D3hoops.com Daily Dose

If you got a chance to join Pat Coleman and me for “Breakfast with Hoopsville” or “Lunch with Hoopsville”, you got to hear the exclusive announcements of the women’s tournament and the simulcast of the men’s tournament.

It was an incredible honor of mine - and for that matter the show - to have the Division III Women’s Championships Committee choose Hoopsville, after our invitation, as the place to announce the women’s teams (Sunday night) and then the brackets (Monday morning). I thank Pat Coleman for helping facilitate the invitation and then those on the committee, Shirley Egner (Chair & UW-Stevens Point Coach) and Kristin Steckmesser, for helping us get the information we needed, or even joining us on the show to answer questions.

As for the men’s show, while it was delayed, it was still incredible to see how many fans, teams, coaches, parents, etc. tune into our simulcast and then stay online as we talked about the tournament, interviewed coaches, and did our best to answer your questions. You all are very important to making Hoopsville the show that is and I thank you very much for joining us!

I would also like to thank Gary Grace, Chair of the Men’s Championships Committee, who not only agreed to call in to answer some questions on the show right after the brackets were announced, but also called a few minutes before hand to announce how the NCAA Production made a mistake with how the brackets were done and wanted to get us the correction as quickly as possible.

Now, below you will find the selection shows which we will keep up for only a few days, before removing them from the site. Take a listen and enjoy. I will be sharing a few stories from behind-the-scenes of the shows (including Sundays) in this week’s upcoming Around the Nation article.

However, there is one link I wanted to share ahead of time: enjoy the reaction of WPI when they had learned they were “dancing” in the NCAA Tournament.

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I’ve been sitting here in a state of semi-consciousness for some time now, trying to decide how I’m supposed to feel about the brackets. Other than generally feeling tired.

Why is it, do we suppose, that the women’s bracket is capable of interspersing a Texas pod with a pod centered on Pennsylvania with a west coast pod and a pod centered on Ohio?

Should I be outraged that the same team is victimized by an incorrect release of the men’s bracket two years in a row? Is it important to note that last year they changed the brackets to keep conference teams from playing each other and this year they changed them to force conference teams to play each other?

Are we sure now that everyone is hosting who is supposed to?

Do we think the NCAA knows what the Thursday men’s first-round games are supposed to be about? Those are supposed to be 8/9 games and 7/10 games leading to No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, remember. I know Clarkson and John Jay do not fit that mold at all and I don’t think Capital and Bethany are seeded that close together.

The good news is that soon we start playing. Two teams will hoist Walnut and Bronze. We’re looking at the most wide-open men’s tournament since 2001, if not earlier.

So let’s have some fun. Eventually. Or we can gripe for a while if you like.

Part 1:
Chicago Coach Mike McGrath
UW-Platteville Coach Paul Combs
Mid-Atlantic Region Report - Pat Cummings

Part 2:
NABC Coach’s Corner - William Paterson Coach Jose Rebimbas
Buena Vista Coach Brian Van Haaften
Great Lakes Region Report - Matt Florjancic
Trinty (Tex.) Coach Amie Bradley

Part 3:
School of the Week - Ursinus College - Coach Kevin Small
Northeast Region Report - Mark Simon
South Region Report - Marcus Fitzsimmons

Part 4:
Lebanon Valley Coach Todd Goclowski
Midwest Region & WIAC Report - Bob Quillman
Division III Women’s Basketball Championship Selections

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