2022 D3 NCAA Tournament Bracket

[InsiderRoll]

Here is my final bracket prediction. (It’s very hard to do the match-ups.) I have 3 teams needing to make flights, Dubuque, Colorado College, and Benedictine. It could’ve been two but it would’ve meant giving a second play-in game to the Denison region. That has never happened before. Denison’s geographic location relative to the field is what allows for them to jump to a 3 seed. (York is who gets screwed out of hosting.) It should be noted that I did projections of where the regional rankings will finish - they typically do not release the final regional rankings used to determine the Pool C's.

North

At RIT
1) RIT (Liberty) vs Stockton (CSAC)/SUNY-Maritime (Skyline)
8) Wesleyan (Pool C) vs RPI (Pool C)

At SJFC
4) St. John Fisher (Empire 8) vs John Carroll (OAC)
5) St. Lawrence (Pool C) vs Cortland (SUNYAC)

At Union
2) Union (Pool C) vs UMass-Boston (Little East)/Dubuque (Midwest)
7) MIT (NEWMAC) vs Amherst (Pool C)

At Tufts
3) Tufts (NESCAC) vs Norwich (Great Northeast)
6) Bowdoin (Pool C) vs Western New England (CCC)

South

At CNU
1) Christopher Newport (Pool B) vs Southern Va. (USA-South)/Benedictine (NACC)
8) Cabrini (Atlantic East) vs Washington and Lee (Pool C)

At Dickinson
4) Dickinson (Centennial) vs Grove City (PAC)
5) York (MAC-Commonwealth) vs Catholic (Landmark)

At Salisbury
2) Salisbury (Pool C) vs Stevens Tech (MAC-Freedom)/Colorado College (HCLC)
7) Lynchburg (ODAC) vs Gettysburg (Pool C)

At Denison
3) Denison (NCAC) vs Albion (CCIW)/Sewanee (SAA)
6) Hope (Pool C) vs North Central (CCIW)

Pool B (1)
Christopher Newport (16-1)- Region 3 (1st)
- Easily the #1 seed in the south. Their loss to Salisbury does nothing to change that.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 12-1
SOS: 1st
RPI: 1st

Pool C (10)
Salisbury (18-1) - Region 3 (2nd)
- Once again they have one of the best resumes in the country and should be the first Pool C selected.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 9-1
SOS: 2nd
RPI: 2nd

Union (14-2) - Region 2 (2nd)
- Despite losing to St. Lawrence their body of work is too strong. They own head to head wins with every top northern team except RIT.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 9-2
SOS: 7th
RPI: 5th

Bowdoin (17-2) – Region 1 (2nd)
- With only 2 losses to Tufts and a strong record vs regional ranked opponents. The Polar Bears are dancing.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 9-2
SOS: 52nd
RPI: 14th

St. Lawrence (13-4) - Region 2 (4th)
- SLU is in with ease.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 7-4
SOS: 5th
RPI: 6th

Wesleyan (13-5) – Region 1 (4th)
- The Cardinals should be in at this point, but they aren’t quite a lock. Their key win is a victory over Amherst. They have a lot of “average” regionally ranked wins.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 5-4
SOS: 50th
RPI: 36th

Bubble Teams (IN)

Amherst (11-6) – Region 1 (5th)
- I think they’ve done enough, but it’ll be close. Strong record vs regionally ranked opponents for 6 wins. Their win over Gettysburg is massive.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 6-5
SOS: 27th
RPI: 37th

Gettysburg (12-7) - Region 3 (6th)
- Hard to ignore their 5 regionally ranked wins. Head to head win over bubble team W&L is very valuable right now.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 5-6
SOS: 9th
RPI: 19th

RPI (10-5) - Region 2 (5th)
- They will be close. 4 regionally ranked wins and HUGE win over RIT. I have them in, but they are probably uneasy watching tonight.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 4-5
SOS: 17th
RPI: 21st

Hope (12-3) - Region 5 (1st)
- They have a great win % vs regionally ranked teams. It’s a false SOS, but still strong. With Ill. Wesleyan’s loss they will likely remain the #1 team in Region 5. I find it unlikely that the committee leaves out the top team in a region.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 4-1
SOS: 23rd
RPI: 12th

W&L (12-6) - Region 5 (3rd)
- They have 5 regionally ranked teams including a win over the top ranked team in their region. They should hang onto the #3 spot in their region despite the HSC upset. I don’t think that the committee would select 0 pool c’s from this region. It’s close, but I think going 10-0 in ODAC play gets them in.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 5-6
SOS: 36th
RPI: 33rd

Last Out

Illinois Wesleyan (11-5) - Region 5 (2nd)
- Going to be very close. But only 3 regionally ranked wins. They may look at their east coast trip and see lots of losses to teams that their counterparts performed better against. SOS and RPI are inflated.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 3-4
SOS: 11th
RPI: 17th

Franklin and Marshall (12-4) - Region 3 (8th)
- Just didn’t play enough good teams. 2 wins vs regionally ranked opponents + not making your conference tournament isn’t going to get it done.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 2-3
SOS: 44th
RPI: 24th

Roanoke (12-6) - Region 4 (5th)
- Sneaky good resume. But aren’t going to overtake W&L in the regional rankings.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 4-6
SOS: 37th
RPI: 32nd

Hampden-Sydney (13-7) - Region 4 (6th)
- Great tournament run. Puts them into contention. But they had a very poor resume before this weekend.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 3-7
SOS: 38th
RPI: 39th

Hamilton (7-7) - Region 1 (7th)
- At 7-7 and only 3 regionally ranked wins. This team will be on the outside looking in.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 3-5
SOS: 57th
RPI: 74th

Middlebury (8-8) - Region 1 (8th)
- About the same as Hamilton, even with the Tufts win. Laid too many eggs.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 3-8
SOS: 34th
RPI: 63rd

Ithaca (10-6) - Region 2 (8th)
- Just not enough regionally ranked wins. No conference tourney appearance.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 2-6
SOS: 20th
RPI: 27th

Stevenson (13-6) - Region 3 (9th)
- Only 1 win vs regionally ranked teams. No way this team moves into the discussion.
Record vs Regionally Ranked: 1-6
SOS: 29th
RPI: 25th

[overandback]

NESCAC faithful will not like tufts and bowdoin in same group. And I don’t think the top two in NESCAC should be in same regional- similar to how you have Gettysburg going to Salisbury vs Dickinson.
But so many factors, I’m sure it’s justifiable.

[InsiderRoll]

NESCAC faithful will not like tufts and bowdoin in same group. And I don’t think the top two in NESCAC should be in same regional- similar to how you have Gettysburg going to Salisbury vs Dickinson.
But so many factors, I’m sure it’s justifiable.

I definitely agree. It started quite the headache trying to navigate teams around to avoid those games - so I moved on. Bowdoin creates such a headache because it’s 500+ miles to Rochester.

[Laxguru333]

I definitely agree. It started quite the headache trying to navigate teams around to avoid those games - so I moved on. Bowdoin creates such a headache because it’s 500+ miles to Rochester.

I thought the NCAA upped their travel distance to 600 miles last year?

[D-III]

Insider, good work. Just a few things:

1. Host sites are not necessarily a straight line based on seeding. Both the first and second weekends need to be scheduled and dictate the bracket structure. For example recall that RIT traveled the first weekend last year and hosted Quarters/Semis weekend.

2. The rule is now 600 miles before there is a flight, not 500 miles.

3. RPI is considered in the criteria only in D1, not D3.

[InsiderRoll]

Insider, good work. Just a few things:

1. Host sites are not necessarily a straight line based on seeding. Both the first and second weekends need to be scheduled and dictate the bracket structure. For example recall that RIT traveled the first weekend last year and hosted Quarters/Semis weekend.

2. The rule is now 600 miles before there is a flight, not 500 miles.

3. RPI is considered in the criteria only in D1, not D3.

Thank you. Yeah I did not factor RPI but included as a reference because it’s always a discussion point. I did not realize that the travel had been extended to 600 miles.

[Jumbo]

It will suck if any top 10 team has to travel for round one.

[InsiderRoll]

It will suck if any top 10 team has to travel for round one.

There’s only 8 teams that won’t travel due to the pod structure, so at least 2 are traveling.

[Maggsedge]

Have heard Salisbury can only host first round due to other sports using facilities/scheduling problems.

[ah23]

Here is my final bracket prediction.

Really appreciate the effort that goes into these posts, always an interesting read.

NESCAC faithful will not like tufts and bowdoin in same group. And I don’t think the top two in NESCAC should be in same regional

Seems like it's pretty much always that way - you can go back through the yearly brackets and usually find NESCAC matchups that happen earlier than they should based on ranking/seeding. Been a common complaint (and IMO a justified one) for as long as I can remember. LL had a similar dynamic in 2019 when Union faced RIT for the third time fairly early on. I get that D-III teams aren't flying chartered jets, but IMO it's really disappointing that the NCAA tourney so often looks like a conference tourney redux in the early rounds. Would be really, really interesting if it worked like March Madness and conference matchups were avoided if at all possible.

[SixBySix]

Only miss in terms of the field was 'Noke over Hope, right? Very nice job, Insider.

1st Round Games I'm Most Excited For:
Fisher v Catholic
W&L v Cabrini
Gettysburg v 'Noke
MIT v Amherst
Wesleyan v RPI

[charliefayispredator]

someone at Roanoke must be holding unseemly text messages over the head of a selection committee member

[SpartanLaxFanatic]

3 ODAC teams getting in made me giggle. Please figure out a better format for selecting teams than Regional Rankings and wins that inflate teams that play in weaker regions.

[SixBySix]

Multiple brand new accounts made to complain about Roanoke--interesting. Anyone care to make a case about who should have gotten in ahead of them?

I'm a Centennial fan, for what it's worth, and will certainly back complaining about the ODAC when it's merited, but I don't see it this year.

[Jumbo]

Ok. Where is the D3 bracket? They only covered D1 on tv.

[overandback]

Fisher v Catholic - Battle of the Cardinals
But not expecting a close match. I predict SJF by 8-10 goals.

[DeepPocket]

Ok. Where is the D3 bracket? They only covered D1 on tv.

You can watch selection show on ncaa.com. Go to videos.

Bracket is there too just go to Lacrosse, DIII, bracket.

[InsiderRoll]

Here is the bracket.

https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/lacrosse-men/d3/2022

[KnowingWizardofODAC]

How in the world is a team like Roanoke(A team that has coaching problems and has no significant wins) getting a bid over a school like St Mary's when St Mary's won their conference and Roanoke got eliminated in the semifinals in embarrassing fashion.

[ah23]

I have been plenty critical of how the selection committee has structured the tourney in years past, but man I like this year's version structurally (not going to wade into the Pool C arguments yet, though I was stunned to hear Roanoke called).

Anyway - interesting OOC matchups that weren't incredibly limited by geography! Competitive roads for all the top seeds! Four NESCAC and Liberty League teams in the tourney...and basically all in different pods, with only one possible in-conference meeting before the semis for each! Am I hallucinating? Definitely not balanced at all in terms of pedigree (right side is STACKED with heavyweights) but hey. I'll take what I can get.

On the subject: the right side of the bracket is fascinating. Likely Salisbury vs. Tufts/SJF in the quarters, then the winner likely faces RIT (or Bowdoin?). Absolutely stacked QF/SF weekend. Who would host a Tufts-Salisbury QF game? Not sure how the hosting works when the tourney gets that far in.