Video: Should Division II Overhaul the Playoff System? - with Mike Racy

[IUPNation]

My error. I should have said when it matterred Sheperd beat IUP by 35 before they got their doors blown off in the semifinals.

playoff realignment isnt about getting the 5th place MIAA or GLIAC team in. It's about getting the 2 best teams to the finals or at least 3 out of 4 into the semifinals. Right now that does not occur.

The first game was the Pee Sack Championship Game. So yeah that game mattered too. But thanks for playing.

All I read is Midwest entitlement in these posts.

[IUPNation]

I don't have a dog in the fight here with the PSAC vs the MIAA....as that's somehow become the discussion here. That said, the MIAA scheduling should be fixed going forward as they are done playing silo scheduling..as is the NSIC. These changes alone will give the the midwest teams more good data points to determine a true SOS for them not hindered by the previous silo format they both had. I would've loved to see more games between the MIAA and the NSIC but the MIAA and the Lincoln situation came up a fair amount later in the process than the Upper Iowa one did for the NSIC..thusly the NSIC was already well into scheduling their open dates and were typically scheduling a 2 game home/away in the process.

My view on the Mike Racy idea is trying to have the best tournament possible = finding a way to arrive at the best 28 or 32 squads, giving every conference champ (15 currently) an auto-bid..so winning your conference has real meaning..but also having some use of historical reference to help shape the field of teams and ranking of them. Having a true top 4, and having them each play in a different bracket makes more sense to me...and would allow us to see the top 4 (or something close) make the semis and provide us better games at the end. I'm more pushing towards getting rid of the regions all-together than Mike is..but overall I think we share a common vision for making the tourney better.

I don’t think any conference should get more than 2 teams into the playoffs. The only reason the Pee Sack gets 3 and 4 in is because the other conferences in Region 1 wind up with too many 3 loss teams and we have too many teams Im compared to them. But the third team probably isn’t that good to get the bid. We do have a conference title game…I wish everyone else did too. That would sort some teams out.

If you did the top four teams and seeded them in regions..fine but the actual final four semi final games should be at neutral sites. The same teams would never play road games and is that going to be fair? If IUP is 13-0 and NWMO is 13-0 and they meet in the semifinal every year there is no way we get the home game. Ever. NWMO will just always be assumed to be better and will never leave marysville.

That’s my biggest sticking point. In this “fixing” the playoffs the haves will get even a bigger advantage to the point why even have playoffs. Just pick the same 4-6 teams every year and be done with it. I like that D1 plays their semis in a bowl game…

[Wallst]

So you assume but we’ll never know because team from the MIAA won’t travel east. So the regional format stays the same. I don’t give a damn that teams from the MIAA miss the playoffs when they are the 4th or 5th place team in a conference they have never won. Boo Friggen Hoo.

When NWMO or Pitt beat IUP in Indiana, PA, then we can talk.

As for IUP vs Shepherd, you will notice they played twice and had a split.

The MIAA needs to fix its regular season schedule setup before the commissioner can talk about anything else. SILO schedules don’t prove anything outside of that conference.

My error. I should have said when it matterred Sheperd beat IUP by 35 before they got their doors blown off in the semifinals.

playoff realignment isnt about getting the 5th place MIAA or GLIAC team in. It's about getting the 2 best teams to the finals or at least 3 out of 4 into the semifinals. Right now that does not occur.

[Matt Witwicki]

So you assume but we’ll never know because team from the MIAA won’t travel east. So the regional format stays the same. I don’t give a damn that teams from the MIAA miss the playoffs when they are the 4th or 5th place team in a conference they have never won. Boo Friggen Hoo.

When NWMO or Pitt beat IUP in Indiana, PA, then we can talk.

As for IUP vs Shepherd, you will notice they played twice and had a split.

The MIAA needs to fix its regular season schedule setup before the commissioner can talk about anything else. SILO schedules don’t prove anything outside of that conference.

I don't have a dog in the fight here with the PSAC vs the MIAA....as that's somehow become the discussion here. That said, the MIAA scheduling should be fixed going forward as they are done playing silo scheduling..as is the NSIC. These changes alone will give the the midwest teams more good data points to determine a true SOS for them not hindered by the previous silo format they both had. I would've loved to see more games between the MIAA and the NSIC but the MIAA and the Lincoln situation came up a fair amount later in the process than the Upper Iowa one did for the NSIC..thusly the NSIC was already well into scheduling their open dates and were typically scheduling a 2 game home/away in the process.

My view on the Mike Racy idea is trying to have the best tournament possible = finding a way to arrive at the best 28 or 32 squads, giving every conference champ (15 currently) an auto-bid..so winning your conference has real meaning..but also having some use of historical reference to help shape the field of teams and ranking of them. Having a true top 4, and having them each play in a different bracket makes more sense to me...and would allow us to see the top 4 (or something close) make the semis and provide us better games at the end. I'm more pushing towards getting rid of the regions all-together than Mike is..but overall I think we share a common vision for making the tourney better.

[IUPNation]

If we did set foot in this apparently magical land of Pennsylvania, all that would happen is an MIAA team would win by 20. Worse, for the PSAC it would expand our recruiting base and we would get that borderline FCS kid to come to the midwest if he knew he could come home and his family could watch him play in person every other year.
The good news for the PSAC is instead of just 1 team finding out what it takes to compete at a NC level other teams would too. It would take a few years but the better more progressive PSAC teams could start recruiting the needed athletes after finding out in person what that athlete looks like especially on the line. Look at what happened to Sheperds O line the last 2 semi's as proof. Keep in mind the 22 Sheperd team beat IUP by what 30+ in the quarters?

So you assume but we’ll never know because team from the MIAA won’t travel east. So the regional format stays the same. I don’t give a damn that teams from the MIAA miss the playoffs when they are the 4th or 5th place team in a conference they have never won. Boo Friggen Hoo.

When NWMO or Pitt beat IUP in Indiana, PA, then we can talk.

As for IUP vs Shepherd, you will notice they played twice and had a split.

The MIAA needs to fix its regular season schedule setup before the commissioner can talk about anything else. SILO schedules don’t prove anything outside of that conference.

[IUPNation]

Playing ooc against the psac teams would only mean that 3 to 5 loss psac teams would get a free ride in the playoffs instead of 1 to 3 loss teams. It wouldn't help the miaa at all unless they were in the same region. It may further expose how bad the current setup is, but that would just be beating a dead horse at this point.

How often do 3 to 5 loss teams make the playoffs?

I just don’t buy that narrative that your conference is that powerful beyond the two teams that have won almost every MIAA conference title for the last 30 years. If they can’t win the MIAA why do they belong in the playoffs?

[Wallst]

This was basically just an MIAA Whine Fest.

It came off to me that he wants most of his schools in the foosball playoffs at the expense of conferences other than the GSC in Regions 1 and 2...despite these 2 regions having the majority of schools sponsoring foosball at this level.

He says this when his own conference plays a SILO schedule so how do we know how good teams other than NWMO or Pitt really are among teams on Region 1 and 2.

An MIAA team has never set foot in Pennsylvania. IUP, Bloomsburg and Mon Valley U (California) have all been to Marysville. So if you want more of the playoff slots and your two top teams are spending well over 2 million a year to field a team when most schools in Division 2 are well below that number...you can afford to travel and prove yourself.

I don't buy the whole "make it a better experience for student athletes". Does he care about the experience for players in Region 1. I did not get that impression.

That whole time talking about what they should do "to fix things and make it fair for the MIAA" when all he had to say was that Region 3 and 4 need to be reshuffled so you can divorce the MIAA from GLIAC and the whining will go away.

If we did set foot in this apparently magical land of Pennsylvania, all that would happen is an MIAA team would win by 20. Worse, for the PSAC it would expand our recruiting base and we would get that borderline FCS kid to come to the midwest if he knew he could come home and his family could watch him play in person every other year.
The good news for the PSAC is instead of just 1 team finding out what it takes to compete at a NC level other teams would too. It would take a few years but the better more progressive PSAC teams could start recruiting the needed athletes after finding out in person what that athlete looks like especially on the line. Look at what happened to Sheperds O line the last 2 semi's as proof. Keep in mind the 22 Sheperd team beat IUP by what 30+ in the quarters?

[Predatory Primates]

This was basically just an MIAA Whine Fest.

It came off to me that he wants most of his schools in the foosball playoffs at the expense of conferences other than the GSC in Regions 1 and 2...despite these 2 regions having the majority of schools sponsoring foosball at this level.

He says this when his own conference plays a SILO schedule so how do we know how good teams other than NWMO or Pitt really are among teams on Region 1 and 2.

An MIAA team has never set foot in Pennsylvania. IUP, Bloomsburg and Mon Valley U (California) have all been to Marysville. So if you want more of the playoff slots and your two top teams are spending well over 2 million a year to field a team when most schools in Division 2 are well below that number...you can afford to travel and prove yourself.

I don't buy the whole "make it a better experience for student athletes". Does he care about the experience for players in Region 1. I did not get that impression.

That whole time talking about what they should do "to fix things and make it fair for the MIAA" when all he had to say was that Region 3 and 4 need to be reshuffled so you can divorce the MIAA from GLIAC and the whining will go away.

Playing ooc against the psac teams would only mean that 3 to 5 loss psac teams would get a free ride in the playoffs instead of 1 to 3 loss teams. It wouldn't help the miaa at all unless they were in the same region. It may further expose how bad the current setup is, but that would just be beating a dead horse at this point.

[IUPNation]

This was basically just an MIAA Whine Fest.

It came off to me that he wants most of his schools in the foosball playoffs at the expense of conferences other than the GSC in Regions 1 and 2...despite these 2 regions having the majority of schools sponsoring foosball at this level.

He says this when his own conference plays a SILO schedule so how do we know how good teams other than NWMO or Pitt really are among teams on Region 1 and 2.

An MIAA team has never set foot in Pennsylvania. IUP, Bloomsburg and Mon Valley U (California) have all been to Marysville. So if you want more of the playoff slots and your two top teams are spending well over 2 million a year to field a team when most schools in Division 2 are well below that number...you can afford to travel and prove yourself.

I don't buy the whole "make it a better experience for student athletes". Does he care about the experience for players in Region 1. I did not get that impression.

That whole time talking about what they should do "to fix things and make it fair for the MIAA" when all he had to say was that Region 3 and 4 need to be reshuffled so you can divorce the MIAA from GLIAC and the whining will go away.

[libertybearcat]

Lol.
I am 99% sure he meant those terms as they apply to opportunities for football teams, not as they apply to groups of people in general. I mean, you expect the worst from bearcat fans, but I think he may be innocent on this one.

You are correct PP! :)

[Predatory Primates]

Man, I'd want to be in both...

Lol.
I am 99% sure he meant those terms as they apply to opportunities for football teams, not as they apply to groups of people in general. I mean, you expect the worst from bearcat fans, but I think he may be innocent on this one.

[libertybearcat]

Man, I'd want to be in both...

Oh sure, way to ruin it for everyone! :)

[laker]

I liked the idea of not having conference teams play each other in the first round. There were a lot of good things talked about- I just hope that the higher ups would listen.

[GorillaTeacher]

Maybe we should have Two Divisions in D2 the D2-C division where Schools want to be Competitive and D2-DEI for schools who want Diversity Equity and Inclusion...wouldn't that make everyone happy? :)

Man, I'd want to be in both...

[libertybearcat]

Maybe we should have Two Divisions in D2 the D2-C division where Schools want to be Competitive and D2-DEI for schools who want Diversity Equity and Inclusion...wouldn't that make everyone happy? :)