Decoding Pool B
By Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne Archive
|
| Rudy Williams and his Greensboro teammates are chasing
a Pool B bid this year and are benefitted by a win over Goucher.
Will it be enough? Unlike years past, it will come down to the
final day of the season. © Greensboro Athletics |
Compiling the Pool B field for the men's Division III tournament
used to be a slam dunk for the selection committee. Over the past
four years, they could just slice the top two or three teams off
the North Coast Athletic Conference depending on how many bids were
available, and move on to picking Pool C.
Judging by what is floating through the grapevine, the committee
will be burning a lot more time figuring out who will fill up the
three independent spots this spring.
As a quick primer for those a little muddy on the Pool system: Pool
A is for automatic qualifiers (i.e., those that win their
conference's dedicated bid to the NCAAs) and Pool C is the at-large
group (i.e., those teams that didn't win their league's AQ). Pool B
is for unaffiliated (independent) programs and for those programs
belonging to a conference that does not have an auto qualifier.
With a week left in the season, I have been told there are still
seven teams still in contention for Pool B slots. They are, in
alphabetical order:
Denison - Record: 10-1/Best Possible Finish: 13-1
You could actually say there are six teams going for two
spots because the Big Red are lead-pipe locks for one of the three.
If there was a pejorative perception of the contemporary Pool B
entrant, Denison went a long way to dispel it last year, and Mike
Caravana's troops may put it to bed completely this year. Bottom
line: the Big Red are legit. Yes, the Randolph-Macon loss looks
odd, but they obliterated Lynchburg - the same Hornets team that
just beat W&L. We'll see how Denison does against Stevenson
next Saturday, however, it's safe to say the Big Red are a Pool B
squad no one wants to see in their bracket.
Goucher - Record: 9-4/Best Possible Finish: 12-4
The Gophers may seem like they are already out of the mix,
but don't be too hasty. While it has losses to Whittier and
Greensboro, Goucher does have a win over Wooster, which as we'll
see later, could be clutch. In addition, the Gophers have a chance
to finish with a 12-4 record with a game against Susquehanna (which
they should win comfortably) and potentially two contests in the
Landmark playoffs. They might have to navigate their way through
both Scranton (who they are already lost to) and Merchant Marine
(who has come on of late) - and that would be a big if - but
if they accomplish the feat, the Gophers could be next in line.
Greensboro - Record: 10-4/Best Possible Finish: 11-4
Relatively speaking, Greensboro plays a pretty stiff
schedule for an independent - the Pride played No. 1 Roanoke, No. 7
W&L and No. 17 Lynchburg - but unfortunately for Dan
Cetrone, his team couldn't scrape up any wins out of those
contests. This leaves GC in a tough spot, but they do
have a win over Goucher. So if the Gophers can take care
of business and a couple of things fall into place in the NCAC, the
Pride may have a shot. If Greensboro doesn't beat Wesley on
Saturday, it would be game over.
Merchant Marine - Record: 9-5/Best Possible Finish:
11-5
Like Goucher, King's Point still has the Landmark tourney
remaining. A pair of wins - especially if they can avenge an
early-season loss to the Gophers - will go a long way to put the
Mariners back in a good position. Are they locked in if that
happens? No, they'll need some help - like Wooster beating Ohio
Wesleyan and Kenyon downing Wooster - but being in the discussion
is always nice.
Ohio Wesleyan - Record: 8-4/Best Possible Finish: 10-4
The Battling Bishops look pretty close to a lock now with
a 6-1 record in the region, but only two of those wins are against
programs with winning records: Adrian (7-5) and Kenyon (6-5). There
are two pivotal games to go and if OWU can win both of them, they
will put a bid on ice. There is Wooster on Wednesday and Wittenberg
next Saturday, both on the road. A loss in either of those contests
and the Bishops will be sweating it out on May 3.
Whittier - Record: 7-5/Best Possible Finish: 7-5
Huh? Yes, that was my reaction, as well, when I found out
the Poets are still in the mix. While their overall record doesn't
jump out at you, they are 4-2 in their region and have a decent
strength of schedule. The biggest reason Whittier is still alive is
due to their one trump card: its 10-9 win over Goucher in late
March. So even though the Poets are in the barn for the regular
season, they still have a proxy potentially helping them out.
Wooster - Record: 6-4/Best Possible Finish: 9-4
The Fighting Scots have three games left, starting on
Saturday against Wittenberg and followed next week by Ohio Wesleyan
and Kenyon. If they win them all, it would be tough to keep them
out of the dance with a 7-1 in-region record, a decent strength of
schedule, and a win over OWU. What they also have - and what will
make the committee chase its tail for a long time if things work
out just right (or wrong) - is a loss to Goucher. So even if the
Scots can take care of their own biz, they could very well be
thrown up against the Gophers for the last spot.
In essence, Goucher is the lynchpin to the entire Pool B landscape.
If the Gophers lose in the first round of the Landmark tourney and
finish with a 10-5 mark, they'll pretty much take Greensboro and
Whittier down with them. If Goucher finishes 12-4, the Pride and
Poets are players, and Wooster takes a hit.
And around we go.
On the women's side, things aren't quite as complicated, but the
sheer number of bids makes things interesting. Five Pool B slots
have been made available in the 26-team field this spring. It's a
preposterously high number considering how many of the quality Pool
Cs will be sitting home this year, but according to the
cliché du jour: it is what it is.
I didn't have as much guidance on the women's side - we've reached
that weird wormhole in the season where women's coaches don't
return my calls; happens every spring - so I'm winging it to some
degree.
We'll start out by locking down three of the bids. TCNJ, Catholic
and Claremont are in, leaving two to fill. Cazenovia (10-1) and
Puget Sound (10-2) have nice records, but the level of competition
isn't going to cut it with the committee, leaving Adrian and
Colorado College as the likely squads filling out the field.
There is one more team that could push its way in, but it's a long
shot. If Drew can win its final three games - which would mean
beating Catholic twice in one week - they would finish 11-6 and
bump Colorado College.
So with nine days left in the season even the Pool B races are
unsettled - a rarity in the last five years - further strengthening
my feeling that this is going to be a very odd spring.
Other interesting games this weekend...
W: No. 15 Cortland State (10-5) at Buffalo State
(13-1) - 1 p.m., Saturday
Since the dawn of time, the SUNYAC slate has been an annoyance
for Cortland - a formality on its way to another NCAA bid. This
year, the Red Dragons will have to earn it. Buffalo State has
cruised through the league schedule in a similar fashion as
Cortland, and now the teams will play for the right to host the
four-team conference tourney. I've been pushing the Bengals as a
team on the rise all season, and finally they'll get their chance
to prove they belong. I think they will at home.
Union's Rough Weekend
The Dutchwomen could be my sleeper heading into the NCAA
tournament. With a one-goal loss to No. 2 F&M on the road and
two-goal road loss to No. 17 Williams, Union (11-2) is not too far
away from perfection and has rattled off nine straight. Whether by
a scheduling glitch or scheduling hubris, the Dutchwomen play No. 6
Hamilton (11-1) on Friday night followed by No. 14 William Smith
(10-2) on Saturday afternoon - a brutal Liberty League
back-to-back. If they navigate that minefield with a pair of wins,
Union might be the team to beat in May. A sweep is kind of tough to
imagine.
NESCAC Start Up
The NESCAC men and women finish up the season on Friday
afternoon and then both crank up their conference tournaments on
Sunday with the quarterfinal round. The eight teams are set on the
men's side, although there will be some jockeying on Friday. The
top five women's teams are determined, but there are four teams
vying for the final three spots - a logjam that will likely be
determined by a tiebreaker formula. You can bet all the other
leagues will be keeping an eye on the action as the women have the
potential to snap up three at-large bids while the men have grabbed
two in each of the past two seasons.
