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Shenandoah is expected to be the first team off the table once
the NCAA evaluates Pool C bids. |
It is the first of May, and the baseball fan starts to think of Memorial Day weekend in Wisconsin, but it is a long way to get there. We at D3baseball.com are enjoying our 5th May on this platform, and it just gets more fun every year. Let’s talk about how your team can get to Wisconsin.
The Presidents of the NCAA Division III institutions want broad and equitable access to the national championship. Everything has been done to provide an affordable, academically friendly way to conduct a national championship for student-athletes. It begins with strong conferences. Thirty-eight of them have an automatic qualifying (Pool A) bid. Thirty-five conferences award the Pool A bid in a conference tourney format between mid-April and May 14th. The NWC, SCIAC, and MIAA award the Pool A to the regular season champion.
For conferences that do not have the full 7 members, the CUNYAC,
Empire 8, GSAC, and UAA, those members and roughly 7 independents
get put into the big “nation-wide super-conference”
called Pool B. The NCAA has voted to allocate 2 bids to Pool B this
year. For the formulae and methodology that apply, look in the
handbook issued each year.
Now comes the importance of the Regional Rankings. The Handbook has
the details for the Regional Rankings which are announced every
Thursday beginning April, 28, 2011. The Final Regional
Ranking takes place after the completion of all tournaments on
Sunday, May 15th. Each of the 8 Regional Evaluation
Committees rank the teams in their Region. These lists are
sent to the National Evaluation Committee. From there, the
Pool A teams are removed. The Pool B schools are considered,
and 2 Pool B bids are awarded. The remaining Pool B teams are
now thrown into the pot with all of the members of the Pool A
conferences that did not earn the Pool A bid. The remaining 15 bids
are at-large bids called Pool C bids.
The National Committee determines who is the highest ranked team
from the 8 regions and awards the first Pool C bid to that team.
For example, if South Region Shenandoah is the best team in the
nation without a Pool A or Pool B at the table, then Shenandoah is
given the first Pool C bid. The next South Region team is moved
into Shenandoah's place. The process is repeated again to award the
second Pool C bid until the final pool C bid (15 in 2011) is
awarded.
Once the 55 teams are determined and bids are awarded, the
committee starts placing them in brackets. There will be
three brackets of 8, one bracket of 7 and four brackets of 6.
The seeding and filling of brackets will be performed with
consideration of how many teams need to be flown to the Regional
Site. The NCAA pays for all travel. (See the handbook for these
rules.) If a team can get to the regional less than 500 miles
away on a bus as opposed to a plane flight, the NCAA can saves some
money. The playoff teams and bracket seedings will be released on
Monday, May 16.
On Sunday May 15th, the best minds at D3baseball.com will use the
same data the NCAA will be looking at and present our mock playoff
team on on Sunday evening. The rules the NCAA uses to award the
Pool B and C bids are as listed below.
Primary Criteria
The primary criteria emphasize regional competition (all contests
leading up to NCAA championships); all criteria listed will be
evaluated (not listed in priority order).
• Win-loss percentage against regional opponents.
• Strength-of-schedule (only contests versus regional
competition).
•Opponents’ Average Winning Percentage (OWP).
•Opponents’ Opponents’ Average Winning Percentage
(OOWP).
• See Appendix B for explanation of OWP and OOWP
calculations.
• In-region head-to-head competition.
• In-region results versus common regional opponents.
• In-region results versus regionally ranked teams.
• Ranked opponents are defined as those teams ranked at any
time of the rankings/selection process.
• Conference postseason contests are included.
• Contests versus provisional and reclassifying members in
their third and fourth years shall count in the primary criteria.
Provisional and reclassifying members shall remain ineligible for
rankings and selection.
Weighted Scale. For a minimum of two championship seasons (2009-10
and 2010-11),
a weighted scale will apply. Once the OWP and OOWP are calculated,
they are to be combined on a weighted scale (e.g., 2/3 weight for
OWP and 1/3 weight for OOWP) and this combined number becomes the
strength of schedule.
Secondary Criteria
If the evaluation of the primary criteria does not result in a
decision, the secondary criteria will be reviewed. All the criteria
listed will be evaluated (not listed in priority order). The
secondary criteria introduce results against out-of-region Division
III and all other opponents including those contests versus
opponents from other classifications (i.e., provisionals, NAIA,
NCAA Divisions I and II).
• Out-of-region head-to-head competition.
• Overall Division III win-loss percentage.
• Results versus common non Division III opponents.
• Results versus all Division III ranked teams.
• Overall win-loss percentage.
• Results versus all common opponents.
• Overall DIII Strength of Schedule.