SOFTBALL DRAW NORTHWESTERN BRACKET

[GreatDanes06]

Northwestern, Louisville and Notre Dame in Regional Bracket. Northwestern is the #9 overall seed i believe they said, Michigan is #1.

[Dane96]

No it's not....it means we are the 56th ranked team. 1-64; 2-63; 3-62; 4-61; 5-60; 6-59; 7-58; 8-57; 9-56.

 

Personally, I think we should be in the Top 45, but who knows considering they dont release rankings. This is a pretty tough bracket in general; NW is nasty, Louisville is the runner up in C-USA, and ND got squeezed out by Seton Hall for the Championship.

 

Basically, you have three ridiculously good teams here.

Edited May 15, 2005 by Dane96

[Dane96]

To answer your question on the other thread, yes, double elimination and I would think we will be facing Louisville if we lose game 1.

 

I see it coming to the following:

 

NW defeats UA

ND defeats Lousiville

UA defeats Lousiville

NW defeats ND

ND defeats UA

NW defeats ND

 

NW advances.

[GreatDanes06]

i think the ranking is to the effect that we are a first time team in the Tournament. Thats why i think we got that ranking.

 

Look at it this way:

 

We are 14th in the bracket out of 16, 56th overall out of 64. To me, i dont see this as a horrible ranking. Realize that an average midwest or west cost team will be ranked better then us because of competition. Until UA starts playing top ranked teams, this is what we are gonna get. Im not complaining about the sched at all. But im just saying that avg west cost and midwest teams will still get that on there sched. I can guarantee we probably have the best ranking out of any Northeast Team in this tournament. I dont see this team as a Top 45 team in the softball world. Not with the way the midwest and west cost own the NCAA Softball. You get one team from the Pac-10, SEC or Big 12 on your sched, and you win your conference, your gonna get a higher ranking then us, even if you lost that game.

 

This is however is what Albany needs. NCAA tournament bearths will get you a game down in Florida or out West early in the season, then your in good shape. I think this ranking is about right for this team. Now lets go shock the hell out of of the Cats, Irish and Cards

[GreatDanes06]

note: Northwestern is the 19th ranked team in the country.

[DaneFan2k3]

We are 75th in the RPI, so that is a justifiable seeding.

 

http://www.warrennolan.com/softball/2005/rpi2

 

That is an approximation of the RPI, of course, but so are the men's hoops RPI figures on the 'net and they are taken close to God's word. I'm sure this is pretty close.

[clipper71]

I know the Danes don't face the same schedule as the other teams in this bracket, but maybe the we'll surprise some people. Afterall, we have the fewest losses of any of the four teams.

[Dane96]

Hofstra, by far, is the highest ranked NE team and I am not going by Warren Nolan (who should stick to baseball), followed by BE champ Seton Hall. Hofstra will probably have a good shot at making it to the field of 16.

 

Warren Nolan's softball rankings are suspect when a team, Lehigh, is ranked 30 spots higher than Albany. Lehigh is 4-6 versus the top 100 and 18-2 against 100-200. Albany is 4-3 against the top 100 and 18-8 versus 100-200, with a SOS that is better than Lehigh. So, you rank a team 30 spots higher for having 6 more losses in the top 100-200? What he doesnt factor in, is Lehigh playing 7 more games at the 200+ level than Albany.

 

This is the most idiotic ranking system out there and to be honest...ALBANY GOT HOSED WITH THIS SEEDING...plain and freaking simple. For a new system that was suppose to be tweaked with no regional bias, Albany got the shaft. Do you realize three of the Top 35 teams are in the regional?

 

That being said, I think we will win at least a game, and with Morin on the mound, who beat NW a few years ago, maybe we can shock the softball world.

Edited May 16, 2005 by Dane96

[GreatDanes06]

exactly...we have no control over the seedings, the ranking system is screwed up, just like the BCS in football and the RPI system in basketball, so we must deal with what we got. End of Story. Morin will go against NW and maybe will shock a few people.

 

Like i said before, i believe we this ranking has alot to do with we are a first time team in this thing

[UAalum72]

NCAA berth caps off wild weekend for Burnham in the Troy Record story today. I didn't realize there are only three seniors on the softball team, including neither of the pitchers.

 

Great Danes to meet Northwestern in the Times-Union

[DaneFan2k3]

These aren't like Warren Nolan's personal preferneces, it attempts to emulate the RPI the NCAA uses. And, it looks like he did a pretty good job based on where we ended up.

 

So, take issue with the NCAA's RPI.

 

Lehigh has 8 more wins and four less losses than Albany. 40-8 is the fifth-best record, vs. 32-12, the 30th-best record. Their schedule is worse, but not by a lot.

 

Hell, Louisville was 4th in the nation in men's basketball and made the final four, but somehow couldn't get a #1 (or 2 or 3) seed. You act like they get it right in every other sport! They don't!