AQ's, Pool B and Pool C? What does it all mean?
On the threshhold of the men's and women's NCAA tournaments, terms like AQ's, Pool B, and Pool C are being used by those in-the-know and perhaps leaving new fans and the uninitiated a little lost and confused. For those in the former group, what follows may largely be unnecessary. For the latter group, this article will explain this terminology and walk you through the process by which NCAA tournament participants are determined.
All information about the determination of tournament participants is found in the 2014 Division III Soccer Pre-Championships Manual. Much of what follows highlights, summarizes, or quotes the manual. The tournament format, schedule, and bracketing of teams will not be covered here, but is covered in our introduction to the 2014 NCAA Division III Soccer Championships here.
Most conferences receive a single automatic berth to the men's and women's tournaments which they may award in the manner they see fit, usually to their conference champions. The remainder of each tournament field is made up of at-large selections made by the Division III men's and women's soccer committees following a prescribed set of criteria. Read on to discover the size of the tournament fields, how many and which conferences receive automatic berths, and how many at-large berths are available and on what basis they are awarded.
Administration / Selection Committees
The NCAA championship tournaments are administrated by the eight-member NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Soccer Committees which are each composed of the chairs of their respective regional advisory committees. These committees make the at-large selections to complete the tournament field, assisted in the evaluation of teams by the Regional Advisory Committees. These are the same national and regional committees which release the pre-tournament weekly NCAA Regional Rankings. The members of these committees can be found on pages 9-13 of the Pre-Championships Manual.
Tournament Field Size
The maximum size of the single-elimination men's and women's tournament fields is established by the Division III Championships Committee which currently prescribes an approximate access ratio of 1:6.5 not to exceed 64 participants, as per Article 31.3.1.1 of the 2014-15 NCAA Division III Manual (pgs. 216-217). The basis for the size of the tournament fields is the number of championship eligible teams, and the men's and women's committees have gained approval for 61- and 64-team tournaments in 2013, as per the Pre-Championships Manual (pg. 16 and 19). This is the same number of men's and women's teams as last year. Our math for this year, as shown in the following table, yields 61- and 64-team men's and women's tournaments, matching what has been approved.
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2014 Tournament Field Sizes
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Types of Tournament Berths
Teams eligible for the championship tournament are divided into three pools: Pool A, Pool B, and Pool C, as per Section 2.3 of the D-III Soccer portion of the Pre-Championships Manual (pg. 19).
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Classification of championship-eligible teams
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Pool A berths are automatic, based on pre-defined criteria set by each qualifying conference for how they will award their automatic berth. Often the berth is awarded to the conference champion, whether determined by regular season finish or by a post-season tournament. However, some conferences determine their champion by regular season finish and hold a post-season tournament to award the automatic berth. AQ is the common short-hand for automatic qualifiers or Pool A berths. (Note: our 2014 Conference Championship Central page indicates whether each tournament determines the conference champion, AQ berth, or both, and includes a table of AQ winners.)
The only conference which does not qualify for an AQ is the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) men (the women do receive an AQ). There are only five independent men's and women's teams which join the five WIAC men's teams in Pool B.
Berths given to teams from Pools B and C are at-large berths. The recipients are selected by the NCAA men's and women's committees following a set of selection criteria and principles discussed in more detail below.
Allocation of Berths
Forty-two (42) men's conferences and forty-four (44) women's conferences have been granted automatic qualification (AQ) for the 2014 championship tournaments. This represents an increase of one men's and one women's conference from last year with the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) receiving an automatic berth this year after completing the required waiting period. All conferences with automatic berths are listed on pages 19-20 of the Pre-Championships Manual and in the section below.
The number of at-large Pool B berths is determined by applying an access ratio up to but not to exceed that of Pool A teams. The Pool A access ratio is the total number of eligible teams in AQ conferences divided by the number of AQ conferences. When this ratio is applied to Pool B, the result is traditionally truncated (rounded down to the nearest whole number) to ensure that Pool B access ratio does not exceed that of Pool A.
The number of at-large Pool C berths is simply the number of remaining tournament spots after the Pool A and B berths have been filled.
According to Section 2.3 of the D-III Soccer portion of the Pre-Championships Manual (pg. 19), the tournament berth allocations for 2014 break down as follows for the men's and women's championships (starting in 2012 the manual stopped showing the calculation of the number of Pool B berths, but our calculations as shown in the table confirm the given distribution).
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2014 Allocation of Berths
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Automatic Qualifying (AQ) Conferences
As per Section 2.3 of the Division III portion of the Pre-Championships Manual (pgs. 19-20), the following conferences have been granted automatic qualification (AQ) for the 2014 championship from Pool A.
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Men's AQ Conferences (42) Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) American Southwest Conference (ASC) Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) Centennial Conference City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Commonwealth Conference Empire 8 Freedom Conference Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC)
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Landmark Conference Liberty League Little East Conference (LEC) Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Midwest Conference (MWC) Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) North Atlantic Conference (NAC) North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Northwest Conference (NWC) Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) President’s Athletic Conference (PAC) Skyline Conference St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) University Athletic Association (UAA) Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) USA South Athletic Conference |
Women's AQ Conferences (44) Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) American Southwest Conference (ASC) Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) Centennial Conference City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Commonwealth Conference Empire 8 Freedom Conference Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC) Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Landmark Conference Liberty League Little East Conference (LEC) Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Midwest Conference (MWC) Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) North Atlantic Conference (NAC) North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Northwest Conference (NWC) Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) President’s Athletic Conference (PAC) Skyline Conference St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) University Athletic Association (UAA) Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) USA South Athletic Conference Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (WIAC) |
Our 2014 Conference Championship Central page is tracking the conference tournament results and the awarding of AQ berths here.
At-Large Selection Process
After all the automatic (Pool A) berths have been awarded by the conferences, the men's and women's committees will make their Pool B berth selections followed by their Pool C berth selections. Teams are selected for Pool B and C at-large berths on a national basis, using regional selection criteria (see section below). Beyond the selection criteria, note the following principles concerning at-large selections.
- To be considered during the at-large selection process (Pool B or C), a team must play at least 70 percent of its competition against Division III in-region opponents.
- There will be no predetermined regional allocations for Pools B and C.
- There will be no maximum or minimum number of berths from one region.
- Institutions participating in conferences that meet the automatic-qualification requirements and are eligible to be selected to a championship via Pool A and/or Pool C, may not elect instead to be selected via Pool B as an independent institution.
At-Large Selection Criteria
The at-large tournament selection criteria are found in Section 2.4 of the Pre-Championships Manual (pg. 21). The criteria is divided between primary and secondary criteria, the latter only being considered if the former does not enable a distinction to be made between schools. The criteria underwent a significant change prior to last season (2013) when the in-region/out-of-region distinction was abandoned. Previously only games versus "in-region" opponents were consider as part of the primary criteria with secondary criteria considering out-of-region and non-Division III competition. Now, primary criteria considers all Division III opponents while results versus non-Division III opponents (NAIA, NCCAA, Division II, Division I) are considered secondary criteria.
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Primary Criteria (not listed in priority order)
Secondary Criteria (not listed in priority order)
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Regional Rankings Foreshadow At-Large Berths
Regional rankings are done by the same national and regional committees which administrate the championship tournament and make the at-large selections. The rankings are done by applying the same criteria which is used for making the at-large selections, and are released following the fourth last, third last, and second last weeks prior to the tournament selections being made. Therefore, by design, these rankings are a direct foreshadowing of the at-large selections providing a certain level of transparency to the at-large selection process and avoiding major surprises when the at-large selections are announced.
As part of the at-large tournament selection process, the committees do final rankings that include the results from the final week prior to the tournament, usually the completion of conference tournaments. These rankings are not released, so one can only guess at how the final week's results may have prompted changes in the ranking of teams from the third of the scheduled rankings to selection day.
Strength-of-Schedule
The Strength-of-Schedule used by the Division III soccer committees is based on Opponents' Average Winning Percentage (OWP) and Opponents' Opponents' Average Winning Percentage (OOWP). An explanation with an example of these calculations is found in Appendix D (pg. 45) of the Pre-Championships Manual.
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Opponents' Average Winning Percentage (OWP): The average of applicable opponents' winning percentages versus D-III competition excluding the results against the team in question. Opponents' Opponents' Average Winning Percentage (OOWP): The average of the OWP's of all applicable opponents. Strength-of-Schedule (SOS): The weighted
OWP-OOWP, never specified but deduced to be |
For men's soccer only, home and away multipliers are factored into the OWP and OOWP calculations shown above. A multiplier of 1.25 is applied for away games and a multiplier of 0.85 for home games.
Definition of In-Region Competition
Starting last season (2013), the in-region/out-of-region distinction no longer matters for ranking and at-large selection criteria. However, the NCAA has not removed all encouragement to minimize travel and missed class time as teams are still required to play a minimum of 70 percent of their games against in-region Division III opponents to simply be eligible for at-large tournament selection. So the distinction could still be important for teams that like to fill their non-conference schedule with a good number of opponents from outside their region. But given how broadly in-region competition is defined on page 20 of the Pre-Championship Manual to include much more than just other teams from your defined region (e.g. New England, East, Mid-Atlantic, etc.), this requirement isn't difficult to meet. In fact, it has become even easier starting with the current 2014 season because the in-region radius has been extended from 200 miles to 500 miles.
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An opponent is considered in-region if any one of the following criteria is met:
Region 1 - Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont Region 2 - New York, Pennsylvania Region 3 - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia Region 4 - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming
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Comments or feedback for the author? Email Christan Shirk.