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How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
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dxdtdemon Offline
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How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
Looking at past tournaments, it appears that they do the two double-elimination pods of four with a best of three between the two winners of the pods like the CWS and WCWS in Division I, but I was wondering how those 8 teams get determined. There are way more than 8 conferences with softball in DII, and was curious if the NCAA didn't list the whole tournament on their website and there were earlier rounds, or what they do.
05-03-2017 12:21 AM
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Kaplony Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
(05-03-2017 12:21 AM)dxdtdemon Wrote:  Looking at past tournaments, it appears that they do the two double-elimination pods of four with a best of three between the two winners of the pods like the CWS and WCWS in Division I, but I was wondering how those 8 teams get determined. There are way more than 8 conferences with softball in DII, and was curious if the NCAA didn't list the whole tournament on their website and there were earlier rounds, or what they do.

Essentially it is the same as DI in that there are 16 regionals, eight super regionals, then an eight team WCWS. The big difference is the DII regionals are actually regional in nature rather than seeding based with two regionals in each DII region.

The bracket you are seeing is the actual WCWS bracket, not the entire tournament.
05-03-2017 12:54 AM
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DavidSt Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
I just don't see Arkansas schools in the same region as Minnesota schools while Texas schools are in a different region.
05-03-2017 03:08 AM
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AZcats Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
D2 regions are grouped by conference, not state, in order to balance the number of schools in each region and have equal playoff access for all schools. There are 8 regions with 3 conferences each for 16 D2 sports, 9 sports have their own regional structure. Postseason selections are made by regional committees not a single national committee. Like Kaplony said, each softball regional committee selects their 8 postseason qualifiers and follows a similar format to D1 but the teams remain in the predetermined region until one school from each region advances to the Elite Eight. I wish D2 baseball had the same format. Last year the bracket expanded to 56 teams with unbalanced regional brackets at 6, 7, or 8 teams based on the total number baseball teams in that region.
05-03-2017 08:29 PM
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johnintx Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
(05-03-2017 03:08 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  I just don't see Arkansas schools in the same region as Minnesota schools while Texas schools are in a different region.

The GAC was sent north to a region with the MIAA and the NSIC (Minnesota, etc.). I know that has been the setup for football and basketball, not sure about the other sports. Next year, at least for football, the NSIC is being sent west, while the GLVC (Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, etc.) and GLIAC (Michigan, etc.) are being placed in a region with the MIAA and GAC.

http://www.d2messageboard.com/entry.php?...on-the-GAC

The Lone Star Conference (Texas, New Mexico) is in a region with the RMAC. I have seen the Heartland Conference placed in this region for non-football sports.

They try to balance the regions for competitiveness and geography. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
05-03-2017 08:42 PM
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dxdtdemon Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
Thank you for the responses. When you say that the regions select the teams, can they select anybody, or are there automatic bids for conference champions? The reason why I'm asking is that a friend of a friend is the head coach of the Cedarville University softball team, and they've been dominating the G-MAC this season, but the mutual friend told me that he thinks that if Cedarville wins the conference tournament as well as the regular season crown that they've already captured, they'll still not likely make the tournament. This is Cedarville's fifth season in the NCAA, so they should've been postseason eligible starting last season, right? I realize it's a different division and sport, but this was Northern Kentucky's fourth season in Division I and they were eligible for March Madness. Or can teams not participate in both the NCAA and NCCAA national tournaments?
05-03-2017 09:13 PM
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johnintx Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
(05-03-2017 09:13 PM)dxdtdemon Wrote:  Thank you for the responses. When you say that the regions select the teams, can they select anybody, or are there automatic bids for conference champions? The reason why I'm asking is that a friend of a friend is the head coach of the Cedarville University softball team, and they've been dominating the G-MAC this season, but the mutual friend told me that he thinks that if Cedarville wins the conference tournament as well as the regular season crown that they've already captured, they'll still not likely make the tournament. This is Cedarville's fifth season in the NCAA, so they should've been postseason eligible starting last season, right? I realize it's a different division and sport, but this was Northern Kentucky's fourth season in Division I and they were eligible for March Madness. Or can teams not participate in both the NCAA and NCCAA national tournaments?

I don't know much about how that sport operates at the D-II level, but I know the G-MAC is a relatively new conference. The conference may not have an automatic bid.

My alma mater is in a transition to D-II. At least during the transition period, they are participating in NCCAA national tournaments. In addition, I know there are established D-II members playing in NCCAA tournaments. The NCCAA welcomes dual affiliates.

http://www.thenccaa.org/documents/2016/7...pdf?id=185
05-03-2017 09:32 PM
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
The regional structure works pretty well but it does have a couple of quirks. Central State (Ohio) is in the South region because they are in the SIAC. I've been thinking that the South Central region should be renamed to maybe the Mountain region. That region is the Heartland, Lone Star, and Rocky Mountain with schools in AR, TX, OK, KS, NE, SD, NM, CO, and UT. Football, Field Hockey, Men's Lacrosse, Women's Lacrosse, both Swim & Dive, Rowing, Wrestling, and Women's Golf each have their own unique regional plans while all other 16 D2 sports follow the same 8-region plan. Basically the basketball region is the primary region for each school and conference in those 16 sports. Previously, the 4 football super regions were formed by pairing 2 regions (ex. SR3 = Central + West regions) but are now formed by 4 conferences each regardless of their primary region.

All conferences now have AQ status in all sports provided that sport has 6 schools participating. In the Great American, all sports get the AQ except Men's Soccer and Men's Tennis because those sports only have 4 teams including Oklahoma Baptist. Reclassifying teams do not count in participation totals. Cedarville became postseason eligible immediately upon completion of reclassifying but could only be selected as an at-large until the G-MAC qualified for AQ status. Just like D1, the automatic qualifier is almost always the conference tournament champion.

I have followed D2 passionately for many years since I am from Arkansas Tech and it's nice to see other D2 fans here on what is pretty much a D1 message board.
05-03-2017 10:30 PM
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johnintx Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
(05-03-2017 10:30 PM)AZcats Wrote:  The regional structure works pretty well but it does have a couple of quirks. Central State (Ohio) is in the South region because they are in the SIAC. I've been thinking that the South Central region should be renamed to maybe the Mountain region. That region is the Heartland, Lone Star, and Rocky Mountain with schools in AR, TX, OK, KS, NE, SD, NM, CO, and UT. Football, Field Hockey, Men's Lacrosse, Women's Lacrosse, both Swim & Dive, Rowing, Wrestling, and Women's Golf each have their own unique regional plans while all other 16 D2 sports follow the same 8-region plan. Basically the basketball region is the primary region for each school and conference in those 16 sports. Previously, the 4 football super regions were formed by pairing 2 regions (ex. SR3 = Central + West regions) but are now formed by 4 conferences each regardless of their primary region.

All conferences now have AQ status in all sports provided that sport has 6 schools participating. In the Great American, all sports get the AQ except Men's Soccer and Men's Tennis because those sports only have 4 teams including Oklahoma Baptist. Reclassifying teams do not count in participation totals. Cedarville became postseason eligible immediately upon completion of reclassifying but could only be selected as an at-large until the G-MAC qualified for AQ status. Just like D1, the automatic qualifier is almost always the conference tournament champion.

I have followed D2 passionately for many years since I am from Arkansas Tech and it's nice to see other D2 fans here on what is pretty much a D1 message board.

Thank you so much! That's good to know. I had the regions for football figured out, but wasn't sure about the other sports. I really appreciate the information.

I went to OBU (OKB? OKBU? We have two OBUs) for my undergrad degree. I'm learning D-II as we transition. If it goes as planned, we'll be full members and eligible for conference championships in the fall. We re-started football, then followed our former rivals into D-II, all within the last 5 years. It's good to be in a conference with them and the Arkansas schools. I don't expect to win national championships, but I think D-II will be good for the school.

Thanks again!
(This post was last modified: 05-03-2017 11:20 PM by johnintx.)
05-03-2017 11:20 PM
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AZcats Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
(05-03-2017 11:20 PM)johnintx Wrote:  Thank you so much! That's good to know. I had the regions for football figured out, but wasn't sure about the other sports. I really appreciate the information.

I went to OBU (OKB? OKBU? We have two OBUs) for my undergrad degree. I'm learning D-II as we transition. If it goes as planned, we'll be full members and eligible for conference championships in the fall. We re-started football, then followed our former rivals into D-II, all within the last 5 years. It's good to be in a conference with them and the Arkansas schools. I don't expect to win national championships, but I think D-II will be good for the school.

Thanks again!

Yeah, I've seen you on the D2 board. I was also one of the first on that board to refer to Oklahoma Baptist as OKBU because that is what the [.edu] address is. I fully expect OKBU to be approved for membership in July and it would not surprise me to see you win the All-Sports Trophy next year. There's no reason why you shouldn't expect to win national titles.

The regional assignments for OKBU are; primary region is the Central region with MIAA and NSIC while Football is in SR3 with MIAA, GLVC, and GLIAC. Women's Golf is the Central region which is the only WG region that is the same as the primary; the sport's other 3 regions are combinations of primary regions. The link currently shows OKBU WG in the West region but that should change next year. Because Lacrosse and Swim & Dive are RMAC members, you are in their region in those sports. Women's Lacrosse will split into 4 regions beginning with the 2018 season putting the RMAC with the GLIAC, G-MAC, MEC, and Independents in the Midwest region. I have not taken the time yet to get the S&D regional breakdown but you can look here for the men's and women's teams. The last column is the region and all columns are sortable. I was surprised the S&D teams did not join the New South Swim Conference with Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State but the RMAC needs swim teams and I believe Oklahoma Christian will join the RMAC as well with California Baptist leaving.
05-04-2017 02:55 AM
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Sara141 Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
Division II is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment offered in Division III.
Before 1973, the NCAA's smaller schools were grouped together in the College Division. In 1973, the College Division split in two when the NCAA began using numeric designations for its competitions. The College Division members who wanted to offer athletic scholarships or compete against those who did became Division II, while those who chose not to offer athletic scholarships became Division III.
05-04-2017 05:14 AM
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johnintx Offline
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RE: How is the NCAA DII softball tournament structured?
(05-04-2017 02:55 AM)AZcats Wrote:  Yeah, I've seen you on the D2 board. I was also one of the first on that board to refer to Oklahoma Baptist as OKBU because that is what the [.edu] address is. I fully expect OKBU to be approved for membership in July and it would not surprise me to see you win the All-Sports Trophy next year. There's no reason why you shouldn't expect to win national titles.

The regional assignments for OKBU are; primary region is the Central region with MIAA and NSIC while Football is in SR3 with MIAA, GLVC, and GLIAC. Women's Golf is the Central region which is the only WG region that is the same as the primary; the sport's other 3 regions are combinations of primary regions. The link currently shows OKBU WG in the West region but that should change next year. Because Lacrosse and Swim & Dive are RMAC members, you are in their region in those sports. Women's Lacrosse will split into 4 regions beginning with the 2018 season putting the RMAC with the GLIAC, G-MAC, MEC, and Independents in the Midwest region. I have not taken the time yet to get the S&D regional breakdown but you can look here for the men's and women's teams. The last column is the region and all columns are sortable. I was surprised the S&D teams did not join the New South Swim Conference with Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State but the RMAC needs swim teams and I believe Oklahoma Christian will join the RMAC as well with California Baptist leaving.

That's good stuff. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, Ouachita beat us to the web address. :- )01-lauramac2
05-04-2017 08:09 AM
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