By Pat Coleman
Publisher, D3hoops.com

We waxed poetic about the structure of the women's bracket 24 hours ago. There won't be any of that here. The women essentially protected eight seeds, placed them at opposite ends of each bracket, and attempted to give us a true national championship rather than eight regional ones.

WUSTL photo services Washington U., if it's to make the Final Four, must navigate the "Bracket of Death." The UW-Stevens Point bracket contains seven of the Top 12 teams in Division III.

The men weren't as interested in competitive balance. But after a stretch run which included a bizarre ruling on the distance from Hope to Carthage and a late switch of one bid from Pool C to Pool B, I'm sure it was all the committee could do to just get a bracket out the door.

Oh, wait, they didn't even get that done correctly.

In the end, competitive balance could have been improved with one simple maneuver. The committee could have lifted the Lake Erie pod out of the bottom right bracket and moved it to the bottom left to replace the Catholic pod or Johns Hopkins pod. Or it could have swapped one of those two pods to the bottom half of the bracket, rather than have Virginia Wesleyan and Mississippi College meet in the Sweet 16. It used to be that Sweet 16 brackets were set up to cross regions. At least if the Mid-Atlantic got a team to the Elite Eight in that scenario, it would have earned it by knocking off one of those two pods' winners. Instead, the region is essentially guaranteed an Elite Eight spot (barring advancement by Manhattanville or Guilford).

Sadly, competitive balance has never been a priority here.

In this preview, we pick a Cinderella story (a road team likely to make the Sweet 16) and a team most likely to disappoint, along with a champion for each bracket.

UW-Stevens Point Bracket

Loras (21-6) at St. John's (20-7), winner to UW-Stevens Point (25-2)
Fontbonne (16-11) at Washington U. (20-4), Whitworth (23-3) vs. DePauw (22-5)
Calvin (18-9) at Aurora (25-2), Chicago (20-5) vs. Hope (23-4)
Carroll (16-8) at Augustana (22-5), winner to St. Thomas (24-3)

Yeah, this is where the action is. There are only a few teams in this bracket that couldn't win it.

Cinderella story: We're not given too many choices here – not just because there are two byes but because Fontbonne's conference has never won an NCAA Tournament game. Loras might win its first game but runs into the roadblock right away. Hard to consider No. 11 Whitworth, No. 12 Chicago or No. 10 Hope a Cinderella. Difficult to buy into Carroll making that run. So DePauw, congrats and good luck. See you next week.

Most likely to disappoint: No. 10 Hope is on the edge here, facing a similarly ranked team on a neutral floor to open the tournament. We'd like to play a hunch with Loras, but in the closing season of their classic home gymnasium, the Duhawks were 12-1 at home and 9-5 away from home. This game is away from home. We're going to take Washington U. for lack of better choices.

Champion: UW-Stevens Point. If the WIAC is only going to have one rep, they better make it count.

Mississippi College Bracket

Messiah (19-6) at Catholic (22-5), Alvernia (23-4) vs. Lincoln (18-8)
Villa Julie (20-7) at Johns Hopkins (23-4), Manhattanville (23-5) vs. Guilford (21-4)
Averett (20-6) at Virginia Wesleyan (23-4), Hood (21-7) vs. Hampden-Sydney (18-10)
Occidental (19-5) at Mississippi College (25-2), Maryville, Tenn. (21-6) vs. Mary Hardin-Baylor (21-6)

Every time I look at the bottom matchup I get more frustrated. So the NCAA "fixed" its error in matching conference opponents up in the first round and instead makes the top two teams in the criteria face each other while the bottom two face each other.

The correct matchup, according to the criteria, would've been to put Occidental against Mary Hardin-Baylor and Maryville against Mississippi College. The makeup of committees past and present makes this “fix” suspicious.

Cinderella story: I mentioned Villa Julie on Hoopsville on Monday night and I'm not inclined to change. Other teams to consider are Hampden-Sydney and Guilford, perhaps Occidental. Meanwhile, I'll try to ignore that all of Villa Julie's 15-game winning streak is against NEAC opponents. And that they are 0-3 against teams in the tournament. I should stop before I talk myself out of it.

Most likely to disappoint: Mississippi College fans … when they find out there is no way the NCAA will pay to fly three teams to Mississippi for the sectional when it can fly the Choctaws to D.C./Maryland/Virginia. Sorry, y'all.

Champion: Virginia Wesleyan. Home court helps in the Sweet 16 game, which is much tougher than the Elite Eight game.

Amherst Bracket

Widener (14-12) at King's (19-8), winner to Amherst (25-2)
York, N.Y. (18-10) at Ramapo (21-7), WPI (22-3) vs. Stevens (21-6)
Coast Guard (14-13) at Rhode Island College (24-3), Brandeis (19-6) vs. Trinity, Conn. (21-4)
Rivier (20-8) at Keene State (23-5), winner to Salem State (24-2)

It seems OK now to have doubts about Amherst, which lost at home to Williams after leading 15-0 and has now lost twice in four games and been taken to the brink by the No. 8 seed in another. However, it isn't easy to tell who the other candidate in this bracket would be.

Cinderella story: None of the lowest four seeds will reach the Sweet 16. To look for a Cinderella, we'll have to go somewhere like Keene State, which has a first-round home game, or WPI, which might be the second seed in that pod. So we're going with “none” here.

Most likely to disappoint: Ramapo, which might not be favored in its regional.

Champion: Going away from the chalk and taking Trinity (Conn.). Trinity won at home without the services of top scorer Russ Martin. He might put them over the top on the road, since Amherst would most certainly host.

Lake Erie Bracket

Wentworth Tech (17-11) at St. John Fisher (23-5), Rochester (18-7) vs. Plattsburgh State (20-6)
Elms (20-8) at St. Lawrence (22-5), Williams (16-11) vs. Brockport State (23-5)
Transylvania (19-8) at Wooster, Capital (19-8) vs. Centre (23-4)
Westminster, Pa. (19-9) at John Carroll (19-9), winner to Lake Erie (25-2)

Lake Erie is the top seed, somehow, thanks to the QOWI. Opponents' opponents record cannot come quickly enough. Good to see the East and Great Lakes matched up. That's literally the only thing I like about this bracket.

Cinderella story: Williams is on a roll, to say the least. Can the Ephs shoot the lights out again, like they did at Amherst over the weekend? Here's saying they have enough to get through the first weekend. Then Rochester takes them down in the Sweet 16 game.

Most likely to disappoint: Lake Erie.

Champion: John Carroll. They should have little trouble getting to the second round. Being battle tested would give them the edge, in my opinion, in the second round. They may well face Wooster on a neutral floor (University of Rochester?). Plus, there's always the OAC's playoff history.

Final Four

UW-Stevens Point vs. Virginia Wesleyan, Trinity (Conn.) vs. John Carroll

Nice, a battle of the last three national champions. John Carroll's run ends. And Stevens Point beats Trinity for the national title.

Now that I've written it all out, it makes less sense than it did in my head. Oh well. But another WIAC title is a fitting way to end the QOWI era.