Never too early to talk about next weekend!!! Many intriguing matchups abound........Can Coastal Carolina shut down the offensive juggernaut that is Maryland? Can San Diego continue their winning ways against Tulsa? Will North Carolina win outright ( or can we just go to PK's and skip to another game )? Early weather report for games on Sunday.......... South Bend IN Partly Cloudy and 42 ( Snow on Saturday) Chapel Hill NC Sunny and 52 Akron OH Mostly Cloudy and 36 Storrs CT Sunny and 40 with 18 mph wind ( Few Showers on Saturday) Washington DC Sunny and 44 Tulsa OK Sunny and 64...........perfect weather for the Toreros!!!! Louisville KY Partly Cloudy and 47 College Park MD Sunny and 45
Yikes...gotta pack the long underwear for the trip to Akron . Zips are looking forward to this matchup after the fiasco in Omaha earlier this year.
break out the shorts because it's a balmy 36 degrees in Akron! At least their rematch with Creighton will be above freezing, unlike our Sweet 16 game at their place last year.
Wondering who to root for? One option to consider is whether you'd prefer a team that relies on recruits from inside or outside the US. Indiana got 100% of its goals and 100% of its assists from US-based recruits. Notre Dame got 100% of its goals and 100% of its assists from US-based recruits. Georgetown got 100% of its goals and 100% of its assists from US-based recruits. Tulsa got 100% of its goals and 100% of its assists from US-based recruits. Louisville got 100% of its goals and 100% of its assists from US-based recruits. Akron got 100% of its goals and 100% of its assists from US-based recruits. North Carolina got 97% of its goals and 96% of its assists from US-based recruits. Northwestern got 96% of its goals and 97% of its assists from US-based recruits. Maryland got 94% of its goals and 86% of its assists from US-based recruits. New Mexico got 80% of its goals and 96% of its assists from US-based recruits. San Diego got 74% of its goals and 92% of its assists from US-based recruits. Creighton got 65% of its goals and 55% of its assists from US-based recruits. Coastal Carolina got 50% of its goals and 52% of its assists from US-based recruits. Syracuse got 42% of its goals and 59% of its assists from US-based recruits. FDU got 36% of its goals and 39% of its assists from US-based recruits. UConn got 32% of its goals and 67% of its assists from US-based recruits. Note 1: If a player arrived from a US prep school or transferred in from another US college, he counts as being US-based. I realize that's giving some programs more credit than they deserve, although the programs that benefit most from this scoring system are towards the bottom of the list, anyhow. Note 2: I haven't tried to figure out whether foreign-based recruits are US citizens or not. If someone wants to update the numbers based on that, I'd be happy to see it. Note 3: FDU's Miguel Escobar is from Medellin, Colombia, and his bio says that two of his uncles played for their national team. Would one of those have been Andres?
If you are counting players that arrived from a prep school as US-based, UConn's Mamadou Diouf spent one year at Avon Old Farms before attending UConn. That would skewer the Huskies stats quite a bit as Mamadou has 14 goals on the year. Your stats, your call.
Interesting, for some reason that's not in his bio. Do you happen to know whether Reid had any involvement in Diouf coming over?
Why do people care if the players are from this country or not? Soccer Xenophobia? What are we the French?
It's about giving the most opportunities, and thus helping, the same community that allows you to make your living. It's about helping grow the sport by giving scholarships and playing time at the better programs in the same country that allows you to make your living
That's certainly not an unreasonable point of view. However, is it not equally reasonable to make distinctions with regards to certain programs...for instance, shouldn't institutions like UCONN or USF that have all the financial advantages, facilities, conference affiliation, and name identity to recruit the elite American players but choose not to be held more accountable than programs like Iona, NJIT, and FDU who share none of those advantages and therefore may they need to recruit elite international players in order to compete because the top American players simply won't consider those schools?
Yes. But, as long as the MLS MVP is coming from a D-II school because he didn't get scholarship offers from D-I schools, the message is that the coaches aren't doing enough due diligence and looking under enough rocks in the US and are instead opting for the international route rather than do more work to find more diamonds in the rough in the US.
Perhaps...but that seems a little bit more like the exception rather than the rule...I'm simply advocating for not painting the whole "recruiting international kids" thing with a broad stroke--seems like it's a tad harsh to hold some schools (the "have-nots") to the same, justifiable standard to which you hold "the haves".
If there is one arena that should be all american......its the NCAA.....across the board...every sport. ....every team....
I understand this mentality. But this is america, we're a country built on immigrants, we're a meritocracy. Coaches can recruit whoever they want if they think it will make their program better as long as they meet the academic qualifications of the NCAA. If a player is good enough it shouldn't matter where they were born. I know many have problems with the way Ray Ried runs his program, but you cannot deny he's had a lot of success doing what he does.
I can see the point of both sides of this argument, but personally, I like the flavor and style that players from other countries add to our college teams. Perhaps about three or four per roster is about right? (What a coincidence! that's what USD has--along with 17 California players) PS Southern California, of course, also benefits from having a large Hispanic population that greatly adds to the style of local play.
And every time a coach gives a scholarship to a foreign player, it's coming at the expense of those immigrants. There are thousands of immigrant players out there to be recruited and a lot of them get overlooked because it's easier to go the foreign route and recruit there. The Rio Grande Valley, or El Paso or the San Joaquin Valley, or inner city Chicago or New York or - hell, practically any urban area with a large immigrant population - 0r into rural NC or Arkansas where the kids' parents work in the chicken processing factories. Look, I think every college should have an international presence to expose our culture to people from other countries and, just as importantly, expose US kids to people from other cultures and countries. So I don't think going out and having a couple of international kids on a roster is a bad thing. But when it's a big chunk of your lineup that plays and its year after year, that I have a real problem with.
I hope that the Dream Act makes it possible for more Mexican-born California players to get scholarships--whether on the basis of their soccer skill, academic achievement, or need. Here in San Diego in the soccer community, I see the terrible cost to players who have been here since early childhood, going to school and playing soccer alongside my son, but when college time comes, shut out of the process. I'm speaking up close and personal about boys and young men that I honor and respect.
Sounds like he did. These articles certainly makes it sound like they recruited him in Senegal and then he went Avon. http://articles.courant.com/2011-11...coach-reid-mamadou-doudou-diouf-stephane-diop http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news...ad-UConn-in-NCAA-tourney?zc_p=1#axzz2Cy3nXmRF What a stroke of good fortune and coincidence for Reid that his player who couldn't speak English could matriculate to a prep school in his state before matriculating to UConn.
In addition, imported players often aren't competing on on a level playing field. For example, Andre Blake may have been the best "freshman" in the nation last year, but he's actually older than Ryan Meara (then a senior).
Par for the course for Reid. Shavar Thomas was a 20-year old freshman in 2001. Toni Stahl was a 21-year old freshman. Darin Lewis, the leading scorer on the Huskies national title team, came to UConn after 2 years at a JuCo as a 23-year old junior. Akeem Priestly was a 21-year old So. when he transferred to UConn. But I'm sure those extra years of physical and mental maturity don't provide a competitive advantage.
Did you know living in the harsh conditions of other coutries actually ages you more quickly?...So when you see a freshman that looks and acts like he is 22....but lost all his paperwork as a young child.....he really is only 18 like his mother says......so no more argueing this point!
i thought this was a thread for the sweet 16 not the number of internationals on a ncaa roster......what i dont get is why the ncaa tourney games are not showed on espn/cbs or something when some of the conference championships were on...i guess basketball is about to be in full swing and this would take away
Goff provides the following list ... Georgetown vs. Syracuse 1 p.m. guhoyas.com Connecticut vs. New Mexico 3 p.m. uconnhuskies.com Notre Dame vs. Indiana 3 p.m. und.com Akron vs. Creighton 4:30 p.m. ncaa.com Maryland vs. Coastal Carolina 5 p.m. umterps.com North Carolina vs. Fairleigh Dickinson 5 p.m. goheels.com Tulsa vs. San Diego 6 p.m. tulsahurricane.com That's 7 of 8 games. Don't know if he (or I) missed Louisville vs. Northwestern @ 7 p.m., but if someone here has that listing, please post it. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs.../11/22/weekend-tv-streaming-video-listings-3/
College is funny like that. Two of the kids being touted for Frosh of the year in ACC and All-Freshman teams are actually as old or older than most of the sophomores.
Louisville Northwestern game is on www.gocards.com or www.uoflsports.com They have shown every game online this year except Kentucky. Local TV station had rights.