My Cyber Monday gift to you isn't much... but hopefully one final mock bracket was on your list.
I've been saying for several weeks that the mock brackets are getting harder and harder to make... but that's before I start crunching the numbers. The last couple of weeks, especially last week's, weren't too bad. This one makes me a little nervous going in though, because we're going to have to start considering two-loss teams in some of the at large spots.
As a quick refresher if you're new to this concept created by the authors of the book depicted to the left, the Death to the BCS Playoffs are a 16 team playoff made up of all ten conference champions and filled with six at large spots. Where I come in is with the selection criteria. I kind of organically fill and seed the field by combining my NCSS and Playoff Points rankings and combine those with computer rankings compiled by Jeff Sagarin and a UCLA faculty member using the publicly available formula created by the late David Rothman.
So with that, here's a look at the final mock bracket before I do one for real.
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!
Our second to last week of the regular season is in the books, though just about everyone is finished with their seasons at this point. So with the last mass week of football in the books, it's time to take a look at the numbers.
Last week's Playoff Points rankings didn't really change much other than some minor swings in a couple spots. For the most part though, everything is locked in, but these rankings are important to some degree.
If you need a refresher on how Playoff Points work, you can refer back
to my Week 1 post. Here is an update on what we're looking at through 13 weeks of football.
The coalition is back, and Adam has returned from vacation to rejoin me for the stretch run!
Last week we saw history get made, and it was something my dad texted me about on Monday after I had taken note of it. Four of the 14 games from last week were consensus picks by all four people in our contest. We split those games. The other ten were all "hero" picks where one person went against the grain. Every person going hero won that game, and everybody won at least one. Geoffy did the best, getting four hero picks to lead the week, taking four of our six disputed picks.
Adam will return to picking games with me for each of the next six weeks as I try to complete a comeback. I'm within striking distance; I'm only eight games back of him with those six weeks to go. It's doable.
We're finally all done with bye weeks, so we're back to 16 games the rest of the way. Adam and I disagree on six games this week. From all of us here at Confessions of a Sportscaster, have a happy Thanksgiving!
Last week was the week I hate in every college football season where we see a handful of cowards in power programs who schedule cupcakes for the second to last game of the regular season. Starting today, many teams are playing their twelfth and final game between now and Saturday, though a few still have one more week to go beyond this one. Either way, there are non-conference games that need to be looked at.
One note of a correction from last week: I didn't realize that Notre Dame and Boston College were playing at Fenway Park. Notre Dame still gets two points for playing a team from a "Power Five" conference, but Boston College only gets one point for the matchup because it is not a road game. That correction is reflected on my NCSS spreadsheet and will be reflected in this week's rankings.
I will have to consider adding Notre Dame to that list of "Power Five" schools and make scheduling them worth an extra point in the future, especially given how good they've been this year. That is a discussion for another day, however. For now, I have to look at the non-conference games for the upcoming week. As a bonus, with conference title games the following week, I'm going to add in notes about any games that could impact automatic bids to the Death to the BCS Playoffs. Let's take a look.
The football gods just keep making this tougher and tougher, don't they?
Last week's mock bracket was easy to fill, but hard to sort. With only two undefeated teams left in the country, it makes my job to a degree easier, but it also makes it that much harder, because now I have to sort through teams with blemishes on their resumes. That's part of what makes this fun though.
So for those of you new to the concept of the Death to the BCS Playoffs, it's a system built on the concept created by sportswriters Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan. We expand on the current College Football Playoff by going to 16 teams: the ten conference champions all get automatic bids, and the rest of the field is filled with at-large bids. These teams will then be seeded 1-16, with home field advantage going to the higher seeds for the first three rounds, and the national title game played at the Rose Bowl as God intended.
So how do we pick the field (in particular, the at-large teams), and how are they seeded? I'm a selection committee of one, but I have multiple tools at my disposal. I use my NCSS and Playoff Points rankings. Then, to attempt to remove any bias I may have, I also use computer rankings compiled by Jeff Sagarin and a UCLA faculty member using the publicly available formula created by the late David Rothman. These rankings all kind of jumble together organically until I come up with a 16 team field that is seeded properly.
After the jump, you can see my newest mock playoff field.
I'm running a little behind this week thanks to my seven-games-in-three-days basketball binge. Somehow I still have a voice, and I have some football catching up to do.
We're down to just two undefeated teams left in the realm of college football, which is a little crazy considering where we are, though with just two weeks left, it's not super surprising. It is a much bigger dropoff than last week, however.
So with that in mind, let's take a look at the results from the weekend. If you need a refresher on how Playoff Points work, you can refer back to my Week 1 post.
Game Summary
The Maroons (2-1) came out guns blazing, staying hot from outside as the Cardinals (1-1) struggled to get anything going offensively. Chicago was able to use its outside presence to open up the inside a little bit, and the Cardinals had trouble at the line, unable to take advantage of Maroon foul trouble, going into the half down 38-21. The Cardinals came out of the locker room strong, but Chicago kept hitting its jump shots to keep the pace. The Cardinals were able to cut the lead to eight, but momentum swung back Chicago's way and they pulled away to seal the win.
Key Stats
Chicago: 9-26 3PT (34.6%). This number went down thanks to a cold second half, but the Maroons hit seven of their 15 in the first half to make this one theirs from the start.
Waller Perez (CHI): 6-7 FG (1-2 3PT), 3-4 FT; 16 pts, 6 reb (3 off), 5 ast. Perez was probably their best all around player today, filling the stat sheet all around. He also had a killer and-1 to serve as the dagger.
Connor Raridon (NCC): 6-10 FG (0-2 3PT), 2-3 FT; 14 pts, 9 reb (5 off), 3 ast, 1 blk. With his first game jitters gone, Connor stepped up and played well. He scored more than he did in the opener, but also got more involved elsewhere. It's a good start and hopefully a good building block.
Tip Off Tournament Watch Mount Union 74, Chicago 58 This was a very good game that went back and forth in the first half, but the Purple Raiders pulled away in the second half as the Maroons missed 16 second half free throws. JJ Kukura paced the Raiders with 19 points and six rebounds, while Jake Jacubec added 17 points and six boards. Jordan Smith led the Maroons with 21 points while Alex Voss had 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Final Thoughts
I'm just going to come right out and say it: the Cardinals did not play well today. It's possible they underestimated Chicago given their game yesterday, it's possible that playing a matinee threw them off... I don't know. Whatever the case, Chicago outplayed and out hustled them pretty much all game. It meant a rock-paper-scissors tie, with point differential apparently going to Mount Union.
The Cardinals go on a three game road trip now, and will return home on December 9th for a date with the defending national champions in Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Game Summary
The Scots (3-0) jumped out to an early lead a la the Cardinals (1-2) last night, and pressed to an early 13-6 advantage. The Cardinals worked their way back, keeping it around a one or two possession game for most of the first half, but the Scots started to get some shots offensively and took a 45-35 halftime lead into the locker room. North Central started to hit threes in the third quarter to counteract Maryville free throws to narrow the gap to two after three quarters, then took the lead early in the fourth. They led by as many as seven until the shots stopped falling and Maryville took the lead back. The Cardinals had a chance with half a second left following a turnover, but Jamie Cuny missed a shot as time expired and the Scots escaped with the title.
Key Stats
Mindy Brackins (MVILLE): 11-18 FG (6-10 3PT), 2-4 FT; 30 pts, 4 reb (3 off), 2 ast. Brackins hit all of Maryville's threes in the game, and was a key part of their comeback to win the game. An outstanding tournament for her.
Maryville: Outrebounded NCC 70-39. This was an underrated part of the game. Maryville got 25 offensive rebounds including a couple at the start of each half to set the tone. This hurt in the long run.
Paula Zerante (NCC): 3-5 FG (1-2 3PT), 7-8 FT; 14 pts, 7 reb (2 off), 7 ast, 4 stl. Paula has really stepped up the last few games and was all over the place today at both ends of the floor.
North Central System Watch
Maryville Turnovers: 31. Another high number, with a ton of errant passes. The Cardinals did draw one ten second call in the first half, which would have been a turnover on a steal if they didn't call it, but it was the right call. They also drew a five second call on an inbound. The Cardinals had 14 steals, led by Zerante's four, while Anita Sterlinng added three.
NCC 3PT: 16-51 (31.4%). Two games in a row the Cardinals have shot very well from deep. They caught fire in the third and early fourth quarter before cooling off again.
NCC Charges Drawn: 0. Anita didn't get the call on one down low but did get called for a pair of charges. One looked pretty close to the same play she got called for a block on. Alas.
Tip Off Tournament Watch Bethel 91, Principia 49 The Panthers struggled to shoot, managing just a 33 percent clip against a tough Bethel defense while the Royals shot 50 percent to dominate their second game. Molly O'Toole had 16 points and seven rebounds to pace the Royals, while Hannah Johnson emerged with 14 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. Rachel Perea had 15 points for the Panthers.
Final Thoughts
My initial thought: this was embarrassing for a home game. The fan support wasn't great, the band was a no-show, and Maryville traveled incredibly well to the tournament this weekend, which I have to give them a ton of credit for.
It was a funky end to a great game, as we had a shot clock controversy that was handled correctly at the table but needed like five minutes worth of discussion to figure out. I'm still not sure what happened. Very weird sequence. May be worth a full blog post later; we'll see.
I'm honestly not shocked the Cardinals are off to a 1-2 start, given their schedule. They played very well tonight, but just couldn't close it out. They hit the road for a couple weeks before coming back on December 8th.
Game Summary
The Cardinals (1-0) came ready to play out of the gate, surging to an early advantage and forcing an early Purple Raider (1-2) timeout to try to stop the bleeding. It wasn't enough, as the Cardinals continued their surge behind a balanced attack. Mount Union eventually switched from man defense to a 2-3 zone and was able to fight back into the game, but the Cardinals adjusted and carried a 42-27 lead into the locker room. The Cardinals picked right back up where they left off in the second half making great offensive plays and keeping the crowd into it despite a sluggish pace thanks to a ton of fouls. The Raiders played it tough, but the Cardinals bled clock to finish it off as the crowd chanted "Overrated" on the final possession regarding the Raiders' being ranked 7th in the country.
Key Stats
Alex Sorenson (NCC): 13-27 (0-2 3PT), 1-2 FT; 27 pts, 11 reb (5 off), 1 ast, 3 stl, 2 blk. The sophomore transfer from Northern Michigan proved an excellent successor to the Burchett/Rosenberg duo by dominating the paint with great touch around the basket. He also threw down an alley oop early in the second half to bring the house down.
Aiden Chang (NCC): 2-5 FG (2-4 3PT), 4-4 FT; 10 pts, 4 reb (1 off), q ast. Chang is a freshman out of the Freeport area and was effective in his first college outing. He's a solid shooter and ball handler off the bench and shot pretty well. There were flashier guys to put in this spot, but I like this kid. Keep an eye on him.
JJ Kukura (UMU): 11-21 FG (1-5 3PT), 10-10 FT; 33 pts, 11 reb, 1 ast. Talking with the official scorer, he's a guy you love to play with and hate to play against. He dominated offensively and was a pest on both ends, drawing a ton of fouls.
Final Thoughts
I'm not too sure if the Raiders are that overrated as the crowd suggested, but they were definitely sluggish tonight. They got going later in the game but by then it was too late. The argument could be made them at the officiating was poor, but I think it was mostly consistent. Some calls were debatable, but it went both ways.
He Cardinals are off tomorrow, coming back Sunday to play Chicago for the tournament title. I'll have tomorrow's score between Chicago and Mount Union on Sunday as part of that game's post.
Game Summary
It was a quick start for the Cardinals (1-1), who scored the game's first 11 points and remained on fire to lead 42-15 after one quarter. They cooled off a bit in the second half as the Panthers (0-2) started to run on the press and got some layups. The Cardinals wouldn't score for three and half minutes, but kept the lead intact, leading 61-34 at the break. North Central poured it on in the third, continuing the barrage of threes before calling off the press late in the third quarter. They got a Mayson Whipple layup just shy of the buzzer to hit the century mark after three quarters, then transitioned to more of an inside game in the fourth to finish the deal.
Key Stats
Anita Sterling (NCC): 7-13 FG (6-11 3PT); 20 pts, 7 reb (5 off), 2 ast, 4 stl. Anita was on fire early, hitting five first quarter threes and getting the table excited about possible record breaking, but she fell one triple shy of the school record for a single game.
Therese Pettersson (NCC): 7-14 FG, 2-2 FT; 16 pts, 10 reb (8 off), 1 ast, 2 stl. T struggled from the floor in the early going but got her bearings as the game went on and started to hit her shots. Strong outing.
Kara Johnson (Principia): 11-22 FG (1-4 3PT), 1-4 FT; 24 pts, 11 reb (7 off), 3 ast, 1 stl. The Panthers' best player of the night took most of the advantage on her layup opportunities and did some damage on the glass as well. She's probably her school's rep on the All-Tournament Team.
North Central System Watch
Principia Turnovers: 31. The Cardinals did a ton of damage here, logging 21 steals paced by Sterling's four, while Paula Zerante and Jamie Cuny each had three. The Cardinals also forced a five second in bounding call and pulled off a ten second call thanks to the new clock reset rules.
NCC 3PT: 25-77 (32.5%). This was a much better outing compared to last week, mainly thanks to that first quarter. They shot 50 threes in the first half before slowing down and being a little more efficient. If they can stay in this range all season, they'll win a ton of games.
NCC Charges Drawn: 0. Nothing doing in this department, though not for lack of trying. Anita didn't get whistles on a couple, and may have tried to sell one or two as well, but no dice.
Tip Off Tournament Watch Maryville 65, Bethel 43 I'm not used to such low scoring games. This was a tightly contested and well defended game early, with Maryville up 16-15 after one quarter. Then Bethel went cold, hitting a couple free throws midway through the second quarter and going on a ten minute scoring drought and 17 minutes without a field goal while the Scots took control. Mindy Brackins led all scorers with 21 points for the Scots, Rachel Hawn added 12 and Mackenzie Puckett had 11 points and six assists. Shanni Moorse led the Royals with 12 points.
Final Thoughts
North Central's 124 points ties the school record for points in a game, and their 25 made threes is one shy of the school mark. They had a chance at both marks too, but couldn't cash in. They did, however break the program record for rebounds (82) and assists (31) in a game, as well as field goal attempts (131), the latter falling just three attempts shy of the national record.
North Central will play Maryville for the title tomorrow at 5:00 in what should be a tough battle, while Principia will play Bethel at noon.
We have an unusual situation this year. Normally, the weekend before Thanksgiving officially kicks off the Division III basketball season, at least for North Central. The women, however, got an early start in their game against Calvin last Friday. The men's season officially begins today.
I've already previewed the upcoming year for both the men and the women, but I'm doing what I did last year and giving the Tip Off Tournament its own preview. Given the format changes again this year, I think it's needed.
Photo from NCC Athletics Department
The women's tournament is returning to its format from prior years, with North Central playing the 5:00 game on Friday, the Friday losers playing at noon on Saturday while the Friday winners play at 5:00. Last year, NCC played both 5:00 games in an effort to deliver a "championship" game, and it succeeded with a double overtime thriller that saw a couple school records fall. Meanwhile, the men's tournament is changing formats again, but out of necessity this time. The school was unable to secure a fourth team to the tournament, so they and their two guest teams will play a round robin with one game apiece on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Obviously, this could complicate the championship, but last year saw a split championship between North Central and Wisconsin-Whitewater after both teams went 2-0 over the weekend.
The tournament's first day will proceed almost like normal, just with no noon games; the women play back to back this afternoon. There will be a neutral men's game on Saturday in between the two women's games, and the North Central men will play their second game on Sunday to spread things out. Here's a look at the five teams coming to Naperville this weekend.
The coalition is back for another week of NFL picks against the spread!
My Week 10 started out well enough, as I went 5-3 in the noon block of games to build a big lead against Adam, but I dropped all five games after that. Fortunately for me, everyone else struggled, and I ended up taking four of our seven disputed games. That narrows my deficit to nine, and with seven weeks to go, that's more than enough time to make a gallant comeback.
Now, this week I'll be doing something slightly different. Adam and his family got back from Disney World late last night, and I didn't want Adam to have to worry about any deadlines while on a family vacation. Thankfully, I have a backup plan this week, and I called in reinforcements. Grabbing the Bull Horns blogger and good friend Geoffrey Clark will graciously be joining me this week with his picks against the spread. Adam will return next week. Geoffy had this to say going in:
As has been the case all season, these picks are just as much for my mom’s confidence pool at work. We finally won for the first time this year last week, so the goal now is to make mincemeat out of the Roto Rooter Call Center two weeks in a row.
I don't know about you, readership, but I'm all for making mincemeat out of the Roto Rooter Call Center. Sounds like fun.
This week, Geoffy and I disagree on six games out of 14. Not too shabby. Geoffy, thank you for joining me this week! Let's get started.
This weekend features the annual Chicago Marriott Naperville Tip Off Tournament, and there's something notable missing... I have yet to preview the NCC men. This year is the first time I've dedicated a full post to each team, which seems fairer than splitting one post between the two. More so, I felt the women's team deserved their fair share of attention, given how connected I was to last year's squad.
This is Year Two of me pulling double duty at Merner Fieldhouse, and this year's men's team is an intriguing prospect. They will have to find a new identity to some degree, but there are good pieces in place for the upcoming campaign. Let's take a look.
We're onto one of the final weeks of the college football season, but this one is probably the most controversial of all the weeks that I do a Non-Conference Schedule Strength rankings. And really, it's mostly Nick Saban's and Greg Sankey's fault. But more on that later.
If you read last week's post, you may remember it being formatted weird. I've fixed it now though and it should be working okay. Otherwise, things stayed the same: the Group of Five conferences have the toughest non-conference schedules and there are a ton of cupcakes amongst the Power Five. Don't let delusion Alabama fans claim otherwise.
So below, I will take a look at the non-conference games for this week by conference. They will get a score for the week, which then gets added to their cumulative season total. Here's the updated rankings.
I thought last week's bracket was going to be hard. It's just getting harder and harder as we go further into the season.
There are only five undefeated teams left in college football, which means as I'm looking into filling the bracket and seeding these teams, I have to really look at teams with blemishes on their records. It makes things much more complicated and controversial.
So before I dig into this, if you're new to Confessions of a Sportscaster or have never read the brilliant book pictured to the left by Wetzel, Peter and Passan, here's how the Death to the BCS Playoffs work: this is a 16-team bracket. Ten spots go to the champions of each conference as an automatic qualifier to put to bed this nonsense of elitism rampant among the Power Five conferences, while the six remaining spots go to at large teams. These teams are seeded 1-16, with home field advantage going to the higher seed in each of the first three rounds. This is designed to incentivize the regular season, contrary to the morons who feel like a playoff cheapens it.
So how do the teams get selected and seeded? I use a fairly organic process, but rely on four major metrics: my NCSS and Playoff Points rankings, and then the computer rankings compiled by Jeff Sagarin and a UCLA faculty member using the formula created by the late David Rothman.
Hopefully that answers any questions you may have, at least for now. Without further ado, here is the third mock bracket for this year's Death to the BCS Playoffs.
We're getting down towards the end of the regular season here, and every game is becoming more and more critical. This should be the case in every conference on a national scale though, but the corrupt powers that be are still being elitists. That won't stop me from a look around the country again today.
We're down another undefeated team to just five remaining after 11 weeks of action. Last week's dropoff was bigger, but several one loss teams lost a second game this week as well, which will have implications that I will get into later.
For now, I'm focusing in on results, and how it impacts the Playoff Points race. I'll have an updated look by conference after the jump, and after that conference look, I'll update the leaders across the country. If you need a refresher on how Playoff Points work, you can refer back to my Week 1 post.
Game Summary
It was a tough opening night for the Cardinals (0-1), who were able to keep pace for the first few minutes and held a 13-10 advantage partway through he first quarter, but the Knights (1-0) rallied back to take control and led 28-20 after one quarter. Calvin would build a double digit lead partway through the second, but a Cardinal rally cut the deficit to 42-39. Calvin would score the next 11 points before NCC answered to pull back within eight at the intermission. It all fell apart in the third though, as after a three point play 20 seconds in, the Cardinals wouldn't score for almost five minutes and the Knights hit shot after shot to turn this one into a laugher. They took their foot off the gas in the fourth, but the Cardinals couldn't rally to make the final more respectable.
Key Stats
Calvin: Outscored NCC 32-11 in the 3rd quarter. The box score doesn't have an official count, but my math says NCC shot 4-21 in the third quarter, including 0-11 from deep. Meanwhile, Calvin shot 13-23 in the frame to pull away.
Ali Spayde (Calvin): 10-18 FG (6-9 3PT); 26 pets, 3 reb (1 off), 8 ast, 3 stl. Holy crap. We kept marveling at Spayde's shooting last night, as she got red hot in that third quarter, and she knew it. The crazy part is that she wasn't just gunning. Her threes were in the flow of the offense and she kept dishing to find her open teammates. It was her game last night, and she led Calvin to a good win.
Anna Timmer (Calvin): 10-14 FG (2-2 3PT), 3-4 FT; 25 pts, 16 reb (5 off), 4 ast. I feel like Timmer went under the radar with Spayde's shooting. Timmer got plenty of open looks and dominated the glass as well, helping minimize the Cardinals' chances while giving her team some extra looks... Not that they needed them.
North Central System Watch
NCC 3PT: 12-62 (19.4%). It was just one of those nights where the shots weren't falling. They hit eight of 34 in the first half, good for about a 23.5 percent clip, but then went ice cold in the third quarter and stretching well into the fourth before regression to the mean allowed for a few more.
Calvin Turnovers: 35. Seeing this number, honestly, shocked me, especially when the Cardinals only had 23. Calvin had some struggles with the press and made some bad passes while getting whistled for multiple travels and the like. They also got whistled for a five second in bounding violation. The Cardinals did manage 18 steals on the night, led by four apiece for Erica Buck, Michaela Reedy and Paula Zerante.
NCC Charges Drawn: 2. Anita Sterling defended her crown admirably, drawing a pair of charges in the first half. She arguably could have had another but was probably in the circle when she was hit. Calvin did a great job adjusting after the fact though.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, I just have to tip my cap to Calvin. I knew they were good, but it's different when you see them in person. They took advantage of their open looks and earned the win. For the Cardinals, I don't want to overreact to one game, but I think they over relied on the three last night, even if they struggled with layups as well. It was kind of a rude awakening to the year, but to their credit, they didn't give up. Hopefully they'll take from this experience and build on their successes. I'd like to see more of an inside game to take pressure off the shooters.
Overall, a rough game, but just one of 25. They'll be back in action on Friday for the Tip Off Tournament, and I'll have a preview piece on that this week.
Today begins one of the most fun times of the year for me. Gyms will be filled, floors will be shined, and thousands of players will set foot into these gyms filled with the hope that every new season brings. For me, I've had eight or nine months for my vocal cords to recover, just in time to do it all over again for my fifth season.
In prior years, I have done one combined season preview for both the men's and women's basketball teams at North Central College. Partially because the schedule doesn't align, but also partially because I continue to believe that each team deserves its own post, I'm separating the two this year, and with the schedule being weird this season, we get to cover the women first.
The status quo amongst the coalition was maintained last week, and we're well into the second half of the season as our NFL picks against the spread continue.
Adam and I had our greatest groupthink week maybe ever last week, and we split the two games we disputed, but we overall had an awful week. With eight weeks to go, Adam maintains his ten game lead on me, but his lead over the other folks has narrowed. My dad opted to go all home teams this week in a desperate shake up move, and it worked, giving him the win for Week 9, but he's still trailing Adam by nine games.
This week, Adam and I disagree on seven games. Let's see if I can pull off a second half comeback.
A couple notes before I get too involved in this. This is a topic I've been intending to write a post about for several months now. It's a bit of an old story, but by the time I found out that these rules in question were brought up, they were already in effect, so I decided to wait until the approach of this season to actually write my thoughts.
A more important warning: this post may get a little charged. I will get up on my soapbox a little bit today, because I feel strongly about some of these things. I'd also like to note that all thoughts below, unless otherwise expressly stated, are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employers.
Very early on during my time writing Confessions of a Sportscaster, I did a little introductory post on the concept of public address. By and large, I stand by my every statement made four years ago in that post. As I've gotten more experience, there are some things that may need to be adjusted with it, but the spirit of it remains the same and probably always will.
Last season at North Central, I would take a fair number of pregame pictures for Facebook and Twitter as a general "Go Cardinals, beat [opponent]!" post. There was one where I made the comment about yelling "THREEEEEEEEEEE!" a lot. My aunt in North Dakota told me about rules there saying that announcers couldn't comment on any points or fouls. I expressed the sentiment that this was dumb. Turns out, it's not North Dakota's fault.
Somewhere later along the line, I found a blog post by Jarrod Wronski, an announcer and official from the Washington, DC area talking about rule changes instituted by the National Federation of State High School Associations. State associations like the IHSA end up falling in line with what the NFHS says, and apparently North Dakota did the same.
Wronski made some valuable points, and there is one I especially want to echo. Public address announcing is not play-by-play. I have done both. They are not remotely the same. Anyone who does play-by-play in a public address setting needs to be removed from the mic until they learn the difference.
That said, I did find the official memo from the NFHS regarding announcer responsibilities for basketball. Their list of things that may be announced is all spot on, but many things they restrict are either ambiguous or stupid. Here are some of their restricted things:
Number of points a player scored (Fair, since that takes time and isn't super important to do your job. During halftime, this should be okay.)
Number of fouls on a player (Dumb. A good announcer knows how to keep track of these things, and it provides a valuable service not only to the fans, but to the teams as well. I also double check on foul counts with the official scorer as games go on, so I make sure I have the right information. Any competent announcer would do the same.)
Number of team fouls (Again, dumb. This information is on the scoreboard and can easily be confirmed with the official scorer, and is also valuable for the teams and fans.)
Number of time outs remaining (Kind of dumb. I typically don't announce time outs remaining, but it can be valuable considering that coaches constantly come to the table to confirm how many they have left.)
Time remaining in a quarter/game (Depends on the circumstance. I typically announce where there's either one or two minutes left in the half, primarily as a courtesy to the teams. This actually drew the ire of someone who works for the CCIW at one point last season, who told me that it's against the rules even though in college, it isn't. At the next home game, he came up to me before the game and reminded me. I asked him where the rule was, and he said it was a rule. I did it anyway with the backing of NCC's athletic administration, and it wasn't brought up again. Anyway, as long as you limit it to one situation a half like that, it's fine.)
Type of foul or violation (I'm not a huge fan of this rule, partially because it's so broad. I don't announce the exact foul call, i.e. reach, push, body, etc. For actual turnover violations, I do. In the grand scheme of things, there's no difference between a travel, three second call, or any other violation, but for people unfamiliar with officials' signals or who missed exactly what happened, it's important.)
Emphatic 2 or 3 point field goal (Wholeheartedly disagree because I am a homer. There's some logistical reasons too, mainly in the event that it's a close call and the officials are signaling more than normal to the table where I want to make sure I clarify it correctly. But mostly I wholeheartedly disagree because I am a homer.)
From there, they make a list of responsibilities for the announcer. Weirdly, they prohibit announcements "while the ball is live", which is incredibly ambiguous and by the letter of the law, wouldn't allow announcements of scoring players until a timeout. On a less ambiguous note, this is especially important with free throws, and I feel it's important not to talk over a player going into their shooting motion (I have done this on accident a couple times, and I always feel bad when I do, for either side).
On the whole though, this regulation makes the job incredibly difficult, especially in a fast-paced game like the North Central women play all the time. It just wouldn't work. I also echo Wronski's point that it makes the announcer sound like an amateur. Now, the NFHS also recommends announcers be trained and that officials instruct announcers pre-game. It gets everyone on the same page, and makes sure that the announcer is competent.
Now, here's the general point that gets me upset.
"The announcer’s role does not include 'cheering the home team on' or otherwise
inciting the crowd. Doing so is common at other levels of athletic events. But high
school athletics is different because sports are educationally based."
I'll touch on the "education" aspect in a second. For me, I'm not 100 percent sure what the meaning of this is. If they are talking about announcers leading chants, I wholeheartedly agree. That's not the role of a public address announcer, and if you need to use your announcer to get fans into the game, something is wrong. Now, if you're going beyond that scope and trying to legislate inflection and enthusiasm, that's where I have a problem.
The main issue I have is that I fail to see how showing excitement for the home team as an announcer diminishes education. To me (and some coaches I have talked to), this rule on the whole is hiding political correctness behind the guise of "education". NCAA Division III basketball is about love of the game, but the student-athletes at this level are truly students first and athletes second. Yet the NCAA does not limit "cheering the home team on" except during the NCAA Tournament, which makes perfect sense. If it's not a problem in college when academics are prioritized, why is it an issue in high school? I think it's more about not hurting players' feelings than "education".
I talked with another coach recently about this sort of
issue. Part of the draw of analysts to road wins is just that: road
games are supposed to be hard. I don't advocate hostility, but home
crowds should be loud and supportive of their teams. Then when you get
back home, you get that same benefit. An announcer can be a part of
that. I can help build the atmosphere around a game and rally support
for the home team. That doesn't make me unprofessional. It makes me
passionate about my team. As long as you are respectful of the visiting team, the officials, and fans, it does not make you a poor sport.
Let's go back to 1996 because I love this.
Ray Clay is one of the main reasons why I keep coming back to the microphone every winter. I remain convinced that he was worth 10 points before every game at the United Center during the apex Jordan years. It's clear he's "cheering the home team on", and doing so while not disrespecting the Sonics. While, granted, this is the NBA and thus not "educationally based", it shows that there's nothing wrong with being a bit of a homer. I stand by the aforementioned limits: be respectful of the everyone, don't lead the crowd in chants, and don't step on any plays. If you follow those rules, prepare yourself before every game, and know how the sport as a whole operates, you're going to be fine whether you're the most neutral announcer ever or a blatant homer.
Things like these asinine rule changes make me glad I left high school announcing when I did, even though it had nothing to do with announcing rule changes. I would not be able to follow my calling doing games at Aurora Christian now. Instead, I'm in the perfect system for my passions with a school that appreciates the work, an administration whose main concern is making sure I don't destroy my vocal cords too early in a game or season, but most importantly, a head coach and team that love the job I do and the support that I bring them on the mic several nights a year.
If the day comes where I work an NCAA Tournament game, I will be neutral. That is the NCAA rule, and I respect it. Until that day comes, however, I will continue to yell "THREEEEEEEEE!" at the top of my lungs, and I refuse to apologize for it.
Another mock bracket is out and our Week 10 look is concluded. Week 11 gets underway tonight with some MACtion, so we need to be ready with a look at the schedule.
Last week saw a little flipping between conferences, but it's interesting to see the clear dividing line: the Group of Five all make up the top five in these rankings, while the Power Five conferences rank 6-10, and pretty much have for all but the entire season. Since we're mostly doing in-conference games for the rest of the year, most of the ranking will remain the same, at least for the next week or so until Nick Saban and other SEC shills show how big of cowards they are.
After the jump, I will show this week's average NCSS score as well as their cumulative total. Let's take a look.
Last week was the easy bracket. This week, it gets harder.
We lost enough undefeated teams that at the same as the College Football Playoff got to begin discussions, my committee of one got to start looking at setting up the playoff system proposed by Wetzel, Peter and Passan. If you need a refresher, this is a 16-team playoff bracket including the ten conference champions and filled in with six at large teams. These teams are then seeded 1-16, with home court advantage going to the higher seeds in the first three rounds.
So to determine the at large teams and the seedings, I use my NCSS rankings and Playoff Points rankings, the full information for which can be found on my Google Sheet. I then also add in consideration from a pair of computer rankings that include margin of victory: one by Jeff Sagarin, who used to do one of the computer rankings for the BCS, but his BCS one did not consider margin of victory because of "sportsmanship", or so the Cartel claimed; and one by the late David Rothman as compiled by a UCLA faculty member. These factors will combine somewhat organically to form the bracket. So after much self-deliberation, here's what we're looking at for this week's mock.
The results are in, and several undefeated teams are out of the mix.
We're down to just six undefeated teams ten weeks in, which means a bunch of teams will now be in the mix for the Death to the BCS Playoffs. That comes a little later today. For now, I need to update results from the weekend as it pertains to Playoff Points, which saw some fairly significant changes from last week.
So below, I will go conference by conference with a look at their average wins and Playoff Points, both First and Second Degree. I'll also take a quick look at some of the national leaders in advance of preparing my second mock bracket. If you need a refresher on how Playoff Points work, you can refer back to my Week 1 post.
Things are evening out a bit, at least on a one-week basis amongst the coalition as we reach the halfway point of the season.
With eight weeks in the books, Adam is still firmly in the lead amongst our little group, though I'm kind of hanging around, and we have to remember that I had a bigger lead a little later in the season last year that I nearly blew, only to hang on by the slimmest of margins in Week 17. I'm hoping I can complete a similar comeback in the second half.
I didn't do myself any favors last week, as Adam got the back door cover on Monday night to take four of the seven disputed games. Money line-wise, Adam is up about $350 on the year, while I'm failing miserably, down almost $1500. Good thing I only laid down $20 on two Week 1 games while in Vegas and the rest of this is all hypothetical...
We had a rare moment of groupthink this week, and actually, one of the best examples we've seen yet. Adam and I disagree on just two games this week, which is a season low and might be a low in our 26 weeks doing this. Here are our thoughts for Week 9.
With our first mock bracket out, the debate over playoff resumes can truly begin. Of course, as we continue on with the season though, we need to continue to gather data to make informed decisions.
For the last several weeks, there has been a minimal amount of change in these rankings with the conferences just because of the sheer amount of in-conference play. Last week was no exception. This week will see more of the same by nature.
I do this post on Tuesdays mainly because of MACtion, which kicks off today with NIU and Toledo. This covers everyone
Following the jump, I will post this week's score and the cumulative score for the season. I'll also check in on last week's ranking. Let's take a look.
There are currently 11 undefeated teams left in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and at this stage, that is enough to finally start putting together a mock bracket for the Death to the BCS Playoffs.
If you are a regular reader of Confessions of a Sportscaster, you know that I have a disdain for the elitism rampant in big time college football (so much so that it is the topic of my final project in my master's class this fall). Even the College Football Playoff isn't good enough. It's a good start... but we need more. You can't have a true national champion if everyone doesn't have a chance to compete for it. That is why for years I have advocated for the playoff format laid out by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan in their 2010 book Death to the BCS.
The system is simple: 16 teams. The 10 conference champions get automatic bids into the playoffs, while the rest of the field is filled in with at-large teams. These teams are seeded 1-16, and home field advantage goes to the higher seeds for the first three rounds, incentivizing the regular season. The title game, after I've moved it around a little bit, in a recent re-reading of the book reminded me of the true location of the title game: Pasadena, in the Rose Bowl. How could it be anywhere else?
Now, how do I fill out the field and seed everyone? To decide on this, I use a little bit of the eye test, but I also have a few metrics to help me out. I start with taking a look at the NCSS scores that I've been compiling since Week 1. While imperfect, this helps read into how much of a challenge teams are taking with their non-conference schedule. To get a good look at resumes, I also grab a glance at First and Second Degree Playoff Points, which I have been compiling as well since Week 1. This helps determine the differences between teams with similar records and how good their vanquished foes are. All of these scores can be found on my Google Sheet.
To balance out any potential biases I may have, I then also use a pair of computer rankings that take margin of victory into account, because a narrow win and a 30 points win mean different things. Jeff Sagarin did one of the old BCS computer rankings, but I take his ranking that includes margin of victory instead of his old BCS one that did not. His "rating" is the one that is used for Death to the BCS purposes. Also, the late David Rothman did computer rankings on his own, but was not allowed to use it for the BCS because, again, it included margin of victory. Before he died, he made his formula public, and a UCLA faculty member computes the rankings using that formula.
These factors will be combined somewhat organically to produce the 16 team field. Here is our first one of the season.
It took nine weeks, and we're still at 11 undefeated teams in FBS football. However, they are distributed such that we can officially start building mock brackets after thinking that last week would have been my first crack.
To help determine seedings and what have you for these mocks, we need to update some rankings. To me, Playoff Points are among the most important rankings to keep updated. They really help us see through some of the BS that of records and look to see just how good a team really is.
Now, before I get into everything, I have to touch on the ending to the Miami-Duke game. I watched the final play. There are a million and one reasons why Duke got screwed by the officials on that play, and they won that game, not Miami. However, because the ACC is dumb and/or corrupt, the record books will show the Hurricanes winning this game. Because of the cluster that could come of me trying to subjectively reject official final scores because of perceived injustice (even when the perception is reality), I'm applying the Playoff Points based on the ruling on the field. I'm sorry, Duke. File a protest with the ACC and the NCAA and get your rightful win, and I will change this.
If you need a refresher on how Playoff Points work, you can refer back to my Week 1 post. Let's take a look at the updated rankings.
