D2 College post season primer

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Aug 19, 2012
39
8
Trying to figure out how the post season works as far as conference, regional, super regional, world series etc.

Have a daughters playing in the Gliac which I understand is part of the Midwest region. Their conference final is second week of May and understand the winner of the conference gets a berth at regionals.

Last week the regional rankings came out and appears they are weighted based on the relative strength of the teams you play. Are these rankings just an interim measure or will they be the basis of deciding the regional entries. On the NCAA site I see the regional rankings are marked "under consideration" what does that mean? If you end up the season in the top eight in the region are you assured a spot at regionals or if a lower placed team wins the conference can that bump a lower team out? Given there are four conferences in the region is it accurate that if you finish the season in the top four that you would then be assured a regional spot regardless who wins the conference finals?

I haven't seen any mention of Super Regionals anywhere this year, has that been done away with in anew format. Is it only the top team from a regional that advances to the world series?

Appreciate any insight anyone with experience might be able to offer a freshman's dumb dad who is trying to figure it out.
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,409
113
Texas
Section 2•4 Selection Criteria The following criteria shall be employed by a governing sports committee in selecting participants for NCAA championships competition [Bylaw 31.3.3; Criteria for Selection of Participants]: A team must have a .500 overall Division II record or above to be selected. Selection of teams shall be completed by Sunday, May 16. The softball committee will select six teams from each region to participate in the championship. The softball committee shall have full authority to select the teams to compete in the respective regional tournaments. Each conference shall appoint regional advisory committees to assist in evaluating teams, but recommendations of the advisory committee members are not binding on the softball committee. TEAM SELECTION CRITERIA ● Availability of student-athletes for NCAA championships; ● Nullification; ● In-region winning percentage; ● Division II winning percentage; ● Division II strength of schedule; ● Division II head-to-head competition; and ● Results versus Division II common opponents. In addition, the Division II Championships Committee agreed that given the challenges inherent within the selection process this year with reduced competitions (particularly nonconference competitions), winter and spring sport committees and their regional advisory committees will be allowed to use any or all of the selection criteria available to them, provided the criteria are applied consistently throughout the season. Those criteria are as follows: NCAA PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP MANUAL 19 DIVISION II SOFTBALL Additional Selection Criteria ● Division II record on the road. ● Division II results versus teams with a .500 record or better. ● Division II results versus teams with a winning record. ● In-region Division II nonconference won-lost record ● In-region strength of schedule. ● Late season performance ● Performance Indicator. ● In-region Rating Percentage Index. ● Results versus Division II in-region common opponents. ● Results versus ranked Division II opponents. Once the opponents’ average winning percentage (OWP) and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage (OOWP) are calculated, they are to be combined on a weighted scale (e.g., 2/3 weight for OWP and 1/3 weight for OOWP) and this combined number becomes the strength of schedule. All selection criteria are weighted equally. Additionally, input is provided by regional advisory committees for consideration by the Division II Softball Committee. A Division II governing sports committee must contact a regional advisory committee before making its final selection of teams if the committee selection differs from the regional advisory committee’s selection. Coaches’ polls and/or any other outside polls or rankings are not used by the Division II Softball Committee for selection purposes. Additionally, conference standings are not used as part of the selection criteria. Following the completion of regionals, the six advancing teams to the finals will be seeded based on in-region RPI and then placed into the bracket. The in-region RPI will only include results from the regular season. Further, the committee will evaluate where the RPI ranks within given regions if teams have the same raw RPI number.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
DD's team played in NCAA Regionals and supers 3 of her 4 years. During the year, the NCAA has ranking posted in each regional. This is the same as the national rankings. Since this is a covid year, maybe they didn't do this. I don't know. Many of these teams play each other in some way. My dd's team played several GLIAC teams during the year. Some games were in tournaments and some were when those teams made a southern swing early in the season to get away from colder weather. The super regional site will be named at some point. My dd's team hosted regional and super regional games back in the day. Too bad that program has fallen back to where it was before my dd went there. IOWs, not good.
 

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