It’s time to start filling out the Men’s DII college brackets.

Here is what we know and what we’re looking ahead to this weekend.

 

Bracket 1 (Presumably Pittsburgh)

Rugby Northeast. Roger Williams plays Bryant and Bentley takes on UMass-Lowell in the semis on Saturday, with the final being played a week later. RWU is undefeated and giving up less than ten points a game, and remains the heavy favorite.

 

MARC. York plays IUP and Drexel faces Rowan Saturday, with the final on Sunday. Both of the finalists get to the national playoffs. Rowan has given up 27 points in six league games … all in one game, against York. Rowan should win this, having already beaten all three other teams in this playoff, shutting out two of them (of course). IUP should make the final and be MARC 2.

 

Capital. Salisbury and Towson are longtime rivals. Salisbury is favored and we’ll go out on a limb and say they will win. But Towson could win, too. Both are in the national playoffs.

 

Bracket Lineup:

Roger Williams v Rowan

Salisbury v IUP or the NECRC #2 (see below)

 

 

Bracket 2 (Presumably Pittsburgh)

Upstate NY. The first round of the playoffs go on this weekend, and then the semis and the final next week. SUNY Cortland will win.

 

NECRC. The NECRC finishes next week in the regular season. No playoffs. Rhode Island is virtually guaranteed to make the top two, and a win over Vermont in the final weekend will make it top one. Coast Guard, despite being 3rd right now, could well make 2nd by virtue of the fact that #1 Rhode Island plays #2 Vermont in a week. Our vote: Rhode Island #1, Coast Guard #2, and Vermont and unlucky #3. 

 

WIIL. It’s a fascinating playoff with four very strong teams. Right now, the semi between Lindenwood-Belleville and Northern Michigan is probably a tossup, while UW-Whitewater should be favored to win the other semi over Northern Iowa. In the final? It’s Whitewater until they prove otherwise. All four are good enough to get to the national playoffs. three will. We think it’s going to be Whitewater #1, Lindenwood-Belleville #2, and Northern Michigan #3. But 2-4 could be something completely different. It’s really going to be close.

 

Colonial Coast. Salve Regina has this sewn up. New England Wide. Springfield has this sewn up. These two play off for a spot. 

 

Bracket Lineup:

SUNY Cortland v Rhode Island 

UW-Whitewater v Salve or Springfield (we can’t pick between these two)

 

 

Bracket 3 (Presumably Des Moines, Iowa)

Northern Lights. Minnesota Duluth will win this playoff. Winona State should probably win the second spot, but North Dakota State has a shot.

 

Great Lakes v WIIL #3. This is a play-in between the two. Grand Valley State plays Xavier Saturday and it’s hard to choose who will be the winner there. WIIL #3 we said will be NMU, but could be L-B or UNI. Hmm …

 

Rocky Mountain v Northern Lights 2 in a play-in. Colorado School of Mines is the Rocky Mountain team, and by the end of Saturday we’ll know whether it’s Winona or North Dakota State on the other end. We’ve got a feeling Mines gets out of this.

 

WIIL #2 v. Gateway. In this play-in, we’ll see probably Lindenwood-Belleville (or not) against most likely UMS&T. S&T should clinch Saturday. We think the WIIL #2 team will win this play-in.

 

Bracket Lineup:

Minnesota-Duluth v GL v WIIL #3 Play-in (can’t pick one at the moment) 

Colorado School of Mines (maybe) v WIIl #2 - NMU or Lindenwood-Belleville

 

 

Bracket 4 (Presumably Greenville NC)

Tri-State. Boy it’s going to be tough to pick Sunday’s winner of Molloy and RPI. We think maybe RPI’s defense is a little better and stronger. Maybe …

 

Southern. More questions. Hard to vote against East Carolina, which takes on Coastal Carolina on Saturday. Appalachian State takes on UNC-Wilmington in the other, and it’s hard to vote against UNC-W. So one of those two, with the other getting a spot in the play-in.

 

Cardinals. VMI, VCU, ODU, and Mary Washington are in the semis. We think VMI comes out of it on top.

 

Southern 2 v Capital 2. This is a play-in. We think maybe Towson out of Capital v UNC-W or East Carolina. Towson goes through from this.

 

Bracket Lineup:

RPI or Molloy v ECU or UNC-W 

VMI (we think) v Towson (we think)