April 10, 2018
The Basics
The championship will be conducted April 12-14 at the Tropicana Lanes in St. Louis. The bracket is attached; after last weekend’s play-in games, Lincoln Memorial will take the eighth seed and play Nebraska while St. Francis University is the seven seed and play McKendree. Thursday and Friday sessions begin at 9 and 3 o’clock CST Thursday and Friday, preceded by warm-ups.
Following the tourney
All matches will be livestreamed via www.ncaa.com. The championship final will air at 5:30 p.m. CST, Saturday, April 14 on ESPNU and at 6 p.m. CST, Sunday, April 15 on ESPN2.
A new championship format
There is no Thursday qualifying for seeds as in the past; seeds were determined by the NCAA Committee based upon the season’s performance and announced when the field was revealed. Vanderbilt is the No. 4 seed. As was the case in the recent Southland Bowling League Championship, teams will first play a traditional game, followed by a 5-game, total pin fall Baker series. Should one team win both contests, the match is over. Should they split, a best of seven Baker match will determine the winner. In past championships, teams played best of seven Bakers once double-elimination play began. It is thought that the new format better identifies the most complete team as past formats saw occasional upsets when one team may have played over its head for a brief time.
Awards Dinner
The NCAA’s annual Awards Banquet is set for Wednesday, April 11 at Neo on Locust, located at 2801 Locust Street, St. Louis.
Practice session
All teams will practice midday Wednesday with brief press conferences for each program either prior to or after each practice.
Everyone Goes
The Commodores will take their entire 11-woman roster to St. Louis, although the NCAA rule only allows 10 bowlers to be in uniform and on the settee. Freshman walk-on Lauren Potechin will be relegated to cheering on her teammates from the sidelines.
Vandy’s Season Record vs NCAA Field
Arkansas State 2-6
Lincoln Memorial 1-2
McKendree 4-8
Nebraska 0-5
North Carolina A&T 3-0
Sam Houston 4-1
St. Francis Univ. 4-1
Team NCAA Statistical Ranking Highlights
Fourth
• Overall scoring (19.82)
• Fill percentage (84.41)
• Makeable spares (83.59)
Fifth
• Overall strike percentage (46.67%)
• Spare percentage (70.78)
Other NCAA Rankings
• No. 3 — 1,196 traditional game vs Central Missouri at Mid-Winter Classic
• No. 4 – 230.6 Baker average vs Morgan State at Kutztown
• No. 4 – 198.9 total pins average for season