D3, Season 62 Topic

Here is some random information about the D3 NT final fours the last 10 seasons:

* The final four is ruled by the big dogs... to make the final four you'd better hope you are a 1,2 or 3 seed: those teams have taken 35/40 [88%] of the final four spots the last 10 seasons.  The only exceptions are season 54 (#7), 57 (#4), 59 (#5), 60 (#6) and 61 (#11).

* Butler go home!  None of the Cinderellas above have made the finals.

* Number 1 means NUMBER 1.  With the lone exception of season 56, a number 1 seed has been in the finals the last 10 seasons (that season it was 2 v. 3).

* Really, the number 1 seeds are good:  7 out of the last 10 seasons a number 1 seed has won the tourney.  The exceptions are season 52 (#3), 56 (#3), and naturally... last year when freakin' defiance  (#2) beat my beloved Millsaps Majors!  But I'm not bitter or anything....
11/28/2012 1:17 PM
In light of the above post, which #1 seed do you think has the best chance to win it all this year?



Votes: 23
(Last vote received: 5/7/2013 3:09 PM)
11/28/2012 1:22 PM
If we don't start making some free throws then we are in for some disappointment soon.  We've shot 60% from the stripe over the past two games and missed 13 FT each game.  Can't beat the good FCP teams doing that.
11/29/2012 12:28 PM (edited)
Round 1 roundup

Midwest Region
As expected, Rivier rolled 92-66 as the top seed, they'll now get 28-1 Tufts, a 73-60 winner over York (PA). Lynchburg, ranked one spot worse than Tufts, but seeded three seeds higher on the bracket, survived an OT scare from Otterbein before winning 75-65. They'll get CSU, Eastbay as the bracket held up in an 11-point win over Rhodes. On the bottom half of the region, Ursinus needed a pair of Michael Puga free throws with four seconds remaining to escape 80-79 from Texas Lutheran's upset bid. Texas Lutheran had led by double-digits midway through the second half. Ursinus now gets Penn St. Altoona, which had no difficulty in an 80-58 win over Babson. Ten-seed Sewanee had the only upset in the opening round, getting past Mount St. Mary 72-66 in OT. Raplh Ferree buried a three with 5 seconds left in regulation for MSM to force the extra minutes. Now they get Vassar, which cannot be any sort of happy after blowing a double-digit lead and having to go to overtime before posting a 106-95 opening-round win. A reminder to set theriddler's mind at ease....Defiance's national championship run began with a couple nail-biters last season as well. 

East Region
Top seed Colorado moves forward in fairly pedestrian fashion 72-60 over the Newark flavor of "Rutgers at." Next up is unbeaten Illinois Wesleyan, which looked far better in a 91-67 win over Austin. Check out Harley Cooke's 24 points off the bench for 30-0 IW. In the battle of E's, 12-seed Emory scores one for the University by knocking off the Evil Empire's Emerson, 57-54. Emory led most of the final 12 minutes in the contest. Now they get fourth-seed US Merchant Marines, lynchmob1414 took no prisoners in a 77-52 beatdown of Christopher Newport. Bottom of the bracket drama was provided by 11-seed Wooster -- GO SCOTS!! -- in a 57-52 upset of Catholic. Wooster broke a halftime tie with a three-point bucket to start the second half and never relinquished the lead from there. Now they get the defending national champs as Defiance got more than it barganed for in an 80-73 opener against East Connecticut St. Wentworth blew open a narrow game in the second half to storm past Emory & Henry 93-74 as the 7-seed. Second-seed Millsaps smothered Scranton 67-48 as the 2-seed. Scranton managed just 34 percent shooting. 

South Region
Top-seeded Buena Vista rolled 91-56 past York (NY). Next comes Calvin, an 80-79 winner over Union. William Ricketts' bucket with 16 seconds left provided the winning margin for Calvin, which trailed by 4 at the half and by as many as 11 in the second half, but was clearly the fresher team down the stretch. Hardin-Simmons used a strong second half to advance 70-58 as the 5 seed against Westminster (PA). Now it's a date with preseason No. 1 Greensboro, which blasted Brandeis 89-66 as a 4-seed in the tournament. The bottom half of the bracket had Susquehanna smothering Dominican 66-56 to advance. Tonight, they get Newbury, 57-56 escape artist against 14-seed Rose-Hulman thanks only to Daniel Daley's free throw with 9 seconds remaining and his subsequent block of a potential RHIT game-winner in the final second of action. Tenth-seeded UMass, Dartmouth scores a minor upset on the bracket after holding Southwestern to just 16 second half and 41 overall points in a 51-41 game that delivered for those betting the under. While those schools were combining for 92 points, the No. 2 seed, John Carroll was topping the century mark in a 104-83 thrashing of St. Scholastica. 

West Region
Top seed Howard Payne had no trouble in a 90-65 opener over Johnson St. They now get Emmanuel, a minor upset winner in the 8-9 coinflip, 75-65 over Mt. St. Joseph. Emmanuel vaulted to a 14-point lead at intermission to control the action in that one. The 12-seed Martin Luther did its best to reform the bracket, but Robert Parra's three-pointer with 4 seconds remaining helped 5-seed Chapman escape upset 66-63. Also tested was 4-seed Lousiana, which trailed with 2:36 to play, but closed the game on an 8-0 run to advance 70-63 over Wittenberg. The bottom of the bracket saw 11-seed Dickinson score the upset with an exclamation point as mfnmyers crew rained down a 92-72 pummeling of favored Whittier. North Carolina Wesleyan cruised 96-65 past Eureka as the 3-seed and gets Dickinson next. Capital dominated second half play to defeat Connecticut 92-74 as the favored half of the 7-10 pairing. Next up is Johnson & Wales, a solid, but not overly impressive 65-54 winner over Webster. Webster scored the final seven points in that game to provide a final margin that's not nearly as close as the bulk of the second half action. 
11/29/2012 2:00 PM
For a 10 seed Umass-Dartmouth has some pretty impressive ATH/SPD/DEF stats.  I don't think this is a typical 10/2 matchup.
11/29/2012 2:07 PM
Yeah, I am very impressed by UMass-Darthmouth - I expect they will content for a national title next season (he has no seniors and 2 walk-on freshmen).

Not  sure Millsaps has another Sweet 16 run in them against a very good Wentworth Tech team. 

Colorado has to hate getting an undefeated team so early in the tourney.  Has the look of a elite 8 game rather than second round match-up.
11/30/2012 8:40 AM (edited)
just taking a quick peak around the bracket games and a really surprising number of upsets... 
11/30/2012 7:40 AM
You got that right - two #1, two #2, two #3, and two #4 seeds knocked out before the Sweet 16, that's a TON of upsets.

Remaining seeds are as follows:

Midwest - 1, 3, 4, 10
East - 2, 3, 8, 12
South - 1, 5, 6, 10
West - 2, 4, 9, 11

So really the Midwest is the only region that is even close to chalk, except they already lost a #2 seed there.  A chaotic second round last night for sure.
11/30/2012 8:34 AM
still think it sucks for Colorado... with a stronger schedule Illinois Wes woud have been a top 3 seed...

the chances for a number 1 seed winning it all this season just took a big hit. 

If things go according to the past 10 seasons pattern, look for some lower seeds to end their runs.  That said, I think Illinois Wes is an exception and at this point would surprise no one with a dash to the final four.
11/30/2012 9:04 AM (edited)
kinda funny.... unless you are a victim of the upset that is...

Two #1 seeds gone
Two #2 seeds gone
Two #3 seeds gone
Two #4 seeds gone
11/30/2012 11:31 AM (edited)

As I eluded to ealier i'm not at all surprised that I was knocked out against Umass-Dartmouth.  Good luck to everyone remaining in the dance.  Rednu, fantastic thread as always.  Brianxavier, good stuff on the tourney stats you have provided.

11/30/2012 11:10 AM
Round 2 review

Many brackets died last night, as did my anticipated Final Four. Here’s what’s left in the smoldering carnage that is the Sweet Sixteen.

Midwest Region
Top-seed Rivier cruises 84-70 past Tufts in a game that, really, wasn’t that close. Rivier was up by 25 with seven minutes remaining before Tufts scored 15 of the final 19 points. Now they get 4-seed CSU, Eastbay, an 85-77 win over Lynchburg. Chris Pittman scored 28 for Eastbay, which controlled play in the second half to pull away from a midgame tie. The other half of the bracket saw Penn St. Altoona drop Ursinus 69-59. This is another game that wasn’t as close as the final score shows. PSA was up by 26 points with 13 minutes remaining. Good thing, too — they only scored nine more the rest of the night. Now they get University upset specialist Sewanee as the 10-seed struck again. After needing OT in round 1, Sewanee moved the drama forward, using a late-game 16-1 flurry to set Vassar on its heels and ultimately back to the bus, 72-63.

East Region
R-E-S-P-E-C-T — that’s what the seeding committee can give to Illinois Wesleyan as unlikelyhero made way-too-early FInal Four fave Colorado its 31st victim of the season, 68-63, sending the No. 1 seed in the East packing. Colorado led by six at the half and by as many as 11 in the second half, but IW outscored the top seed 14-1 over the final 5:45 to remain unbeaten. Now they get the 12-seed Emory — this is EXACTLY how your bracket looks at home, right? Phalla’s squad hit 15-of-24 shots in the second half and cashed in on a US Merchant Marines team that connected on just 40 percent of its free throws in the 65-55 win. By contrast, the bottom half of the bracket was calm as we get a rematch of last year’s national championship game. Defending national champion Defiance knocked Wooster from the tourney 78-62. An early 13-3 run in the second half left the Scots unable to get closer than five the rest of the way. Second-seed Millsaps forced 14 second half turnovers and seized control of the second half with a 12-0 run in a 74-60 victory over Wentworth.

South Region
Top-seed Buena Vista escaped the night’s carnage with a 77-57 victory over Calvin. BV used a 14-0 run in the second half to break open a tie game and things never got closer than nine after that as the No. 1 team put the pedal to the floor. Now they’ll get the 5-seed Hardin-Simmons. Larry Gravatt’s 24 points off the pine enabled sublightd to send home the preseason No. 1 team in the land 86-81. The final score is not indicative of the ease of the win. HS led by 17 with 5-1/2 minutes remaining. Down below, 6-seed Susquehanna held Newbury to just 19 points in the second half to advance by a 60-50 final score in the 6 v. 3 battle. Now they face 10-seed UMass, Dartmouth, a program I confess that I let slip under my radar when looking at this region initially. Richard Ross had 29 points in a 70-64 win over 2-seed John Carroll. Docwooden’s crew trailed almost the entire way, but scored the final 10 points of a game, thanks in large part to a defense that forced four John Carroll turnovers in the final two minutes. Just like that, my FInal Four is mortally wounded.

West Region
Ninth-seeded Emmanuel claimed No. 1 seed Howard Payne, 65-61, on this night of upsets. Emmanuel trailed by as many as six in the second half, but scored nine of 11 points in one stretch to take the lead, then executed solidly enough down the stretch to make its slim lead hold up. Next comes 4-seed Louisiana. The University continues to roll in the postseason cash with a 99-95 overtime victory over Chapman. David Bottom’s three-pointer with 2 seconds left salvaged the night for Louisiana by forcing overtime and was a fitting end to a second half that never saw either team lead by more than three points. The momentum boost carried into the extra period, which discodave’s side controlled from start to finish. Down low, we get 11-seed Dickinson as mfnmyers refuses to call it quits this season with a 99-87 power smash of North Carolina Wesleyan. Check out that bench action as Christopher Singh unleashes 26 points in just 19  minutes of work and Jonathan Ford comes on to add a double-double with 10 points, 14 boards in 18 minutes of action. Dickinson got to the line 54 times in this game. Next comes 2-seed Johnson & Wales, a comfortable 87-64 advancer against Capital. Rock solid win for spasticity, who built a 15-point lead at the break and never showed any cracks in the wall after intermission.

11/30/2012 12:18 PM
I don't *think* it will shake out this way, but given all the underdogs in this Sweet 16, it's possible the highest seed remaining in the Elite 8 could be 3-seed Defiance.
11/30/2012 12:23 PM
ASC is the 3rd ranked RPI conference this season, despite having only 4 coach owned teams. Hoped to see Howard Payne go farther for the honor of the conference. The second round was certainly why they call it 'the madness'.
11/30/2012 12:23 PM
Posted by jack_duck on 11/30/2012 12:23:00 PM (view original):
I don't *think* it will shake out this way, but given all the underdogs in this Sweet 16, it's possible the highest seed remaining in the Elite 8 could be 3-seed Defiance.
hey now, watch what you say there buddy  ;]
11/30/2012 1:35 PM
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D3, Season 62 Topic

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