Good morning DIII tennis fans. I know, I know. You thought I was dead, and you were happy about it. In all seriousness, I just couldn’t afford to spend time on the blog anymore, but the new cast of characters has been so much better than I was that I don’t even feel sad about it. Good job, Headmaster. lulz.
Anyways, I wouldn’t be writing into the blog now if it wasn’t very important. Last year, around the time I was being characteristically snarky about another abysmal bracket, I was contacted by a coach who informed me about one easy fix that could potentially make the bracket much more fair. I promised that coach that I would make a public service announcement this year, so here it is:
For the last several years, the NCAA selection committee has been handcuffed in their regional selections by the limited number of bids that were put in by DIII coaches. For example, the Wash U joke region could have been avoided if any team in the Midwest that could’ve bridged the gap between them and GAC or Case, that region would have been selected, and Trinity would have been sent elsewhere. If any team that could bridge the gap between Atlanta (Emory) and Fredericksburg (Mary Washington) had put in a bid, the committee could’ve sent Tyler to Williams instead of creating another Region of Death in Atlanta.
I know a lot of coaches read this blog, but many more (particularly for unranked teams) do not, so it’s up to you to tell coaches to put in bids to host. If you’re a qualifier, and you have 6 courts, you could host. The committee likes to reward top teams with hosting privileges, but they also like to make the bracket as even as possible, so GIVE THEM A CHANCE.
I’m looking at you Elmhurst, Earlham, and COE.
Give the committee a fighting chance at making a fair-ish bracket.
You may now resume your regularly scheduled programming.
ASouth Edit: here’s a link for you after this Public Service Announcement