2019 Early Season Hot Takes: 5 Pool C spots is sufficient

NewRegional’s HOT TAKE: 5 Pool C spots is sufficient

NewRegional DEFENSE: An important lesson I’ve learned from AS since entering the blogosphere is that every team can come up with excuses about why their team didn’t win a close match, or why they should have been better. But, the best teams work harder, are better, and don’t make excuses. For the past few years, the list of Pool C teams is pretty much the same – out of Midd, Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Emory, Wash U, CMU and Chicago two teams will win their conference, which leaves 7 teams for 5 spots – 11 teams if you want to include fringe/unproven Pool C contenders in Pomona, Case, Brandeis and Tufts. Take a look at all of the matches these 11 teams play against each other this year:

• • Midd: Brandeis, Pomona, Wesleyan, Emory, Tufts, Williams, Bowdoin, Amherst, NESCACs

• • Amherst: CMU, Wash U, Case, Tufts, Bowdoin, Williams, Wesleyan, Midd, NESCACs

• • Williams: Pomona, Emory, Chicago, Tufts, Wesleyan, Midd, Amherst, Bowdoin, NESCACs

• • Bowdoin: Wesleyan, Brandeis, Amherst, Midd, Tufts, Williams, NESCACs

• • Wesleyan: Wash U, CMU, Bowdoin, Tufts, Midd, Williams, Amherst, NESCACs

• • Emory: Indoors, Williams, Midd, UAAs

• • Wash U: Indoors, CMU, Wesleyan, Amherst, Case, Chicago, UAAs

• • CMU: Indoors, Case, Wash U, Amherst, Wesleyan, UAAs

• • Chicago: Indoors, Pomona, Williams, Case, Wash U, UAAs

• • Pomona: Brandeis, Indoors, Tufts, Williams, Chicago

• • Case: Indoors, CMU, Amherst, Wash U, Chicago, UAAs

• • Brandeis: Pomona, Tufts, Midd, Bowdoin, UAAs
  • Tufts: Brandeis, Pomona, Amherst, Wesleyan, Williams, Midd, Bowdoin

Besides Bowdoin, each team listed here has plenty of chances to beat their in and out-of-conference competitors and earn a Pool C spot. Easier said than done? Absolutely, and in a perfect world, we’d have a 68 team bracket and all teams in the top 25 would have the opportunity to compete at NCAAs and a chance to win a title. As harsh as it is to say about a top 10 team, if you’re the 4th best team in the NESCAC or UAA, you’re unlikely to make a run to the finals of NCAAs, and the tournament can go on without you.

RegAS: This is a very spicy take and will most likely be a strongly debated point amongst my fellow bloggers. His argument is definitely solid, but in my heart of hearts I have to disagree with it. 5 teams is not enough for multiple reasons. In years past we’ve had teams that are 4th best in the conference be a couple games away from taking out the best team. On top of that, if we add more competitive teams to the mix we’re not going to see Emory cruise to the Elite 8 every single year through a fairly weak regional. The addition of more teams in the top 15 will create more difficult regionals and a great opportunity for upsets before the Elite 8, which would make for a more exciting tournament. While the NCAA would never do this and we will never have regionals that are “even” per se, I would love to see a world where every team in the top 15 had a chance to compete for the title.

D3ASWomen’s: I’m going to be honest – I didn’t take a look at all the matchups NewRegional so kindly listed out for us. But I get his point and I have to say that I agree with him. The way I see it, if you want one of those 5 spots, then earn it. Everyone knows there are only 5 spots. You can gripe all you want about wanting more spots but even if there were 7 spots then we’d be making this argument about needing 9 spots because those 8th and 9th teams are so close. The reality is there are only so many teams that can make the tournament and there will inevitably be good teams left out. At the end of the day, those aren’t the teams that were going to win it. I can see how you can make the argument for more Pool C spots to make the regionals tougher, but realistically I don’t think having more Top 15 teams would result in as many upsets as you might think. Maybe I’m not as tuned in to the parity amongst top 15 teams on the men’s side but in general, the #2 ranked team in the country is going to beat #10 team in the country 99% of the time. For better or worse, you have to win 5 tennis matches to pull of an upset, which means a lot of people on the same team having a really good or a really bad day. As RegAS mentioned, sometimes lower ranked teams come within points of an upset, but to me those are just the points that put those higher ranked teams on the next level. The teams that earn those Pool C spots have proven that they can win in tough situations. One thing that I will always defend is the spirit of D3 tennis and how it gives the opportunity to lower ranked teams to play postseason tennis, and if that means only 5 Pool C spots then so be it.

D3NEWomen’s: Honestly, couldn’t have said it better than ASW. Even if the number of Pool C spots is expanded, someone is always going to be unhappy / left out and arguing that there should be more spots. The one change I’d really want to see from the NCAA would be in creating the Regionals – it’s been said a million times before but the fact that Pomona always gets lumped in with CMS, no matter how high they’re ranked, is total BS #justiceforPP

NE: Frankly, I am shocked and appalled at both this take and the group of my colleagues below agreeing with it. Look, it’s one thing to say that you have to beat the best to be the best, I totally agree with that, but in order to say that we have to give teams a chance to beat the best when it matters most! Why on earth should we limit the amount of Pool-C teams when we don’t already have a full bracket? I believe every team that wins their conference deserves a chance to play in the tournament, so I have no interest in removing any of the Pool-A NCAA berths, but what is the harm (besides $$$) of expanding the number of teams? According to the rest of you, those teams would only play in their respective regionals anyways. So what if another NESCAC or UAA or SCIAC team gets in? We could expand a West regional (CMS?) to five teams to allow PP to get in. We could expand a Central regional (Chicago?) to allow CMU & or Case into the field. We could expand any number of the NE regions (Midd/Bowdoin/NESCAC #3) to allow Wesleyan, Brandeis and even Tufts into the tournament. If they’re only driving to those regionals anyways, just increase the size of the bracket and let the teams RANKED IN THE TOP 10 OF THE ENTIRE FREAKIN COUNTRY play for what would be the highest honor in their athletic careers, the chance to go out and fight for a national championship. Wesleyan lost 5-4 to the eventual champions in Midd last year, and didn’t get to play in the tournament. CMU lost to the eventual champions in Emory 5-4 two years ago, and didn’t get to play in the tournament. We’ll start the damn kickstarter! AVZ is really good at funding/raising donations. Give the kids a chance!

newCentral: I understand that expanding Pool C from 5 spots to any number would essentially just move our goalposts of unhappiness from the top-ten team that misses out on the tournament to the top-fifteen or top-twenty team that then misses out on the tournament. I understand that RegionalNEW’s hot take is very logical, and that the five Pool C spots distill the best five (+2 conference winners) teams from:  Midd, Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Emory, Wash U, CMU and Chicago, Pomona, Case, Brandeis, and Tufts. I also understand that each Coach has both the ability and responsibility to create a schedule that would allow their team to qualify for Pool C (and also make your season worth more than a single Pool C impact weekend). I even understand that the NCAA tournament isn’t a privilege for any team that does not win their conference tournament. However, I still cannot get over how five Pool C spots smell. There’s something inherently unjust about a top ten team in the country not getting an opportunity, no matter how unlikely, to compete for a national title. No other sport would deny a top ten out of ~347 program an opportunity to compete for a national title. I might be objectively wrong, but I’ll die on the “we need more Pool C spots” hill. Great Take NEWReg.

DIIIWest: I’ll say this again, I do think Pool C needs to be expanded or allow every team in the top 20 to compete in nationals. It’s unfair that a team sometimes ranked as high as #8 in the country doesn’t get past their region and have lost to a couple of superior pool c teams preventing them from qualifying. With a bunch of no-name Pool A teams qualifying, that essentially gives Emory, Wash U, etc cake walks into the elite 8. If we want more drama and excitement in the DIII game, along with some potential for Cinderella stories, the floodgates have to be open for all nationally ranked teams to have equal opportunity in competing at Nationals.

AS: This is the best effort anyone has ever written in defense of 5 Pool C spots or less, I will be totally honest. However, I am still in 100% disagreement. I understand the above – yes the Pool C teams that are left out of the tournament have many matches to ensure they get a spot in the tournament. That’s absolutely true. And of course there is always that saying “the best teams win big matches” or however you want to put it. But I don’t think that’s the nature of the argument. 5 Pool C teams is too little NOT because I think that a Wesleyan or a Pomona has a chance at making the finals in a shocking run. I think I wouldn’t be alone in saying that the experience of NCAAs and ESPECIALLY the Elite 8 is something that a lot of these Pool C teams deserve. If you’ve never been to an Elite 8, it is a totally different experience. It’s an experience that I’ve luckily been able to have and one that a top 15 team should be able to fight for. We’ve seen Whitman and Gustavus upset teams to make the Elite 8 recently and I am absolutely sure if you asked any one of those guys, they would tell you that it was an incredible time. I think all of us can agree that a Wesleyan or Pomona could potentially take out a team and make the Elite 8 on the right day. Why are we barring top 15 teams from the tournament when literally every small school from like Missouri gets the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament alone? It makes no sense. The whole Pool A thing was supposed to allow players to make the tournament and feel accomplished. Well, a top 15 team is deserving of that chance with their goals too. I’d even say more deserving – they’re better players for a reason.