Bids

MIDD · **Bids -** 02-20-2008, 12:13 PM

So somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks to me that after the Williams inter-divisional seven of the ten DII playoff bids are accounted for:

Middlebury
Amherst
WPI
UMASS Lowell
Bowdoin
Brown
Williams

Yet there are four automatic bids left from the remaining two interdivisionals. What happens if neither Middlebury, nor UMass Lowell, nor Bowdoin, nor Brown place in the top two of their tournament? There will be eleven teams capturing bids for a tournament with only ten spots.

I know its not likely but any thoughts?

~Aaron

Dave · 02-21-2008, 01:45 PM

Aaron,

I think I understand the policy, since I was on the board last year when we ironed it out. So as long as the policy didn't change while I was abroad, here's how it should work:

Number of teams to qualify=total number/2 rounded up = 22/2 = 11 or 12 if they want a good number for pools.

The top two teams from each division qualify for playoffs, giving 6 teams. Then the winners of each interdivisional, giving 3 more. The remaining spots are determined by overall record, which matches, games, points, head-to-head, and Jung's intuition as tie-breaker. If this is correct, then as of now the teams to qualify based on divisionals are:

Bowdoin, UMass-Lowell, WPI, Brown, Middlebury, and either Amherst or Williams depending how that tie was broken.

Since WPI came out on top of their interdivisional, that adds no teams. But based on record, it seems very likely that Amherst and Williams will both qualify. Wesleyan is a tougher case because they were only 1-5 in the division, giving them a 5-6 overall record. UNE was in a similar situation a couple of years ago (except they were 2-4 in division and better than .500 overall) and didn't qualify, but that's where it's up to the board. They did beat WPI, which is strong evidence in their favor. It will also depend on this weekend as more of those spots may be taken up if say Vermont or Maine win their interdivisionals instead of teams who have already qualified.

Hope this helps. Please note that my opinions have nothing to do with the board and that my memory of qualification procedures may be wrong.

Dave (Bowdoin #15)