Bracketology Edition #2 – IMPT PLZ READ

I am admittedly slacking on Bracketology this year, but luckily I am not slacking as bad as the GoT writers, because the blog would be shut down at that point. Given that we had a lot of Pool C clarity this past weekend, but still don’t have FULL CLARITY, now seems like just the right time for a bracketology insert.

As always, we start off with the rules. Here is the excerpt from the previous Bracketology, which is linked below:

http://www.division3tennis.com/2019-bracketology-edition-1/

The Rules

Overall, there will be 43 teams competing in the NCAA tournament.  This includes 36 Teams from Pool A. Pool A competitors are from conference championship winners.  There will also be 2 teams from Pool B (independents) and 5 teams from Pool C (at large bids). It’s important to know the flying rules for the tournament.  Usually, the NCAA committee provides no more than 3 flights for DIII Tennis. What that means is any team that travels more than 500 miles will be flown to the host site.  Yes, this means the return of the “As The Crow Flies” Calculator (This was an old joke about one of our favorite readers, you can probably guess who it is)! Kidding, we don’t actually use that.  You’ll see that the bracket below incorporates that rule into the projected bracket. In addition, the bracket below incorporates which schools will put in bids to host. If you are unfamiliar, schools may opt out of putting in bids for a few reasons.  The most common reason is that this may be a year where it’s the women’s team’s turn to host. This happens at Emory, CMU, and a few other schools. If you want a better understanding of the NCAA Rules, please also reference my article below:

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

In that article, it was incorrectly stated that there are 3 Pool B teams this year.  There are two Pool B spots this year. Okay, now let’s get to who’s who. See below for your current Pool A teams, based on projected winner. If you have information on any changes that need to be made here, please let us know via the comments.

Pool A

Allegheny Mountain – Franciscan

American Southwest – Concordia TX (last year was UT-Dallas)

Capital Athletic – Mary Washington

Centennial – Johns Hopkins

CCIW – Augustana

CUNY – COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND! (last year was Hunter)

Colonial States – Cabrini

Commonwealth Coast – Nichols

Commonwealth – Messiah

Empire 8 – Stevens

Great Northeast – Ramapo

Freedom – Wilkes

Heartland – Rose Hulman

ARC – Coe

Landmark – Goucher

Liberty League – Skidmore

Little East – UMass-Boston (last year was Salem State)

MIAA – Kalamazoo

Midwest – Grinnell

MIAC – Gustavus

NESCAC – Amherst (projected)

NEWMAC – MIT

North Atlantic – Colby-Sawyer

NCAC – Kenyon

Northern Athletics – Illinois Tech (last year was Edgewood)

Northwest – Whitman

Ohio Athletic – John Carroll

Old Dominion – Washington & Lee

Presidents – Grove City

Skyline – Yeshiva

Southern Athletic – Sewanee

SCIAC – CMS

SCAC – Trinity TX

UAA – Emory

UMAC – St. Scholastica

USA South – NC Wesleyan

Pool B

TCNJ

UW-Whitewater (beat Cruz)

Pool C

As of right now, based on my Pool C article below:

http://www.division3tennis.com/pool-c-update-4-endgame/

The following teams are projected to make it into the NCAA Tournament by my fair calculations. What the NCAA does is not my fault.

Chicago

Wesleyan

Bowdoin

Middlebury

Brandeis

Bracket #1 – What the Bracket SHOULD look like

*indicates host site

Indicates team will be flying

1. CMS, Trinity TX*, Whitman, Concordia TX
2. Emory*, Sewanee, NC Wesleyan, W&L** (W&L can also host)
3. Amherst*, Skidmore, Wilkes, Messiah, Goucher, Cabrini
4. Chicago, GAC, UW-Whitewater*, Coe, St. Scholastica, Grinnell
5. Wesleyan, Mary Washington*, TCNJ, Grove City, Franciscan, John Carroll
6. Bowdoin*, MIT, Nichols, Ramapo, UMass-Boston
7. Middlebury*, Johns Hopkins, Stevens, Colby Sawyer, COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND, Yeshiva
8. Brandeis, Kenyon*, Kalamazoo, Augustana, Illinois Tech, Rose-Hulman

My Thoughts

This is the bracket that I’d like to see if the season ended today. This means that Brandeis makes it in, which they honestly should. I’d like to see anyone argue with me that Wash U should be in over them now that both team’s seasons are over. Outside of the Brandeis/Wash U argument, all of you should know that Brandeis being in causes a bit of a conundrum in the Northeast. There are too many #1 seeds up there, which is similar to the problem that the Women’s side had last year. With too many good teams in the NE, you have a couple of options:

• • Shaft a NE team and make them a #2 seed while making a geographically isolated #2 seed get the benefit of being a #1 seed because they live far away. Note that the NCAA chooses to do this year after year, but I will continue to propose fair brackets because that’s what I do. I AM NOT BOUND BY THE RESTRICTIONS OF WEALTH AND FAME.

• Option #2 is to stop giving CMS every benefit possible and fly them to Texas, just one of these damn years. This frees up a flight in the “three flight preference” version of the bracket, and allows us to fly one of those NE teams out to the Central to play as a #1 seed. Now, it’s not the best to be flown out to Kenyon and play them on the road, but I’d rather do that than play Middlebury on the road as a #2 seed. I would assume Brandeis would agree.

Bracket #2 – What the Bracket WILL PROBABLY look like, because NCAA LYFE

*indicates host site

Indicates team will be flying

1. CMS*, Trinity TX, Whitman, Concordia TX
2. Emory*, Sewanee, NC Wesleyan, W&L** (W&L can also host)
3. Amherst*, Skidmore, Wilkes, Messiah, Goucher, Cabrini
4. Chicago, GAC, UW-Whitewater*, Coe, St. Scholastica, Grinnell
5. Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins*, TCNJ, Grove City, Franciscan, John Carroll
6. Bowdoin*, MIT, Nichols, Ramapo, UMass-Boston
7. Middlebury*, Brandeis, Stevens, Colby Sawyer, COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND, Yeshiva
8. Kenyon*, Mary Washington, Augustana, Illinois Tech, Rose-Hulman

My Thoughts

As I mentioned above, the NCAA LOVES to do this. They don’t care about the fairness of the bracket, they care about saving money and not biting the hands that feed them. CMS gets the host despite being totally out of the way so their seniors can go to graduation. Yes, they are the #1 overall seed and that means something, but just once I’d like to see that team have to fly. They even host NCAAs every four years. We can send em somewhere once in a while. It’s good for the kids to get out of the house and stretch their legs.

Having CMS host presents the NCAA with a decision. Either fly a fourth team and make the bracket fair OR send Brandeis to the lowest #1 seed in the NE. Which do you think they choose? That’s right, they choose to send Brandeis to Middlebury for what should be a solid Sweet 16 match. Luckily for the NCAA, Mary Washington is ranked in the top 15 this year, allowing them to somewhat justify that they are a quality #2 seed to go to Kenyon. Lucky them. This bracket above definitely is worse off for Middlebury and Brandeis. Kenyon and Mary Washington rejoice. CMS, of course, rejoices. This is the bracket that is most likely at this time, so get your pitchforks ready.

Bracket #3 – Brandeis gets Uber-Shafted

*indicates host site

Indicates team will be flying

1. CMS*, Trinity TX, Whitman, Concordia TX
2. Emory*, Sewanee, NC Wesleyan, W&L** (W&L can also host)
3. Amherst*, Skidmore, Wilkes, Messiah, Goucher, Cabrini
4. Chicago, GAC, UW-Whitewater*, Coe, St. Scholastica, Grinnell
5. Wesleyan, Mary Washington*, TCNJ, Grove City, Franciscan, John Carroll
6. Bowdoin*, MIT, Nichols, Ramapo, UMass-Boston
7. Middlebury*, Johns Hopkins, Stevens, Colby Sawyer, COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND, Yeshiva
8. Wash U, Kenyon*, Augustana, Illinois Tech, Rose-Hulman

My Thoughts

Don’t kill the messenger, because this has a very real chance at happening. If you look at the bracket, this allows the NCAA to keep Wash U in the bracket and realistically travel them to Kenyon to be a #1 seed. In theory, this bracket is “fair” to all the competitors chosen for the tournament. It is NOT fair for the first team out. This is a bracket that we’ve come to see the past few years as similar teams have made it every year. As I mentioned in my last Pool C article, I will riot if Brandeis doesn’t make the tournament. I fight for what’s fair.

FIN
Aren’t you glad that you stayed up until 12PM to not only vote for your favorite dog on the site but also grab a little Bracketology knowledge from the man? Yes, you’re glad. Obviously, we still have a weekend of tennis to go with the NESCAC Tournament and SCIAC Tournament. The NESCAC could alter this bracket a lot of Williams goes on a run. The hosting would most likely stay the same with different seeds if other stuff happens, or if Bowdoin loses to Tufts. I will provide you with a Pool C update at some point this week so you can prepare for the weekend. All eyez on me. ASouth, OUT.