Laker Fans,Break out your pom-poms this weekend as after last Saturday’s 4-3 SUNYAC Final loss to Plattsburgh, Oswego State is now going to need a lot of help from other teams in order to get an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Pool C, at-large bid was the same rout that the Lakers needed last year to make the tournament and then go on their magical run to win the National Championship.
However, there is a distinct difference between this year’s tournament resume and last year’s. Last season, Oswego was 20-3-2 and had important victories over Elmira (3), Geneseo (2), Fredonia (2), New England College, and Hobart. This season, Oswego is 18-6-2 and their only real significant wins are against Fredonia (2) and New England College. Important losses to this year have come to Amherst and possibly the most damaging, Hobart.
Before I get into the scenarios of what has to happen for Oswego to secure a Pool C bid, lets first take a look at how the NCAA tournament is set-up and how teams get into it. Ten teams make the Division III NCAA tournament with the Frozen Four set to be held in Lake Placid, N.Y. at the Herb Brooks Memorial Arena on March 22 and 23. There are six conferences that have automatic bids awarded to their conference tournament champion. The ECAC East, ECAC Northeast, NESCAC, MIAC, NCHA, and of course the SUNYAC.
There are two other conferences in NCAA D-III hockey that do not have the required seven teams in order to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They are the ECAC West and MCHA. Instead, the teams in those conferences compete in what is know as Pool B. Pool B is exactly like the at-large process used for determining Pool C, only just for teams in the ECAC West and MCHA. To determine the Pool B and Pool C bids, an NCAA committee of coaches and athletic directors from around Division III use a set list of criteria to determine the one Pool B winner, and the three Pool C bids. These are the criteria used:
Winning Percentage
Opponents' Winning Percentage
Opponent's Opponents (Winning) Percentage
Head to Head Results
Record vs. Common Opponents
Record vs. NCAA Ranked Teams
The last criteria, Record vs. NCAA Ranked Teams refers to the weekly rankings that the NCAA committee puts out. The latest rankings came out on Tuesday, March 4. Currently, Oswego State is ranked seventh behind Elmira, Plattsburgh, Norwich, Manhattanville, Middlebury, and Hobart. So lets take a look at how the NCAA tournament field is shaping up right now. Plattsburgh is the only team definitely in the tournament right now as they won the SUNYAC tournament.
Let’s assume that all the favorites win their conference tournaments for arguments sake:
ECAC East- Norwich
ECAC Northeast- UMass-Dartmouth
NESCAC- Colby
SUNYAC- Plattsburgh
MIAC- St. Thomas
NCHA- St. Norbert
Pool B- Elmira
Now the three Pool C bids.
Manhattanville is a lock for one of the bids regardless of whether they win or lose to Elmira this weekend in the ECAC West Championship. Middlebury is next in line for a bid but they are competing in the NESCAC Tournament still so they still could improve or hurt their resume. Hobart would edge out Oswego and take the third and final Pool C bid if this is how everything played out. Hobart’s 5-2 win earlier this season against Oswego and their 6-7-2 record against NCAA ranked teams trumps Oswego’s 1-6-1 record would give them the edge.
However, the good news for Laker fans is that there is still plenty of hockey left to be played and this scenario can change completely. Oswego’s best chance to make the NCAA tournament would need the following things to happen:
Middlebury wins the NESCAC Tournament
St. Norbert wins the NCHA Tournament
Norwich wins the ECAC East Tournament
And to a lesser extent, St. Thomas wins the MIAC Tournament.
If those four things happen, Oswego State would more than likely get the third and final Pool C bid and make the NCAA Tournament. The good news is that those four teams are the favorites to win all of those tournaments. However, being Laker fans we all know too well that upsets can happen and that any one of those four teams could lose and basically destroy any chance of Oswego making the tournament.
No comments:
Post a Comment