NESCAC

[bantamslayer]

Absolute clobber job from Midd. Will Zink with 8g on 9 SOG.

Zinker went absolutely nuclear against Bowdoin. Dude looked like Kim Jong Un out there just doing whatever he pleased against the submissive Polar Bears. Wasn’t expecting an upset for Middlebury, but hey, anything can happen in the ‘Cac. Game kinda reminded me of the Oklahoma City Bombing, didn’t see it coming.

[callaxdad]

Absolute clobber job from Midd. Will Zink with 8g on 9 SOG.

Zinker went absolutely nuclear against Bowdoin. Dude looked like Kim Jong Un out there just doing whatever he pleased against the submissive Polar Bears. Wasn’t expecting an upset for Middlebury, but hey, anything can happen in the ‘Cac. Game kinda reminded me of the Oklahoma City Bombing, didn’t see it coming.

Dude, you win the Gold Medal for most inappropriate analogies on NESCAC thread!!!

[JunkyardBobcat]

Wanted to give some quick thoughts on tomorrows championship

Wesleyan: These guys are a bunch of absolute boozehounds. I just received confirmation from my informant that CK and Ben Burns destroyed the encampment and are currently wheeling a pair of Middletown High’s finest. The Cards are an absolute wagon.

Middlebury: The Pants took down the Cardinals in the regular season, but I’m not sure if they will find the same success tomorrow. Henry Tarr is an absolute animal and is running a tren cycle that is enough to kill a small horse. Will Zink is a complete stud. Heard he took a 2 month break mid season to Cabo and took home enough bag to kill a small Polar Bear, let’s just hope he’s got some leftover for the Cardinals.

With that being said, I’m taking Middlebury +3.5

[Mickey Mantle]

If any of the Cardinals “took down the encampment,” at a school like Wesleyan, their expulsion papers would hit their inboxes by Monday morning. . . .

[choochooCharlie]

Is Middlebury in AQ or bust territory?

[LaxDad1963]

Zill Wink. Spit on it.

[D'Annolfo's Jordans]

Shoutout to Jack Raba -- Great way for the ole 9 year career in collegiate sports to finally come to an end. Hope buddy's finally ready to hit the job portal and start contributing to the GDP like you'd expect someone who's 25 years old to do.

[JunkyardBobcat]

Shoutout to Jack Raba -- Great way for the ole 9 year career in collegiate sports to finally come to an end. Hope buddy's finally ready to hit the job portal and start contributing to the GDP like you'd expect someone who's 25 years old to do.

Make that a 10 year career. He’s heading to Yale to play football, heard from my buddy at Wes that the Palestinians recruited him to run the protests there #Lib

[choochooCharlie]

Let the kid play. Middlebury is out.

[Bucket]

Let the kid play. Middlebury is out.

Midd should be safely in the field.

Once Region I Pool A teams (Wesleyan, Babson, Endicott) are removed, Midd will be second in line in the Regional I rankings behind Tufts. I expect the Jumbos to be a top-3 Pool C selection (along with RIT and St. Lawrence).

That will put Middlebury at the table for selection with seven picks remaining. I don't see seven picks from the other regions occurring without a second Pool C coming out of Region I when you consider primary selection criteria.

[nelaxman]

Wesleyan is just absolutely rolling right now! So many weapons and really They are super tough on defense with an excellent goalie. They completely shut down the Middlebury offense today. This team has something special for sure. Definitely the most unselfish team I have seen play this year, Congratulations to the Cards on winning NESCAC Championship. This weekend was super impressive and this team has what it takes to win another National Championship.

[Mickey Mantle]

Shoutout to Jack Raba -- Great way for the ole 9 year career in collegiate sports to finally come to an end. Hope buddy's finally ready to hit the job portal and start contributing to the GDP like you'd expect someone who's 25 years old to do.

Okay, that is funny!

[choochooCharlie]

Let the kid play. Middlebury is out.

Midd should be safely in the field.

Once Region I Pool A teams (Wesleyan, Babson, Endicott) are removed, Midd will be second in line in the Regional I rankings behind Tufts. I expect the Jumbos to be a top-3 Pool C selection (along with RIT and St. Lawrence).

That will put Middlebury at the table for selection with seven picks remaining. I don't see seven picks from the other regions occurring without a second Pool C coming out of Region I when you consider primary selection criteria.

Tufts, RIT, SLU, W&L, CNU, Gettysburg, Swarthmore
Remember, travel cost and bracket balance are considered.

[Bucket]

Let the kid play. Middlebury is out.

Midd should be safely in the field.

Once Region I Pool A teams (Wesleyan, Babson, Endicott) are removed, Midd will be second in line in the Regional I rankings behind Tufts. I expect the Jumbos to be a top-3 Pool C selection (along with RIT and St. Lawrence).

That will put Middlebury at the table for selection with seven picks remaining. I don't see seven picks from the other regions occurring without a second Pool C coming out of Region I when you consider primary selection criteria.

Tufts, RIT, SLU, W&L, CNU, Gettysburg, Swarthmore
Remember, travel cost and bracket balance are considered.

You included three teams I said would be taken off the board (Tufts, RIT, SLU) when we got to Midd at the table with seven choices left.

There are 10 Pool C slots.

And, FWIW, Gettysburg and Swarthmore do not fare favorably when compared to Midd using primary selection criteria. (And travel cost factors into the bracket, not selection.)

[SouthieLax]

Let the kid play. Middlebury is out.

Midd should be safely in the field.

Once Region I Pool A teams (Wesleyan, Babson, Endicott) are removed, Midd will be second in line in the Regional I rankings behind Tufts. I expect the Jumbos to be a top-3 Pool C selection (along with RIT and St. Lawrence).

That will put Middlebury at the table for selection with seven picks remaining. I don't see seven picks from the other regions occurring without a second Pool C coming out of Region I when you consider primary selection criteria.

Tufts, RIT, SLU, W&L, CNU, Gettysburg, Swarthmore
Remember, travel cost and bracket balance are considered.

For four months you chirped Middlebury. But they made the conference final. Then they made the NCAAs with a 10-8 record…because of their strong schedule, which you bashed.

[pcowlax]

Choochoo crying himself to sleep tonight. Why did the dead baby cross the road, Blaine? I would have put in Amherst over Bowdoin but that was a toss up, Midd was clearly going to be in once they made the finals. 4 CAC, 4 LL, the dominant leagues dominating the bids. As it should be.

[Chipzhoo]

Choochoo crying himself to sleep tonight. Why did the dead baby cross the road, Blaine? I would have put in Amherst over Bowdoin but that was a toss up, Midd was clearly going to be in once they made the finals. 4 CAC, 4 LL, the dominant leagues dominating the bids. As it should be.

Pairings set up well for Nescac schools. LFG!

[ah23]

For four months you chirped Middlebury. But they made the conference final. Then they made the NCAAs with a 10-8 record…because of their strong schedule, which you bashed.

Choochoo crying himself to sleep tonight. Why did the dead baby cross the road, Blaine? I would have put in Amherst over Bowdoin but that was a toss up, Midd was clearly going to be in once they made the finals. 4 CAC, 4 LL, the dominant leagues dominating the bids. As it should be.

Oh come on, how bad could one troll be?

Been discussed on here for weeks. Middlebury avoids tough OOC competition.

They never were. Just a bunch of hype and avoiding tough OOC. When they can’t duck tough OOC they fold like a cheap suit.

CNU up there, but Lynchburg and York also in the running for overrated.

Middlebury takes the cake. Count Bowdoin among that group too.

Bowdoin was outplayed in all aspects. Not top 10, not top 20. Middlebury has shown their stripes. They’re out too.

1. Tufts
2. (Maybe) Wesleyan
3+. Hodgepodge

When’s the last time the NESCAC got 1 bid?

Get past the whole, “but that’s John Carroll, and this is Middlebury” schtick. At the end of the year, one will likely be regionally ranked, and one likely won’t.

If even some of that plays out you’re looking at 1 bid remaining.
It ain’t as sure a shot as you hope.

Don’t say something snarky about what I called preseason, Don’t say something snarky about what I called preseason…

Please note, I’m resisting the urge everyone.

Is there something that guarantees 3 bids to the NESCAC?

Why not just respectfully disagree with my assessments?
Middlebury was highly overrated.
Bowdoin was highly overrated.
The NESCAC is down relatively big this year.

Williams, of all teams, is actually looking pretty sharp through 3 vs CNU.

#downyear #callaxfraud #1bid?

Middlebury is out.

Ah.

Looking forward to the excuses + doubling/tripling/quadrupling down.

[callaxdad]

Let the kid play. Middlebury is out.

Oooooh, wrong again!!!

[ah23]

Early bracket thoughts:

Wesleyan: very tough draw overall. Probably a slight favorite to make it out of the first weekend, but they arguably have the toughest Sunday game of any host (and potentially the same is true for the QFs). Bird Battle in R1 shouldn't be as hard as the brand name suggests; SJF has lost to every good team they played this year, plus some teams that weren't good.

Tufts: having to play on the road at Union is a joke (D-III tournament structure has gotten better but remains laughably bad). I would still pick Tufts to cruise into the quarters against either St. Lawrence or Wesleyan. Hoping that Illinois Wesleyan beats Aurora on Wednesday so we can see Tufts vs. Kirkland Brand Tufts...aka see what 200 total shots and a 52-21 final score in a lacrosse game looks like.

Middlebury: As expected, the NESCAC semis were a play-in game for the Panthers. Decent shot to make the quarters; I'd have Dickinson as a favorite by a few goals, but keep in mind that I have been terrible at setting lines this season. Midd could make a mini run or fall completely flat early on - that's the fun of the Panthers in 2024. At least they've moved past the clogged toilet offense they were running in March/early April.

Bowdoin: kind of surprised they got in over Amherst; seems like the committee really valued the H2H (and Bowdoin having a slight advantage in results vs. common opponents) over Amherst having much, much better wins. Don't love their chances; losing 3/4 games heading into the tourney isn't a great sign, and RPI has been on a different level this season.

Honorable Mention
Amherst: needs to start scheduling a spring break trip to play some "regionally ranked" southern teams so they don't get left out for a team like Roanoke again.

Curious what everyone else thinks!