Andy Dick coaches Division III football

Actually, he doesn’t really coach D-III football. But Hat Trick is stealing a page out of The Big Spoon’s book today. In this ridiculous clip I found on YouTube, Andy Dick plays a role of a crazed coach. Now, I’m not exactly the biggest Andy Dick fan, but I couldn’t stop laughing during this nonsense. Also, if you make it all the way through the clip to the credits, please note Jeff Grosvenor’s role of tea-bag-ee. Wow.

Swimmers excel in pool and classroom

The College Swimming Coaches Association of America (the CSCAA) announced their annual team academic awards on Monday and there was both good and bad news. The good news: a combined 108 Division III schools had cumulative GPAs of at least 3.0. The bad news: aside from being able to lap me in a swimming pool, a huge portion of D-III swimmers can now top me in the classrooms.

All jokes aside though, this is a staggering total. The discrepancy between men’s (36) and women’s (72) teams above a 3.0 was pretty surprising. The Washington University men’s team had the highest cumulative GPA in all of college swimming with a 3.6. The Hamilton College women’s team had the second highest cumulative GPA with a 3.59.

With so much focus being paid to college athletics at this time of year, the NCAA would be wise to promote these statistics. It shows that athletes can do well in the classroom, as well as in their respective sport. The Washington men’s team finished 18th at Nationals almost two weeks ago, while the Hamilton women’s team finished ninth in the NESCAC Championships last month. Props to the athletes on all 108 of these teams for superb swimming seasons and even more stellar academic performances.

Allan’s draft stock keeps rising

About a month ago I wrote about Michael Allan, a tight end from Division III Whitworth College, a tiny school located in Spokane, Washington, that had been invited to the annual NFL Draft Combine. Allan, a first-team All-American as a senior, continues to impress NFL scouts with his workouts, and has possibly positioned himself to be selected in the later rounds of the draft.

Initially, the fact that Allan was invited to the NFL Combine wasn’t taken too seriously. After all, the jump from D-III football to the NFL is enourmous. But Allan’s measurables (6′6”, 252 pounds, 4.68 40-yard dash) stack up well against the rest of the tight end class this year. Although he isn’t listed on NFL.com’s draft prospects, Scouts Inc. (through ESPN.com) says he could go as high as the fifth round:

Allan arrived at Whitworth as a wide receiver in 2002 and was redshirted. He then played in 25 contests in 2003, 2004 and 2005, amassing 65 receptions for 1,102 yards (17 average) and 20 touchdowns and earning first team All-NWC honors in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, he played all 12 contests, hauling in 53 passes for 1,100 yards (20.8 average) and nine touchdowns and garnering a first-team Division III All-American accolade. Allan lacks ideal explosiveness and is a marginal-at-best in-line blocker, but there’s a lot to like about his blend of size, hands and top-end speed. He projects as a fifth- or sixth-round pick.

The lack of top-notch tight ends, combined with the heavy focus on the running game in the NFL figures to benefit Allan come the weekend of April 28th. At the very least he is an extra big body a team could throw on the offensive line as a blocker. At the best, he could develop into a nice target in the passing game.

The next month or so will determine Allan’s fate, as he continues to work out for teams prior to the draft. But if he keeps up this pace, expect to hear his name called.

Website aims to help athletes choose best D-III fit

I found an interesting website tonight that would be of particular interest to current high school athletes. CollegeStudentAthletes.com is a site dedicated to assisting high school student athletes in finding their ideal Division III match. The site has everything from a general search of D-III schools to “counselor’s picks” to a “match me” service, which allows students to create profiles and connect with matching schools. The site even has a myspace page.

I’m not sure how popular the site is yet, but it’s a pretty unique idea. And I’m sure it has only helped high school students that plan to play on the Division III level in college.

Division III crowns new crop of champions

Well, I’ve finally escaped the cocoon of laziness and traveling that is spring break. But I guess I had to get back on schedule at some point. Unfortunately, mid March just happens to be one of the busiest times of the year in sports, so let’s quickly recap the past week or so in Division III.

On Saturday night Amherst College won the men’s basketball national title, while Depauw University claimed the women’s basketball national title. Amherst defeated last year’s champion Virginia Wesleyan College 80-67 to pick up the first championship in school history. Depauw made things a little more interesting in their game as they squandered a 13-point lead against Washington University with less than 10 minutes remaining. The Tigers held on to pick up the 55-52 victory and bring home the national title.

Both teams had spectacular seasons, as evidenced by their final records of 31-3 (Depauw) and 30-2 (Amherst), but what separated these two squads from the rest of the country was their ability to come up with big performances against quality opponents. In their respective tournament games, the two teams won each contest by averages of 14.4 (Amherst) and 12.3 (Depauw) points per game. They didn’t just squeak by; they dominated. Congratulations to both Amherst and Depauw on solid seasons.

In semi-related news, the final results of my bracket predictions are in … and I didn’t do so bad. On the men’s side I correctly guessed 34 out of the 62 total games played (55%). For the women’s bracket I got 32 right (52%), so at the very least I was consistent. I had only one correct final four team on each side, and none of the four squads playing in the two championship games. Clearly I didn’t win the d3hoops.com Pick ‘Em Challenge, but hey, I’ll be back next year.

And finally, SUNY-Oswego won the men’s ice hockey national championship earlier today, defeating Middlebury College 4-3 in overtime. Junior goalie Ryan Scott did his part for Oswego, recording a staggering 47 saves. The title is the first ever for the Lakers.

Roundup: NCAA track qualifiers announced

Hockey brackets set: The NCAA released the official brackets for both the men’s and women’s ice hockey championships Sunday. Middlebury College returns to both tournaments this year as the defending national champion. Their path to a repeat looks to be more difficult this year, as Plattsburgh State claimed the top women’s seed with a 25-0-2 record. On the men’s side, top seed Saint Norbert enters with a record of 24-3-2. Both championship games will be broadcast online.

Track announcements made: The NCAA also released the official list of qualifiers for the national championships in both men’s and women’s track and field yesterday. On the men’s side, Wisconsin Oshkosh had the most individual qualifier (13). On the women’s side, Wisconsin La Crosse qualified a meet-high 15 members.

My bracket busted? Well, not quite. But it would be fair to say that I had mixed results in the first weekend. In my women’s bracket, two of my final four teams (Hope and Lake Forest) are already eliminated, so that’s not helping at all. But otherwise I have nine of the Sweet 16 teams, including my two championship squads (Bowdoin and NYU). On the men’s side only one of my final four teams is out so far (Trinity College). I also have nine out of the Sweet 16 teams, including my championship teams (UW-Stevens Point and Wooster). More updates to come after this weekend.

Do athletics and education go together?

This seems to be the age-old question in collegiate athletics. Are college athletes really getting the same educational experience as the rest of the student population is, or are they just brought in to win games and perform at a high level? Well Josh Centor, the main blogger/one of the creators of the NCAA’s Double-A Zone blog offers his take:

I’ve never felt that a college education is about what you learn in the classroom. Of course that’s important, but I remember far less of my economics courses than I do of the growing up that transpired on campus for four years. I walked into college an 18-year-old high school graduate and left a 21-year-old man who had met the girl he was going to marry, made lifelong friends, learned how to handle social situations, got over a fear of flying, figured out the principles of international business, adapted to a college curveball and had the greatest four years of his life.

Centor was a student-athlete for all four years of his undergraduate education. Never having played college sports myself, I can’t say what it is like to balance an athletic schedule with everything else. However, a very large portion of my time at Ithaca has been devoted to covering sports on campus, which is what I plan on doing for the rest of my life. And while I am majoring in sport media, if I had not gotten involved with The Ithacan and covering sports, I would never have gotten the extensive writing experience. And as Centor discusses, it’s all about getting that experience.

Anyway, Centor’s blog addresses this, as well as many other issues pertaining to the NCAA. It is definitely worth checking out.

Recruiting proves to be a game in itself

It’s one of the most important aspects of collegiate sports on all levels: recruiting. Teams can have the best coaches, training staffs and playbooks, but let’s face it, you need (at least) decent talent to work with. Even Dean Smith would be hard pressed to win a game with the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (they finished an NBA-record worst 9-73 that year). Thus, bringing in solid players year after year is a must, unless you don’t care about winning.

I’ll admit it, I follow recruiting for Division I men’s basketball (and to a lesser degree football) pretty religiously. A bad season can turn around in a second if you’re school lands a couple highly-ranked prospects. Suddenly, as a fan, there is reason for hope. Because I have an Insider account on ESPN.com, I can follow D-I recruiting on a daily basis in their recruiting section. ESPN ranks the top 150 prospects and gives detailed scouting reports on them, as well as following each D-I team’s individual progress.

Sad to say that there is not something like that for Division III athletics. The closest I could find is (not surprisingly) on d3hoops.com’s Daily Dose. I suppose it shouldn’t come as a total surprise that there isn’t coverage like D-I sports because there is one enormous difference: Division I gives has binding commitments and scholarships, while Division III is prohibited from having them. Still, the recruiting goes on just the same as it does at the higher levels. Maybe one day we will see a site dedicated to Division III recruiting. It would have a permanent place on my internet bookmarks.

A quick bracket update

I’m three for six collectively through Thursday night in the men’s and women’s tournaments. I correctly tabbed Keene State and John Carroll to win on the men’s side, and Chapman on the women’s side. I incorrectly pegged Loras, Augustana and King’s as winners in my men’s bracket. The one that really got me was the Augustana game. They were ranked seventh in the nation, but still lost to 16-8 Carroll. Props to the underdog Vikings for the victory. Props to me for having them lose to St. Thomas in the second round anway, therefore keeping my bracket somewhat intact.