Championship Weekend

D3Playbook NOVEMBER 8, 2019 | written by Steve Ulrich your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III Our goal is to keep you - the influencers in DIII athletics - apprised of what's happening around Division III - the games, polls, news, happenings, awards, calendar of events, and much more. We hope you enjoy d3Playbook and that you'll share this with your friends, colleagues and co-workers.   >> Good Friday Morning! Buckle up ... it's Championship Weekend. >> Today's Word Count: 1,077. A quick read. A smart read. >> Thanks for reading D3Playbook. Please invite your colleagues to sign up below.   Subscribe to d3Playbook 1. Championship Weekend   It started back in the heat of mid-August ... it comes to an end in the gray of November. It's Conference Championship Weekend in field hockey, soccer and volleyball with automatic berths to the NCAA tournament on the line. Today's d3Playbook takes a look at the next three days and what to watch for.   2.  How to Make the Field The regional rankings go a long way to determining if your favorite team can make it into the field without a conference title. >> Primary Criteria: W-L percentage vs. DIII opponents; strength of schedule; head-to-head competition; results vs. common opponents; results vs. ranked DIII teams; W-L percentage during last 25% of season. >> Secondary Criteria: results vs. non-DIII opponents; non-DIII W-L percentage; results vs. common non-DIII opponents; non-conference strength of schedule. >> Be Smart: After conferences determine their champion (automatic qualifiers or AQ) and the independents are selected, remaining teams are considered according to their regional ranking. Example: In Region X, team A is considered before teams B and C. Until A is selected as an at-large, B is not under discussion. B has to be selected before C is under consideration.   3. Field Hockey Seventeen conference champions ... two independents ... and five at-larges will make up the 24-team NCAA championship field. (#) regional ranking Conference tournaments to watch Saturday finals SUNYAC: (3) Cortland at (1) Geneseo, 11:30 NEWMAC: (3) MIT at (2) Babson, 1:00 NJAC: (3) Rowan at (1) TCNJ, 1:00 CAC Final: (4) Christopher Newport at (1) Salisbury, 2:00 Saturday semifinals NESCAC: (1) Middlebury vs. Hamilton, (2) Tufts vs. (4) Williams Centennial: (2) Johns Hopkins vs. Gettysburg, (3) F&M vs. Ursinus   4. Volleyball Forty-three conference champions ... one independent ... and 20 at-larges will make up the 64-team NCAA championship field. (#) regional ranking Conference tournaments to watch Saturday finals Landmark: (5) Juniata at (2) Susquehanna, 4:00 MIAA: (5) Hope at (1) Calvin, 7:00 MIAC: (2) St. Olaf at (1) St. Thomas, 7:00 WIAC: (4) Stevens Point at (5) Whitewater, 7:00 SCIAC: (5) Chapman at (2) Claremont-M-S, 7:00 Friday/Saturday/Sunday - Looking Ahead to potential finals Liberty: (1) Clarkson vs. (2) Ithaca NESCAC: (1) Tufts vs. (3) Wesleyan SAA: (2) Berry vs. (3) Birmingham-Southern SCAC: (1) Trinity TX vs. (3) Colorado College UAA: #1 Emory vs. #2 Chicago     SPONSORED MESSAGE Need assistance with a departmental review or a strategic plan? Time to refresh your conference's policies and procedures? Searching for talent for your athletic department? ASC is dedicated to small colleges and is committed to providing solutions for your concerns. Contact steveulrich.asc@gmail.com to see how ASC can help your organization.   5. Soccer (W) Forty-three conference champions ... one independent ... and 20 at-larges will make up the 64-team NCAA championship field. (#) regional ranking Conference tournaments to watch Saturday Final MAC Commonwealth: (4) Arcadia at (1) Messiah, 12:00 MIAC: (1) St. Thomas at (3) Augsburg, 2:00 SCIAC: (2) Cal Lutheran at (1) Pomona-Pitzer, 3:00 OAC: (5) Otterbein at (2) Ohio Northern, 5:00 Saturday Semifinals NESCAC: (3) Tufts vs. (5) Amherst, (2) Middlebury vs. (4) Williams Centennial: (2) Dickinson vs. (6) Gettysburg, (3) Johns Hopkins vs. (7) Haverford   6. Soccer (M) Forty-two conference champions ... one independent ... and 21 at-larges will make up the 64-team NCAA championship field. (#) regional ranking Conference tournaments to watch Saturday Final MIAC: (3) St. Thomas at (5) Gustavus Adolphus, 1:00 NCAC: (3) Ohio Wesleyan at (2) Kenyon, 1:00 Capital: (3) Mary Washington at (2) Christopher Newport, 6:00 American Rivers: (1) Luther at (4) Loras, 8:00 Saturday Semifinals NESCAC: (1) Amherst vs. (6) Middlebury, (2) Tufts vs. (4) Williams Centennial: (1) Johns Hopkins vs. (8) Dickinson, (2) F&M vs. (6) Gettysburg Liberty: (1) RPI vs. (8) Clarkson, (4) Hobart vs. RIT   7. Weekend Preview Football - D3Football.com Mount Union (vs. Muskingum) Mary Hardin-Baylor (vs. #25 Texas Lutheran) UW-Whitewater (vs UW-Stout) Wheaton, Ill. (vs. Carthage) Muhlenberg (at Gettysburg) North Central (vs. Illinois Wesleyan) Salisbury (at TCNJ) Saint John's (at Hamline) Bethel (vs. Augsburg) John Carroll (at Heidelberg) Ice Hockey (M) - USCHO UW-Stevens Point (vs. Gustavus Adolphus; vs. St. Thomas) Norwich (vs. New England College; vs. Southern Maine) St. Norbert (H/H vs. Lake Forest) Geneseo (vs. Canton) Oswego (vs. Plattsburgh; vs. Potsdam) Hobart (vs. Johnson & Wales; vs. Suffolk) Augsburg (H/A vs. Hamline) Adrian (A/A vs. Marian) Trinity (idle) Manhattanville (vs. #14 Utica; vs. Nazareth) Ice Hockey (W) - USCHO Plattsburgh (H/H vs. Oswego) Adrian (idle) Elmira (vs. Wilkes; vs. King's) Hamline (vs. UW-Superior; vs. Concordia WI) UW-River Falls (vs. Saint Mary's) Williams (idle) UW-Eau Claire (at Bethel; at Gustavus Adolphus) Norwich (at UMass Boston) St. Thomas (H/H vs. UW-Stevens Point) Middlebury (idle) H/H - home/home; H/A - home/away; A/H - away/home; A/A - away/away Basketball (M) - D3hoops.com Swarthmore (at Eastern) UW-Oshkosh (at Augustana) North Central Amherst Wittenberg Emory (vs. #19 Guilford) Washington-St. Louis (at Illinois College) Nebraska Wesleyan (vs. #12 Saint John's) Christopher Newport (at Johns Hopkins) Nichols Basketball (W) - D3hoops.com Amherst Tufts Scranton Wartburg Bowdoin Hope (at Luther) Mary Hardin-Baylor George Fox (at Trinity TX; vs. East Texas Baptist) St. Thomas (at East Texas Baptist; at Trinity TX) DePauw   8.  Comings and Goings   Glada Munt announced her retirement as director of athletics at Southwestern effective December 31. Glenn Schwab will assume AD duties on January 1. Carin Tuff resigned as head men's and women's tennis coach at North Central (Minn.). David Stabley named head coach. Courtney Hexter named head field hockey coach at Meredith. JD Whitt named assistant trap and skeet coach at Washington College.   9.  Today's Number: 32 The New York Times reports on Amherst College’s multi-year initiative to overhaul how it recruits student-athletes so that its teams will better reflect the diversity of its overall student body and include more underrepresented ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Three years ago, only 23 percent of recruited players were people of color, so the recruiting strategy branched beyond the usual youth sports tournaments to include athletic clubs in mixed neighborhoods, small urban gyms and athletes in other countries. The college says athletes of color account for 32 percent of its most recent recruiting class, a significant change from 2002, when that number was only 11 percent.   Subscribe to d3Playbook

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