The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Regardless of what happens this weekend, congrats to the Vikes on making the Regional this year. I believe someone on the selection show last night mentioned that there were 40 at-large bids this year, meaning the Vikes were one of 40 teams in D2 to make the tournament without winning their conference tourney.

On the one hand, I know there are plenty of fans who think, Well, you just won the National Championship, your program should make the tournament every year, and I don't entirely disagree. That's part of being a top-tier program. On the other hand, the Vikes certainly lost a lot off of last year's roster, not just in terms of point scored, but in terms of defense (particularly a 2-time conference Defensive Player of the Year), and, probably most importantly, experience playing in big games. We returned a couple of starters and a few bench guys, but a lot of those bench guys played nowhere near as many big time minutes as last year's starters did. To still be in the hunt for a Sweet Sixteen or, depending on how tired and unprepared Northwest is on a back to back night and how hard Pitts gets fouled, possibly an Elite Eight berth is commendable in my opinion.

At the start of this season, I definitely can't say I was expecting to make the Regional. I was hoping for right around 18-12 or 19-11 or so at best. To be 23-8 with a 5-seed in a pretty tough region and, in my opinion, at least the chance to beat almost anybody in this region is more than I expected, and probably more than a few other fans expected too.

Congrats to the Vikes--players, coaching staff, administrators, etc.--on a great season regardless of what happens next weekend. Here's to hoping we keep things rolling for a few more games at least.

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Hey guys, here's my most recent Mirror article on the team, with quotations from Billeter, Beyer and Spencer. I'm sure there's at least a few nuggets in here you'll find worthy of your attention, though the story is meant for a less-knowledgable audience. http://www.augiemirror.com/mens-bask...in-nsic-semis/

One of the great things about Tom Billeter is the speaks the truth and very little coach speak. In another interview with an Aberdeen radio program he said worrying about losing his job motivates him, how many coaches would speak that honestly?

[vikesfan]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Hey guys, here's my most recent Mirror article on the team, with quotations from Billeter, Beyer and Spencer. I'm sure there's at least a few nuggets in here you'll find worthy of your attention, though the story is meant for a less-knowledgable audience. http://www.augiemirror.com/mens-bask...in-nsic-semis/

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

So your dream NCAA D1 Tournament wouldn't involve any mid-mid-major schools? Randomness is throughly enjoyable, it's why people love March Madness and surprises like George Mason, Butler, VCU, Florida Gulf Coast, Northern Iowa, and the one that started it all Gonzaga.

It would involve the same number of mid-mid-major schools. I would just reward the team that won its conference regular season (by winning consistently all year) rather than rewarding the team that wins 3-4 games in the conference tournament. I know that cuts, like, 50% of the "Tourney Week" ESPN stuff, which, admittedly, is a blast. But I would rather see a team that worked hard all year get in--and, who knows, possibly make a solid, Gonzaga-esque Cinderella run because they're a good team--than see a less deserving team get in just because they won a few games at the right time and pulled off an upset in the championship game.

[NSU4LIFE]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

If my memory is correct- years ago the NIC and NCC took the top four teams. At least the NCC did. Then you could get the tournament done in one weekend. The gym was full and not only the teams but the fans didn't get worn out. Since the NCC tourney didn't include the Mavs that year, I went to Concordia to watch Coach Meyer speak into his recorder as the game went on- even when there was no doubt on who would win. The man was ALWAYS coaching. But I digress.

How about taking the top 8 teams- the top four host on Wednesday. Then the Final Four is on Saturday and Sunday. Of course, the NSIC wants both the men's and the women's tournament on the same site. So, how about finding a way to have all partner games on Friday of the last weekend of the conference season so you don't have games on Saturday. Or you could just have games on Saturday and you still get time to rest up since there is only one game. Start the women's playoff games on Tuesday and the NSIC Final Four on Friday night. Have the men continue to have their games on Wednesday and start their Final Four on Saturday. The women's finals would be on Saturday.Then finish the men off on Sunday. None of this Monday and Tuesday stuff over the long weekend.

Just throwing this out there. And please, someone give Mr. Mr. a quaalude and keep all copies of Broken Wings away from him until after the regional.

To somewhat piggy back on that...I kind of like the idea of playing travel partners the first and last weekend of the season. Especially toward the end of the season, it's one less game to play going into a long 4 game conference tourney.

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Matt ZimmerVerified account @argusmattz 8m8 minutes ago
Tom Douple says when UND joins the Summit League the conference tournament will remain at 8-teams.

Since we are discussing the number of teams in the playoffs, I thought that Matt Zimmer's tweet was appropriate to share.

[laker]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Am I even making sense? Do I just sound like a crazy person? Are there horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?

If my memory is correct- years ago the NIC and NCC took the top four teams. At least the NCC did. Then you could get the tournament done in one weekend. The gym was full and not only the teams but the fans didn't get worn out. Since the NCC tourney didn't include the Mavs that year, I went to Concordia to watch Coach Meyer speak into his recorder as the game went on- even when there was no doubt on who would win. The man was ALWAYS coaching. But I digress.

How about taking the top 8 teams- the top four host on Wednesday. Then the Final Four is on Saturday and Sunday. Of course, the NSIC wants both the men's and the women's tournament on the same site. So, how about finding a way to have all partner games on Friday of the last weekend of the conference season so you don't have games on Saturday. Or you could just have games on Saturday and you still get time to rest up since there is only one game. Start the women's playoff games on Tuesday and the NSIC Final Four on Friday night. Have the men continue to have their games on Wednesday and start their Final Four on Saturday. The women's finals would be on Saturday.Then finish the men off on Sunday. None of this Monday and Tuesday stuff over the long weekend.

Just throwing this out there. And please, someone give Mr. Mr. a quaalude and keep all copies of Broken Wings away from him until after the regional.

[Augieholic]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

On top of that, look what that CSP loss did to Moorhead. They dropped below Augie AND Concordia did absolutely nothing after their win. It's great to say, "Well, the current format gives every team in the conference a chance to make the Regional if they put together a little conference tourney Cinderella run."

Here's my question: Who decided that Concordia-St. Paul or Minnesota Duluth deserves a chance to make a Cinderella run to reach the NCAA Tournament? I know that's easy to say as a fan of a team that hasn't been in that bottom-of-the-standings position since 2004-2005, but seriously. All that CSP/Moorhead game accomplished was that it gave CSP one "big win" over Moorhead before they lost their next game and their season was over. And even if they made a run and miraculously won the whole NSIC Tourney, why should they be rewarded with one of the EIGHT spots available to the 42 or 43 (is it 43?) teams in our entire region? Do we really want 7 deserving teams and then a 9-24 (which would've been their record if they'd won it all) NSIC representative getting the 8-seed?

As Billeter mentioned in that interview, if you want to get an at-large bid to the tournament, you have to be one of the 5 best teams in a 43-team region, depending on how the conference tourneys all shake out. But you at least have to be one of the 5 best teams if you want to be guaranteed a spot.

If you're the 6th or 7th or 8th best team in the region, why should you have to sit and watch a 9-24 Concordia-St. Paul squad sneak into the spot you've worked all season to earn just because they got hot during one important 4-game stretch? To me that's ridiculous.

I believe up until the loss to SMSU this past weekend, Augie was on an 8-game winning streak. So you have Augie putting together not one, but two 4-game winning streaks in the last two months alone, yet there could've been a situation (possibly) where the Vikes got bumped out of the Regional because CSP...or Crookston...or Duluth had a single 4-game winning streak (with slightly different circumstances in terms of frequency of games, etc., but still...) at a more convenient time?

I know I'm starting to ramble like a drunk old man, but this is something that's bugged me for awhile now. It also drives me crazy that the Summit League works that way. If I'm a USD fan and I've watched the (mangy) Coyotes win an outright conference championship by winning games all season, I'd be livid if SDSU or IUPUI or some other average team just happened to win 4 games in a row and snag an NCAA Tourney spot while my (mangy) Coyotes get demoted to the NIT. There should be some better reward for being the best team all season long than, "Oh well, you don't get to go to the Big Dance, have fun at the NIT losers."

Am I even making sense? Do I just sound like a crazy person? Are there horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?

So your dream NCAA D1 Tournament wouldn't involve any mid-mid-major schools? Randomness is throughly enjoyable, it's why people love March Madness and surprises like George Mason, Butler, VCU, Florida Gulf Coast, Northern Iowa, and the one that started it all Gonzaga.

[nsufan]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

On top of that, look what that CSP loss did to Moorhead. They dropped below Augie AND Concordia did absolutely nothing after their win. It's great to say, "Well, the current format gives every team in the conference a chance to make the Regional if they put together a little conference tourney Cinderella run."

Here's my question: Who decided that Concordia-St. Paul or Minnesota Duluth deserves a chance to make a Cinderella run to reach the NCAA Tournament? I know that's easy to say as a fan of a team that hasn't been in that bottom-of-the-standings position since 2004-2005, but seriously. All that CSP/Moorhead game accomplished was that it gave CSP one "big win" over Moorhead before they lost their next game and their season was over. And even if they made a run and miraculously won the whole NSIC Tourney, why should they be rewarded with one of the EIGHT spots available to the 42 or 43 (is it 43?) teams in our entire region? Do we really want 7 deserving teams and then a 9-24 (which would've been their record if they'd won it all) NSIC representative getting the 8-seed?

As Billeter mentioned in that interview, if you want to get an at-large bid to the tournament, you have to be one of the 5 best teams in a 43-team region, depending on how the conference tourneys all shake out. But you at least have to be one of the 5 best teams if you want to be guaranteed a spot.

If you're the 6th or 7th or 8th best team in the region, why should you have to sit and watch a 9-24 Concordia-St. Paul squad sneak into the spot you've worked all season to earn just because they got hot during one important 4-game stretch? To me that's ridiculous.

I believe up until the loss to SMSU this past weekend, Augie was on an 8-game winning streak. So you have Augie putting together not one, but two 4-game winning streaks in the last two months alone, yet there could've been a situation (possibly) where the Vikes got bumped out of the Regional because CSP...or Crookston...or Duluth had a single 4-game winning streak (with slightly different circumstances in terms of frequency of games, etc., but still...) at a more convenient time?

I know I'm starting to ramble like a drunk old man, but this is something that's bugged me for awhile now. It also drives me crazy that the Summit League works that way. If I'm a USD fan and I've watched the (mangy) Coyotes win an outright conference championship by winning games all season, I'd be livid if SDSU or IUPUI or some other average team just happened to win 4 games in a row and snag an NCAA Tourney spot while my (mangy) Coyotes get demoted to the NIT. There should be some better reward for being the best team all season long than, "Oh well, you don't get to go to the Big Dance, have fun at the NIT losers."

Am I even making sense? Do I just sound like a crazy person? Are there horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?

Couldn't agree more. Can't believe I agreed with an Augie fan ;)

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

That's the biggest problem right now though. As Billeter explained, SOS is used heavily in regional rankings. Even just one game against a UMD or UMC can significantly affect the rankings. Not only does that hurt Moorhead and Northern because they have twice the regular season games against those schools, it hurts a South team that may be on the bubble but plays them in the opening round.

Just for discussion's sake, make it a 10-team tournament. The division champs get the opening round byes. Then do the first round, with seeding by division like they do today. It worked out nicely this year that the North/South split was 5/5 in the top 10, too.

Wednesday games
USF at Northern
Mankato at St Cloud
Minot at Augie
Mary at Upper Iowa

Bubble teams Northern and Upper Iowa get to play teams that were closer to .500 in conference play as opposed to a 8-14 and 4-18 team, respectively.

On top of that, look what that CSP loss did to Moorhead. They dropped below Augie AND Concordia did absolutely nothing after their win. It's great to say, "Well, the current format gives every team in the conference a chance to make the Regional if they put together a little conference tourney Cinderella run."

Here's my question: Who decided that Concordia-St. Paul or Minnesota Duluth deserves a chance to make a Cinderella run to reach the NCAA Tournament? I know that's easy to say as a fan of a team that hasn't been in that bottom-of-the-standings position since 2004-2005, but seriously. All that CSP/Moorhead game accomplished was that it gave CSP one "big win" over Moorhead before they lost their next game and their season was over. And even if they made a run and miraculously won the whole NSIC Tourney, why should they be rewarded with one of the EIGHT spots available to the 42 or 43 (is it 43?) teams in our entire region? Do we really want 7 deserving teams and then a 9-24 (which would've been their record if they'd won it all) NSIC representative getting the 8-seed?

As Billeter mentioned in that interview, if you want to get an at-large bid to the tournament, you have to be one of the 5 best teams in a 43-team region, depending on how the conference tourneys all shake out. But you at least have to be one of the 5 best teams if you want to be guaranteed a spot.

If you're the 6th or 7th or 8th best team in the region, why should you have to sit and watch a 9-24 Concordia-St. Paul squad sneak into the spot you've worked all season to earn just because they got hot during one important 4-game stretch? To me that's ridiculous.

I believe up until the loss to SMSU this past weekend, Augie was on an 8-game winning streak. So you have Augie putting together not one, but two 4-game winning streaks in the last two months alone, yet there could've been a situation (possibly) where the Vikes got bumped out of the Regional because CSP...or Crookston...or Duluth had a single 4-game winning streak (with slightly different circumstances in terms of frequency of games, etc., but still...) at a more convenient time?

I know I'm starting to ramble like a drunk old man, but this is something that's bugged me for awhile now. It also drives me crazy that the Summit League works that way. If I'm a USD fan and I've watched the (mangy) Coyotes win an outright conference championship by winning games all season, I'd be livid if SDSU or IUPUI or some other average team just happened to win 4 games in a row and snag an NCAA Tourney spot while my (mangy) Coyotes get demoted to the NIT. There should be some better reward for being the best team all season long than, "Oh well, you don't get to go to the Big Dance, have fun at the NIT losers."

Am I even making sense? Do I just sound like a crazy person? Are there horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?

[MrAugustana]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Does anyone know why we do not get longtime voice of the Vikings Jeff Fylling on home game Stretch internet broadcasts? I enjoy listening to Jeff.

My understanding is that Augie pays Fylling to do the radio broadcasts. Midco pays their broadcast guys to do Midco games. And since it's a Midco production, they get to decide who broadcasts their games. Plus, I'm guessing it allows Midco to do commentary and stuff during and coming out of timeouts that Fylling can't necessarily do because he's pausing for station identification and whatnot. But that's complete speculation on my part.

[Stanger86]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

But I'm sure the South likes it as they get to beat the weaker teams of the North. Good discussion

That's the biggest problem right now though. As Billeter explained, SOS is used heavily in regional rankings. Even just one game against a UMD or UMC can significantly affect the rankings. Not only does that hurt Moorhead and Northern because they have twice the regular season games against those schools, it hurts a South team that may be on the bubble but plays them in the opening round.

Just for discussion's sake, make it a 10-team tournament. The division champs get the opening round byes. Then do the first round, with seeding by division like they do today. It worked out nicely this year that the North/South split was 5/5 in the top 10, too.

Wednesday games
USF at Northern
Mankato at St Cloud
Minot at Augie
Mary at Upper Iowa

Bubble teams Northern and Upper Iowa get to play teams that were closer to .500 in conference play as opposed to a 8-14 and 4-18 team, respectively.

[vikingfaithful]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Does anyone know why we do not get longtime voice of the Vikings Jeff Fylling on home game Stretch internet broadcasts? I enjoy listening to Jeff.

[NSU4LIFE]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

Yeah, the rankings stuff I kinda already knew.

The NSIC Tournament stuff is interesting. I agree that it's not a perfect system right now, but I don't know if there's a perfect way to fix it.

First suggestion I have could be to do it similar to how the MIAA does it, where not everyone plays on Wednesday night. But then how do you deal with unbalanced schedules and do you still split by divisions in the tournament? I love the reseeding idea, at least for going from Wednesday to Sunday.

I haven't listened yet, but while I like the way it is, until the North proves themselves it is what it is. I'd have no problem if they seeded based on overall conference standings. But I'm sure the South likes it as they get to beat the weaker teams of the North. Good discussion

[Stanger86]

Re: The NEW Official Thread of the Augustana Vikings

I don't mean to talk while eating crow....but Ben Root was named sports broadcaster of the year in SD...

Yeah, the rankings stuff I kinda already knew.

The NSIC Tournament stuff is interesting. I agree that it's not a perfect system right now, but I don't know if there's a perfect way to fix it.

First suggestion I have could be to do it similar to how the MIAA does it, where not everyone plays on Wednesday night. But then how do you deal with unbalanced schedules and do you still split by divisions in the tournament? I love the reseeding idea, at least for going from Wednesday to Sunday.