[ColoradoTree]

Despite being the #3 or #4 team for most of the year, Stanford is rounding into form at the right time, grabbing the #1 seed for this week's MPSF championships to be held at our own Avery Aquatics Center.  (Beating top-ranked Cal sure helped!)

Action starts this Friday, with (2) Cal playing (3) UCLA for one spot in the championship match, with (1) Stanford playing (4) USC for the other spot.  (Technically, both Stanford and USC also play 5th-seeded Penn State Behrend, which marks the first time I've ever heard of Penn State Behrend, but both Stanford and USC are expected to win handily, making the Stanford-USC game effectively a semifinal. The structure in all of its glory is set forth below, as taken from the MPSF website.)

Game times:

Friday, November 17

Game 1: A4 (4 seed USC) v A5 (5 seed Penn State Behrend) --10:00 am
Game 2: A1 (1 seed Stanford) v A4 (4 seed USC) --3:00 pm
Game 3: B2 (2 seed California) v B3 (3 seed UCLA) -- 4:30 pm
Game 4: A1 (1 seed Stanford) v A5 (5 seed Penn State Behrend) --6:00 pm

Saturday, November 18

Game 5: 3rd-Place "A" Team vs. 2nd-Place "B" Team (Cal-UCLA loser) --12:00 pm

(winner advances to 3rd place game)

Sunday, November 19

Game 6 (3rd-Place): Game 5 Winner (almost certainly the Cal-UCLA loser) vs. 2nd-Place "A" (basically the Stanford-USC loser) --11:00 am (Pac-12 Networks)
Game 7 (Championship): Cal-UCLA winner vs. 1st place "A" (basically the Stanford-USC winner) --1:00 pm (Pac-12 Networks)

[ColoradoTree]

Despite being the #3 or #4 team for most of the year, Stanford is rounding into form at the right time, grabbing the #1 seed for this week's MPSF championships to be held at our own Avery Aquatics Center.  (Beating top-ranked Cal sure helped!)

Action starts this Friday, with (2) Cal playing (3) UCLA for one spot in the championship match, with (1) Stanford playing (4) USC for the other spot.  (Technically, both Stanford and USC also play 5th-seeded Penn State Behrend, which marks the first time I've ever heard of Penn State Behrend, but both Stanford and USC are expected to win handily, making the Stanford-USC game effectively a semifinal. The structure in all of its glory is set forth below, as taken from the MPSF website.)

Game times:

Friday, November 17

Game 1: A4 (4 seed USC) v A5 (5 seed Penn State Behrend) --10:00 am
Game 2: A1 (1 seed Stanford) v A4 (4 seed USC) --3:00 pm
Game 3: B2 (2 seed California) v B3 (3 seed UCLA) -- 4:30 pm
Game 4: A1 (1 seed Stanford) v A5 (5 seed Penn State Behrend) --6:00 pm

Saturday, November 18

Game 5: 3rd-Place "A" Team vs. 2nd-Place "B" Team (Cal-UCLA loser) --12:00 pm

(winner advances to 3rd place game)

Sunday, November 19

Game 6 (3rd-Place): Game 5 Winner (almost certainly the Cal-UCLA loser) vs. 2nd-Place "A" (basically the Stanford-USC loser) --11:00 am (Pac-12 Networks)
Game 7 (Championship): Cal-UCLA winner vs. 1st place "A" (basically the Stanford-USC winner) --1:00 pm (Pac-12 Networks)

[BobK]

Thanks for the info and schedule.  Sad we don't play Saturday with the football game being at 5. 

WBB Sunday at 2. 

Darn but go Card

[BobK]

Thanks for the info and schedule.  Sad we don't play Saturday with the football game being at 5. 

WBB Sunday at 2. 

Darn but go Card

[cardcrimson]

Very Puzzling. What's the thought process behind having the one, four and five seeds playing twice, with the three and four seeds playing only once, to earn a berth in the championship match?

[cardcrimson]

Very Puzzling. What's the thought process behind having the one, four and five seeds playing twice, with the three and four seeds playing only once, to earn a berth in the championship match?

[ColoradoTree]

I think 5-team brackets are a thorny problem, but perhaps they thought having a 4 vs. 5 play-in game disadvantaged the winner of that game too much?  Or maybe it was a way to guarantee a second game for each team--it's a long way to fly for Penn State Behrend for just one game if they just did a 4/5 play-in game. 

In practice, I'm not sure how much it will really matter.  Both Stanford and USC should beat Penn State Behrend by double digits, so it's not much more than an exhibition.  (Last year, for example, Stanford beat Penn State Behrend 17-1 before losing to USC and Cal in this tournament.)  That said, the timing of the games would seem to favor us.  USC plays Penn State Behrend first, so even if they rest their best players in that match, USC's depth will be affected at least a little bit, while ours won't be when USC has to turn around and play us.  We can then throw everything we have into the USC game and then rely on our depth and trust we can beat Penn State Behrend on tired legs in the evening. 

If the 5th team were on the caliber of Long Beach State, UOP, or UC Irvine, I'd be much more up in arms about the unfairness of having to play an extra game just to make the final.  And I suspect they'd structure it differently if a better team were the 5 seed. 

The USC matchup is a tough one for us.  They've been #1 for much of the season, but we lost both times we faced them this season, though both games were close and both were at USC (one was as part of an invitational tournament).  But SC lost twice in the last couple of weeks, including their second loss of the season to UCLA, making it hard to give USC a better seed than UCLA.

Here the records between the Big Four teams this year: 
* Stanford is 1-0 vs. UCLA, 1-1 vs. Cal, and 0-2 vs. USC
* Cal is 1-1 vs. Stanford, 1-1 vs. UCLA, and 1-0 vs. USC
* UCLA is 0-1 vs. Stanford, 1-1 vs. Cal, and 2-0 vs. USC
* USC is 2-0 vs. Stanford, 0-1 vs. Cal, and 0-2 vs. UCLA. 

We seem to be a better team now than we were earlier this season, though, so hopefully we can take care of USC at home. 

[ColoradoTree]

I think 5-team brackets are a thorny problem, but perhaps they thought having a 4 vs. 5 play-in game disadvantaged the winner of that game too much?  Or maybe it was a way to guarantee a second game for each team--it's a long way to fly for Penn State Behrend for just one game if they just did a 4/5 play-in game. 

In practice, I'm not sure how much it will really matter.  Both Stanford and USC should beat Penn State Behrend by double digits, so it's not much more than an exhibition.  (Last year, for example, Stanford beat Penn State Behrend 17-1 before losing to USC and Cal in this tournament.)  That said, the timing of the games would seem to favor us.  USC plays Penn State Behrend first, so even if they rest their best players in that match, USC's depth will be affected at least a little bit, while ours won't be when USC has to turn around and play us.  We can then throw everything we have into the USC game and then rely on our depth and trust we can beat Penn State Behrend on tired legs in the evening. 

If the 5th team were on the caliber of Long Beach State, UOP, or UC Irvine, I'd be much more up in arms about the unfairness of having to play an extra game just to make the final.  And I suspect they'd structure it differently if a better team were the 5 seed. 

The USC matchup is a tough one for us.  They've been #1 for much of the season, but we lost both times we faced them this season, though both games were close and both were at USC (one was as part of an invitational tournament).  But SC lost twice in the last couple of weeks, including their second loss of the season to UCLA, making it hard to give USC a better seed than UCLA.

Here the records between the Big Four teams this year: 
* Stanford is 1-0 vs. UCLA, 1-1 vs. Cal, and 0-2 vs. USC
* Cal is 1-1 vs. Stanford, 1-1 vs. UCLA, and 1-0 vs. USC
* UCLA is 0-1 vs. Stanford, 1-1 vs. Cal, and 2-0 vs. USC
* USC is 2-0 vs. Stanford, 0-1 vs. Cal, and 0-2 vs. UCLA. 

We seem to be a better team now than we were earlier this season, though, so hopefully we can take care of USC at home. 

[Spiny_Norman]

If recent history is a guide, 2 MPSF teams will be selected as at-large contestants for the NCAA championship + the MPSF automatic qualifier.  So one team from among C.al, Stanford, U.SC and UCLA will not make it.

Given that Stanford and U.SC are both 2-3 vs. each other and the other top seeds, the semi-final looks like an NCAA play-in match.

[Spiny_Norman]

If recent history is a guide, 2 MPSF teams will be selected as at-large contestants for the NCAA championship + the MPSF automatic qualifier.  So one team from among C.al, Stanford, U.SC and UCLA will not make it.

Given that Stanford and U.SC are both 2-3 vs. each other and the other top seeds, the semi-final looks like an NCAA play-in match.

[ColoradoTree]

Welp, it's not going great so far.  USC led 6-3 at half and just added another to go up 7-3 with 6:09 left in the third quarter. 

[ColoradoTree]

Welp, it's not going great so far.  USC led 6-3 at half and just added another to go up 7-3 with 6:09 left in the third quarter. 

[Canalejas]

Final score 5 - 10  :( 

What are our chances of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament? 

[Canalejas]

Final score 5 - 10  :( 

What are our chances of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament? 

[ColoradoTree]

Need a win on Sunday in the third place match to have any hope. Sigh.

[ColoradoTree]

Need a win on Sunday in the third place match to have any hope. Sigh.