ATLANTIC REGION polls, rankings and blah, blah, blah

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Winner of that game gets the 8 seed.

Lincoln is 17-14

That's quite the story.

Of course, the unexpected is pretty much expected in that tournament.

Regardless, either WSSU or Lincoln is going to the Little Dance -- and somebody got bumped.

Now, just wait until Cal and Charleston win the PSAC and MEC tournaments.

[IUPalum]

Lincoln is 17-14

That's quite the story.

Of course, the unexpected is pretty much expected in that tournament.

Regardless, either WSSU or Lincoln is going to the Little Dance -- and somebody got bumped.

Now, just wait until Cal and Charleston win the PSAC and MEC tournaments.

Charleston = not a chance! It’s WL or Fairmont

Cal on the other hand could make noise. TBC…

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Charleston = not a chance! It’s WL or Fairmont

Cal on the other hand could make noise. TBC…

If the MEC is going to have a Cinderella, it would be West Virginia State.

They've been up and down but have the talent to string a week together. Hard to say what happened down there this year.

Cal is very dangerous right now. I have doubts IUP wins down there today. They just won at Mercyhurst and at UPJ. That's impressive.

[EyeoftheHawk]

If the MEC is going to have a Cinderella, it would be West Virginia State.

They've been up and down but have the talent to string a week together. Hard to say what happened down there this year.

Cal is very dangerous right now. I have doubts IUP wins down there today. They just won at Mercyhurst and at UPJ. That's impressive.

Cal is on a run but I wouldn’t be surprised if their season ends with two straight losses starting today.

[Scrub]

Lincoln is 17-14

That's quite the story.

Of course, the unexpected is pretty much expected in that tournament.

It's absolutely amazing how unpredictable that tournament is EVERY year. Yes, there have definitely been upsets in the other conference tourneys from time to time, but you can pretty much count on one of a small group of teams to grab the crown in the other conferences in the region (IUP/Mercy/Ship/ESU in the PSAC and WLU/Fairmont/WVSU/Charleston in the MEC).

Of course, my saying that will probably speak a Glenville & Millersville conference tourney win into existence, but actually I doubt it. That CIAA tournament just seems to be wide open every year; whereas, the others tend to go truer to form the grand majority of the time.

[Inkblot]

Disastrous week for Pitt Johnstown. Up next is a rematch with Slippery Rock; if UPJ doesn't win that they're almost certainly out, and they need to at least beat Mercyhurst to feel good about their chances.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Disastrous week for Pitt Johnstown. Up next is a rematch with Slippery Rock; if UPJ doesn't win that they're almost certainly out, and they need to at least beat Mercyhurst to feel good about their chances.

I think they’re out unless they win the PSAC tourney.

[LegalRam]

WSSU pulls out the victory today. 2nd CIAA championship in the last three seasons (there was no 20-21 season). If we are going to be trash in football now at least we have a decent basketball team to pull for.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The list got much smaller.

The Regional race (in a different format):



Clinched

Winston-Salem State (CIAA Tournament Champions / Automatic bid)


Good Shape

IUP (27-1)
West Liberty (25-3)
Mercyhurst (22-4)
Virginia Union (23-6)
Fairmont State (22-6)



The Bubble

West Chester (21-7)
East Stroudsburg (22-7)
West Virginia State (20-8)
Pitt-Johnstown (22-9)
Charleston (19-9)
Shippensburg (18-10)

[Chuck Norris]

The list got much smaller.

The Regional race (in a different format):



Clinched

Winston-Salem State (CIAA Tournament Champions / Automatic bid)


Good Shape

IUP (27-1)
West Liberty (25-3)
Mercyhurst (22-4)
Virginia Union (23-6)
Fairmont State (22-6)



The Bubble

West Chester (21-7)
East Stroudsburg (22-7)
West Virginia State (20-8)
Pitt-Johnstown (22-9)
Charleston (19-9)
Shippensburg (18-10)

Assuming one of the heavyweights wins the PSAC and MEC and the last two spots actually do go to the bubble, I’d say the ESU-WCU winner locks up a bid. The loser probably still has the inside track but they’ll be sweating if UPJ, WVSU or Charleston makes a run to their tournament final. I think Ship has to win the PSAC to have any chance.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Assuming one of the heavyweights wins the PSAC and MEC and the last two spots actually do go to the bubble, I’d say the ESU-WCU winner locks up a bid. The loser probably still has the inside track but they’ll be sweating if UPJ, WVSU or Charleston makes a run to their tournament final. I think Ship has to win the PSAC to have any chance.

No doubt. This ESU/WCU game is way bigger than just the PSAC Tournament.

I'd say it's fairly clear a UPJ loss tomorrow ends their season. A win, however, would be huge.

It appears West Liberty is (likely) going to run in to West Virginia State this week. Charleston and Fairmont will likely play. Then the winners will play this weekend (assuming no upsets along the way).

IUP is far from having the Regional hosting wrapped up. If they were to lose tomorrow (certainly possible), and, say, West Liberty wins the Mountain East, I'd assume despite one less loss that WL would host. Mercyhurst still has a chance to host, too. If they win the the PSAC and IUP/WL go out ... who knows.

[Chuck Norris]

No doubt. This ESU/WCU game is way bigger than just the PSAC Tournament.

I'd say it's fairly clear a UPJ loss tomorrow ends their season. A win, however, would be huge.

It appears West Liberty is (likely) going to run in to West Virginia State this week. Charleston and Fairmont will likely play. Then the winners will play this weekend (assuming no upsets along the way).

IUP is far from having the Regional hosting wrapped up. If they were to lose tomorrow (certainly possible), and, say, West Liberty wins the Mountain East, I'd assume despite one less loss that WL would host. Mercyhurst still has a chance to host, too. If they win the the PSAC and IUP/WL go out ... who knows.

I’m a little more optimistic about IUP hosting, but I suppose in that scenario it’s possible WL gets the nod. I just think IUP going through the regular season with just one loss and one of WL’s losses being a really bad one to Wheeling are hard to ignore. But it’s always hard to gauge, year to year and scenario to scenario, how much the conference tourneys really matter.

[IUP24]

No doubt. This ESU/WCU game is way bigger than just the PSAC Tournament.

I'd say it's fairly clear a UPJ loss tomorrow ends their season. A win, however, would be huge.

It appears West Liberty is (likely) going to run in to West Virginia State this week. Charleston and Fairmont will likely play. Then the winners will play this weekend (assuming no upsets along the way).

IUP is far from having the Regional hosting wrapped up. If they were to lose tomorrow (certainly possible), and, say, West Liberty wins the Mountain East, I'd assume despite one less loss that WL would host. Mercyhurst still has a chance to host, too. If they win the the PSAC and IUP/WL go out ... who knows.

Mercyhurst has 4 losses. IUP has 1. WL has 3. You’re nuts if you actually think Mercyhurst has any real shot to host.

West Lib hosting in the scenario you posed? Possible, but probably not likely.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The Men's NCAA field got a little more clear last night. Pending nothing crazy this weekend in the PSAC or MEC Tournaments, it appears (6) teams are pretty set. The list of teams in contention continues to shrink.


CLINCHED

Winston-Salem State


LOCKS

IUP (28-1)
West Liberty (25-3)
Mercyhurst (23-4)
Virginia Union (24-6)
Fairmont State (22-6)


IN THE MIX

East Stroudsburg (23-7)
West Chester (21-8)
West Virginia State (20-8)

LIFE SUPPORT (both need to win their tournament)

Charleston (19-9)
Shippensburg (19-10)


SEASON LIKELY FINISHED

Pitt-Johnstown (20-10)

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The third official release of Regional Rankings came out yesterday. Obviously, these do NOT include last night's results.


1. IUP
2. West Liberty
3. Mercyhurst
4. Virginia Union
5. Fairmont State
6. Pitt-Johnstown
7. West Chester
8. East Stroudsburg
9. West Virginia State
10. Winston-Salem State


What's interesting is then 9-loss (now 10-loss) UPJ was ahead of both (then) 7-loss ESU and WCU. The metrics seem to love UPJ and in reality last night's loss to Mercyhurst may not hurt them too much. I get the SOS love fest with UPJ but their record against good teams is terrible.

Questions/Thoughts:

* Obviously ESU jumps West Chester.

* How far does UPJ fall?

* It's clear Winston-Salem will be the No. 8 seed in the Regional

* Did IUP's win last night wrap up the hosting rights regardless of what happens this weekend?

* Some big head-to-head match-ups this weekend. It's highly likely West Liberty is going to play both West Virginia State and Fairmont State. We already know IUP/ESU are playing Saturday.

* My guess is we are going to see some of the dreaded "Round 4" games next weekend.