D1 vs DII

If you played a game and gained nothing from it then you need to re-evaluate your commitment as a player because everytime I pitched I learned something new. You play teams in order to gain knowledge where your team is or what improvements need to be made.

There is everything to gain, our basketball team played UT and got whooped but it was a chance for our guys to play better competition and also for their guys to get some quality playing time and a chance for coaches to see what they have early on. Even though UT beat our team pretty bad, both teams gained something from that game and carried it on to the next game. The basketball team ended up having a great year because if they lost which is ok, they gained something from it and got better.


If you believe you can never gain anything then your wrong. There is always something to gain from every single pitch/swing/catch. If a player/team walks away from a game and not gaining anything then those players and coaches need to have their head check because there is something wrong with them.

I bet Michigan gained respect for every team they played after App St. They got the biggest upset of all time in college football, but they learned what happen, lost to Oregon and OSU(Which is nothing new) but they went on to beat a very good Florida team in a bowl game. Like I said, may have lost but they gained that every opponent is ready to play no matter who the opponent is or the place they play at. The players and coaches also went and watched tape of areas they needed improvement and practice them to get ready for next week.


Your getting on a Professional level, stay in the collegeiate ranks with me here if you don't mind considering we are talking about D1 and D2.

 

When I say that UNC has "nothing to gain" by playing Mount Olive...

I don't mean that players can't find their swings, fielders can't get good ground balls, things like that to improve UNC's team.

What I mean is, as a program, the University of North Carolina can't possibly gain anything by scheduling Mount Olive.

If UNC wins by 100 runs, nobody will be like "WOW, UNC shocked Mount Olive this weekend, they must have a great team!"

If UNC wins by 1 run, everyone will say "My goodness, UNC almost lost to a school named Mount Olive"

If UNC loses by 1 run, everyone will say "Did yall see that UNC lost in baseball to some division 2 school?"

If UNC gets blown out, they will never hear the end of it.

That's what I mean, when I say that they have nothing to gain. I guess you could say that a male wrestler could gain something by wrestling a female too. He might learn to perfect a particular move or might pull off a new escape. But reputation wise, he can't gain anything. Same with UNC vs Mount Olive.

 

That's fine I never said any good D2 would beat any any ACC team. All my point was that people come on here saying D2 ball is nowhere close to D1 ball and I was out to prove a point. I still feel the distance between the division's has gotten smaller but I still give the edge to D1 and probably will because it is D1. I think that there are about a good dozen or so D2 teams that would give upper ACC teams a good game, either win or lose, I think it would be a good game nonetheless.

I know that I could be wrong on all this but this opinion is coming from a D2 player and i've seen the talent from all levels and I feel like D2 ball is a lot better than people make it out to be.

We could all sit here and rant on and on but there would be only one way to prove it and I dont see that happening anytime soon. The great thing about baseball is who knows if Mt. Olive was in the ACC and won it all or if Carolina was in D2 and wasn't that great, who knows what would happen.

I understand most points on here and I feel like there has been some great contributions to this thread and it gave a few of us a chance to let loose and tell different sides which has also been very informative. I don't hold a grudge on anybody on here that had a different viewpoint than me because it's a freakin message board and I don't have the time to hold a grudge on anyone.

 

O'lefty- you got suckered into the ACC vs D2 talk. That's not what this thread was about about. It's about the competitiveness and quality of players at the D2 level vs the D1 schools.

Some believe that D1 only represents the ACC schools, while my point is the majority of D1 schools are not ACC or SEC calibre. That the elite baseball programs at D2 are more than competitive to play against teams that are in conferences that don't start with alphabets. As far as being biased. I doubt that is the case. I've always been involved with a major D1 program. It wasn't until you introduced me to D2 that I began to understand the differences.

I just hate to see the myth perpetuated here on TBR that if you do not play for a D1 school, then you are probably not very good. I think that does a disservice to all the coaches, players and schools in NC.

I've got a question for you Olefty. You have scouted most of the players playing baseball at all levels in this state. Please tell me just 3 players draft eligible this year that are better infield propects than Alex Castellanos...okay name me just one (this years prospects). There aren't any are there?

 

So scheduling a team that isn't in your division has nothing to gain no matter what the score is? Win or lose, there is always something to gain from it...coaches and players gain something from it. Whether its the coaches or players reputation or whatever you can think of, you look back at what you could have done differently and not let it bother you but more of a motivation that it wont happen again.

 

Just want to say that I'm just like LClefty, I dont hold a grudge against anbody it's just a good debate. Thats what the message boards are for, expressing opinions while also informing readers about the differences, in this case between D1 and D2.

Also I'll say that it seems to get overlooked but I did say all along that the gap between low D1 and high D2 isn't huge. A gap still exists I believe, since obviously one is a higher level than the other, but sure, Mount Olive and the other D2 teams mentioned in this thread could compete in the lower D1 conferences. Maybe not the ACC or SEC or SoCon but definitely the Big South or the MEAC.

I also never tried to make it seem like if you are playing D2 you are not good. I said in earlier posts that all players should chase their dream and continue playing the game they love as long as possible.

Me and LClefty just disagree on the amount of difference between high D1 (like the ACC) and high D2. I think the D2 teams would be overwhelmed and he thinks they could compete. Who's to say who's right. I think everyone agrees that low D1 and high D2 are not an extremely huge difference.

 

I think everyone else understands my usage of "nothing to gain."

Like I said, coaches and players can gain things from any game they play, even intrasquads, but I'm talking about the reputation of the program.

Why wouldn't UNC just play a team from the Big South that's also D1 for their ACC tune ups, rather than a D2 team?

You don't see the top college football and college basketball teams playing against D2 opponents either.

 

Maybe it should be "everything to gain and nothing to lose" because no matter what the score is after the game, if you walk away knowing you learned something then you know that you learned something and that you will take what you've learned and apply it in practice this week to get better at it.

 

UNC beating Mount Olive gains them nothing. They've made it to Omaha 3 straight years. Nobody would notice if they beat Mount Olive, they have tons of wins this season and almost all of them are against programs with more notoriety than Mount Olive.

UNC losing Mount Olive loses them alot. The respect of the other ACC teams. The respect of the average fans around the nation on message boards such as this one. Possibly loses them recruits, if a player is between UNC and say Clemson and UNC is busy losing to D2 teams. Most of all it loses them alot of pride.