WALLA WALLA, Wash. - If it's true that misery loves company, the Whitman College women's basketball team can take comfort in knowing that other good clubs have been left out of this month's NCAA Div. III national basketball playoffs.
Whitman, co-champion of the Northwest Conference, was one of many deserving teams left on the sidelines when the NCAA announced its 50-team playoff bracket on Sunday.
The most noteworthy exclusion is Trinity University of San Antonio, Texas. The defending national champion Tigers lost their conference title game last weekend to DePauw University and then failed to receive an at-large tournament berths. Trinity, ranked No. 3 in the latest D3hoops.com poll, finished its season with a 24-3 won-loss record.
The NCAA Div. III playoff field includes 37 teams that received automatic bids as champions of their respective conferences. Seven at-large berths (Pool B) were set aside for Division III independents and schools whose conferences are not eligible for automatic bids.
That left six at-large berths (Pool C) for teams that finished as runners-up in their conference, or teams like Whitman that finished as co-champions of their conferences but lost tie-breaking formulas used to award automatic bids.
The NCAA national women's basketball committee awarded its Pool B and Pool C at-large berths based on a formula using such factors as strength of schedule and regional competition. The D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, while widely recognized among basketball fans, had no bearing on decisions made by the NCAA women's basketball committee.
Of the 25 teams ranked in the latest D3hoops.com poll, ten are not included in this year's playoff field. Of the 18 additional teams listed as having received votes in the latest poll, another ten squads are not in the playoff field.
Two Top 25 schools not included in the playoff bracket are No. 18 Eastern Connecticut State (23-5) and No. 19 Wisconsin-Eau Claire (21-6), both of which made the NCAA Div. III Final Four last season.
There are no Top 25 teams among the seven independent schools awarded Pool B at-large berths. Two of the seven, Chapman University and Thomas Moore University, were listed among "others receiving votes" in the latest poll.
Chapman, 20-4 on the season, earned a bid on the strength of its 14-1 record against teams in the West Region. Chapman hosts a first-round game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS), winner of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Chapman and CMS, 21-5 this season, split two regular season games.
The winner of the Chapman/CMS game plays a second-round game against the University of Puget Sound, which finished as co-champion of the Northwest Conference with Whitman. Puget Sound won a coin flip at Whitman's expense, gaining the automatic tournament berth, when a tie-breaking formula based on results against each other as well as other NWC schools failed to break the tie.
Whitman and Puget Sound split their two games this season. After Puget Sound won 67-62 on its home floor, Whitman posted a 74-63 victory in its gym.
All six teams receiving Pool C at-large berths are either ranked in the latest Top 25 poll or listed as having received votes. This group includes No. 5 Messiah College (23-3), No. 7 Johns Hopkins University (23-3), No. 11 Washington University (21-4), and No. 13 University of Rochester (21-4).
Washington University (St. Louis, Mo.) and New York University finished as co-champions of the University Athletic Association (UAA). New York received the UAA's automatic berth in the playoffs based on its two victories this season over Washington.
Rochester gives the UAA three teams in the NCAA field. The Yellowjackets, who made the Division III Final Four a year ago, finished in a tie for third-place in the UAA this season.
The Whitman women's basketball team, under NWC Women's Coach of the Year Michelle Ferenz, captured a share of the conference title by winning 12 of its last 13 games. The Missionaries, who won a school-record nine consecutive games at one point, finished with a 19-6 won-loss record, setting new school records for most wins in a season and highest winning percentage (.760).
The number of teams invited to NCAA Div. III national tournaments in all sports, basketball included, is expected to increase within the next few years.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information, (509) 527-5902
Email: holden@whitman.edud