DII Rankings

MIDD · **DII Rankings -** 02-25-2008, 05:30 PM

Now that all the tournament scores are in and posted and there are no other tournaments until playoffs, I figure we might as well start tossing our arbitrary rankings around.

So I'll go first...leaving Middlebury out in the interest of impartiality.

1.WPI
The only team other than Middlebury to win both of their tournaments.
This has to count for something. And while I know that Brown was missing a lot of key players when they lost to WPI, I have nothing else to go on.

2. Brown
Really a toss up contender for the #1 spot after some decisive wins at Brandeis this weekend. Saw them play at Roger Williams and they were solid all around.

3. Brandeis
I finally get to a team that I've played. So I'd like to think that these next few are a little less random. Two players that can put the ball away hard. Gave us a great match down at Roger Williams. I know that the list is starting to get pretty central heavy, but after playing all but Weslyan in the south I'd say Brandeis is a half step ahead of the rest of them.

4. Williams
A solid 8-3 record against some good competition. Have only lost to Middlebury, WPI, and Amherst. Have one strong middle and a whole load of scrappy defense.

5. CCSU
This is my sleeper pick. While their record was not great and they probably wont make the playoffs, there is no team that I would less like to face come playoff time then CCSU. They have the most potential out of any team and whether its just a failure to finish or streaky play I don't know, but this team is solid.

Noticable absence: Any team from the north. I just haven't been impressed by any of their play. After playing Lowell without our strongest hitter I can say that I would rather play them than any of the five listed above. As for Bowdoin maybe they were missing a few key players this weekend, but I don't know if even that excuses a 1-3 record.

Anyways, this is my first year in the league so I know nothing about team's pasts and whether they have fallen or risen, but that's my two cents worth. Go ahead and fire away.

~Aaron
Middlebury's Coach/Captain/Libero

8outside · 02-25-2008, 07:18 PM

thanks for putting CCSU in there ..we feel we are good but just messed up to much especially at the first tournament.. I personally think its almost like we can loss to the worst team or beat the best on any given day.. unfortunately 4-7 probably wont get us to playoffs

Brown, Brandeis, and Middlebury looked the strongest.. and I didnt get to see WPI but im guessing they are good as well

Bryant 14 · 02-25-2008, 07:43 PM

I agree with the majority of your picks, but since I haven't played against many other teams than in Central, I won't pretend to know the talent of the other conferences.

Really the only thing I'm disagreeing with is putting WPI first. There's no taking away their record, and they definitely deserved all their wins, but I have to put Brown first. A healthy Brown is a phenominal team, and even though WPI beat Brown, I just can't bring myself to put them 2nd.

But WPI and Brown will definitely have a large bullseye on their backs come playoff time.

Middlebury, especially for being a first year team, you guys play well. Playing you guys at UML was probably the most fun I've had in a match this year. It really was a great match, and as frustrating as it was to lose 4 match points, you guys pulled out a huge win.

I probably shouldn't be talking about Bryant in this, as it is going to be purely subjective and biased, but I'm going to anyway. I feel like we're a competitive team. We have been in every match we've played, (the exception being the first game against Brown at the first tourny), but we just can't seem to close out a game. We had UML by a fair margin in the first game, but we just couldn't close it out. And this is by no means an excuse, but we were missing one of our outsides, and our starting right side hitter. They may not have made a dramatic impact on the court, but they are definitely emotional leaders.

I feel like we should get into the playoffs based on our divisional record, and our showing at the Interdivisional, and I think we can definitely surprise some teams.

That's my 2 cents, as I mentioned, I haven't seen many teams this year, so it would be unfair of me to base them on what I remember from last year, because if anyone remembers Bryant last year, this year is a whole new ball game.

MIDD · 02-25-2008, 08:16 PM

Byrant-

I'm pretty sure that you guys will get an at large bid, or you guys at least deserve one. I was impressed with most parts of your guys game (minus your coach's sportsmanship). You guys cover unbelievable well and have a scrappy defense that gets some real hard hit balls back to the other side of the court. All you guys need is one big hitter to put you over the edge.

~Aaron

Bryant 14 · 02-26-2008, 12:17 AM

To be honest, that up ref was being overly sensitive. As a ref you need to be able to block things like that out. It's not like our coach was yelling at him, he put his hand in the air. Oh well.

Yeah it would be nice to get a hitter who was over 6'0", haha.

Deis17 · 02-26-2008, 02:03 AM

I think the rankings here are pretty good. Having played against Brown, Middlebury and WPI, I believe Brown is the team to beat out of those 3. While WPI did win when they played head to head, as long as Brown's top players are all there, I think they are the strongest team in D2. No offense to WPI, who are definitely a solid team, but Brown was missing their top 2 players. Not that someone can't pull off an upset against Brown, but it will be much harder if they have everyone able to play.

After Brown, I think Middlebury and WPI are pretty even. Having played against Middlebury at Roger Williams, and WPI at the Marty Open and in our Divisional, I think they would match up well.

Our only losses to D2 teams have been to Brown, Middlebury and WPI, with Middlebury being during the preseason. I haven't seen the other top teams from the South, like Williams and Amherst, but I think ranking us fourth is pretty fair.

Josh

Brown7 · 03-03-2008, 02:31 PM

I think putting us second is fair. In fact, we're glad to be even considered in the top 5 list after an extremely disappointing season last year. From my close observation on how WPI plays, they are a decent and a very competitive team. Despite the fact that we were missing a couple of key players while we played them head to head, WPI played a strong game against us and unquestionably deserved every point they won. Thus, putting them first over us is definitely fair.

Having played against most of the top teams in the league (especially after watching all the games on videos about a dozen times), and all the information about Middlebury posted in this forum, I think the playoff will be very interesting. I personally believe Brandeis has a lot of potentials and can very well be the team to beat in the playoff.