Overlap of level of play in NCAA divisions

[Lobster Birch]

I made a little graph based on Massey ratings to help folks visualize the difference in the level of play between the different divisions in NCAA softball. Enjoy.

 

[Northball]

Wow! That's a lot of teams.

 

[Lance Steckler]

NAIA?? JUCO??

 

[erniekru]

Do you think that the top D2 Team (UT Tyler ??) can beat the 50th ranked team (Texas St in 2022)? To me, my gut says that the overlap should be a little less. But who knows!

 

[tim_s]

would be interested in seeing the overlap with pitching removed from the equation, also......just for kicks

 

[DryHeat]

This is great. So many choices and levels of play at different sized schools.

As is, DD is going D1 mostly because she fell in love with the town and campus but also because the money there made sense. I had looked at D3 options for a while. She would likely be able to get in to a high academic D3 but our willingness to pay some of those obscene costs just isnt there.

 

[Lobster Birch]

NAIA?? JUCO??

Maybe in an updated version.

 

[sluggers]

You are rating the D2 and D3 teams high.

I have some actual experience with this.

My DD's D3 hoop team (Hope College) won the NCAA title. In the preseason, her team played the team that won the D2 Hoop title (Grand Valley State). My DD's team got whooped by about 20...and this was a "friendly" game where GVSU eased up. The game was never close.

A top D3 team is about in the middle of D2 teams. A top D2 team is in the middle of the D1 teams.

Even a top D3 team would have little chances against all but the very worst D1 teams.

 

[Lobster Birch]

Do you think that the top D2 Team (UT Tyler ??) can beat the 50th ranked team (Texas St in 2022)? To me, my gut says that the overlap should be a little less. But who knows!

For what it’s worth, the Massey matchup tool gives Tyler a %41 chance of winning with the most likely score being 4-3.

 

[Lobster Birch]

I have some actual experience with this.

My DD's D3 hoop team (Hope College) won the NCAA title. In the preseason, her team played the team that won the D2 Hoop title (Grand Valley State). My DD's team got whooped by about 20...and this was a "friendly" game where GVSU eased up. The game was never close.

A top D3 team is about in the middle of D2 teams. A top D2 team is in the middle of the D1 teams.

Even a top D3 team would have little chances against all but the very worst D1 team

According to Massey, 2022 D3 champions Hope would be the 290th best team in D1 out of 361 teams, so your observation and Massy are reasonably aligned.