Atlantic Region - 2019-20

[IUPbigINDIANS]

So a tourney strikes again. A 10-loss team is in and other teams with better records will almost certainly be left out.

ESU may pay the price. Unfortunate as they are playing very well.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Just as a reference, Massey currently has the Atlantic Region ranked as follows (men's):

Top 20 (thru games played 3/1)

1. IUP
2. West Liberty
3. Charleston
4. Shippensburg
5. Mercyhurst
6. East Stroudsburg
7. Fairmont State
8. Virginia State
9. Johnson C. Smith
10. Fayetteville State
11. UPJ
12. California
13. Winston-Salem State (*) - Clinched NCAA spot
14. Virginia Union
15. Gannon
16. West Chester
17. West Virginia State
18. Slippery Rock
19. Bowie State
20. Clafflin

[Inkblot]

I think the top 5 probably stays the same this week:

1. Indiana
2. West Liberty
3. Fairmont State
4. Shippensburg
5. Charleston

None of the five lost this week, so I expect the committee will follow the same rationales that led to this ordering last week.

6. Mercyhurst

Virginia State's loss to Claflin should allow the Lakers to pass them.

7. Virginia State

The 7-10 teams are pretty close together numerically. I think VSU's wins over Shippensburg and East Stroudsburg will be the deciding factor for this spot.

8. East Stroudsburg

ESU, for their part, has a win over Meryhurst and a split with Shippensburg, which sets them clearly above the next two teams. Due to WSSU's bid-thievery, the Warriors might need to reach the PSAC final to make the regional.

9. Fayetteville State
10. Johnson C. Smith

Can't argue with a three-game sweep, all else being equal. Of course, any CIAA team ranked outside the top 7 this week is done for.

[jrshooter]

I think Fite & Co. might sweat out a few days if they get knocked off Wednesday night. If the shooting is off ...

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think Fite & Co. might sweat out a few days if they get knocked off Wednesday night. If the shooting is off ...

Starting to sound like another fan base we know with this 'shooting is off' stuff. Find another way.

I wouldn't worry too much about tomorrow. Shippensburg has the easiest game on the schedule.

[Ship69]

Starting to sound like another fan base we know with this 'shooting is off' stuff. Find another way.

I wouldn't worry too much about tomorrow. Shippensburg has the easiest game on the schedule.

They have found another way. That's why they won the division. But you need to make shots. The East was weaker at the top than the west this season, but Mansfield was really the only absolute patsy in the division.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Men's Top 25 (thru games played March 1)

7. IUP
11. West Liberty

Votes: Charleston (7), Shippensburg (3)


Women's Top 25 (thru games played March 1)

7. IUP
16. Virginia Union

Votes: Bowie State (21), Glenville State (3)

[Ship69]

I think Fite & Co. might sweat out a few days if they get knocked off Wednesday night. If the shooting is off ...

Hope Nedrow continues to play as he did the last couple of games. That will help. I thought it was interesting that they had a relatively easy win over Kutztown Saturday with Biss taking only three shots. At one point I think Kutztown had a gimmicky box-and-one going with a chaser on Biss. Left more opportunities for Carter and Nedrow.

[boatcapt]

I think the top 5 probably stays the same this week:

1. Indiana
2. West Liberty
3. Fairmont State
4. Shippensburg
5. Charleston

None of the five lost this week, so I expect the committee will follow the same rationales that led to this ordering last week.

6. Mercyhurst

Virginia State's loss to Claflin should allow the Lakers to pass them.

7. Virginia State

The 7-10 teams are pretty close together numerically. I think VSU's wins over Shippensburg and East Stroudsburg will be the deciding factor for this spot.

8. East Stroudsburg

ESU, for their part, has a win over Meryhurst and a split with Shippensburg, which sets them clearly above the next two teams. Due to WSSU's bid-thievery, the Warriors might need to reach the PSAC final to make the regional.

9. Fayetteville State
10. Johnson C. Smith

Can't argue with a three-game sweep, all else being equal. Of course, any CIAA team ranked outside the top 7 this week is done for.

I agree buuuuuttttt...I've seen some pretty freaky things happen with the last Regional Rankings (i.e. the playoff selections)!!!

[ctrabs74]

Make that 3-0. Sounds like it must be one of those bad match-up situations for FSU.

Never fails...

When it comes to tournament time, conference or regional, you can usually throw the seeds out the window if a team draws an unfavorable schematic matchup. See: #3 Glenville losing to #7 Cal in the second round of the 2013 women's Atlantic Regional tourney at Gannon. Cal's defense shut down Glenville in a November regular season showdown at the Angelo Dome and repeated the feat at Hammermill.

[ctrabs74]

ESU may pay the price. Unfortunate as they are playing very well.

Which makes them very dangerous when it comes to PSAC tournament time. All the Warriors need is a favorable path to the title game and the Atlantic Region turns into a giant mess.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Never fails...

When it comes to tournament time, conference or regional, you can usually throw the seeds out the window if a team draws an unfavorable schematic matchup. See: #3 Glenville losing to #7 Cal in the second round of the 2013 women's Atlantic Regional tourney at Gannon. Cal's defense shut down Glenville in a November regular season showdown at the Angelo Dome and repeated the feat at Hammermill.

That's certainly one of the key items when it comes to these conference tournaments.

1. The match-up - Bad match-ups 100 percent exist in basketball.
2. The mind-set - As Scrub posted the other day, he thinks West Liberty's so-so history in the MEC Tournament is due to the fact they've almost always already clinched their NCAA spot. The PSAC has a long, documented history of a bubble team -- like this year's ESU or Cal -- winning the tournament. They are typically the most hungry in the field. They don't have a choice.

And, in the PSAC Tournament, (3.) the venue. We have a unique tournament compared to our brother conferences being that ours is played on campus and not a neutral site. We rotate the home host (East/West) for the Final Four on a yearly basis regardless of the true No. 1 overall seed. Being the road team in front of 3,500 in the KCAC or a packed house at ESU or Ship certainly has its disadvantages.

[GoVSUTrojans]

I'm not getting happy yet. When does not new regional rankings come out?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

About an hour ...

[Inkblot]

New regional rankings:

Rank	School	Overall DII Record	In-Region Record
1	Indiana (Pennsylvania)	24-2	24-2
2	West Liberty	24-4	24-3
3	Charleston (West Virginia)	23-5	23-5
4	Fairmont State	21-6	21-6
5	Shippensburg	21-6	21-6
6	Mercyhurst	18-7	18-7
7	Virginia State	19-9	19-9
8	Fayetteville State	22-8	22-8
9	East Stroudsburg	18-8	18-8
10	Johnson C. Smith	20-8	20-8