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.