Built on Basketball

 

>> Good Friday Morning!  >> Cake and Candles. Happy Birthday to NCAA Managing Director of Championships Liz Suscha. Want to give a S/O to a coach or administrator celebrating a birthday? Email us at D3Playbook@gmail.com >> Today's Word Count: 971. An easy read. >> Interested in advertising in D3Playbook?  >> Thanks for reading. Remember to follow us on Twitter @D3Playbook for the latest news and transactions   Sign Up for Free: D3Playbook TOP STORY 1. Built on Basketball by Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico "March Madness, as it does every spring, will make or break the NCAA’s fiscal year. While top-tier college football is both more popular and a much larger commercial entity than college basketball, the NCAA makes virtually no money from its postseason. The governing body controls neither the College Football Playoff, nor any FBS bowl games. As a result, the annual men’s basketball tournament is everything for the NCAA. Pre-pandemic, the event comprised more than 85% of the NCAA’s roughly $1 billion in annual revenue. The vast majority of that total comes from broadcast deals with CBS and Turner, but it also includes ticket sales and sponsorship." >> Why It Matters: "That explains why the Indianapolis-based NCAA is doing whatever necessary to hold this year’s tournament. The entire 67-game event is being held within Indiana, with strict testing requirements, travel restrictions and replacement teams waiting in the wings. The good news: Despite no ticket sales, the NCAA says the total payout pool will return to normal—$613.2 million this year—if the event is held in its entirety." >> Read More   PREVIEW 2. Tennis 2021 We continue our look at spring sports with tennis. Men's Teams to Watch Brandeis Carnegie Mellon Chicago Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Emory Kenyon Pomona-Pitzer Sewanee Trinity, Texas Washington, Mo. Wesleyan, Conn. Top Players Leo Vithoontien, Carleton; James Hopper, Case Western; Joshua Xu, Chicago; Jack Katzman, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps; Antonio Mora, Emory; Vishnu Joshi, Johns Hopkins; Jed Kronenberg, Pomona-Pitzer; Cameron Krimbill, Trinity, Texas; Boris Sorkin, Tufts; Ethan Hillis, Washington, Mo. >> Team Championships: UC Santa Cruz 7, Kalamazoo 7, Emory 5, Swarthmore 4, Williams 4, Middlebury 3, Redlands 3 >> Most NCAA Tournaments Without a Semifinal Appearance: MIT 22, Mary Washington 20, Sewanee 17, DePauw 15, Coe 14, Johns Hopkins 14, Grinnell 13, TCNJ 13, Stevens 12, Wilkes 12   Women's Teams to Watch Carnegie Mellon Chicago Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Emory Johns Hopkins Kenyon Pomona-Pitzer Skidmore Tufts Wesleyan, Conn. Top Players Grace Riermann, Bethel; Danna Taylor, Carnegie Mellon; Madeleine Paolucci, Case Western; Lauren Park, Chicago; Justine Leong, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps; Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico, Emory; Erika Oku, Kenyon; Maria Lyven, Pomona-Pitzer; Risa Fukushige, Skidmore; Serim Jin, Wesleyan, Conn.  >> Team Championships: Williams 10, Emory 7, Kenyon 3, Mary Washington 2 >> Most NCAA Tournaments Without a Semifinal Appearance: Washington (Mo.) 19, Tufts 18, DePauw 14, Hope 14, Luther 13, Wilkes 13, Ithaca 12, Wheaton (Ill.) 12, UW-Whitewater 12   WEEKEND 3.  What We're Watching   It's a jam-packed weekend of DIII sports action. Here's what we are keeping an eye on. Baseball #7 Salisbury vs. #9 Rowan Basketball (M/W) (M) #14 Trinity, Texas vs. St. Thomas, Texas (W) Saint Vincent vs. Washington & Jefferson Football John Carroll vs. Mount Union Ice Hockey (M/W) (W) Adrian vs. St. Scholastica Lacrosse (M/W) (M) #2 Lynchburg vs. #11 Christopher Newport (M) #4 Salisbury vs. #5 Cabrini (W) #5 Salisbury vs. #10 TCNJ (W) #11 St. John Fisher vs. #17 William Smith Softball #9 Berry vs. #13 Birmingham-Southern #10 Transylvania vs. #22 Trine Tennis (M/W) (M) Mary Washington vs. N.C. Wesleyan (M) Case Western vs. Denison Volleyball (M/W) (M) #2 New Paltz vs. #12 St. John Fisher (M) #3 Carthage vs. #13 North Central, Ill. (W) #12 Coe vs. #15 Loras The Weekend Schedule BSB | MBB | WBB | FB | MIH | WIH | MLX | WLX   FACILITIES 4.  Boathouse Row courtesy of Hamilton College "From its days in the 1980s as a fledgling club sport, rowing at Hamilton has been powered by the rowers themselves, first as students, then as alumni. The sport grew, attaining varsity status and success at the national level. Now, alumni rowers have pulled together for another victory — a new boathouse, made possible by gifts they raised and contributed over the past two years. Construction is scheduled to begin in April on the $2 million structure, which is located on the Erie Canal in Rome’s Bellamy Harbor Park, and should be ready to use in August. The facility will be a significant enhancement from the current rented one. It will include a much larger boat storage and operations area, a team meeting room, a coaching office, and indoor restrooms. The location itself is an advantage. “The stretch of water on the Erie Canal in front of the new site is connected to the Mohawk River and opens up earlier in the spring,” explained James Lister, head coach for women’s and men’s rowing. “This is a huge gain for the program and will allow us two more weeks of rowing outside.” >> Continue Reading   BASKETBALL 5.  Birman Honored by WBCA  The Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced today the 2021 Assistant Coaches of the Year in all six WBCA membership divisions. The WBCA Assistant Coach of the Year award is presented to one associate head coach or assistant coach in each membership division who demonstrates commitment to their program, their student-athletes and their head coach; their impact coaching on court; their mentorship and impact on other coaches; and their professional manner and attitude.   Division III: Elisabeth Birman, Shenandoah   Birman is in her fifth year on the Shenandoah staff; her second year as the squad's lead assistant. She came to Shenandoah in the fall of 2016 after serving as an assistant coach at Northwest High School in Germantown, Maryland. In July 2019, she was promoted by head coach Melissa Smeltzer-Kraft to the full-time assistant position after three years in a part-time role. >> Complete Release >> WBCA Release   TRANSACTIONS 6. Comings and Goings   JOHNS HOPKINS - Kayla Robbins named assistant women's basketball coach SKIDMORE - John Barnes named assistant baseball coach   1 THING 7.  Stream A Little Dream of Me   Reproduced from RIAA. Chart: Axios Visuals The overwhelming majority of music revenues now comes from streaming, with less than 6% coming from digital downloads, Felix Salmon writes in Axios Capital. Artists and genres appealing to a younger audience see almost no downloads at all.    Thanks for starting your day with us. Please invite your friends to sign up for D3Playbook.    Sign Up for Free: D3Playbook