It’s Midweek Musing time and let’s get right into the first 2019 Official NCAA East Regional Rankings. We start on the men’s half of the region.
EAST
Rank School (Overall DII Record)
1 Saint Anselm 19-4
2 Daemen 21-3
3 New Haven 17-7
4 Merrimack 17-8
5 Le Moyne 14-8
6 Bentley 17-8
7 St. Thomas Aquinas 19-5
8 Adelphi 18-8
9 Jefferson University 18-6
10 Dominican (NY) 17-6
What did the committee get right? Well it’s a mixed bag. I will go to the wall with Daemen as the should-be #1, however once the committee makes up its mind it rarely changes. For the Wildcats, that means don’t lose and root for St. Anselm to succumb to defeat. The ECC slate is killing Daemen. It deserves a better ranking. They went out of the league and played St. Anselm, St. Edwards, Slippery Rock and Mercyhurst, each of whom is regionally-ranked in its respective region. Bear in mind, while it doesn’t matter to the selection people, they were not always healthy and my eye test has the Wildcats as the best team. They are unjustly being penalized for being in a poor league.
We mentioned that Le Moyne not playing the maximum number of games could hurt them and that’s likely why they are at five. I am not sure how safe the Bentley Falcons are at six, but one thing has been made abundantly clear, if you don’t play a strong schedule, you will be punished. STAC’s non-league slate leaves a little to be desired. When you play in a league where you can chalk up wins and develop players, it’s a pro and con situation. The NE10 is CLEARLY the top league in the region but that doesn’t mean that the Spartans should be punished. One thing you have to understand about how the committee selects the teams is that there are eight criteria on the men’s side. If a team wins five boxes to three, the group has all it needs to put the team with more boxes ahead of the team with fewer. Is that an exact science? Absolutely not. Did the committee use common sense with the selections? Mostly. Is there an NE10 bias? Partly. What can Daemen do to host? Possibly nothing.
Also remember the eight-seed will be the CACC tournament winner. There is no path as it stands for Dominican, Bloomfield (who should be #10 if they win Saturday), or Jefferson to get an at-large.
To the women’s side:
EAST
Rank School (Overall DII Record)
1 Sciences 24-1
2 Bentley 23-2
3 Jefferson 23-1
4 Le Moyne 19-4
5 St. Thomas Aquinas 22-3
6 Stonehill 17-7
7 Saint Anselm 16-7
8 So. New Hampshire 16-9
9 Merrimack 17-8
10 Daemen 15-8
Let’s begin with the thing the committee bumbled: SNHU vs. Merrimack. The Warriors are ahead 4-2 in boxes and will be 5-1 when they overtake the Penmen in SOS next week. They have a better performance indicator and RPI. It is inexcusable to have Merrimack below SNHU. The women’s committee continues to reward teams that play NOBODY non-league and it’s made for some pretty awful first-round games. The Musings predicted that the Spartans could be five but let’s be honest, there isn’t anyone who would pick them if they played head-to-head versus Stonehill. The Spartans are a team ahead of schedule but they don’t deserve a 5-seed. Besides that, I love where the teams are.
Let’s be clear, Daemen has no chance for an at-large. Thus, it’s nine teams grinding it out for the five at-large positions. The question remains: who will be the three teams that receive the automatic bids by virtue of winning the league tournaments?
It’s imperative to remember that Jefferson, shocked by a loss thanks to a three-pointer at the buzzer at Georgian Court Tuesday, will likely drop from that position. How far will the Rams fall? We’ll talk about that next week.
So that’s a quick summary of the rankings….. We’ll have our regular Musings on Monday! Stay Safe and Happy Hooping!