Cliveworshipper would know better than I...I was hoping for UCLA bracket instead but they lost today so may well be Stanford...we are not going to beat Stanford while playing with 10 players and one zombie...we were somewhat fortunate to tie Portland
The chances are now pretty good UCLA won't be a one seed. You may as well recalibrate. The ones that will get 1 seeds aren't any easier than UCLA, though. I have no idea about the Zombie thing. I saw both teams playing not their best games, but that happens in Darby's You just put it behind and focus on what's ahead. You could start by knocking off Pepperdine tomorrow. It would help both of us.
I would love to knock off Pepperdine but, alas, we are playing St. Mary's ...fortunately BYU is playing Pepperdine...the zombie reference is understood by most everyone watching Broncos play all year with one player starting that wouldn't make a good club team(slight exaggeration) while much better options sit on bench...as for UCLA they were closest potential non Stanford pod host...won't much matter if Jerry doesn't get his best lineup on field
Santa Clara wins easily against St Mary's 2 - 0 to probably finish 3rd in the WCC (but 2nd in RPI). 1st goal was off a service into the box by Reis, headed by Johnston in front of the goal where it fell to the foot of Huerta. She hit a sharp finish into the far post side netting. From then on the Broncos had many shots on goal, in particular a couple by Shim that forced some excellent saves from the SMU keeper. In the 2nd half the Gaels had a chance to knot it up when awarded a PK, but Tostanowski came up big and made the save. That was SMU's only real opportunity. With two minutes to go the Gaels were determined to keep Johnston from dribbling away the remaing time in the corner. They succeeded in their mission when Johnston gave two defenders the slip and dribbled at the goal unimpeeded. She circled around a 3rd opponent and fired the ball into the corner for 2 - 0. The St. Mary's coach demonstrated poor sportsmanship throughout the game arguing with the ref. She finally gave him a yellow card when he started abusing the sideline flag after disagreeing with an off-side call AGAINST the Broncos. Not surprising that the leading scorer from last year decided to play elsewhere in 2012, although going to USC may indicate that having a coach who liked to argue with the refs was not the problem for her.
Well we fell to #11 in RPI and get to play Stanford again in second round if we beat LBState in first? Doesn't seem right to me...Portland gets a seed and we don't?...Jerry must have pissed somebody off ...the winner of Denver-Colorado College gets to play Maryland so in essence they get a much better seed...BS!
Yeah, it's a bummer. However, Stanford's latest win didn't seem as strong as I thought it was going to be. Perhaps Idaho State will pull off a shocker win and give everyone else a little breathing room
I think you have to look at what the committee looked at. they seemed to have been concerned with best wins in each group. your best win was 27 CAL. Up's best win was 10 UNC. but I am still rooting for SCU to atone for the first encounter at the start of the season. it takes a win over a 1 seed to win it all no matter who you are. Let's see how deep the teams go.
So SCU is #7 RPI, then ties a seeded team, then wins, teams rated higher lose, and the RPI drops to #11? Bogus. Then #11 isn't good enough to be one of the 16 seeded teams? Large quantities of excrement of the male cow. Stanford hasn't always won big this year, they just find a way. Ask Penn State and Boston University and San Diego State and Oregon and Utah and Colorado and Washington State and UCLA and USC and now California, all one-goal wins for Stanford. What do an Idaho State win over Stanford, cold German beer flowing from my kitchen faucet, the next election being totally polite and civil, and Taylor Swift marrying me all have in common? Not happening.
Thanks for the rational explanation...apparently beating #10 in first game of year more impressive than tieing #2 and #4 (and that's not snark)...just seems to me that the opportunity to play Maryland rather than Stanford in2d round would have been more appropriate
Well, by that rationale, UP tied #7 away, and SCU tied #20 at home. ( both at the time) who gets more credit for that game? As to when, The NCAA doesn't care when you beat someone or got pasted, only that you did. The only exception is the last 8 games tiebreaker. You mostly dropped late in the season because the teams you played didn't do so well. Schedule and beat better teams. The reality is the NCAA are cheapskates and if they can rationalize not putting a team on the plane in a non revenue sport, they will. As a recall, SCU did pretty well by the Stanford link in the 90's. It was an auto win then. Just get better and the problem is solved. You, at least, never got sent on the road to a mile high venue as a #1 seed.
One can hope though... Seriously, Santa Clara beat Stanford in the spring and Stanford has been sometimes not quite as invincible as last year. It's not impossible for SCU to find their power and come up with a win. As I said, one can hope...
It would definitely go a long way to heal the psychological scarring that I fear happened on that night.
Interesting. I didn't realize that NCAA picked up the tab for travel. Is that true during the regular season as well?
They do pay the travel And hotel expenses for the tournament. ( not during the year) There are limits. If you are closer than 400 miles, they only pay for bus travel ( they really like that) . Lots of the seedings over the years has been based on that fact, and in years past they would ship higher seeds to where travel was less expensive. In 2005, for example ( and 2 other years) UP was undefeated, had a 1 seed, and eventually won the national championship, but had to travel to the Midwest for the 4 team pod weekend. One other year they went to Colorado ( 2009?), and in the 2002 championship year they went to Utah. If they can, they try to only fly a maximum of 2 teams for the pod. This had to do with geography and travel costs, not merit. The kicker is that the NCAA LOST about 50k a game in 2005 from lost attendance revenue (they keep the gate) One of the games in the Midwest was in front of something like 159 paid attendance, mostly UP fans. The subsequent games at Portland drew 5K or more, and sold out in minutes. The whole reason they switched to the 1-2-1 weekend games scenario is that they figured out that almost nobody gets on a plane the first weekend if they are free to juggle the non seeds a bit. That may have been part of the reason SCU didn't get a seed, though I'm sure you won't get anybody from the committe to admit that. I'd love to hear them defend their choice, but I'll bet it's along the lines I gave.
Correction: SCU has beaten Stanford in the spring two years in a row. It's irrelevant. Both spring games had Stanford playing shorthanded with 1-2 subs. What is relevant is that Stanford does not blow teams away this year and SCU has Huerta and Johnston this time (which they did not for the first meeting). I don't think SCU will beat Stanford but they have a decent shot. All you have to do is play tough, don't give up set plays right outside your box (or corners for that matter), and you have a chance. As for the crappy seeding, I often wonder if it's really a function of not being a revenue sport. They seem to try to plan things so that the first two rounds require little travel to save on expenses. Not fair, I realize, but a viable theory.
The seeding process has nothing to do with money. They put the teams in the conversation up on a big board and talk it all out. They look at RPI, record, good wins and bad losses/ties. SCU's bad ties is probably what cost them. Only after teams are seeded do they start the ridiculous merry go round of setting the brackets in regards to saving money. It's a shame. The Stanford/Santa Clara/Cal/Pepperdine/UCLA/SDSU bracket is ridiculous. That's 6 top 25 teams. So 1/4 of the nations' best 25 teams will play and knock each other out before we even get to the final four. The NCAA needs to seed nationally, not regionally. Yes they will lose more money but it's about the student-athletes experience right? Right? Right$$$$$ But yeah, fair schmair...just go play.
Agree, agree, agree. Great points. You have the West coast teams getting the absolute shaft yet UNC gets a complete joke of a draw as a 10-win, #2 seed who lost to every top conference team (Florida State, Maryland, Wake Forest and Virginia).
To play the team with mountain goat lungs whose home field IS that mile high venue (5,400+ actually). Nothing The Committee can ever come up with will match that one. But wasn't it a nice view of the mountains?
" It's a shame. The Stanford/Santa Clara/Cal/Pepperdine/UCLA/SDSU bracket is ridiculous" Agreed. And Santa Clara probably got the worst shaft in the tournament. Not to mention, the two top teams in the PAC 12 not having the opportunity for the final four without knocking the other one out. And the North Carolina seeding is a travesty. It's a new day, the talent is quite diversified across the country, and North Carolina will typically not be the odds on favorite to win the national championship, so stop giving them the preferential treatment, as was also the case last year. Santa Clara fans should be outraged!
Especially for a sea level team that has to play 2 games back to back with one day's rest. Recovery isn't so easy. If your team doesn't really emphasize fitness, it can be especially tough. Fortunately, UP teams are always fit. But I was a rock climber for 40 years and spent several pleasant summer vacations on the front range, so yes, that part was nice. We do have nice views of the Cascades here, you know. The committee didn't have to be so solicitous. The view of mount Hood from the UP campus satisfies. For you sea level teams that have to go to a two day pod at Boulder, Albuquerqe ( our men get sent there regularly), or even Provo, be warned to have a plan for spending a hard weekend at altitude. One game is ok. Two days? not so much.
UNC won't get past BYU at BYU. I'm calling that now. That game will be a track meet of epic proportions and the altitude and environment will wear out the 'heels. If they could somehow use their epic talent and possess the ball then they'd have a shot but seeing as both teams need not even suit up a midfielder it will be long ball on to the sprinters. Then the NCAA will be in a pickle as BYU doesn't play on sundays and the ncaa will have to change the dates of the college cup. Won't that be fun for ticket holders, airline and hotel reservations and TV scheduling? (Mind you, BYU players play club on sundays, their coaches recruit on sundays, if they kids go pro they play then on sundays but as an institution, ahhh we can't play on sundays.)