Welcome to our final edition of Bracketology for the 2016 season! Despite all the great tennis played this weekend across the country, not much has changed from last weekend. We will now have Hopkins and W&L in the bracket as conference winners, but other than that, the scenario that I’m endorsing as most likely is basically identical to last weekend, including the overall seeding. After all the discussion of the past few weeks, Pool C actually ended up being very clear cut with Williams loss to Amherst on Friday. If Case or Chicago somehow get robbed of a bid, I think that would just be a blatantly incorrect decision.
Below the first scenario, I’m also going to provide two additional brackets that are possible. While I don’t particularly like either of the second two, I think they are both definitely within the realm of possibility. For detailed explanations of the first bracket, please reference Bracketology from last week.
Scenario #1: Most Likely
Region 1: Emory, Mary Washington, NC Wesleyan, Washington & Lee*, Goucher, Messiah
Region 2: CMS*, Whitman, Tyler, Cruz
Region 3: Middlebury*, Stevens, TCNJ, Hunter, Yeshiva, Ramapo
Region 4: Carnegie Mellon*, Kenyon, Kalamazoo, Wilkes, Gwynedd Mercy
Region 5: Bowdoin*, Skidmore, MIT, Nichols, Colby-Sawyer, Southern Maine
Region 6: Wash U*, Whitewater, Sewanee, Rose-Hulman, Edgewood
Region 7: Case Western*, Trinity TX, Johns Hopkins, John Carroll, Franciscan, Grove City
Region 8: Chicago*, Gustavus, Coe, Grinnell, Carthage
Scenario #2 – Very Possible
Region 1: Emory, Mary Washington, NC Wesleyan, Washington & Lee*, Goucher, Messiah
Region 2: CMS*, Whitman, Tyler, Cruz
Region 3: Middlebury*, Johns Hopkins, TCNJ, Hunter, Yeshiva, Ramapo
Region 4: Carnegie Mellon*, Stevens, Kalamazoo, Wilkes, Gwynedd Mercy
Region 5: Bowdoin*, Skidmore, MIT, Nichols, Colby-Sawyer, Southern Maine
Region 6: Wash U*, Whitewater, Sewanee, Rose-Hulman, Edgewood
Region 7: Case Western*, Kenyon, John Carroll, Franciscan, Grove City
Region 8: Chicago*, Trinity TX, Gustavus, Coe, Grinnell, Carthage
Scenario #3 – Less Likely
Region 1: Emory*, Trinity TX, Sewanee, NC Wesleyan, Washington & Lee
Region 2: CMS*, Whitman, Tyler, Cruz
Region 3: Middlebury*, Stevens, TCNJ, Hunter, Yeshiva, Ramapo
Region 4: Carnegie Mellon*, Mary Washington, Johns Hopkins, Goucher, Wilkes, Gwynedd Mercy
Region 5: Bowdoin*, Skidmore, MIT, Nichols, Colby-Sawyer, Southern Maine
Region 6: Wash U*, Whitewater, Carthage, Rose-Hulman, Edgewood
Region 7: Case Western*, Kenyon, Kalamazoo, Messiah, Franciscan, Grove City
Region 8: Chicago*, Gustavus, Coe, Grinnell, John Carroll
I am keeping my fingers crossed that the committee gives us a good and fair bracket, just as they did last year when I believe they did a near perfect job. Please check the blog throughout the day tomorrow as we will be releasing bracket updates as soon as we get them. We will also have a rapid reaction roundtable once the bracket is officially released.
Are there any predictions for women’s sites?
Williams gets in.. Atleast 2 pool Cs should and will come out of the Northeast. Bowdoin and Williams!
I strongly disagree with you, but it is not impossible. Case and Chicago have better resumes. They have no losses outside the top 8 and they have wins against current top 8 teams. Williams has a loss to a team ranked outside the top 10 (Amherst) and their best win is Pomona.
The Ephs could be given a bid purely to “even things out” but in my mind, there’s absolutely no way it’s justified. Case or Chicago would be getting beyond screwed and it would be the worst Pool C decision in my 9 years of covering D3.
Totally see the logic obviously. I guess I’m hopeful for the northeast at this point. With Williams being the 3rd best team up here based on other head to heads and a split with Amherst on the year I’m hoping they get a stronger consideration then you’re thinking they will. I think it needs to be consider since Williams losses come from teams all at the top of the rankings aside from the Amherst setback. Either way it’s sad to see top 10 teams not in the tournament but I guess that’s the case every year.
Maybe the Ephs get thrown a bone for the northeast and UAA gets their representation from their top 4 teams and the 5th ranked (Chicago) is weeded out based on their inability to be in the top couple spots of that conference. Probably not, but hopeful!!