LaxPower Back-Up Stick

DeepPocket wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 5:23 pm In the HS state championships (public) are there many situations where there are two or more nationally ranked top 20 teams in the same “section” (NY term, but whatever the equivalent groupings are for each state)?

If not, it might not be the best format to emulate.

pcowlax wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 8:45 pm I think all this talk is nuts but that’s just me, never going to happen. Watch this year’s tournament, where the top 3-4 teams are just going to steamroll all of these AQs and see if that is the type of tournament you want.

Matnum PI wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 7:28 pm There aren't two nationally ranked teams in all of Georgia or North Carolina or whatever (though sometimes there are). But there most certainly are two state ranked teams in the same section. Happens all the time. The state championship brackets come out and the #3, #7, and #12 teams aren't included (because they lost in the sectional play-offs).

ah23 wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 3:27 am The NCAA tournament is about finding a national champion. That means finding the best teams...not simply a list of the winners of arbitrary groups of schools organized by geographical proximity and institutional similarity. Punishing teams for playing in good conferences and rewarding teams that gorge themselves on garbage competition all year is the opposite of how sports should work.

Additionally, doing away with at-large bids would be devastating for the D-III game. I cannot understand actively wanting that to happen.

Others have already alluded to this: why play in a competitive conference with multiple contenders and risk never making the tournament when you can just go independent or join/create some walkover conference to guarantee yourself an autobid every year? That's what programs like Cabrini and St. John Fisher already have set up, and that's absolutely what a lot of programs would do if suddenly their only shot at the postseason ran through a perennial juggernaut. Why would CNU stay in the C2C with Salisbury when they could just join the USA South? Why wouldn't York join the Landmark? Why wouldn't Union or St. Lawrence jump to the NEAC or Skyline? Why wouldn't any NESCAC team other than a handful at the top join the Little East or CCC? There are a million examples of this.

I know (hope?) this will never happen, so I'm just blathering on about nothing. But I genuinely cannot believe there would be any appetite for a watered down, predetermined NCAA tournament that objectively does not have the best teams facing each other. I obviously think that conferences (though not all of them) should have AQs. However, there absolutely has to be numerous at-large spots for quality teams that merit inclusion despite playing in the same conference as another top team. A tournament without both York and Stevenson, or RIT and whoever, or Tufts and whoever fails in its task, full stop.

DeepPocket wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 9:45 pm

Matnum PI wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 7:28 pm There aren't two nationally ranked teams in all of Georgia or North Carolina or whatever (though sometimes there are). But there most certainly are two state ranked teams in the same section. Happens all the time. The state championship brackets come out and the #3, #7, and #12 teams aren't included (because they lost in the sectional play-offs).

Yea. I’m just talking about national rankings. Obviously there are multiple state top 20 teams in the state strong holds.

Of the 31 teams who will be participating, we will be close to 10 of the national top 20 DIII programs are not making a tournament which is supposed to determine the National Champion.

Hypothetically (because I know college conferences don’t revolve around DIII lacrosse), what would prevent a CNU from going independent just to secure a bid every year, rather than try to slay the dragon that is Salisbury?

Prospects of success and making the tournament do play a role in recruiting. Could such a selection format counter some of the leveling of the playing field we’ve seen, by driving the top talent solely to the few powerhouses that we flat out know won’t be affected by these changes?

Downhill Dodger wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 6:49 am First and Second Round site locations announced
7 sites with 4 teams, one site with 3 teams

Illinois Wesleyan
Stevenson
Lynchburg
Centre

Winner of Empire 8
Franklin and Marshall
Cabrini
Stockton

SouthernLaxGenius wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 8:53 pm Selections will be tomorrow.

Other than the AQ's, if Colorado College has a lock on the only Pool B slot then (IMO), the 3 Pool C bids would look like:

Pool C

1-Christopher Newport
2- Stevenson
(both should get in)

3-Hampden Sydney ---> Washington and Lee---> St. Lawrence/OWU ---> Williams

Thoughts?

SouthernLaxGenius wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 8:53 pm Selections will be tomorrow.

Other than the AQ's, if Colorado College has a lock on the only Pool B slot then (IMO), the 3 Pool C bids would look like:

Pool C

1-Christopher Newport
2- Stevenson
(both should get in)

3-Hampden Sydney ---> Washington and Lee---> St. Lawrence/OWU ---> Williams

Thoughts?

ergit wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 9:05 pm

SouthernLaxGenius wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 8:53 pm Selections will be tomorrow.

Other than the AQ's, if Colorado College has a lock on the only Pool B slot then (IMO), the 3 Pool C bids would look like:

Pool C

1-Christopher Newport
2- Stevenson
(both should get in)

3-Hampden Sydney ---> Washington and Lee---> St. Lawrence/OWU ---> Williams

Thoughts?

CNU - yes
Stevenson - definite no
ODAC/ Centennial team - quite possibly/ likely
St. Lawrence - definite no (Union would be more deserving, but no to them too)
Williams - I doubt it. Definitely a good team but didn’t get enough games in compared to some other good teams that got in a much fuller and challenging schedule