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March 2, 2008


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Will Wilmington get boxed out of the NCAA Tournament?
D3sports.com file photo by Pat Coleman
Projecting the Field of 63
Because of the unusual way the NCAA Tournament fields are being announced this year (women's teams Sunday night, women's brackets Monday morning, men's brackets and teams together Monday at noon ET), we're changing up the way we do our projections as well.

Traditionally we've projected both fields and brackets for Sunday morning, but with the men taking an extra 14 hours to release their teams, heck, we can wait a while longer. But the women have that one first-round game on Wednesday, while the men don't have any games until Thursday, so it's a little more of a matter of urgency.

Every year we sit down as our own D3hoops.com ad hoc selection committee, examine the NCAA's selection criteria and the teams and project what we think the bracket will look like, as well as who's in it. And this year presented us with some new difficulties. We wanted to separate the two unbeaten teams that are in the same region and keep them apart until the Final Four. We had more than 10 Northeast teams and ended up spreading that region's selections across three brackets, leaving us with more East teams than we knew quite what to do with either.

And no, unlike one radio broadcast crew suggested Sunday night, D3hoops.com does not select the actual NCAA Tournament brackets. Thanks, we would love to have the honor. There are 21 Pool C bids, the true at-large selections, after the three teams that aren't in conferences with automatic bids get selected in Pool B.

We'll project the men's later on Sunday. Here's our projected NCAA Tournament Field of 63.
Permalink | Mar 2, 2008
Jeff Prebeck and Coast Guard cut the nets down for the second year in a row at WPI.
WPI photo by Isaiah Janzen
Millsaps ends Centre's streak
Millsaps finished what it couldn't in the regular-season meeting, putting away No. 2 Centre and claiming the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball automatic bid. The Majors won 69-60, securing their spot in the tournament, while Centre will be an at-large team. Sunday's men's scores and
who's in? We have the list of automatic bids clinched so far.

It was a busy day Saturday in men's and women's Division III basketball as well.

No. 2 Howard Payne will join No. 1 Hope and No. 3 Thomas More as undefeated teams entering the NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament. The Yellow Jackets beat No. 8 McMurry for the third time this season 77-55. All-American Meia Daniels was named the ASC Tournament MVP. The last automatic bid was claimed by last year's champion, No. 7 DePauw, who bested No. 24 Oglethorpe 72-69.

Sixth-seeded Bridgewater knocked off the 3, 2 and 1 seeds over the span of four days to win the Old Dominion Athletic Conference title, beating Virginia Wesleyan 57-56 in Sunday's title game. Jordan Burkholder and Jessica Timberlake each scored 14 for Bridgewater, which survived when a shot by Taylor Lowe rimmed out at the buzzer. Sunday's women's scores

Coast Guard didn't come from the No. 7 seed in the bracket this time, but the Bears repeated last season's run through the NEWMAC men's basketball tournament and knocked off Worcester Polytech on its home floor on Sunday afternoon, knocking the Engineers onto the playoff bubble and potentially popping someone else's.

Coast Guard, who was the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, went on a 14-3 run after WPI's Jim Marois hit a three-pointer with 14:22 left to tie the game at 48-48. Four Coast Guard players reached double figures, led by Steve Blum's 19 points, in winning 82-66.

The three Bears -- Coast Guard, No. 17 Ursinus and Bowdoin -- won two of three Sunday titles. Ursinus rallied past Gettysburg to win the Centennial Conference 85-78, though both teams should be in the field. Trinity (Conn.) dropped Bowdoin 74-55 and claimed the NESCAC's automatic bid. The Polar Bears will await their fate in Pool C. We'll project the men's field and brackets tonight before midnight -- scroll down for our women's projections.

Down four late in the second half, No. 18 Virginia Wesleyan rallied to force overtime, but All-American Ben Strong dominated the extra session and No. 12 Guilford won the 38th and final automatic bid, 90-81. Strong finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds as Tonton Balenga countered with 30 points for the Marlins.

With the at-large field getting crowded, No. 14 Mary Hardin-Baylor made sure it could celebrate on Speculation Sunday. The Crusaders defeated Concordia-Austin 83-72 behind Matt Casky's double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) to
capture the ASC's automatic bid.

No. 14 Amherst's women made the home court stand up in the NESCAC, beating No. 15 Tufts 59-53. The teams may well be 1-2 in the Northeast Region, but neither might end up hosting. Tufts' floor is not regulation size, and the Amherst women take a back seat to the men in the regional round in even-numbered years. Wheaton (Mass.) won the NEWMAC title, beating Springfield while Muhlenberg ousted Gettysburg for the Centennial championship.
Permalink | Mar 2, 2008
Bowdoin is in the field.
Projected: 62-for-63
As it turned out, indeed, Sunday's games did not affect who got the at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. Our projections of the at-large teams held up pretty well, even through Sunday's upset of Bridgewater over Virginia Wesleyan.

Pool B berths (3): Chapman, Juniata, Scranton

Pool C Berths (21): Albright, Bowdoin, Brandeis, George Fox, Gustavus Adolphus, Marymount (Va.), McMurry, New Jersey, Oglethorpe, Rochester, Salem State, Southern Maine, St. Thomas, Trinity (Texas), Tufts, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Whitewater, Washington U., Wilmington, William Paterson, William Smith

Automatic bids (39): Amherst, Baldwin-Wallace, Baruch, Becker, Bridgewater (Va.), Bridgewater St., Brockport St., Cabrini, Carleton, Chicago, Colby-Sawyer, D’Youville, Denison, DePauw, DeSales, Eastern Conn. St., Emmanuel (Mass.), Greensboro, Hope, Howard Payne, Ill. Wesleyan, Kean, La Verne, Manchester, Mary Washington, Maryville (Mo.), Medaille, Messiah, Mount St. Mary (N.Y.), Muhlenberg, Piedmont, Puget Sound, Simpson, St. Lawrence, St. Norbert, Thomas More, Utica, Wheaton (Mass.), Wis.-Stevens Point

D3hoops.com projected Ohio Northern would receive an at-large bid. However, the NCAA selected Gustavus Adolphus.

Starting at 9 a.m. on Monday, we will have the announcement of the women's bracket. Listen to Hoopsville.

Our D3hoops.com projections of the men's field of 59 teams is out.
Permalink | Mar 2, 2008
B-W just finding a way to win
By Matt Florjancic
D3hoops.com

BEREA, Ohio -- Baldwin-Wallace and Wilmington have a history of championship caliber basketball. It was not a huge surprise when both teams won their opening round and semifinal contests to earn a spot in the Ohio Athletic Conference finals Saturday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets were not only going for the season sweep of the Quakers, they were looking to improve on last season’s one-and-done trip to the conference tournament. Wilmington was trying to make it back-to-back OAC Tournament Championship victories.

Though both teams executed their assignments and played to the end, the Yellow Jackets (26-2) came out with the 74-60 victory, locking up the OAC’s automatic bid to next weekend’s NCAA Tournament. The Lady Quakers must wait until the brackets are announced to find out if their 21-7 season will be good enough for an at-large invitation.

“This one might actually feel even better because [of] the strength of the league this year,” B-W coach Cheri Harrer said of this year’s tournament championship. “The conference was unbelievable, top to bottom. There was not an easy team in the league. For our kids to go through and win both the conference tournament and win the league by a couple games was absolutely unbelievable.

“These kids from day one have just figured out how to win,” she added. “We come out of our first two games shooting like 24 percent from the field and 48 from the free-throw line and found a way to be 2-0. I think it was good for us to win those first two in a tighter fashion because today we didn’t panic when we were in that situation.”

Harrer and the Yellow Jackets won by three points against Heidelberg (58-55) in the quarterfinals and five in the semifinals versus Capital (56-51). Conversely, Wilmington dominated their first two opponents in John Carroll (86-66) and Mount Union (71-47).

Wilmington senior post Katie Streck and her sophomore front-court teammate Kortney Kin gave the Yellow Jackets all they could handle in the first half. A Streck three-pointer from the top of the key with 1:39 to go in the first half made it a three-point game. The Lady Quakers would cut the deficit to one point on a pair of free throws from Kin.

For the game, Streck connected eight of her 12 shots and finished with 19 points. The Josten’s Player of the Year nominee led the team with six rebounds. Kin also sank eight shots. She finished the game with a team-high 21 points before fouling out with 2:33 remaining in the game.

The Yellow Jackets were led in scored by senior Selena Eskinazi-Budge, who had 17 points and handed out three assists. Senior forward Carly Flowers (16 points) and junior Amanda Mondrach (13) were also in double figures for Baldwin-Wallace.

B-W came from behind in the second half to pull out the win. Second-chance shots and controlling rebounds made the comeback possible. The Yellow Jackets held a 42-26 edge on the glass, which included 18 offensive rebounds to just eight for the Lady Quakers.

“We held our own on the boards in the first half,” said Wilmington coach Jerry Scheve. “When they rebound the basketball, they are very, very good. That’s what they did today.

“Their perimeter players go to the boards and they’ve got a 6-3 post player out there that gives us trouble,” he added in reference to Yellow Jacket sophomore post Ariel Brough, who finished with seven rebounds in the B-W victory.
“The other ones are so strong, they muscle their way in. We haven’t been a great rebounding team all year. That was the obvious difference when you look at this game tonight.”

Another difference between the teams came at the foul line. Baldwin-Wallace entered the game connecting on just 66.3 percent of its free-throws, while the Lady Quakers shot better than 75 percent from the charity stripe. With the OAC Championship hanging in the balance, the Yellow Jackets went 19-for-23 from the line, while Wilmington converted 7-of-12 attempts.

Down the stretch, Mondrach sank two of three-pointers, while Eskinazi-Budge and Flowers closed out the game going 7-for-9 from the foul line. Their free throws ballooned a 13-point lead to as much as 19 before Wilmington’s Gina Hyle added two late lay-ups.

“Our free throws down the stretch opened up the lead [and] came off second-chance opportunity shots that they couldn’t box us out for,” Eskinazi-Budge said. “[Amanda] hit some amazing shots today. It just changed the tide. It let us know on the bench and on the floor that we’re not going anywhere.”

“I was in the zone. I just knew what I had to do,” Mondrach said. “We knew through the scouting report, it was going to be hard to get lay-ups, hard to drive on them because they have such good defense. I was anticipating an in-out and I was just confident. The last game, I struggled a little bit with my shots and this game, I was just zoned in.”

“We never fell apart once, even when the score came close and we were down,” concluded Mondrach. “We just pulled together when a lot of teams would pull apart.”
Permalink | Mar 2, 2008
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