D3football Daily Dose

It’s that time of year again, our first playoff projections.

This is where we take the 23 automatic bids, 11 of which are not yet set, then figure out at-large bids, some of which will lose between now and Selection Sunday, then seed them and pair them up logically … or fiscally … or geographically … or fiscally, depending on the bracket.

In doing this every year, we have to toe a fine line. We can call some conference races, leave some open, pretend we know what’s going to happen, or ignore what has yet to be played. This is an inexact science, but it’s an attempt to look at the entire field using the NCAA’s stated selection/seeding criteria. But you can’t simply try to project one bracket by itself. How do you know if there are eight West teams getting into the field, and not seven or nine or 10?

First, the basics:

Thirty-two teams will form four eight-team brackets. And we know the champions of 23 conferences will get an automatic bid to the playoffs. Three bids (Pool B) are set aside for independents or members of non-automatic bid conferences. The remaining six bids go to what’s called Pool C, which is everyone left over.

So how will the brackets be formed, who will play whom? That’s what we hope to answer. For more info check out our Playoff FAQ.

We projected the following results for Week 11: Wabash beating DePauw, Thomas More beating Mount St. Joseph, Johns Hopkins winning the Centennial. We didn’t project a winner in the NJAC, NEFC, Liberty League, USA South or NATHC because it didn’t appear it would matter to seedings. Nor did we project an Albright/Lebanon Valley winner. Their numbers are fairly similar no matter who wins.

Teams that have clinched playoff spots are in bold. On with the brackets:

Mount Union Bracket (seeded No. 1)
1. Mount Union
2. Delaware Valley
3. Alfred
4. NJAC winner
5. Lebanon Valley/Albright winner (Pool C)
6. NEFC winner
7. LL winner
8. Johns Hopkins
If Susquehanna beats Union, we’d probably flop them with Susquehanna. That would put JHU at Delaware Valley, but the NCAA committee only tries to avoid conference rematches in the first round. It doesn’t worry as much about non-conference rematches. If Averett wins the USA South, I would put it No. 8 in this bracket. The schools are within 500 miles of each other. The other USAC contender is North Carolina Wesleyan, which is more than 500 miles from Mount Union, outside the driving radius. Oh, and I guess I should just point out that Mount Union is in a bracket filled with primarily East teams.

UW-Whitewater Bracket (seeded No. 2)
1. UW-Whitewater
2. Wittenberg
3. Case Western Reserve (Pool B)
4. Illinois Wesleyan
5. Wabash (Pool C)
6. Trine
7. Ohio Northern (Pool C)
8. DePauw
DePauw with a loss would be looking at the No. 8 seed. With a win, they would grade out ahead of Trine, Wabash isn’t in this bracket, or even in the field. Dickinson would be next on the list if it wins and doesn’t get the Centennial Conference bid. Ohio Northern is in over Dickinson for now because it possesses something no other Pool C contender has: a win against a regionally ranked team. It also had the highest SOS of any Pool C contender. UW-Whitewater moved into this bracket

St. John’s Bracket (seeded No. 3)
1. St. John’s
2. Linfield
3. Central
4. Monmouth
5. St. Thomas (Pool C)
6. Coe (Pool C)
7. Cal Lutheran
8. NATHC champ
I was tempted to swap Monmouth and Illinois Wesleyan, but either way, one bracket would have had four unbeaten teams at the top. This would be a spot where we’d break apart the brackets, not because of geography but because the NCAA would not have Coe and Central meet in the first round. So, the Northern Athletics Conference champ at Central and Coe at St. John’s.

Wesley Bracket (seeded No. 4)
1. Wesley (Pool B)
2. Hampden-Sydney
3. Thomas More
4. Huntingdon (Pool B)
5. Mississippi College
6. Mary Hardin-Baylor (Pool C)
7. Mount St. Joseph
8. USAC winner
Mount St. Joseph fits better in this grouping than DePauw does, geographically. Mary Hardin-Baylor is flying to Thomas More, but heck, it has to fly somewhere.

St. Thomas, Coe, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Wabash, Lebanon Valley-Albright winner and Ohio Northern were the six Pool C teams I chose. Left on the board: the NJAC runner-up representing the East, North Central representing the North, Dickinson from the South and St. Norbert from the West.

The NCAA released its third 2009 regional rankings today. This is the last one we will see before they select the teams.

Teams are listed with their regional record first, followed by their overall record. For more information about the playoff format and how participants are determined, check out our FAQ.

Through games of Saturday, Nov. 7:

East Region
1. Delaware Valley 8-1 8-1
2. Alfred 7-1 7-1
3. Kean 8-1 8-1
4. Albright 7-1 8-1
5. Lebanon Valley 8-1 8-1
6. Montclair State 8-1 8-1
7. Curry 8-1 8-2
8. Springfield 7-2 7-2
9. Maine Maritime 8-1 8-1
10. Union 7-1 7-2

North Region
1. Mount Union 8-0 9-0
2. Wittenberg 7-0 9-0
3. Mount St. Joseph 9-0 9-0
4. Case Western Reserve 7-0 9-0
5. Illinois Wesleyan 8-1 8-1
6. Wabash 7-1 8-1
7. Trine 8-1 8-1
8. Ohio Northern 7-2 7-2
9. North Central (Ill.) 7-2 7-2
10. Concordia (Ill.) 8-1 8-1

South Region
1. Wesley 5-0 9-0
2. Hampden-Sydney 9-0 9-0
3. Thomas More 9-0 9-0
4. Huntingdon 5-0 8-1
5. Mississippi College 7-1 7-2
6. Mary Hardin-Baylor 6-1 8-1
7. Dickinson 8-1 8-1
8. Washington and Jefferson 8-1 8-1
9. DePauw 7-1 7-1
10. Johns Hopkins 7-2 7-2

West Region
1. UW-Whitewater 7-0 9-0
2. St. John’s 9-0 9-0
3. Linfield 7-0 8-0
4. Central 10-0 10-0
5. Monmouth 10-0 10-0
6. St. Thomas 8-1 8-1
7. Coe 8-1 8-1
8. Cal Lutheran 7-1 7-1
9. Redlands 7-1 7-1
10. St. Norbert 9-1 9-1

Good morning, Division III fans.

As those of you focused on the playoff picture eagerly await Wednesday afternoon’s release of the selection committee’s regional rankings, I thought I’d further an experiment I started Tuesday morning on the Pool C thread of Post Patterns.

Attempting to illustrate the not-seen-before possibilities the geography of this year’s potential field allows, I slapped together a mock bracket to get some discussion going. I’ll run a slightly-adjusted version of that bracket below, plus a more traditional one, and maybe even a third to show how slightly altering the field via Pool C can have a domino effect.

Let it be very clear that these are not things I think will or should happen, necessarily. And I wouldn’t want anyone to confuse a few of my hastily-assembled mocks with Pat and Gordon’s carefully crafted, traditionally accurate night-before-Selection-Sunday projections. There are too many unknowns as of yet to spend a lot of time working up something we’re likely to see Sunday, but it’s not too early to consider as many possibilities as situations might allow.

Mock One

Pool C teams: UMHB, St. Thomas, Coe, Wabash, Redlands, Lebanon Valley/Albright winner

1 Mount Union
8 Union

4 Thomas More
5 Alfred

3 Case Western Reserve
6 Mount St. Joseph

2 Wittenberg
7 Trine
————
1 UW-Whitewater
8 DePauw

4 Ill. Wesleyan
5 Wabash

3 Monmouth
6 Coe

7 St. Thomas
2 Central
———–
1 Wesley
7 LV/Albright

3 Hampden-Sydney
8 NCWC/Averett winner

4 Kean/Montclair State
5 Curry

2 Delaware Valley
6 Johns Hopkins

————
1 St. John’s
8 NathCon champ

3 Huntingdon
6 Mississippi College

4 Cal Lutheran
5 UMHB

7 Redlands
2 Linfield

Mock Two

Pool C teams: St. Thomas, St. Norbert, Dickinson, Coe, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Ohio Northern

1 Mount Union
8 Susquehanna

4 Mount St. Joseph
5 Ohio Northern

3 Case Western Reserve
6 Alfred

2 Kean/Montclair
7 Johns Hopkins
————
1 UW-Whitewater
7 Trine

4 Wittenberg
5 Thomas More

3 Monmouth
6 Ill. Wesleyan

8 (Nath Con)
2 Central
———–
1 Wesley
8 Curry

4 Huntingdon
5 Mississippi College

3 H-SC
6 NCWC/Averett

2 Delaware Valley
7 Dickinson
————
1 St. John’s
8 St. Norbert

4 St. Thomas
5 Coe

4 UMHB
5 DePauw

7 Cal Lutheran
2 Linfield

Mock Three

Pool C teams: LV/Albright, Otterbein, Wabash, W&J, UMHB, St. Thomas

1 Mount Union
8 Wash. & Jeff.

4 Case Western Reserve
5 St. John Fisher

3 Montclair/Kean
6 Maine Maritime

2 Susquehanna
7 Delaware Valley
————
1 UW-Whitewater
8 Concordia (Wis.)

5 Otterbein
4 Wabash

3 Wittenberg
6 Mount St. Joseph

7 Illinois Wesleyan
2 St. John’s
———–
1 Wesley
8 Randolph-Macon

4 Dickinson
5 Leb Val/Albright

3 Miss. Coll.
6 UMHB

7 Averett
2 Huntingdon
————
1 Central
8 St. Thomas

4 Thomas More
5 Trine

3 Monmouth
6 DePauw

7 Cal Lutheran
2 Linfield

No. 1 seeds: as for the top seeds, I did not determine who would meet in the semis with these brackets. But I think it’s likely that UW-W and St. John’s brackets would be paired and Mount Union and Wesley would, based on how the teams have been ranked.

Quick observations: This is hard work. … As you can see in mock 3, I tried, but I don’t think with all the Ohio area teams set to make the field that it’s a great idea to build the East around Mount Union. It makes sense to do the North there and group a bunch of the Pa. teams around Wesley … I tried in mock 3 to throw some of the improbable AQ winners in there to bump the familiar names … unless UMHB misses out, splitting up those three deep south teams is going to be costly … seeds vary a lot through the mocks, and some of the brackets would likely be seeded differently than the traditional 1-8, 5-4, 3-6, 7-2.

Anyway, let me know what you think below. Happy speculating!

Thirty-two playoff spots. Twelve are secure. How will the other 20 shake out? That’s the focus of this week’s Around the Nation podcast.

Some conferences are easy to figure, with head-to-head games lined up to decide who takes home the automatic bid. Some are a little complicated, including the potential four-way tie in the Centennial and the Northern Athletics Conference.

And then there’s the at-large bids. We identified up to 14 teams that could get consideration for Pool C bids. Problem is, there’s just six spots to go around.

Who? When? And where can you get the selection show? Yeah, that’s important. And that’s why we lead off this most important week of the Division III football season with this Around the Nation podcast.

Click the play button below to listen.

You can load the podcast page in iTunes or can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?feed=podcast

 

 Around the Nation Podcast [44:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Playoff spots will be going out left, right and center today, as we lock up a few more of the 23 automatic bids to the Division III football playoffs.

Plenty of action going on, detailed on the front page. Our own Gordon Mann is calling the Delaware Valley-Albright game, and if I weren’t headed to St. Thomas-Bethel myself, that’s what I’d be listening to. Click here to listen.

We list other potential clinchers on the front page. Wesley doesn’t have an AQ to play for but is going to be interesting this week, as quarterback Shane McSweeney’s status is in doubt.

More? Chime in, plus follow us on Twitter.

I posted this on our D3hoops blog already, but thought I would run it past the football readers. Some misguided sports psychologist studied a soccer team and a tennis team and came to the following conclusion:

Division I athletes wanted to win, but those playing in Division III wanted to make friends.

I think all of us here know that’s not true. Thankfully, Division III has a sports psychologist of its own: St. Thomas men’s basketball assistant coach John Tauer. He wrote a response to this blog:

The majority of Division III athletes I have coached or coached against are highly motivated by many factors, not just making friends. one of those factors is competition — individuals and teams in Division III work incredibly hard. Division III athletes are not on athletic scholarships. As a result, they may actually have higher levels of intrinsic motivation than their Division I and II counterparts.

While this is certainly preaching to the choir, I still think it’s worth passing along. I think it’s important to highlight and debunk every misconception about Division III athletics, every time possible.

Dr. Reiss then posted another column attempting to explain away his mischaracterization of Division III by, in part, blaming the blog format which requires him to write a teaser.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/who-we-are/200911/intrinsic-motivation-is-multifaceted

(Never mind that the mischaracterization was also repeated in the blog post itself, which has no such format restriction.)

The NCAA released its second 2009 regional rankings today.

Teams are listed with their regional record first, followed by their overall record. For more information about the playoff format and how participants are determined, check out our FAQ.

EAST REGION
1. Alfred 7-0 7-0
2. Albright 7-0 8-0
3. Delaware Valley 6-1 7-1
4. Kean 7-1 7-1
5. Springfield 7-1 7-1
6. Lebanon Valley 7-1 7-1
7. Montclair State 7-1 7-1
8. Curry 7-1 7-2
9. Maine Maritime 7-1 7-1
10. Union 6-1 6-2

NORTH REGION
1. Mount Union 7-0 8-0
2. Wittenberg 6-0 8-0
3. Mount St. Joseph 8-0 8-0
4. Case Western Reserve 7-0 8-0
5. Illinois Wesleyan 7-1 7-1
6. Wabash 6-1 7-1
7. Wheaton (Ill.) 7-1 7-1
8. Trine 7-1 7-1
9. Otterbein 7-1 7-1
10. Allegheny 7-1 7-1

SOUTH REGION
1. Wesley 5-0 8-0
2. Hampden-Sydney 8-0 8-0
3. Thomas More 8-0 8-0
4. Huntingdon 4-0 7-1
5. Mississippi College 6-1 6-2
6. Mary Hardin-Baylor 5-1 7-1
7. Centre 7-1 7-1
8. Dickinson 7-1 7-1
9. Washington and Jefferson 7-1 7-1
10. DePauw 6-1 6-1

WEST REGION
1. St. John’s 8-0 8-0
2. UW-Whitewater 6-0 8-0
3. Linfield 7-0 8-0
4. Central 9-0 9-0
5. Monmouth 9-0 9-0
6. St. Thomas 7-1 7-1
7. Coe 7-1 7-1
8. Cal Lutheran 6-1 6-1
9. Redlands 6-1 6-1
10. St. Norbert 8-1 8-1

Four teams clinched. A couple teams played their way out of at-large bids. A few new quarterbacks took the field and the PAC had a … wait, a not-so-new champion.

Suddenly, it seems Washington and Jefferson has lost more PAC championships than it’s won over the past five years. What happened? That’s one of many topics Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman take on in this week’s Around the Nation podcast.

In addition, get their take on the first regional rankings and a look at how they might change. Find out how a backup quarterback prepares and gets prepared for being thrust into the lineup, and how it makes a difference for everyone else on the offense. We pick up on a handful of teams that are flying below the radar but still having surprisingly strong seasons. Plus, a look back at Dome Day and Maine Maritime’s record rushing day.

Click the play button below to listen.

You can load the podcast page in iTunes or can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?feed=podcast

 

 Around the Nation Podcast [40:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You had to get here pretty early in the morning to follow what might well end up being the most exciting game of the week. In the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference’s annual Dome Day, MacMurray and Crown led off with a track meet. MacMurray defeated Crown 68-62 in overtime. The game came one score from tying the Division III record for most points in regulation, which was 131, set when Earlham defeated Manchester 69-62 on Sept. 10, 2005.

Once the game got to overtime, the overall scoring record was in danger as well, which was set two years ago, when Hartwick beat Utica 72-70 in quadruple overtime on Nov. 10, 2007.

In the end, though, MacMurray came up with one stop in overtime. I spoke with MacMurray coach Jake Box after the game and the recording is below:

 

 Podcast: MacMurray coach Jake Box [2:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The UMAC has four more games here today, and then we have a hundred more on Saturday, so we’re already set to go. There’s a big game in Washington, Pa., one in Dover, Del., one in Union, N.J., one in Bloomington, Ill., and others elsewhere. The PAC automatic bid could be wrapped up on Saturday, as can the HCAC, IIAC and the MWC, while others could be clinched with a combination of a win and a loss.

The ever-traveling Craig Burroughs is here at Dome Day, who writes for Don Hansen and travels to more games than the entire D3football.com braintrust put together. (Well, close anyway. Between me, Keith, Gordon and Ryan Tipps I think we do out-do Craig, but not by much. We don’t usually see JV games and we don’t go to non-Division III games either.)

I’ll put more MacMurray-Crown observations in the comments.

While Keith is off climbing South America’s five highest peaks, swimming with sharks off the Yucatan Peninsula, dog sledding in the Northwest Territories, or doing whatever else he may like to do on vacation, Deputy Managing Editor Gordon Mann is going to help us break down the Allhallows Eve matchups for this week’s Triple Take. Regional rankings are out, and only 32 teams can be in. Some teams are in for treats, while others are certain to get tricked.

Game of the Week
Ryan’s take: No. 11 Washington and Jefferson at No. 20 Thomas More. This is a game I’ve been looking forward to with curiosity for much of the season, primarily because I’ve been unconvinced as to how good the Presidents are this year. I’ve looked on Thomas More considerably more favorably throughout the past two months, and with both teams able to rest their laurels on their rushing offenses and defenses, it’ll be interesting to see how much of this comes down to the muscle in the trenches.
Gordon’s take: Rowan at Kean. These two teams have spent several weeks drawing a very bright line between the title contenders and the lower level teams in the NJAC. Now they put aside those impressive margins of victory in what could be a very entertaining match up. Which quarterback will lead his team to victory — Profs scrambler Frank Wilczynski (243 total yards per game, 11 touchdowns) or Cougars gun slinger Tom D’Ambrisi (222 passing yards per game, 14 passing touchdowns)?
Pat’s take: No. 2 UW-Whitewater at UW-Stevens Point. Do you think Whitewater got a little extra incentive this week? Whitewater lost to Stevens Point last year, costing it the WIAC’s automatic bid to the playoffs a second-round home game. And now, this week, Whitewater learned that it was the fourth-ranked team in the NCAA’s West Region rankings. So I am not picking this necessarily as a great game on the field, so to speak, but a showcase for what Whitewater can do.

Surprisingly close game.
Ryan’s take: Franklin at Rose-Hulman. No team in the HCAC may be in as good a position as the Engineers to put the brakes on Franklin’s passing game. And if Rose can keep the Grizzlies out of the red zone, they have a chance to make their five-touchdowns-a-game average really count.
Gordon’s take: No. 23 Delaware Valley vs. King’s. The Aggies defense has been very stingy, surrendering just seven points total to Wilkes and Lycoming. But Wilkes-Barre has always been a tough place for Del Val to play, plus the Aggies will be without senior quarterback Mike Isgro who is battling a sore shoulder. Instead junior Mark Hatty will get his first career start against a Monarchs squad that just missed beating Lycoming and hung in against Albright.
Pat’s take: Salisbury at No. 3 Wesley. I suspect Salisbury is only playing for Eastern Shore pride, perhaps an ECAC bowl game. The Sea Gulls don’t have enough firepower to get through the Wesley defense and hang with the Wesley offense, at least not on paper. But they’re rivals, after all … and can’t things happen in those games? Right?

Most likely Top 25 team to get upset.
Ryan’s take: No. 9 North Central. What more talked about kink in the CCIW hose would there be than for Illinois Wesleyan to bring together all the pieces and pull out the upset against North Central? Will the Cardinals be complacent after winning big last week against Wheaton? I doubt it, but Aaron Fanthorpe will need to be on target for the full 60 minutes because few teams can exploit turnovers the way Illinois Wesleyan has been able to this season.
Gordon’s take: No. 21 Occidental. The Tigers should be favored at home playing Cal Lutheran with a chance to take a strangle hold on the SCIAC. But they were at home last week, too, when they narrowly beat winless La Verne 14-13. The Kingsmen would still have to get by Redlands if they can pick up the road win here, but I like CLU to add some Hollywood level drama to the conference race.
Pat’s take: No. 24 Alfred. With injury questions about No. 1 quarterback Tommy Secky, who didn’t get out of the second quarter, I’d think that Rochester has a shot. The Yellowjackets are 3-4, but have only been blown out once, losing tight games to St. John Fisher, Union and Susquehanna while beating RPI and WPI.

They’ll be on your radar.
Ryan’s take: Salisbury. I haven’t decided whether this is a team that’s down and out, or just down. The Gulls are 2-2 against Division III teams, and all register as either quality wins or understandable losses. But with Wesley on tap for tomorrow, it’ll be important to know which Salisbury team is going to show up and whether this defense-heavy squad can come close to slowing the Wolverine machine.
Gordon’s take: No. 2 UW-Whitewater. Okay, it’s not that the Warhawks are off anyone’s radar. Nor do I think they’ll lose to UW-Stevens Point, despite the Pointers’ upset last year. But I’ve been as indecisive as Brett Favre at an offseason press conference on whether Mount Union or UW-Whitewater should be No. 1. This game will give us a point of comparison for the Warhawks similar to what we already have for Mount Union in its wins over Capital and Ohio Northern.

Based on preseason expectations, which team are you most surprised/impressed with to see in the regional rankings? And how will they fare Saturday?
Ryan’s take: The three MAC representatives. I hope I’m not stepping on Gordon’s turf too much here, but I couldn’t help but register the fact that last year, only one MAC team made an appearance on any of the regional rankings, and that was Albright at the very end of the regular season. It seemed like the polish had tarnished on the proud conference. This year, though, has marked an impressive resurgence for the conference top to bottom, going 16-8 in nonconference play, and getting three teams (Albright, Delaware Valley and Lebanon Valley) in the debut regional rankings. And come Saturday, all three should emerge winners.
Gordon’s take: No. 7 Otterbein. In the preseason I thought the Cardinals could be good, but probably not good enough to distinguish themselves from the talented scrum of OAC teams sitting behind Mount Union. And certainly not good enough to be ranked second in the first North region rankings. Otterbein needs one more win to equal last year’s 8-0 start with the trip to Alliance still looming on Nov. 7. The Cards will get it emphatically against Marietta (2-5).
Pat’s take: Coe. Although I seem to be typecasting myself as the West Region guy these days with this pick. Coming off a 4-6 season last year, the Kohawks were an afterthought in my projection of the IIAC race, but a Week 1 win against Augustana, and then a Week 7 win at Wartburg changed that. Coe shouldn’t have a problem at 2-5 Loras.

Which relatively new program has the best chance at a win this week?
Ryan’s take: St. Vincent. It wasn’t so long ago that the Bearcats were an easy win even for a team like Gallaudet, which was coming to the varsity level after years of club play. At 0-8, St. Vincent still isn’t a success story in the grand scheme of things, but a narrow 21-7 loss to W&J just two weeks ago suggests that they’re moving in the right direction. And both of the next two games (against Thiel and Bethany) are squarely in the “winnable” category.
Gordon’s take: Castleton State. The Spartans head to Becker which has scored more than one touchdown just once all year, a 62-39 loss to Maine Maritime. Castleton State has put some points this year and should be focused on this road game as a chance to notch its first win over a non-first year team. If the Spartans can go 3-6 in their first season, that’ll be a nice feather in their helmets when they recruit against the other very young programs in New England.
Pat’s take: St. Scholastica. Yeah, West guy. The Saints play Eureka on Friday in the Metrodome as part of the expanded UMAC’s Dome Day. I’d like to say Anna Maria, which hosts Gallaudet, can finish off its inaugural season with a win, but the Amcats have only been competitive against Castleton State.

Which conference without a team ranked in this week’s poll will go deepest in the playoffs?
Ryan’s take: Centennial. With four teams tied at the top, the team to get the automatic qualifier is still very much an unknown — and a Pool C isn’t out of the question either. But what I’ve seen of the Centennial teams is that when they’re healthy and on their game, they’re to be taken seriously. The conference this year is a classic beat-each-other-up scenario, leaving teams to easily fly under the radar. But that doesn’t mean they can’t drop some bombs on opponents into Round 2.
Gordon’s take: Essentially we’re looking for a surprise team who might be able to get two wins, and definitely one, in the playoffs. The East is definitely the easiest place to do that, provided a team can avoid getting shipped to Mount Union. There’s room for an unranked team to get a favorable first round draw and surprise a playoff newbie, like Alfred or Albright, at their place in the second round. So let’s go with the NJAC.
Pat’s take: The Liberty League. If Union wins, I figure there are plenty of opportunities for the Dutchmen to get a first-round game against a beatable opponent. I don’t see that for the HCAC, SCAC or some of the other leagues that don’t have any ranked teams.