCAA Division III baseball committee released its first regional rankings of the 2007 season Thursday afternoon.

The number of teams ranked is relative to the number of teams in each region. These rankings take into account the same criteria the NCAA will use to select and seed at-large teams for the playoffs.

The first record listed is the overall record, followed by record in regional games, through April 24.

Central
1. Luther 18-3, 21-5
2. Wartburg 18-5, 21-8
3. Washington U. 24-6, 25-8
4. Illinois Wesleyan 19-4, 22-8
5. Edgewood 18-8, 22-9
6. Augustana 18-7, 23-8
6. Webster 17-6, 23-10

Mid-Atlantic
1. Kean 21-4, 25-6
2. New Jersey 18-5, 23-8
3. Johns Hopkins 22-6, 26-6
4. Ramapo 22-5, 26-8
5. Arcadia 19-7, 21-8
6. Alvernia 22-10, 23-10
7. Franklin and Marshall 14-5, 19-10
8. Gettysburg 17-4, 18-5

Mideast
1. Otterbein 19-4, 22-7
2. Wooster 26-1, 33-1
3. Marietta 14-4, 21-8
4. Thomas More 18-5, 20-6
5. Washington and Jefferson 17-6, 21-7
6. Ohio Wesleyan 10-4, 14-9
7. Transylvania 18-8, 21-9

Midwest
1. St. Olaf 20-2, 25-2
2. UW-Oshkosh 23-5, 23-5
3. Ripon 11-1, 14-9
4. St. Thomas 15-7, 21-8
5. St. Scholastica 13-3, 23-4
6. UW-Stevens Point 13-6, 16-11

New England
1. Eastern Connecticut State 17-3, 21-7
2. Western New England 19-4, 22-8
3. Wheaton (Mass.) 22-8, 23-9
4. St. Joseph’s (Maine) 21-5, 23-5
5. Southern Maine 15-6, 19-7
6. Keene State 16-7, 20-9
7. Williams 13-6, 16-7
8. Curry 14-4, 18-6
T9. Trinity (Conn.) 18-5, 22-5
T9. Tufts 11-5, 18-8

New York
1. Cortland State 21-3, 28-3
2. RPI 11-6, 13-6
3. Brockport State 18-6, 21-10
4. Ithaca 11-4, 16-8
5. St. John Fisher 14-6, 14-6
T6. Centenary 16-6, 21-9
T6. Rochester Tech 9-5, 13-7

South
1. Emory 31-6, 32-7
2. Salisbury 19-6, 26-7
3. York (Pa.) 20-8, 25-8
4. Methodist 23-10, 28-11
5. Rhodes 26-8, 35-8
6. Mary Washington 20-9-1, 24-10-1

West
1. Chapman 24-2, 30-5
2. George Fox 22-5, 27-5
3. Pacific Lutheran 25-6, 29-7
4. Texas Lutheran 22-7, 30-7-1
5. Texas-Dallas 26-7, 29-9
6. Pomona-Pitzer 20-7, 26-10