Women’s Notebook – Playoff updates and the official NCAA Regional Rankings
By Stephen Zerdelian
Finally, we have a basis to debate the upcoming NCAA Division II East regional tournament, as the NCAA released their first official regional rankings of the season this week. We’ll look at those shortly, but first a quick check on the Northeast10 playoff brackets and the regular seasons’ final days in the ECC and CACC.
The NE10 league tournament begins tomorrow with four first round games. A quick check on the initial matchups and subsequent potential quarterfinal clashes on Sunday…
#12 St. Michael’s @ #5 Franklin Pierce
The Purple Knights ended the regular season with a soul-enriching 65-60 win over AIC, their second league victory of the year. That’s the good news. The bad news is they must visit one of the hottest teams in the region in Franklin Pierce. FPU is on a seven-game winning streak which includes triumphs over Pace, Assumption, Bentley, and Southern Connecticut. They own two double digit wins over SMC this season and are coming very close to nailing down an NCAA bid, so expect a Ravens victory here.
The winner travels to 4th seeded Southern New Hampshire for a Sunday quarterfinal contest, and the Penmen may struggle to get over a damaging, stunning overtime loss to the College of Saint Rose on Tuesday. If you haven’t seen the ending of regulation, when Golden Knight Payton Graber hit a half-court shot to force the OT session, seek it out. The defeat was the fourth consecutive one for the Penmen and while their NCAA tourney status seems solid, the lack of momentum is an issue. SNHU did beat Franklin Pierce twice in the regular season but when teams are going in the opposite direction like this, that means little. And if somehow St. Mike’s beats FPU, the Penmen (with two wins over them, as well), would breathe a sign of relief and likely get back to winning ways, since SMC hasn’t won a road game all season aside of two decisions in Puerto Rico before Thanksgiving.
#11 New Haven @ #6 Southern Connecticut
The Owls should prevail here but given this is a local rivalry, there could be a twist in the tail. SCSU beat the Chargers twice this season, one of which was a 59-56 victory at UNH that saw Kate Lynch’s team score the final seven points (over a span of 2:39) to prevail. New Haven is 2-10 in its last dozen games (wins over Saint Anselm and St. Michael’s), so they don’t exactly come steaming into this matchup. SCSU is on the fringe of NCAA contention and needs to get a few notable wins to have a realistic shot of a bid. A victory here would be a good/necessary first step.
Awaiting the winner is the surprise of the season in the NE10 - Saint Rose. What a fabulous final campaign this has been for the Golden Knights, and they’ll continue it into the NCAA’s. But first they must get past this stage and with season sweeps of both SCSU and UNH, they will be optimistic. Will Brown’s outfit, possibly the best defensive team in the nation (they’ve given up 60 or more points only once in the calendar year), could author quite the Cinderella script in March.
#10 Adelphi @ #7 Pace
Back-to-back losses for Pace heading into the post season means they are firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble. A pair of single digit wins over Adelphi in the regular season gives them some comfort but in another game that requires minimal travel (such as UNH-SCSU), anything is possible. The Setters must right the ship or face a very anxious week-plus before Selection Sunday. For the Panthers, they’ve gone 2-2 over their last four games (and 3-4 in their last seven outings), a glimpse of better days ahead. Whether that includes tomorrow remains to be seen.
Whichever team survives this first round clash and advances will have the arduous task of trying to win at Assumption. Adelphi just ended the regular season with a relatively close 57-43 setback at Laska Gym but the Greyhounds, bumped out of the top NE10 seed via tiebreaker to Bentley, have swept both Adelphi and Pace. Plus, Assumption has only lost once at home this season, so this may be a chore beyond the capacity of either the Panthers or Setters.
#9 Saint Anselm @ #8 AIC
As with most 8 vs. 9 games, this one is a toss-up. The teams split their regular season contests with the home team winning each time. AIC’s victory came recently (February 24) but they’ve been in win-one, lose-one mode for much of the calendar year. The Hawks blessedly snapped a seven-game slide with a 56-43 win at Pace to complete the regular season but the last four in the losing skid were by single figures, so Saint Anselm may be peaking at the right time. Toss a coin here.
Top seed and two-time defending champion Bentley will host the winner of this one in their quarterfinal game on Sunday having swept the Hawks and split with the Yellow Jackets. That AIC victory over the Falcons came all the way back in November, so its relevance is diminished. Bentley has picked up wins in four of its last five games after their only two-game skid of the season (setbacks to SNHU and at Assumption) and may be on a collision course for a title tilt against Assumption, which could very well decide the regional host and top seed.
ECC and CACC status
With just a handful of games left in the ECC and CACC on Saturday, the playoff pictures in those conferences are clearing up to a degree. Looking ahead, the CACC first round is on Tuesday while the ECC’s opening round is on Wednesday.
In the ECC, the playoff participants have been decided, with Molloy, Roberts Wesleyan, and Queens eliminated. Daemen has secured a first round bye (the top two teams get byes, leaving the next four seeds to play first round games) and can wrap up the regular season title and the right to host the ECC Final Four with a win against RWC on Saturday. St. Thomas Aquinas visits Mercy in the league’s marquee game on Saturday with the winner claiming the other first round bye (and likely second place). UDC travels to Molloy on Saturday knowing they have a first round home game locked in but not sure of the opponent. That will be either the College of Staten Island or D’Youville, who will get the 5th and 6th seeds in some order. CSI is at Queens on Saturday while D’Youville is done with their regular season. Tie-breakers will probably come into play but it’s hard to be exact since CSI and D’Youville split their seasons’ series, as did UDC with both STAC and Mercy. Daemen also split with STAC and Mercy, so Saturday will have to sort out the seeds, but we do know Daemen and the Mercy/STAC winner will get the top two seeds while the loser of the Mercy/STAC game is a first round host along with UDC.
The CACC is a little clearer. In the South Division, it’s a done deal – Jefferson (1), Chestnut Hill (2), Holy Family (3) and Goldey-Beacom (4) have their seeds locked in, with Georgian Court and Wilmington outside the field. The North Division knows their four playoff entrants but not the order (Bloomfield and Caldwell will miss out). Post can secure the divisional title with a win over Bridgeport on Saturday; the Eagles are a half-game ahead of Felician, who will host a first round game along with Post. UB will be either the 3rd or 4th seed, depending on their result while Dominican (done for the regular season, as is Felician) is the other North playoff team. So, the CACC first round will see either Dominican or Bridgeport at Jefferson and the other at Chestnut Hill; and Holy Family and Goldey-Beacom will travel to face either Felician or Post. Got it?
East Regional Rankings
So, here they are, for those who may have missed it yesterday:
- Assumption 6. Franklin Pierce
- Bentley 7. Daemen
- Saint Rose 8. Pace
- SNHU 9. STAC
- Jefferson 10. SCSU
The first thought that jumps to mind is that the committee weighed strength of schedule and the various indexes properly, shown by Jefferson’s 5th placed seeding. The Rams, 25-1, are ranked lower regionally than they are ranked nationally by both the WBCA (#3) and D2 CSC (#4). Do the latter two even consider SOS or the indexes? Honestly, it makes them look a little careless when they have a team ranked that high and the fact is that they are 5th in their own region based on real criteria. I know polls are merely conversation starters and created for PR purposes but, please, have a little more credibility in the future. It confuses regular fans and is disingenuous in creating/maintaining erroneous narratives.
That said, Jefferson is a very good team and could certainly win the regional. What might cost them in the end is the fact that they may have to beat three NE10 teams in four days, in an NE10 building (highly likely to be Assumption or Bentley). That is a tall task. The laundry game (#4 vs. #5) against SNHU, if it materializes, would be a rematch of last season’s regional semifinal (won by the Rams), which helps build the anticipation.
Saint Rose has a slight chance to rise above #3 but isn’t likely to elevate more than one spot. The Golden Knights are lined up to face Assumption in the NE10 semifinals next week, having split with them in the regular season. A CSR victory might vault them ahead of AU, especially if they can cap it off with the NE10 title. But probably not. SNHU needs to get back to winning games, otherwise their seeding will be irrelevant.
Safe to say that based on their current form, nobody wants to play Franklin Pierce. They’d be a very dangerous #6 seed if they stay there. The Ravens will be dangerous anywhere, to be honest. Daemen is almost set to claim a spot in the field but if they can nail down the ECC crown, they’re in and could inch up a spot. If they don’t win the ECC, they’ll have to hope for chalk in the CACC. STAC is close but must at least reach the ECC title game to feel more than 50-50 about their chances. The bottom four teams in this ten-team amalgam will be doing a lot of score board watching while trying to bolster their own resume. Games feel more meaningful now than earlier in the season, even though they carry the same weight – the only difference being specific results could alter overall numbers just enough to force a slight shift in the rankings. And if we get a conference tournament upset winner, that blows the whole thing up!
Back next week with a closer look at the conference tournaments and what they mean for the NCAA picture. Until then, enjoy the ride.
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