|
| St. Thomas lost to St. John's
and lost to Bethel, but hops over Bethel to get into the playoffs
out of a messy West Region. d3photography.com photo |
The NCAA Division III football championship committee released the 2014 playoff bracket this afternoon.
Muhlenberg and St. Thomas in! No Framingham State. No North Central or UW-Oshkosh.
Muhlenberg was chosen in the South over teams such as Framingham State in the East and the unsolvable mess of North Central in the North Region and UW-Oshkosh in the West Region. And St. Thomas hopped over Bethel to get into the field despite having lost to Bethel head-to-head and having a strength of schedule nearly 100 points lower.
Bethel lost to Augsburg 62-61 in double overtime Saturday afternoon, losing its chance to extend its season in the NCAA playoffs.
Muhlenberg's playoff resume is like that of many others in previous seasons: 9-1, average strength of schedule (right at .500, in fact) with a loss to its conference champ and zero significant wins. Framingham's resume wasn't much different but the Rams had a strength of schedule that was 32 points higher. And for all the midweek drama the NCAA's South Region committee caused, Centre got into the field at 10-0, as of course they should have.
NCAA committee chair Duey Naatz appeared on Inside the HuddLLe on Sunday night to discuss the selections and pairings. Check the archive below, with the interview starting after the 20-minute mark.
To correct an assertion that was made in this interview, MIT did file to host, but was denied, apparently because its facility was not up to the NCAA's standards.