An ASouth Update – Pool C Check-In #2

And here I go again, on my own.

There’s your musical flavor for the week before I start spewing some current pop culture references all throughout this article. Well, maybe not, because I am pretty sure you guys hate those. But I am back. Back again with some more Pool C Update, which was a big success this past time and will continue to be until I write by 7th and final update. It might even be more than that. I remember the days when D3ASW (RIP) would make fun of me for writing so many Pool C articles. But, there is a need because people need to know who’s going to make the PLAYOFFS?! If you’re looking for an outline of who gets selected, you can see the below link as usual.

http://www.division3tennis.com/ncaa-selection-work/

Now that you know there are 6 Pool C spots to be taken this year (you’ll hear that sentence over 100 times this year), let’s go through the teams once again and figure out what’s going down.  There have been no moves in my Pool C chart since the last update, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been DIII tennis action.  Multiple NESCAC and UAA teams went to battle this past weekend, with more to come this weekend. Expect another update next week, but let’s get into the facts right now.

Recent Updates

Wesleyan & Middlebury def. Williams

Williams had a pretty bad weekend after a really good start to it. They swept Middlebury and everyone in the group chat was making fun of me because they could take out the top team in the nation with just two singles wins. But, Middlebury absolutely smacked them in singles and never looked back. If Williams won that match, they’d be in the tournament as a lock, no doubt about it. But, alas, they didn’t, so they moved on to playing Wesleyan on the road the next day in a crucial Pool C match.  Wesleyan won 2 of the 3 doubles matches en route to a 6-3 win over the Ephs, taking 4 singles matches.  To me, this puts Wesleyan on the brink of clinching a Pool C spot. If they beat Amherst in the regular season or Bowdoin/Midd, you can basically lock them in prior to the NESCAC tournament.  For Williams, the Amherst match becomes absolutely a must win if they want to have the upper hand in Pool C going into NESCACs.

CMS def. Redlands

This was really Redlands final shot at getting into Pool C.  They needed an upset due to their many losses to Pool C contenders, as you can see above. Redlands will now have to enter the tournament via a Pool A bid by beating Pomona and CMS in back to back matches at the SCIAC Tournament.  If they do so, CMS would likely drop someone out of Pool C contention and be themselves placed in Pool C.

Bowdoin def. Amherst

Another big 5-4 match this weekend was Bowdoin vs. Amherst, where Amherst had another shot at making a run at the last Pool C bid.  While Amherst lost, this loss showed me why it’s reasonable to have them in the last spot.  I think they are currently a stronger team than Williams and should be able to beat them H2H.  But, we have seen crazy things in this rivalry so you never know if WIlliams will pull a fast one on them.

CMU def. UMW, Hopkins

Not huge matches here but CMU did what they needed to do this weekend. They beat UMW and Hopkins, both 5-4, to keep their Pool C hopes alive and still presumably sit in the front runner seat for making it via Pool C.  They now only have the UAA Tournament left to go, which basically means that they need to beat Case to have a shot at being in, and can beat Wash U/Chicago or even Emory to all but guarantee that they are in.

If you are looking at how this might affect Bracketology, please look no further than this link.

http://www.division3tennis.com/2017-bracketology-edition-1/

Whats to Come

There are some more huge NESCAC battles upcoming, including pretty much all of Williams matches. Wesleyan has to fend off Amherst from taking their spot, as no one really wants to be the #8 seed right now as well. Let’s also note that Chicago and Wash U are playing this weekend, which actually has more implications than you think. If Wash U beats Chicago, they may have the upper hand in Pool C as well as the rankings.  This means a lot to CMU, who could beat either of these teams and find themselves with a positive win. Basically, if Wash U beats Chicago this gives the whole UAA the chance to get an “indirect” over Williams.  Fact of the matter is these two teams barely played any common opponents and this might be the closest they’ll ever get to one.

Anyways, I’m getting a bit sleepy so I’ll go ahead and post this. Hope you all enjoy and let me know your thoughts. ASouth, OUT.

2 thoughts on “An ASouth Update – Pool C Check-In #2

  1. D3Fan

    What is the argument for CMU being ranked ahead of Wesleyan/Amherst/Williams for the last Pool C spot?

    Compared to the lowest ranked of those three (Williams), CMU’s best win is vs #12 (Case) while Williams has wins over #10 (Redlands) and #11 (P-P).

    CMU’s next best wins over #16 (Mary Washington), #20 (Hopkins) and #24 (Kenyon) were all 5-4 nailbiters, and if Buxbaum doesn’t get injured while up 4-0 in the third set then CMU probably loses to #20 Hopkins.

    CMU also has a loss to #6 Wash U, but that match is Wash U’s best win. If CMU drops to #10 (which is about where they belong, I think), then Wash U probably drops to #8, which then probably makes CMU’s loss to Wash U no better than Williams’ loss to Wesleyan and maybe even worse.

    1. D3AtlanticSouth

      To be perfectly honest, there is no argument for CMU to be higher than the Wesleyan and Williams for the last Pool C spot. I will say that Amherst is also getting the benefit of the doubt by the way, they don’t have any notable wins so far this year either. I would like to point out that that same bias is being held with CMU as it is with Amherst.

      Anyways, back to the main point. I can’t argue for CMU to be above Williams because they both have good arguments to make the tournament. They have fairly similar resumes, with Williams being slightly stronger. However, based on past history, ITA Ranking matters, and that’s what I had to go off of. It presents a tough argument because the fact of the matter is these teams don’t play each other.

      The best thing we can do is wait and see what happens rest of the season. Chicago/Wash U is this weekend and then the UAA Tournament is later on. Williams/Wesleyan/Amherst all have matches against big NESCAC schools to hopefully make this picture clearer, but judging from history, this will be the same shit show that it is every year, and it will be tough to argue one or the other team at the end of the day.

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