Bracketology 2023

[laxfan22]

Also what’s the financial piece of it you mentioned??

Ncaa doesn’t want to pay to fly teams so they apparently will choose mount union or DePauw over teams that would beat them by 20

[lax410]

Depaw maybe for travel but Mt Union (OH)? Can’t a NESCAC team drive to St John Fisher (the site of the second round game of the winner between Mt Union and Aurora)?? Or Haverford?

[laxfan22]

There’s a distance where they have to fly. 400 miles maybe? Honestly I don’t care. Pick the deserving teams. It’s not even CLOSE. My daughters club and HS team would beat DePauw.

[lax410]

It must be driven by regional rankings. No one below 5th in the regional rankings made it - despite the disparity between the level of play between the Regions. Regions 1, 3, and 4 are on a completely different plane.

[washedup]

I feel for Haverford— they were 5th in last regional rankings, only lost to tournament teams, and the two At larges from Region IV were Messiah and Gettysburg, i.e., two top 15 teams based on the coaches poll. Totally agree that Williams and Amherst deserved it too, and are the two “best” teams left out of the tournament, but they also had the built-in advantage that Region I is basically just the NESCAC standings.

The whole system is a joke, and the only thing worse is that they’re still doing the championship in Salem, VA. Should go back to how it was in 2016 when all the divisions played the same weekend at the same place. Especially since the D1 final four is down south and supposed to help “grow the game,” NCAA should be exposing more people to D2/D3 and show off the quality of the product.

[laxfan22]

Agreed. And really if there is a close call that’s one thing but it’s not remotely close. I can’t even think of a d1 equivalent Do we know who was on the committee?

[Dr. Tact]

The whole system is a joke, and the only thing worse is that they’re still doing the championship in Salem, VA. Should go back to how it was in 2016 when all the divisions played the same weekend at the same place. Especially since the D1 final four is down south and supposed to help “grow the game,” NCAA should be exposing more people to D2/D3 and show off the quality of the product.

I agree...after 6 years in Blacksburg and one summer in Salem, that location is in the middle of nowhere. If they dont want it at the same location as other divisions, how about Sparks? That would be beneficial for the D3 game.

[laxfan22]

I’d think going somewhere where there is at least some club presence would make sense. The attendance in Roanoke is close to zero when you remove family members

[lax410]

Pretty sure the 2025 and 2026 years are at Babson in Mass which is near Foxboro where the D1 tournament is.

[lax410]

I feel for Haverford— they were 5th in last regional rankings, only lost to tournament teams, and the two At larges from Region IV were Messiah and Gettysburg, i.e., two top 15 teams based on the coaches poll. Totally agree that Williams and Amherst deserved it too, and are the two “best” teams left out of the tournament, but they also had the built-in advantage that Region I is basically just the NESCAC standings.

The whole system is a joke, and the only thing worse is that they’re still doing the championship in Salem, VA. Should go back to how it was in 2016 when all the divisions played the same weekend at the same place. Especially since the D1 final four is down south and supposed to help “grow the game,” NCAA should be exposing more people to D2/D3 and show off the quality of the product.

Definitely feel for Haverford. They’re a decent team.

[westcoastlax]

Brutal Brackets. There is clearly a goal to limit NESCAC teams in the tournament and their ability to advance multiple teams to the final four.

Final Four prediction
Middlebury
Tufts
F+M
W+L

Finals
Middlebury
W+L

Champion
Middlebury

[RocLaxFan]

where are the Regionals for Willam Smith bracket being played at this year? Or is that determined after this weekend?

[laxfan22]

Btw why is it that the men’s D3 bracket didn’t include some rando weak ass Midwest teams? Just who is making this bracket on the women’s side that mount union and DePauw gets in completely undeservedly over teams that should have? I really really hope the coaches and ADs at the Amherst/haverford/etc are raising hell on this issue. It’s infuriating to me.

[lax410]

I’d be interested in seeing the selection criteria. The OP had info that no team could be considered that wasn’t in the regional rankings.

If you look at the AL bids they appear to be correlated with the regional rankings and giving more of a chance to underrepresented areas or regional rankings than is deserved. CNU is also pretty questionable.

[laxfan22]

Looks like maybe the DePauw coach is on the selection committee. I guess that’s how a 4th place (out of 7 teams) team gets selected to the tourney with 5 losses (by 22 to Chicago, 7 to OWU, 7 to Denison, 16 to Kenyon and 12 to Kenyon) gets selected. Or perhaps it was that torrid end of the season where they lost 4 of their last 6 game? Or maybe it was the marquee win against… Aurora by 1 in OT? Or Sewannee by 1 also in OT?

If this was a sport that had attention to it, there would be an investigation and some people would be asked to never return. It’s that atrocious. And this is good for the sport? I mean FfS, if 3 of 7 NCAC schools are to be in the tourney, you didn’t choose the 3d place team? CRIMINAL

[lovelax]

DePauw coach is on BOTH regional AND national selection committee. Hmmm.

The F&M bracket is terribly weak with only one team ranked in top 15. When I was trying to figure the fourth regional host I had Kenyon as a bubble team based on its loss of the AQ to Denison. I never dreamed they would be a host. It's a shame geography dictated this bracket. The selection criteria say the committee should try to "balance" the strength of the brackets. I guess this factor was deemphasized here. If I were F&M I would be watching film on the top teams in the Middlebury bracket and making reservations for Salem.

W&L bracket is brutal. Four top 10 teams and they all played each other. W&L and Salisbury were 2-1 and York and GBurg were 1-2. Each of these teams are excellent and I would not be surprised if any team made it to Salem. I believe W&L's weak conference schedule really hurst them at NCAA time. Early tough OOC games are long forgotten and how each possession is so important. I think at least one of these three teams should have gone to Kenyon to balance that bracket. York and GBurg are equal distance away.... like F&M.

In the WS bracket, how do two top 7 teams play each other in the round of 16? (Tufts and Wesleyan) Anti-Nescac bias? The bracket ensures that no more than two Nescac teams can make the final four. I think that Wes or Tufts beats Smith. Smith has one quality win (top 15 ) and that was weeks ago. Smith is extremely athletic but as weather heats up depth will hurt them.

Midd bracket also tough. Messiah and TCNJ is the best game in the round of 32. How do a #6 and #11 meet in this round? Send Messiah to Kenyon too! Trinity also had a great year but is rewarded by possible round of 16 game with Midd? I think Colby TCNJ (if all goes chalk) is the most interesting game in this bracket.

Good luck to all teams.

[laxfan22]

Yea the brackets are absurd too as you mention. These teams take lax seriously and the committee purposefully engaged in self dealing and made decisions that were totally beyond reasonable. They should be ashamed. The NCAA should br ashamed and remove these people from ever being involved again. I hope the ADs are making themselves heard

And to be clear I have no connection to a school that got screwed.

[wlaxphan20]

I feel for Haverford— they were 5th in last regional rankings, only lost to tournament teams, and the two At larges from Region IV were Messiah and Gettysburg, i.e., two top 15 teams based on the coaches poll. Totally agree that Williams and Amherst deserved it too, and are the two “best” teams left out of the tournament, but they also had the built-in advantage that Region I is basically just the NESCAC standings.

The whole system is a joke, and the only thing worse is that they’re still doing the championship in Salem, VA. Should go back to how it was in 2016 when all the divisions played the same weekend at the same place. Especially since the D1 final four is down south and supposed to help “grow the game,” NCAA should be exposing more people to D2/D3 and show off the quality of the product.

It would have been nice if it were all 3 divisions but it was actually only 1 & 3. They played in Philly and D2 Festival was out in Denver and it was held the weekend before MDW. The women’s D2 championship is always the weekend before, I don’t think the tournament is large enough to go to MDW.

It would be great if all 3 divisions for for both men & women could play the same weekend in the same location.

[lax410]

DePauw coach is on BOTH regional AND national selection committee. Hmmm.

The F&M bracket is terribly weak with only one team ranked in top 15. When I was trying to figure the fourth regional host I had Kenyon as a bubble team based on its loss of the AQ to Denison. I never dreamed they would be a host. It's a shame geography dictated this bracket. The selection criteria say the committee should try to "balance" the strength of the brackets. I guess this factor was deemphasized here. If I were F&M I would be watching film on the top teams in the Middlebury bracket and making reservations for Salem.

W&L bracket is brutal. Four top 10 teams and they all played each other. W&L and Salisbury were 2-1 and York and GBurg were 1-2. Each of these teams are excellent and I would not be surprised if any team made it to Salem. I believe W&L's weak conference schedule really hurst them at NCAA time. Early tough OOC games are long forgotten and how each possession is so important. I think at least one of these three teams should have gone to Kenyon to balance that bracket. York and GBurg are equal distance away.... like F&M.

In the WS bracket, how do two top 7 teams play each other in the round of 16? (Tufts and Wesleyan) Anti-Nescac bias? The bracket ensures that no more than two Nescac teams can make the final four. I think that Wes or Tufts beats Smith. Smith has one quality win (top 15 ) and that was weeks ago. Smith is extremely athletic but as weather heats up depth will hurt them.

Midd bracket also tough. Messiah and TCNJ is the best game in the round of 32. How do a #6 and #11 meet in this round? Send Messiah to Kenyon too! Trinity also had a great year but is rewarded by possible round of 16 game with Midd? I think Colby TCNJ (if all goes chalk) is the most interesting game in this bracket.

Good luck to all teams.

Who hosts in the round of 8/16 (weekend of 5/20-5/21)? Is it by rank? It sounds like you’re saying it’s Kenyon.

[lax410]

Pretty sure the 2025 and 2026 years are at Babson in Mass which is near Foxboro where the D1 tournament is.

So next year D1 is at UNC, D2 is at Rollins and D3 is at Roanoke.

2025 and 2026 - D1 is at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, D2 is at Stonehill (MA), and D3 is at Babson. Given Stonehill is now D1 I wonder if that changes…