Simulating the Rest of the D3 Basketball Season 1,000 Times – Episode 131
Using the D3 Datacast team efficiency ratings we can simulate the remaining games yet to be played and run it through NPI. Do it 1,000 times and we can get a picture of how likely teams are to win their automatic qualifier and, if necessary, qualify for the tournament as an at-large selection.
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Tournament At-Large Pick Predictions – Episode 130
We love a way too early contest here at The D3 Datacat so it’s time to break out our annual draft to predict which teams will receive at-large bids to the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament!
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Top 10 Conferences in D3 Basketball Right Now – Episode 129
This week we zoom out from our usual focus on individual teams and look at how efficiency rating conference rankings are taking shape through the early portion of this Division III men’s basketball season.
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Are These 10 Teams Flying Under the Top 25 Radar? – Episode 128
In this week’s show we turn to the D3 Datacast efficiency ratings and take a look at the top ten teams that have not yet been named on a ballot. Are there some hidden gems, some teams flying under the radar?
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Who’s Up, Who’s Down? Early-Season Efficiency Ratings Movers – Episode 127
Join us this week for another four-point play where we talk about what has been catching our eye across the country then dive in to take a look at a few programs who have made notable moves in our efficiency ratings so far this season.
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Great Lakes Invitational Power Rankings 2025 – Episode 126
Join us this week for another four-point play to talk about what has been catching our eye across the country then dive in deep into what happened at the Great Lakes Invitational.
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How Does Changing the Dials Change the 2025 D3 Football Playoff Field?
The Division III football committee was an outlier compared to other sport committees in how heavily they weighted winning percentage in NPI. How does the playoff field change as the balance between winning percentage and strength of schedule change? We show you that here!
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Early Season Upsets? – Episode 125
Join us this week as we react to another exciting week of action and try to make sense of it all, starting with a scan of the country in our “four-point play” to start another episode.
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CWRU vs. Rowan Football: Who Won the Tie?
Case Western Reserve and Rowan agreed to call their weather-shortened week one game a tie. With NPI, every result matters. So who “won” the tie?
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Week 1 Reactions and Overreactions – Episode 124
Join us as we break down the opening weekend of the season, review the tools and resources available on our site and make our picks for week 2!
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2025 Division III Football Playoff Tracker (NPI Updates)
The D3 Datacast will be running NPI updates throughout the final day of the D3 football regular season. See how the playoff picture is developing throughout the day instead of having to wait until the end!
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Bold Predictions and Hot Takes for the 2025-26 Season – Episode 123
The first game week of the season is here! Join us as we debut a new segment we call the four-point play, talk Top 25, discuss bold predictions and hot takes and make our week one picks.
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Top 50 Games in November 2025 – Episode 122
As we have done in previous years, we’ve combed through schedules and compiled our list of the Top 50 games of the men’s basketball season taking place in the month of November.
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Conference Champion Draft 2025-26 – Episode 121
It’s way too early to know who the conference champions will be during the 2025-2026 Division II basketball season but that won’t keep us from trying to guess! We’re back with year three of our conference champions draft contest.
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Unofficial 2025-26 MBB Preseason Top 25 Poll Tracker
The preseason D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll for the 2025-2026 men’s basketball season is fast approaching. As voters finish their ballots, we will take those that have chosen to publicly reveal them and track an early unofficial look at how the poll is taking shape.
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Mark Christner, Calvin WBB Head Coach – Episode 120
It’s a Calvin basketball double feature this week on The D3 Datacast as we follow up Monday’s episode with Bill Sall with a special Wednesday episode as we chat with Calvin head women’s basketball coach Mark Christner!
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Bill Sall on the 2025-26 Calvin Knights MBB – Episode 119
Calvin loses some key contributors from last season’s team but returns a talented and experienced core. Join us this week as we get Coach Sall’s thoughts on the 2025-2026 roster, non-conference schedule, conference outlook and more!
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Preseason Efficiency Ratings 2025-26 – Episode 118
Join us for this episode as we take a look at the preseason efficiency ratings that will serve as the basis for the season while the computer adjusts to the new season over each team’s first eight games.
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NPI Fact or Fiction? – Episode 117
Our NPI summer series wraps up with Fact or Fiction! In this episode we feature five prompts about NPI and answer whether they are based on fact or fiction fueled by a misconception or misunderstanding.
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Does NPI Give Everyone an At-Large Chance? – Episode 116
We have seen how NPI opens up tournament consideration to a wider set of Division III men’s basketball teams than the previous regional ranking/committee selection system – but does NPI actually give every team a chance at an at-large tournament berth?
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Non-D3 Games in the NPI Era – Episode 115
As fans we want to see schedules full of games between D3 opponents, but does NPI make it OK to play a game out of division?
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Did NPI Pick the Right Teams? – Episode 114
The first Division III men’s basketball tournament with at-large teams selected by NPI is in the books. We got a great tournament but did NPI pick the right teams?
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Top 10 Dunks – 2024-2025 D3 Basketball Season
The 2024-2025 Division III men’s basketball season was one to remember for many reasons, including some of the great dunks. Here is our list for the ten best.
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2024-2025 D3 Dunks Fan Vote
While some big dunks from some big dunkers have been easy inclusions in the Top 10, the margins at that Top 10 cut line are miniscule, making the decisions especially difficult.
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2025 Great Lakes Invitational Schedule Announced
The Great Lakes Invitational is one of the premier events on the Division III men’s basketball calendar. As such, anticipation for some of the next season’s best non-conference matchups has to include game that will take place at the GLI.
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Wrapping up the Season with the Final Four – Episode 113
We are back from Fort Wayne, Indiana and what a weekend it was! Congratulations to the Trinity (CT) Bantams for winning the 2024-2025 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship and to NYU, Wesleyan and WashU for a great Final Four weekend.
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2025 Final Four Picks! – Episode 112
Join us once again as we break down the matchups and take one last look at each of the remaining teams’ odds to cut down the nets.
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How to watch the 2025 Division III Final Four and Championship Games
All the details for how to watch the championship rounds of the 2025 Division III men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
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2025 Sweet 16 Preview and Updated Championship Odds – Episode 111
One great weekend of tournament hoops down, two more to go. Join us this week as we look back at the opening weekend of the 2025 Division III men’s basketball tournament and look ahead at what’s next.
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2025 NCAA Tournament Overall Bracket Odds – Episode 110
Who are the favorites to move on to the tournament’s second weekend? Who are the favorites to make a run to the Final Four and which teams have the best odds to win it all?
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2025 D3 Basketball Tournament First Round Picks and Preview – Episode 109
The 2025 Division III men’s basketball tournament bracket has been released so it’s time to break it down like only the D3 Datacast can!
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Tournament Selections and Mock Bracket – Episode 108
All the games are now in the books so we take one more look at the final NPI rankings and talk about who is in, who is out and mock bracket!
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Championship Sunday, Live NPI Updates, 2025 Tournament Projections – D3 Datacast Live!
The D3 Datacast goes live for a special Championship Sunday livestream to track the season’s final games and give real time NPI and tournament projection updates.
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How Conference Tournaments Will Shape the NCAA Tournament – Episode 107
As the season hits conference tournament play we take a look at the conferences that will help shape the NCAA Tournament picture.
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Old vs. New: Winners and Losers with D3 Basketball NPI – Episode 106
We put old vs. new with a look at how the previous regional ranking system would have stacked up with what we are seeing with NPI.
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Protecting Top 8, Picking Hosts and Putting Together a Bracket -Episode 105
We take a look at the race for the top eight protected seeds, the top 16 seed that will put themselves in position to host opening weekend pods, and it all fits together in making an NCAA Tournament bracket.
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Bubble Watch! How are Teams Looking for At-Large Bids? – Episode 104
The calendar turning to February marks the start of the Division III basketball season stretch run. Which teams are real contenders to receive an at-large bid should they need it?
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Top 25, Next 25, and Protecting Top Seeds – Episode 103
Top 25 voting never gets easier. This week we go deep into Matt’s Top 25 ballot then go a step further by taking a look at his next 25.
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Which Conferences Will Get At-Large Bids to the 2025 Tournament? – Episode 102
With the help of the D3 Datacast computer we simulated the rest of the season 1,000 times and applied NPI to the results. Where do the at-large bids come from?
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What Every D3 Basketball Fan Needs To Know About NPI – Episode 101
Goodbye regional rankings, hello NPI! Join us for this show and we will walk through everything you need to know about the new NCAA Tournament selection and seeding system.
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10 Tightest Conference Races in 2025 – Episode 100
The D3 Datacast computer ran 1,000 simulations of the rest of the season and we talk about which conference races turned out the tightest.
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Things we were wrong about – Episode 99
With a fresh set of eyes we take a look back at some things we thought in the preseason that haven’t, at least not yet, turned out the way we thought they would.
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Top 10 Offenses and Defenses in D3 Basketball – Episode 98
Now that the D3 Datacast computer ratings are (nearly) entirely reliant on current season results, we check in to see the overall Top 20 and Top 10 offenses and defenses!
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At Large Bid Fantasy Draft – Episode 97
We’re a long way off from finding out what this year’s Pool C teams are but that won’t stop us from putting together a contest to guess!
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Top Teams Without Top 25 Votes – Episode 96
79 teams have been named on at least one Top 25 ballot so far. Should these ten teams add to that list?
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Teams on the Rise! – Episode 95
We’re far enough into the season that preseason expectations should be fading away in favor of what teams have showed us in real games played so far. This week we check in to see how the D3 Datacast computer ratings have shifted in the early season.
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Great Lakes Invitational Power Rankings 2024 – Episode 94
After seeing all eight games in person, we asked a panel of Division III basketball media to vote in a poll to determine our power rankings based on what we saw from the eight participants in the 2024 Great Lakes Invitational.
Read moreHow Does Changing the Dials Change the 2024 D3 Football Playoff Field?
Now that we have the first-ever Division III Football Playoff field selected by NPI it begs asking the question: what if the football dials were more in line with other sports?
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Time for a Top 25 Update? – Episode 93
The first full week of the 2024-2025 Division III men’s basketball season is in the books and in a lot of ways the preseason Top 25 picture has been completely blown up.
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Top 25 in Shambles? – Episode 92
Join us this week as we react to the biggest wins, surprising losses and best games and how that makes us think about the national rankings moving forward.
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Hot Takes and Bold Predictions for 2024-25 – Episode 91
The first week of games for the 2024-25 D3 basketball season is finally here and so is our show for week one!
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Top 50 D3 Basketball Games in November 2024 – Episode 90
The Division III men’s basketball season gets off to a hot start when play begins on November 8. It seems more and more teams are out in search of high-level non-conference competition and we get great games as a result!
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What D3 Football Fans Should Know About NPI – Episode 89
It’s the time of the year when focus shifts onto the national scene as Division III football fans try to make sense of the developing playoff picture. In the past that meant trying to filter through weekly regional rankings but that system is gone, replaced by NPI.
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Conference Champion Draft! – Episode 88
The weeks leading into a new Division III basketball season is the perfect time for previews and predictions and we’re putting those two things together in our second-annual conference champion draft contest!
Read moreUnofficial 2024-25 MBB Preseason Top 25 Poll Tracker
The preseason D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll for the 2024-2025 men’s basketball season is fast approaching. As voters finish their ballots, we will take those that have chosen to publicly reveal them and track an early unofficial look at how the poll is taking shape.
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Calvin Knights MBB Head Coach Bill Sall – Episode 87
We typically leave the coach interviews to other great Division III basketball content creators but we can’t resist the chance to get in a pre-season conversation with Calvin men’s basketball coach Bill Sall.
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What If Every Team Made The D3 NCAA Tournament? – Episode 86
What started as a simple tweet grew into a full episode of The D3 Datacast! D3Hoops.com columnist Ryan Scott once wondered about a fairly simple question: what if every team made the Division III men’s basketball tournament?
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2024-2025 MBB Preseason Efficiency Ratings – Episode 85
The D3 Datacast is back in season mode with weekly episodes starting with this show taking a look at preseason efficiency ratings for the 2024-2025 Division III men’s basketball season.
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Top 10 Division III Men’s Basketball Programs of All-Time – Episode 84
NCAA Division III celebrated its 50th Anniversary last season. Which men’s basketball programs have proven to be the very best over the course of that half century?
Read moreNPI Q&A – Episode 83 Supplement
As a follow-up to Episode 83, we are keeping this running list of questions we have received and answers we have given for the benefit of all.
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Unpacking NPI – New Tournament Selection Metric for Division III – Episode 83
NCAA Division III is in the process of rolling out the NCAA Power Index (NPI), a new ranking system that will be used to select and seed teams for the national tournament in all team sports. Join us as we unpack how it works and what it means.
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We Are D3 – The Basketball Tournament 2024 ft. Mike Rejniak – Episode 82
In this episode of the D3 Datacast we talk with Mike Rejniak, head coach and general manager of We Are D3 about their expansion into a pro combine as well as preview the team’s performance in TBT 2024.
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How to Get Recruited ft. D3Direct – Episode 81
Coverage and exposure of NCAA Division III is at an all-time high thanks to people like Karl Barkley. He has created a wide-range of resources and content. D3Direct has something for everyone no matter how they might intersect the D3 world.
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What We’ve Learned About the Coming of NPI
The winds of change have been blowing throughout Division III, including in the way teams will be ranked and selected for national tournament play. Here is the latest we’ve learned about NPI.
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D3 Basketball Conference Power Rankings 2024 – Episode 80
After a great 2024 Division III basketball season we have a good idea how the teams stack up against each other, but what about conference to conference? See where we think your favorite conference ranked for 2024!
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Pipeline to the Pros – a Conversation with Ben Kaplan – Episode 79
We were pleased to be joined by Ben Kaplan to talk about his new book Pipeline to the Pros, How D3, Small-College Nobodies Rose to Rule the NBA.
Read more2024 Great Lakes Invitational Schedule Announced
While we knew who would be participating in the 2024 Great Lakes Invitational, we did not know who each team would be playing. Until now.
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2024 Final Four Recap and Lasting Impressions – Episode 78
Final Four weekend never disappoints and Fort Wayne was once again a tremendous host. We got great games in a great atmosphere with the National Champion Trine Thunder coming out of the weekend with the greatest performances.
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2024 Final Four Preview and Championship Odds Update – Episode 77
All eyes turn to Fort Wayne, Indiana as the 2024 Division III men’s basketball season is down to its Final Four. Join us as we go through what remains of the bracket.
Read moreHow to watch the 2024 Division III Final Four and Championship Games
Trying to find how to watch the Division III basketball semifinals and championship games isn’t always easy. We rounded up the info and links so you don’t have to!
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2024 Sweet 16 Preview and Tourney Odds Update – Episode 76
In this show we run through the bracket to look back at the first weekend of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. With the help of the D3 Datacast computer we then take a look at the Sweet 16 and beyond!
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2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket Odds – Episode 75
Our last show was all about digging deep into the first round matchups of the the 2024 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament. Now it’s time to zoom out and take a look at the bracket as a whole. Who are the overall favorites?
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2024 NCAA Tournament First Round Picks and Preview – Episode 74
Find out who the D3 Datacast computer ratings see as the favorites in each matchup and which could be sneaky good first round games to keep an eye on as the tournament begins.
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NCAA Tournament Bracket Reactions – Episode 73
Matt and Zac give their initial impressions and reactions to the bracket, the seedings, and selections in an early-week bonus episode!
Read moreSources: Nebraska Wesleyan did not submit NCAA host bid
Not all deserving teams may end up as tournament hosts as we have learned Nebraska Wesleyan did not file the hosting paperwork with the NCAA.
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Week 3 Regional Ranking Reactions – Episode 72
We got the release of the week three Division III men’s basketball regional rankings and for the most part they look a lot like the rankings from our predictions!
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Week 3 Regional Ranking Predictions and Bubble Picture – Episode 71
We took the updated data for games played through Sunday February 18 coupled with what we feel are some of the lessons we’ve learned from the first two weeks of rankings to come out with our predictions for what we will see when the week three regional rankings are released on Tuesday.
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Week 2 Regional Ranking Reactions – Episode 70
Join us as we review the second regional rankings and discuss the differences from our predictions and what conclusions we might be able to draw from them.
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Predicting the Week 2 Regional Rankings – Episode 69
With updated winning percentages, strength of schedules, results versus regionally ranked opponents to add to the mix and some lessons learned from what we got last week we are back with a new set of predictions for what we think we will see in the new regional rankings.
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Week 1 Regional Rankings Review and Reactions – Episode 68
It’s bonus episode time to take a look at the official first set of regional rankings and compare them with what we had in our predictions episode earlier this week. How did we do?
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Predicting the Week 1 Regional Rankings – Episode 67
It’s an exciting week on the D3 Datacast as we anticipate the release of the first regional rankings! We’ve crunched the numbers and sifted through the data so all that is left to do is go region-by-region and make our predictions.
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The NCAA Tournament Bubble Is Taking Shape – Episode 66
There is a lot of basketball yet to be played but the bubble picture is starting to take shape. In this week’s show we put teams into buckets to describe their chances at an at-large bid to the 2024 Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament should they need it.
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Dark Horse NCAA Tournament Teams – Episode 65
Last season saw UW-Whitewater and Nichols make dark horse runs deep in the Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament. We look back at where they stood at this point in the season last year and try to find this year’s dark horse candidates.
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Which Conferences Will Get Pool C Bids? – Episode 64
We sift through the current and projected NCAA regional ranking/selection criteria to see which conferences are locks, looking good, in the mix or have work to do to be a multi-bid league.
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Top 3 Teams in Each Region – Episode 63
Regional rankings are still a ways off but we take a quick peak into the developing regional ranking picture to see which teams are sitting pretty so far.
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Top 5 Tightest Conference Races – Episode 62
As the Calendar turns to a new year we celebrate the unofficial change from the non-conference schedule to conference play. Using a combination of current conference records and rest of season projections, this week’s show takes a look at what are shaping up to be the five tightest conference races.
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10 Things We Were Wrong About – Episode 61
The thing about having a lot of opinions and making predictions is it turns out some of them are wrong! In this week’s show we go through ten things we thought heading into this season that, at least as of the making of this show, we were wrong about.
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Top 10 Offenses and Defenses – Episode 60
Now that the majority of teams have played at least eight games the D3 Datacast computer is relying completely on current season data. We take a look at the current Top 40 in the efficiency ratings then break it all down to see which teams have the best offenses and defenses.
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Best Teams Without Any Top 25 Votes – Episode 59
A total of 67 different teams have been named on at least one ballot for the D3Hoops.com Top 25 polls that have been released so far this season. We dig into the efficiency ratings found on D3Datacast.com to see who some of the best teams are that haven’t received any votes.
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At-Large Bid Fantasy Draft (Pool C) – Episode 58
Back by popular demand (probably), it’s our Pool C fantasy draft! The 2023-2024 Division III basketball season is a few weeks old so it’s time to take an early look ahead at how things might turn out at the end of the regular season.
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Early Season Computer Ranking Movers – Episode 57
Computer ratings and human Top 25 voters alike are getting caught up as we transition from preseason to in-season rankings. We take a look at some of the notable early-season movers, both up and down, in the computer efficiency ratings as well as Matt’s ballot for the new Top 25 poll out this week. We…
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GLI Power Rankings – Episode 56
Week two was another banger in the Division III basketball world, highlighted by some terrific events like the Great Lakes Invitational. We are back from our weekend at the GLI hosted by Wittenberg and have plenty of thoughts on the eight teams we saw there.
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Crazy First Week! – Episode 55
Wow, what a first week of the 2023-2024 Division III men’s basketball season! We’re here to talk about what we saw over the first week of action, break it down and give our thoughts on what it all does, or doesn’t, mean going forward into week two and beyond.
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Bold Predictions and Hot Takes for the 2023-24 Season – Episode 54
We have officially made it through the offseason and the first week of the 2023-24 Division III basketball season is here! It’s time to get back into season mode with the show format you came to expect last season. Let’s go!
Read moreHow Good is Division III Basketball?
Conventional wisdom says that Division I is better than Division II is better than Division III. But is that always true? With the help of the Massey Ratings we take a look at how the NCAA Divisions stack up against each other and where they overlap.
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Top 50 Games in November – Episode 53
In today’s episode we go through 50 of the best matchups that we will see in just November alone! Buckle up #d3hoops nation, this season is shaping up to be a fun one and it’s about to begin!
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Way Too Early Conference Champion Draft – Episode 52
The season hasn’t started, we don’t have a Top 25 poll and some rosters haven’t even been posted. Perfect time to pick some conference champions, right? It is definitely way too early to do that with much conviction but it’s never too early to have some fun.
Read moreUnofficial 2023-24 Preseason Top 25 Poll Tracker
The preseason D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll for the 2023-2024 men’s basketball season is fast approaching. As voters finish their ballots, we will take those that have chosen to publicly reveal them and track an early unofficial look at how the poll is taking shape.
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Building a Preseason Top 25 Ballot ft. Akiva Poppers – Episode 51
We are about a week and a half away from the release of the preseason Top 25 for the 2023-24 Division III basketball season. In anticipation of that we are pleased to be joined by Top 25 voter Akiva Poppers!
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Bill Sall, Calvin MBB Head Coach – Episode 50
We are pleased to be joined by Calvin head men’s basketball coach Bill Sall in advance of the 2023-24 Division III basketball season. We get Bill’s thoughts on how the D3 game has changed since his playing days at Calvin, the transition from coaching at the Division II level and the impacts of the extra…
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