ATLANTIC REGION polls, rankings and blah, blah, blah

[IUPbigINDIANS]

As the first release is only listed alphabetically, there usually isn't much fanfare.

Regardless, the first official Regional Rankings release came out this week.

Atlantic Region
Men's

Of note, these do not include Wednesday nights results. As we know, since these were released, Charleston, East Stroudsburg, and UPJ all lost.


Charleston
East Stroudsburg
Fairmont State
IUP
Mercyhurst
Pitt-Johnstown
Virginia Union
Virginia State
West Chester
West Liberty



Remember one metric category for determining NCAA bids and seeding is record vs regionally ranked teams (once ranked always ranked).

[IUPbigINDIANS]

WOMEN'S first official Regional Rankings release (listed alphabetically and through games played FEB 12):


Charleston
Fairmont State
Fayetteville State
Gannon
Glenville State
IUP
Lincoln
Shippensburg
West Chester
West Virginia State

[IUPalum]

Alphabetical lists are a cop by NCAA so it's easier to "adjust" them their way later. Unreal!!

[Inkblot]

Remember one metric category for determining NCAA bids and seeding is record vs regionally ranked teams (once ranked always ranked).

I'm not sure how much difference this will make in practice, but it's no longer "once ranked always ranked".

[ctrabs74]

Classic cop out by the NCAA.

This might be the dumbest idea the NCAA has ever come up with. Can you imagine if the D1 Top 25 men's basketball polls were announced in alphabetic order?

[ctrabs74]

I was in the house. Pretty good crowd.

Jones texted a friend of ours afterwards, said she's fine. She went into the concussion protocol after bouncing her head off the floor on a collision midway though the first half. I would expect her back in action immediately. That was a huge win for the women, being able to knock off a contender without Ariel.

Unless something changed in the past 10 years, if she went into concussion protocol, then she's likely out for a minimum of a week depending on how she recovers. The old protocols required a student-athlete to have seven consecutive symptom-free (or baseline medical measurements, which I recall to be pre-symptoms) before being cleared to return to practice or competition. During Cal's WBB 2015 championship season (or, possibly the season before, I forget when, exactly), one of the Vulcans' starters missed a few games due to being in concussion protocol.

UPDATE: Quoted directly from the NCAA Concussion Safety Protocol Template, which may or may not be Shippensburg's or the PSAC's protocols (it's possible that some portions of this template could vary by school, but it might just be the listing of sponsored sports or some other bureaucratic nonsense that's altered):

9. Return-to-Sport

Unrestricted return-to-sport should not occur prior to unrestricted return-to-learn for concussions diagnosed while the student-athlete is enrolled in classes. Final determination of unrestricted return-to-sport will be made by a School Name team physician or his/her medically qualified designee following implementation of an individualized, supervised stepwise return-to-sport progression that includes:

1. Symptom-limited activities of daily living.
2. Light aerobic exercise without resistance training.
3. Sport-specific exercise and activity without head impact exposure.
4. Non-contact practice with progressive resistance training.
5. Unrestricted training.
6. Unrestricted return-to-sport.

The above stepwise progression will be supervised by a health care provider with expertise in concussion, with it being typical for each step in the progression to last at least 24 hours.

NOTE: If at any point the student-athlete becomes symptomatic (more symptomatic than baseline), the team physician or physician designee will be notified, and adjustments will be made to the return-to-sport progression.

That's why I'd hold off on expecting Jones to be back in action as quickly as Ship fans would like.

[jrshooter]

Then she didn't go into the protocol, because she scored 38 today.

[ctrabs74]

Then she didn't go into the protocol, because she scored 38 today.

Weird. I would think that when someone says "concussion protocol" that means you'd miss some time, but maybe there was some miscommunication along the way.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It's CIAA Tournament Week and the PSAC/MEC is in their final week. Time is running out -- and the bubble is tight.

Updated MEN'S Atlantic Region race:


0-3 losses

IUP (26-1)
West Liberty (23-3)


4-5 losses

Mercyhurst (20-4)

6-7 losses

Virginia Union (22-6)
Fairmont State (20-6)
Claflin (19-6)
East Stroudsburg (20-7)
Pitt-Johnstown (19-7)
West Chester (19-7)

8-9 losses

West Virginia State (18-8)
Charleston (16-8)
Winston-Salem State (17-8)
Millersville (17-9)
Shippensburg (17-9)
Lock Haven (16-9)



The Best of the Rest -- and potential hell raisers in conference tournament week:

Virginia State (17-10), Fayetteville State (16-12), Notre Dame (16-10), Glenville State (15-11), Davis & Elkins (15-11), Concord (14-12), Shepherd (13-13), California (14-12), Seton Hill (16-11), Slippery Rock (15-11)


As of today, I'd say these teams are pretty much locked in to an NCAA bid:
IUP, West Liberty, Mercyhurst, Virginia Union, Fairmont State

Things get real tight after those five teams.

[IUPalum]

Is Fairmont really a lock? I'm not so certain. I think they need to run off a couple of wins here at the end of the season to better solidify themselves. Virginia Union pretty well took care of their conference so I'd think they are close to a ock as you get without being locked.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Is Fairmont really a lock? I'm not so certain. I think they need to run off a couple of wins here at the end of the season to better solidify themselves. Virginia Union pretty well took care of their conference so I'd think they are close to a ock as you get without being locked.

Fair question.

Record: 20-6
D2 record: 19-6


Losses: (at) West Virginia State, (at) Concord, Glenville State, (at) Virginia Union, (at) Glenville State, (at) West Liberty.

Interesting: 4 of their 6 losses came in OT. They've also won twice in OT.

Best wins: Charleston (twice), (at) Shippensburg, West Liberty, West Virginia State



UPJ and West Chester have very similar resumes.


Fairmont State is home both games this week -- against a dreadful WVW (2-23) and then Frostburg State (8-18). They should win both but both games are SOS anchors, as to where UPJ will get Cal and SRU -- both above .500.

[IUPalum]

Fair question.

Record: 20-6
D2 record: 19-6


Losses: (at) West Virginia State, (at) Concord, Glenville State, (at) Virginia Union, (at) Glenville State, (at) West Liberty.

Interesting: 4 of their 6 losses came in OT. They've also won twice in OT.

Best wins: Charleston (twice), (at) Shippensburg, West Liberty, West Virginia State



UPJ and West Chester have very similar resumes.


Fairmont State is home both games this week -- against a dreadful WVW (2-23) and then Frostburg State (8-18). They should win both but both games are SOS anchors, as to where UPJ will get Cal and SRU -- both above .500.

I'm not saying I disagree with you b/c if I'm filling the region tourney bracket they are in. I'm just saying I think they have some work to do. The two games this week aren't resume builders and if they take a quick loss in the MEC tourney, it could be detrimental to their region goals. IDK, we'll soon see. Eye test tells me they are in.

[boatcapt]

Fair question.

Record: 20-6
D2 record: 19-6


Losses: (at) West Virginia State, (at) Concord, Glenville State, (at) Virginia Union, (at) Glenville State, (at) West Liberty.

Interesting: 4 of their 6 losses came in OT. They've also won twice in OT.

Best wins: Charleston (twice), (at) Shippensburg, West Liberty, West Virginia State



UPJ and West Chester have very similar resumes.


Fairmont State is home both games this week -- against a dreadful WVW (2-23) and then Frostburg State (8-18). They should win both but both games are SOS anchors, as to where UPJ will get Cal and SRU -- both above .500.

First thing for UPJ is to win both games, if they do that then SOS could become an issue if it comes down to "head-to-head" vs Fairmont for the final NCAA slot.

For teams beyond the top 3 (MAYBE 4), much will come down to how well they do in their respective conference tourneys.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Our old friend, Jerrod Calhoun, currently of Youngstown State and formerly of Fairmont State, is getting a lot of buzz for much larger jobs.

The Penguins are 22-7 and a game away from a conference title. There is talk he's going to be a serious candidate for several P5 jobs at the conclusion of this season.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

First thing for UPJ is to win both games, if they do that then SOS could become an issue if it comes down to "head-to-head" vs Fairmont for the final NCAA slot.

For teams beyond the top 3 (MAYBE 4), much will come down to how well they do in their respective conference tourneys.

As usual, we agree.

But, we can't forget West Chester. The computers seem to really like the Rams right now. East Stroudsburg is also right in that cluster.

I went through it today ... the bubble. It's still a rabbit hole.

This is a tough week for UPJ. Cal visits Johnstown mid-week and the Vulcans are red hot. UPJ then travels to Morrow Field House this weekend. That's never an easy trip.

I'm going to assume (dangerous) UPJ will host SRU in Round 1 a week from tonight. They'll likely win in Johnstown. That would set up the rubber match at Mercyhurst 48 hours later.