Last year we started the “Selection Show” for Division III Tennis, and we’re back again—this time getting the festivities started a little bit earlier. While information about the NCAA bracket won’t be out until tomorrow, we are kicking off the live blog tonight! Feel free to hit us with questions in the comments, on twitter, or via email about anything related to our bracket predictions (our final bracketology will be out later tonight) or the NCAA tournament in general.
D3 Tennis NCAA Bracket LIVE BLOG:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZmEraHwVG27-GnGQIspqjfY4escarDqY4Mm1TChfLm4/edit
The Bracket
https://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/tennis-men/d3
Stay tuned! We’ll post the bracket here as soon as we have it.
- Bowdoin*, RPI, Ramapo, Yeshiva, Stevens, Salem St.
2. Middlebury*, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Wilkes, Cabrini, Colby-Sawyer
3. Williams*, Amherst, Nichols, Baruch, Goucher, Messiah
4. Chicago*, CMU, Rose-Hulman, Augustana, John Carroll
5. CMS*, Trinity TX, UT-Tyler, Cruz
6. Emory*, NC Wesleyan, Sewanee, W&L, Thomas More
7. GAC*, Whitman, Coe, Grinnell, Concordia Wis, N’Western St. Paul
8. Wash U, Kenyon*, Mary Washington, Hope, Franciscan
I watched the CMS/Cruz match earlier in the season and it was close. Surprised Cruz didn’t get more wins this season
I’m looking forward to a GAC Whitman match. But I want it to be played indoors. Ha
Not sure I agree with you that Amherst vs. Williams is an “unfair” bracket. I think Amherst’s ranking is artificially high based on the strength of their earlier results in the season. If I were Williams, I’m not sure who I’d rather have as the #2 in my bracket. CMU? Hopkins? MIT? RPI? It’s not obvious to me that any of those are meaningfully weaker than Amherst at this moment in time.
I do not think it’s fair to put Amherst in the same category as Hopkins, MIT, or RPI. I am certain Williams would much prefer to play any of those three teams over Amherst. CMU, I’m not sure. But come on., Amherst is a tier above those three.
While Amherst is certainly weaker now than they were in March, that weak team still beat Wesleyan, Bates and MIT all on the road. I think the Mammoths are still clearly stronger than RPI, MIT and even Hopkins
Amherst also beat Kenyon 8-1 in April. Among Amherst guys still on the team, they won all 8 courts. Which leads to a question for the bloggers – does the NCAA have any duty to give number one seeds to the best eight teams, or are they granted the ability to seed based upon convenience?
Not sure I understand the pity for Amherst…their current team (without Hillis and Kaplan) has not performed up to Pool C standards, let alone 1 seed standards. Without the spring break wins over wash u and cmu this team is neither in the top 10 nor in the tournament.
Bowdoin: Ramapo vs. Yeshiva, Stevens vs. Salem St., RPI
Wash U: Hope vs. Franciscan, Mary Wash vs. Kenyon
CMU: CMU vs. UC-SC, UT-Tyler vs. Trinity
Chicago: Augustana vs. John Carroll, Rose-Hulman vs. CMU
any bold Yeshiva predictions this year?
Grinnell is going to Gustavus to play Concordia Wisconsin for Men’s
going to Whitewater to play Coe for Women’s
ITS OUT
Bowdoin, Kenyon, CMS, Chicago, Middlebury, GAC, Williams, Emory are hosts
I have the men’s bracket!
Is there any chance one of the top 8 NE women’s teams could go to CMU since some of them are within the 500 mile limit? That would be fairer given the rankings… Seems unfair that 2 midwest teams get to go on the women’s side.
Yes it does not seem fair! Especially since Amherst did beat CMU over spring break 7- 2!
Amherst women are going to Mary Washington
From the live blog, my answer:
Answering student-athlete-parent here. Unfortunately, I doubt that that happens. With the amount of Central teams that need to go to different places, and based on what teams have gone where in the past, the NCAA seems to love throwing a ton of NE seeds in the same bracket. In theory, they could make a bracket where a top NE team plays as a 1 seed against CMU, but it’s highly unlikely from what I’ve seen in the past. Is it unfair? Yes. I wish it would change, and that’s why we continue to have these conversations every year.
Well, looks like we have our answer as Wesleyan is heading to CMU. They were really the only possibility, as only Williams is also within 500 miles and they weren’t going to make the #1 seed travel.
What time does the bracket usually come out? And to what extent does the committee reward winning a conference vs overall season results (i.e. putting Chicago & CMS ahead of Williams)?
Bracket is usually released at noon eastern, but we might start getting information on specific regions before then. And while late season play is definitely a factor, it’s only one consideration. The #3-7 range could go a lot of different ways. We’ll find out shortly…
Question for any bloggers who want to answer: how much more highly do you value late-season play than early-season (say, spring break) play?