With Canada now knocked out in the U20 World Cup, many key players will return to their clubs, some of them are more key then others. GK- Sabrina D’Angelo | USA / University of South Carolina M- Kylie Davis | USA / University of Memphis D- Nicole Hill | USA / University of Georgia D- Rachel Melhado | USA / University of Louisville D- Shelina Zadorsky | USA / University of Michigan M- Danica Wu | USA / Ohio State F- Christabel Oduro | USA / University of Memphis F- Jenna Richardson | USA / Oregon State University D- Nicole Setterlund | USA / Washington State University D- Vanessa Legault-Cordisco | USA / Marquette University F- Nkem Ezurike | USA / University of Michigan GK- Dayle Colpitts | USA / Virginia Tech F-Christine Exeter | USA / University of Louisville I've bolded the key players returning for the Big East and SEC. Louisville will return their best striker in Christine Exeter so they should be dangerous. The most important addition is Sabrina D'Angelo, her return to South Carolina couldn't of happenned at a better time. With Clemson on their docket, they will need her to help get a critical result to help them over the RPI hump.
Ahh whoops, how can I forget her. Yeah she will be adding some scoring punch, but doesn't she have to sit out because of transfer rules?
Nikki Hill has been at Georgia the whole time. That may have been a mistake by the Canadian coach (but then I've never seen her play).
Ok good to know then on both accounts. Leon should make Florida's attack that much more dangerous. In fact if Florida pulls off the win on Florida State, I may have to revise my belief who will be taking one of the top seeds. Florida has always had one of the more toughest non conference schedules a club can have. That derby is going to add alot of food for thought.
I Think without a doubt this season is going to be topsy turvy. There isn't going to be a clear consensus number one pick like Stanford was last year. There is quite a few teams that are going to be contending. There were a few upsets this week, maybe the biggest one was the San Diego State(33) beating Pepperdine(11) 1-0 being the biggest. Overall the top contending teams won the matches they had to win with maybe Texas A&M finally showing the form that I expected them to show in the beginning of the year. So without ado, here are the results for the Big East and SEC. Big East update. (9)Marquette (3-0) Wins 2-0 vs Northwestern. Not a real test, the test will be when they head to North Carolina to play in the regional tourney there and takes on North Carolina and Duke. Good hunting to them. (19)Louisville (3-0) Wins 4-0 vs Southeastern Missouri. Not tested. Last non conference game will be against UNC Greensboro who knocked off Duke and are ranked now. A win here will only help them for RPI purposes. (20)Rutgers (4-1) Loses 4-1 vs (23)Texas A&M. This was sort of expected, I don't think you can say that Rutgers can hope to be a serious contender unless they figure out a way to help Filigno and add more scoring options. Without that, Filigno will be heavily marked out of games. The fact that she has scored 5 goals is a testament to her individual skills. But she needs help ASAP. I don't think this loss will impact Rutgers as much as a loss would of impacted Texas A&M, Rutgers is still in the picture with the Ohio win, while Texas needed this win because of their lack of quality wins so far. (26)Georgetown (4-0) Idle for today, but will play on Sunday against Cornell. They should win this easily. (34)Notre Dame(3-1) Wins 2-1 vs (16)Santa Clara. Very strong win, an upset for sure with the young Notre Dame side, this wasn't a gimme win in anyway or form. A very good win for Notre Dame that should propel them up the ranks and this is without Mandy Laddish gone for at least another week. SEC update. (13)Florida (1-2-1) 1-0 loss vs (1)Florida State. Wow Florida was recovering quite nicely after their slow start, then they lose this key derby. This was a very doable win for Florida, and sadly this loss will hurt them later if they had any ambitions for a number one seed. (21)Tennessee (5-0) 2-0 win vs Kennesaw State. Another win with UCLA fast approaching on the horizon. (23)TexasA&M (3-1) 4-1 win vs (20)Rutgers. A very key win, with Texas' lack of quality wins against ranked opponents, they needed this win badly. Hopefully with a healthy Kelly Minogue now, scoring 2 goals for Texas, things will be looking up. A win against Long Beach will go a long way to helping Texas move up the rankings. (24)Missouri (4-0) 4-1 win vs Arizona State. Another win for a program that admitedly not many expected to do as well. That win against Memphis is going to be very big for Missouri. Memphis had of 3 of their best players at the U20 World Cup. They are back now, with Memphis only playing their second game today and crushing their opponent, Memphis will become a very nasty side to play against now. Memphis will just keeping pushing Missouri's RPI higher and higher as the season wears on with that key win. (43)Georgia (4-1) 2-1 win vs (48)South Florida. Solid quality win which should help them down the road. They have two more tests coming up. A ranked UCF team that will be a strong challenge and New Mexico, another good side. A win or two will go a long way to legitamize the program in the eye's of the college world. (47)Mississippi(5-0) Tracking Old Miss since they got enough votes to be ranked. 8-0 thrashing of Arkansas-Little Rock. I do feel sorry for a side that has to endure a game like that, in any case Old Miss hasn't been tested in any of their 5 wins. Their one test left in their non conference schedule will be Texas Tech who is ranked and will give us a clearer idea of how good Mississipi is. (49)LSU (1-1-1) Idle for today. They have 3 minnow teams coming up, so they should win those 3, but Memphis will be their last non conference game. If they can get a result against Memphis, this will go a long way to helping them get an at large bid. (50)Kentucky(3-0) Another new side making their first appearance in the top 50 rankings. They should stay there with their 2-0 win vs (46)UNC Greensboro. Greensboro really worries me, alot of teams are really relying on them to do well because of their win against Wake. Kentucky is now another team. Kentucky has a mighty test coming up shortly. Louisville will provide a stern test and we'll see how good this Kentucky side is. South Carolina(2-1-1) Idle today. USC drops out of the top 50 this week, but a win against Clemson can propel them back into it. USC can really never be counted out so long as they have Sabrina D'Angelo in net, so they will be tracked until the SEC season shows us how good a side they are. Auburn(3-2) 2-0 win vs Samford. Auburn plays a tough non conference schedule, with William and Mary and Texas Tech their next 2 games. They should be able to get results in both games, and this will allow them to move back into the rankings. Alabama(4-0) 9-0 destruction of South Alabama. Sometimes I wonder what the point of some of these non conference matches are if your going to blow a team out like that. If a team is that bad, they will not help your RPI, but only hinder it because they will be a bottom feeder side. Arkansas(3-1) Idle for today. The Texas win is turning out to be a mixed blessing for Arkansas. Texas is struggling and until they turn it around, that result will do little to help Arkansas. So two teams joined the watch list for the SEC updates, not surprising considering how tough this conference is.
So I want to talk about how important getting a seed is for the NCAA tournament. 16 seeds get given out every tournament. Every quadrant gets 4 seeds in it. It means seeded teams will have at the most two matches before they start having to deal with another seeded team. This doesn't preclude the fact that there have been teams that have gone unseeded and have caused many a upset because of it. But that is for the RPI fanatics to argue about. What I am trying to do is to help people understand how important those seeds are. Expecially the top seed for each bracket. Each quadrant or bracket has 16 teams, divided into pods of 4 with a seeded team in each pod. Unless a team gets upset, seeded teams shouldn't meet eachother until the third round. Now that we understand this, then we need to understand why the top seed is so important and why I am tracking teams for it is the reason for this post. Gaining the top seed for your quadrant, maybe not guarentees it, but gives a top seeded team a very good shot at reaching the college cup. If people need a number we can say its at least a 50% chance. Last year, all the top seeds made it to the college cup. Stanford, Duke, Wake and FSU. Which is actually unusual to see all four top seeds make it to the semi final without an upset or two along the way. But seeing the results from last year, you can then understand why they got to the college cup. Gaining that top seed allows a team to avoid a host of problems. One, your not going to be in a bracket that has a Stanford, Duke or Wake. You in essence take out quite a few teams that can impede your progress to the cup. But another benifit arises being a top seed. Your closest competitors will get seeded in the other brackets. You may have one, maybe two at the most teams that can potentially upset you, after that its clear sailing to the College Cup. So in gaining that top seed, it allows you to control your own destiny. For any team to have any ambitions of winning a championship, a top seed is a must. With that clarified and hopefully helpful to people, now its time to track teams that potentially will gain a top seed. Since there will be 4 up for grabs, we will have at least 4 teams, but a few others as well since its still early in the season. Others might be added in or taken out depending on their results. Without further ado, here are the potential top seeds. Teams will have their current coaches poll rank, team, conference, and then wins with ranked wins and ties for notable ranked teams for each listing. (1)Florida State-ACC (3-0) Win (41)Minnesota (win (37)San Diego), Win (12)UCF (win (29)Miami), Win (13)Florida (win (4)Duke, tie (14)North Carolina) (2)UCLA-Pac12 (4-0) Win (32)Illinois, Win (18)Wisconsin (win (34)Notre Dame) (3)Stanford-Pac12 (2-1-1) Win (16)Santa Clara (win (38)California) Win (6)Penn State (win (7)Virginia, win (22)West Virginia), Tie (8)Boston College (win (31)Boston University), Loss (22) West Virginia (win (3)Stanford) (4)Duke-ACC (4-1) Loss (13)Florida (win (4)Duke, tie (14) North Carolina) Despite being ranked number four in the coaches poll. They have no current top 50 ranked wins on their docket. At the moment they have the weakest claim to a top seed. (6)Penn State-Big10 (4-1) Win (7)Virginia, Win (22)West Virginia (Win (3)Stanford), Loss (3)Stanford (Win (16)Santa Clara, win (6)Penn State, tie (8)Boston College) Teams on the outside looking in. These teams will need to win most if not all of their games to move up. (13)Florida-SEC (1-2-1) Win (4)Duke, Tie (14) North Carolina (win (34)Connecticut, tie (13)Florida) Florida has probably the hardest road to get a top seed. They need to win out. They need to take the SEC title, then win the SEC championship, they simply can't afford to lose a game to any side. (23)Texas A&M-SEC (3-1) Win (20)Rutgers Loss (37)San Diego (win (23)Texas A&M, win (41)Minnesota) Texas A&M must win against (17)Long Beach, then need to win out and take the SEC title and beat Florida to ensure a top seed. Long shots, probably need quite a few things to fall into place for them. Top teams lossing for one. (5)Oklahoma State-Big12 (5-0) They have no top 50 ranked team wins on their docket. Even with a win against Memphis, their weak non conference schedule and the Big 12 dismal showing in the non conference season so far, pretty well ensures that Oklahoma State even if they went perfect with no losses, will still not get a top seed. They need so many variables to fall into place. Win against Memphis, have Memphis win out the rest of the way. Hope Texas recovers and get more quality wins and most of all get ranked. Have sides like Texas Tech and others move up and get ranked as well. Because of the short conference season, there is very little leeway for Oklahoma to move up the RPI table to get the top seed. (8)Boston College-ACC (2-0-1) Win (31)Boston University, Tie (3)Stanford (Win (16)Santa Clara, win (6)Penn State, tie (8)Boston College) Boston University with their tie with Stanford could possibly move up, but they would need to beat teams like Duke, Wake and North Carolina. If they beat all these teams, then there is a chance they can take a top seed. (10)Wake Forest-ACC (3-1-1) Loss (46)UNC Greensboro (Win (10)Wake Forest) Wake has some big hurdles to deal with. The UNC Greensboro loss will have a very large impact on Wake. Greensboro have a very nasty non conference schedule, they have Louisville, Santa Clara and Stanford still on their docket. Add to the fact that Wake was playing a very weak non conference schedule with no top 50 ranked team until Greensboro beat them. Wake now must win out in the ACC season and that may be a tall order for them. It's possible although very unlikely another side can come into the mix and challenge for a top seed. The only team I see doing this is Notre Dame. They would need to win against North Carolina and Portland, then win their division and then win the Big East Championship, with Marquette being the main draw for the final. Alot of things have to fall in place for Notre Dame. Now your probably wondering why a team like Wake Forest has a chance to take a top seed and Notre Dame which has currently a better RPI then they do, does not. The conference matters in a very large way, how teams structure their non conference matches, how many ranked teams are played and whether you win or lose against them matter a great deal. The ACC without question has the best teams in it compared to any other conference. Because the ACC has the best teams, the whole conference as a whole becomes more stronger. It all boils down to non conference play, teams that play out of conference matches against tough opponents will gain more RPI for it, when they return to their conference for seasonal play, that RPI they gained in essence gets shared with the whole conference, because teams now fight against those teams that played the tough schedule, so RPI for the whole conference goes up. So because Wake belongs to the ACC, if they beat Florida State, Duke, North Carolina, they actually have a good chance of taking a top seed. Where else Notre Dame would have a harder time, because conference play in the Big East is weaker because the teams there play a weaker schedule. My current top 4 seed selections. (1)Florida State (3)Stanford (2)UCLA (6)Penn State I won't be able to update this on a weekly basis, its simply too much work, but I will update it periodically.
You forgot to mention that each of the four #1 seeds, so long as it has a qualifying field and bids to host games, is pretty much guaranteed home field advantage all the way to the College Cup. In rating points, home field advantage is worth 0.008 ARPI rating points to the home team and costs the visiting team 0.008 rating points, for a difference of 0.016. In other words, assume two teams have identical ratings. By having a game at home, the home team and away team compare as though the home team's rating were 0.016 points higher.
Hmm, that guarantee isn't exactly ironclad. UP has gone on the road as a #1 seed three times, including the 2005 championship year where they spent their first two matches on the windswept fields of the Midwest. Weren't you there, CP? You have to meet the criteria of the travel rules, and we don't know if that is still in effect or not under the new format
It's true that the Women's Soccer Committee could start really following the rules, but the new format was in effect last year and the Committee gave home field to the seeded, or higher seeded, team in every case as I recall. I assume they'll do the same this year.
I'm trying to boil it down so I can help people understand the arcane rules that govern how RPI works. But you are very right, home field advantage is a fairly large advantage, you really can't under estimate how important that can be.
We had one large upset of a ranked team this week. UC Irvine upset (27)Oregon State 1-0 and another smaller upset with (47)Mississippi defeating (42)Texas Tech 2-0. Sunday of September 3, 2012 Big East update. (9)Marquette (3-0) Idle for today. They have 3 big upcoming matches with Central Michigan, North Carolina and Duke finishing off their non conference season off. Getting some key results here can push them upwards to national prominence. (19)Louisville (4-0) 3-0 win vs (46)UNC Greensboro. Solid win against a ranked opponent. Though they like Kentucky will be relying heavily on Greensboro to do well later to help them in their RPI. They have another non conference test coming up against Kentucky. A result will help since Kentucky are showing good form. (20)Rutgers (5-1) 2-0 win vs Same Houston State. Not a big fish, but what is good to see is the additional support for scoring. Both goals came from different players not named Jonelle Filigno. Rutgers rank may slip after the loss to Texas A&M when the poll comes out, but they should still stay revelant to the national rankings. (26)Georgetown (5-0) 6-1 win vs Cornell on Saturday. They will play tommorrow and should win that game as well. Two key games will be coming up, Santa Clara and Stanford. These two games should give us a much better idea of how good this Georgetown squad is. (34)Notre Dame (3-2) 1-0 loss vs (14)North Carolina. A dissapointing loss for Notre Dame. Even though both sides had players at the World Cup, A win would of helped Notre Dame more then it would of for North Carolina. The coaches poll rank right now is low, but when the new rankings come out, Notre Dame should move up despite this loss to North Carolina. (35)Connecticut (2-2-1) 1-1 tie vs (16)Santa Clara. I should of added the Huskies in much earlier since they do play a tough non conference schedule, but they have been doing very poorly at winning those key games. Still this tie will help them. So with Connecticut joining the watch list, which honestly they should of been up there in the first place. We have another week of non conference games to play, my feeling is still 5 teams will come out of the Big East to join the NCAA tournament. Once Big East play resumes, we'll see how those predictions pan out. Not much to report on the SEC, the key teams won their matches, but the SEC season fast approaches. Next week we should be seeing the start of some intresting shuffles of the top teams as they slug it out. SEC update. (13)Florida (2-2-1) 3-0 win vs Florida International. In two weeks time, the SEC season starts in earnest. (21)Tennessee (5-0) Idle for today. Next week, they visit California and take on Cal State and (2)UCLA. Should be a very good gauge how good Tennessee is. (23)Texas A&M (4-1) 1-0 win vs Saint Mary's. A late goal seals the win for Texas, but one really has to have some questions with them crushing a good side like Rutgers who have a very strong defense, and then only scoring late against Saint Mary's could be worrying for Texas. (24)Missouri (5-0) 2-0 win vs Tennessee Tech. Their win over Memphis almost paid them some dividends. With 5 goals scored in the second half, (39)Memphis almost got a result on (5)Oklahoma State. (44)LSU (2-1-1) 2-0 win vs Houston. Next week they have a clash against Memphis. A solid opportunity to improve their ranking and RPI. (45)Georgia (4-2) 1-0 loss vs (12)UCF. Tough loss since Georgia had a legitimate shot at upsetting UCF, but wasn't meant to be. (47)Mississippi (6-0) 2-0 win vs (42)Texas Tech. A very good result for Mississippi and should move them up the rankings. With the SEC season rapidly approaching, Mississippi is a side teams must be aware of. (50)Kentucky (4-0) 1-0 win vs Southeast Missouri. They have been steady so far, but (19)Louisville is coming up. A result here and things can really solidify for them for an at large bid. South Carolina (2-2-1) 1-0 loss vs Clemson. Clemson scores with 24 seconds left on a deflected shot in double overtime will hurt. This isn't what USC wanted, they are going to need to do their damage in the SEC season to make it to the NCAA tournament. Auburn (3-3) 2-0 loss vs William and Mary. They needed this result. They have (42)Texas Tech as their final non conference match. If they don't get a result, things will be looking bad for Auburn. Alabama (5-0) 3-0 win vs Mercer. Next game will be against (28)Maryland. If they are looking for a result, then this match is it. A win and they help their cause greatly. Dropping Arkansas (3-3) from the watch list. Their win against Texas elevated them upwards, but the subsequent poor results against teams they should win against and Texas stumbling, only hurts them in the long run. Overall the SEC stands pat for this week. Mississippi's win over Texas Tech will help, and Georgia's loss not so much. Strongest Conferences by quality wins. Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Southeastern Conference (SEC) Pacific 12 (Pac12) Big Ten Big East Big 12 West Coast Conference (WCC)
You realize that, outside of the NCAA statistics staff, cpthomas is probably the foremost authority on womens soccer RPI and the selection process? He is also quite humble about his work, and probably wouldn't like me stating that. Take a look at the information on the site that he maintains, if you haven't. (The use of 'arcane' in your post makes me think you haven't seen the website).. https://sites.google.com/site/rpifordivisioniwomenssoccer/ Based on his work the selection process seems reasonably straight forward. The RPI calculation is documented on the site as well as on NCAA stats website. There are teams that have made use of his information to help their chances, so certainly the fans here should be able to use it.
I know you probably don't intend it, but there is probably nothing more insulting to Aggies than being called "Texas" (except possibly being called "Baylor"). Just FYI. I like your coverage otherwise.
Heh ok point taken on the Texas remark, i'll either call them aggies or their full name. As to GoCourage, I wasn't insulting Cpt Thomas, but I was referring to the fact that trying to understand RPI and its relations to seeding, is pretty arcane. Regardless what people here understand, most of us here do not completely understand how it works, so by boiling it down to something more easier to comprehend, we can then figure out how well a team is doing over others. For instance, Oklahoma State who is ranked as high as (3) in some coaches poll, doesn't necessary reflect how good some of the other teams RPI comparably to OSU is. Should OSU be ranked as high as they are? Some coaches believe they do, but because of their weak non conference scheduling, do they really deserve that rank compared to the RPI's of Stanford, UCLA, Penn State, Florida State? I think all 4 of these teams are better then OSU right now. Yet alot of people get confused about the rankings placed on teams when in the end its the RPI of those teams that will decide who gets into the NCAA tournament. Most people don't understand that a win isn't a win. You can win, but actually do some harm to your RPI by playing a mediocore team that is a bottom feeder team. Which is why the PAC12 has some problems, since the bottom 6 teams, don't play a strong non conference schedule. In the end, I'm only trying to clear up the muddy picture, my discourse was never to belittle the work done by Cpt Thomas, nor hopefully would he think otherwise, if my comments were interpreted that way if it was, then that is my mistake. In either case the RPI formula and understanding it, is never easy, nor should anyone say it is. Its not, every tournament selection there have been many questions. Those questions will not go away and certainly they will be debated.
Most people also don't understand that just playing high RPI teams also isn't the only path to getting a good RPI yourself. You can, for instance, play a team that has a good win/loss ratio but plays in a bad conference and otherwise plays bad teams. I'll note that some teams do this on a regular basis, even teams from the ACC. Perennial conference winners from bad conferences (especially large conferences, which reduce their out of conference exposure) become attractive for RPI aspirants. Remember, the win/loss record of your opponent is second only to actually beating them as a factor in RPI. It is also a good hedge against risking a below .500 win ratio, a requirement for tournament selection. If you are in a very strong conference, it is something to think about.
Forgedias, I did not take anything you wrote as criticism. In fact, I was glad to see your informational post, as I think the more explaining of the RPI fans can get, the better, and I appreciated your taking the time you put into the post.
Anyone at the UK/Louisville game? UK up by one but the stats show the starting GK for KY coming out after 4 minutes. Was there an injury? The other Kayla looks to be doing a great job.
On Cliveworshipper's point. If a team has a good win/loss ratio, then more then likely they are going to lock up the auto bid for their conference, because they should have also a decent RPI to go with their wins, so your point is accurate. But no matter how you cut it, if a team didn't win their auto bid, then they need quality wins. Its why you see conferences in 2011 like America East and Big South only sending 1 or 2 teams to the tournament and conferences like the ACC and SEC that have sent 8 each. It really does boil down to wins over quality opponents. And it all starts with the non conference schedule. Look at Portland, they played a tough non conference schedule in 2011, they were a .500 team, there was some serious doubt about them making into the tournament. Then look at University of Campell who went 15-5-2. Who got in? We know this, you know this, so yes wins matter, but good wins over quality teams matter more.
Wanted to roll back to Tuesday, Sept 6, 2012 results since that actually effects two teams that I am tracking. Ohio State's 1-0 OT win over Missouri is pretty big. Ohio State even though they are not ranked, are a good side. If they didn't have their stumble in the beginning of the non conference season, they would be ranked. That win over Missouri will also help Rutgers out immensely. Rutgers might be riding on that win all the way to the selection committee. Friday 7,2012 There were some intresting upsets today. (14)North Carolina wins 4-0 vs (9)Marquette. A decent upset considering how short handed the Tarheels are. Will be better for North Carolina if Marquette can get a result against Duke. (39)Kentucky win 2-0 (16)Louisville. This was a toss up, Kentucky was showing some good form, so I wasn't surprised by this. Oklahoma win 1-0 (5)Oklahoma State. Which kinda confirms what I was suspecting. OSU's defense which was very strong last year, isn't as good this year. Even with Adriana Franch in goal, there really is only so much she can do. This would of been the biggest upset this year if West Virginia didn't upset Stanford already. New Mexico 2-0 (45)Georgia. Well this isn't such a big upset. New Mexico is one of those tournament bubble teams. This win over Georgia will help them. With those upsets, they will impact both the Big East and SEC, so lets get to the rundown. Big East update. Marquette and Louisville's loss hurts since both matches were against ranked opponents. Notre Dame and Georgetown's draws is the only good thing that happenned for this conference. The Big East took a small hit from today's results. (9)Marquette (3-1-1) They had a 0-0 draw vs Central Michigan on Monday, then a 4-0 loss to North Carolina today. Not only was North Carolina without several of their players at the World Cup, but they got crushed in a very lopsided loss. Not a good way to start a tough roadtrip. Their next game against Duke, they really need a result there. Without that, their schedule is looking very thin on quality results. (16)Louisville (4-1) loss 2-0 to (39)Kentucky. Kentucky was on a good roll, beat several ranked teams already and now have added Louisville. For Louisville, this would of been a very good result to have. With only Purdue and UNC Greensboro being their only quality results, a Kentucky result would of almost clinched an at large bid. Big East play will have to go favorably for Louisville now if they want to ensure an at large bid. (23)Georgetown (6-0-1) 3-0 win over Columbia last Monday and a 1-1 draw vs (26)Santa Clara. A win would of been nice, but its still a good result for Georgetown, now they have (4)Stanford up next. Any result here would be a big boost for Georgetown. (25)Rutgers (6-1) 2-0 win vs Stony brook. An expected result with Dartmouth next, Rutgers should end their non conference season at 7-1. Their one key win over Ohio State will pay them huge dividends. It even may help them get an at large bid with just that win. With Ohio State now coming back to form and beating (19)Missouri for their first loss. Missouri is a very dangerous side, with wins over Maryland and now Missouri, should be only a matter of time before Ohio State are ranked again. (33)Notre Dame (3-2-1) 1-1 draw vs (20)Portland. Watching this match, all I can say is how much I appreciate the clubs that play a possession style of game. These two clubs emphasis this, though I would say Portland had most of the run of play. With a PK attempt missed, Notre Dame and their young side affectionatedly called "baby irish" did put up alot of shots, with 3 hitting the crossbar. Crystal Thomas who may be small, but is a dynamo player was a threat all game long. There is alot to look forward to with this young team. With Mandy Laddish and Cari Roccaro returning next week. Notre Dame should look that more dangerous when Big East play starts. (43)Connecticut (4-2-1) 3-1 win vs Marist on Wednesday. This is actually a decent result and should help them down the line. Marist should be right on the bubble to making the tournament. The last team I wanted to talk about is (46)Seton Hall, who came in ranked this week. They lost today against (42)LaSalle 6-2. I'm only noted Seton Hall because they did get ranked this week, will they contender in the Big East? No, especially after getting hammered by LaSalle. But I did want to note that they did get ranked this week. If they pull off some upsets in the Big East season, I will of course revise this. SEC update. (39)Kentucky's win over (16)Louisville is the big winner as is (14)Texas A&M win over (24)Long Beach. Old Miss continues to impress with another win. Missouri's loss to Ohio State won't hurt too much, Ohio State is a far better side then their ranking would state. Although New Mexico's upset over (45)Georgia does hurt. Overall the SEC did see some improvement this week. (14)Texas A&M (5-1) 3-0 win vs (24)Long Beach. A solid win and a needed one, if Texas A&M harbours any ambitions to take a top seed. They now need to focus on winning the SEC title and beating Florida. Even if they miss out on winning the SEC championship, I think they will have done enough to take a top seed if they do all the above. (15)Florida (2-2-1) Idle for today. This Sunday they meet up with New Mexico who upset (45)Georgia. This is another opportunity for the Gators to get another quality win under their belt. They have a very tough road if they have any hope of getting a top seed. New Mexico result is a must and winning out the SEC title and Championship will confirm all this. (19)Missouri (5-1) 1-0 loss vs Ohio State is disappointing. Ohio State is on form and really should be ranked but for their slow start. This loss may sting, but Missouri has done well for itself this non conference season with wins over (38)Memphis, (41)Cal, (49)Texas Tech. With these 3 wins, they probably have done enough to get an invite to the big dance, making it into the SEC playoffs will guarentee this. (21)Tennessee (5-0-1) 0-0 draw vs Cal State Northridge. A surprising result, with Tennessee scoring goals in waves, I didn't think Cal State would be much of a road block. But how wrong I was. Tennessee next game should provide us a clearer picture on the Tennessee program. UCLA should provide the needed test to see how strong Tennessee is. (30)Mississippi (7-0) 4-1 win vs UAB. Another win and more importantly going into the SEC season, teams are going to have to worry about the Rebels high octane offense. They score in droves. We'll have to see if they can keep that pace up against a stronger side. (39)Kentucky (6-0) 2-0 win vs (16)Louisville. This one win can be a defining moment for Kentucky. Not only did they beat a ranked team this high, but they did it convincingly. If Kentucky's season wasn't impressive enough, this win should do it. They have one more game against Samford before they go into the SEC season. A win against a good side like Samford will only strengthen their claim on an at large bid. (44)LSU (3-1-2) 0-0 draw vs Florida International. Good for FIU, but very disappointing for LSU. For a game they are suppossed to win, this hopefully won't be a precursor to their next game against Memphis. They will need to play much better if they want a result. (45)Georgia (4-3) 2-0 loss vs New Mexico. Someone noted earlier on this thread that Georgia was ranked too high. With two straight losses to tournament teams, he may have a point. They are going to need to regroup for the SEC season if they are going to turn this around. South Carolina (2-2-1) Idle for today. This Sunday they should win against East Carolina. Alabama (5-1) 2-1 loss vs (27)Maryland. Closer result then I would of predicted, a chance to improve Alabama's profile gone, but still they have the SEC season coming up and they should be a factor. Auburn (3-3) Idle for today, have a game on Saturday against (49)Texas Tech. A result here and Auburn can turn their season around, a loss and they have a huge hill to climb to get an at large bid.
Congratualations to Mandy Laddish and Cari Roccaro on their gold medal at the U20 World Cup in Japan. The US effort against Germany was an impressive performance, a mighty improvement compared to their last game against Germany. Both Mandy and Cari's return will give a big boost to Notre Dame's attack with Big East play coming up, the young Notre Dame side will need their help. There were some upsets for September 9, 2012, the biggest one being Arizona State beating (17)Pepperdine 1-0. Considering this was their second win of the season, this win was a huge upset for Arizona State. Sadly the RPI for this match, won't be a huge benifit considering Arizona State isn't a bubble team contender. But its a good result for a side that is usually near the bottom of the Pac12 standings. Also on Saturday, there was a huge upset with (35)BYU defeating (6)Penn State 3-1. Pretty earth shaking upset, since this upset will knock Penn State out of a possible top seed with the Big10 season approaching. If they had Maya Hayas and Taylor Schram, I'm pretty sure this result would of been different. Still with both their return, Penn State will be a dangerous force to be reckoned with in which ever quadrant they get placed in for the NCAA tournament. Many a side will be sweating when selection and seeding day comes because no one really wants Penn State in their side of the tournament. Later on I'll have teams that I think will be top seeds and teams that will be dark horses to make it into the college cup. Penn State will obviously be in that category. Sunday Sept. 9, 2012 upsets. Arizona State(Pac12) wins 1-0 (17)Pepperdine(WCC) Fordam(A10) wins 1-0 (27)Maryland(ACC) Samford(Southern) wins 3-1 (39)Kentucky(SEC) Villanova(BigEast) wins 3-2 (42)La Salle(A10) William and Mary(Colonial) wins 1-0 (45)Seton Hall(BigEast) Sunday Sept.9, 2012 games for the Big East and SEC. Big East update. (9)Marquette, (23)Georgetown, (33)Notre Dame, (45)Seton Hall all lost today. The only redeeming result was Villanova's upset of (42)La Salle. Overall the Big East took a large hit on RPI on Sunday. (9)Marquette (3-2-1) 5-2 loss vs (3)Duke. Two straight lopsided losses to ACC teams does put some perspective on the Marquette side. With no quality wins on their docket and no results against North Carolina and Duke. Marquette will not be able to hold that coaches poll rank. They should be dropping fairly fast. Its really hard to believe they can be a contender if they lose that badly to two quality teams like that. They still will be a force in the Big East, but nationally, these losses will have a negative impact. (16)Louisville (6-1) 3-1 win vs Toledo. Louisville does what they need to and get a win. With Big East play coming up, they should be able to coast through and make it into the NCAA tournament. (23)Georgetown (6-1-1) 6-0 loss vs (4)Stanford. There is no easy way to look at this result. Georgetown got destroyed, this is a result if you are a supporter for Georgetown, you can't take easily since it clearly shows there is a gulf between Georgetown and the top teams in the nation. Their non conference season hasn't been bad though, so even with this loss, they can recover in Big East play and return to form and make it into the NCAA tournament. (25)Rutgers (7-1) 2-1 win vs Dartmouth. They go into the Big East play with some confidence. They have one of the more strongest defenses in the Big East league and they have Jonelle Filigno firing on all cylinders with 7 goals on this season. They have some very good opportunties coming up to improve their rankings and RPI. They are not a lock yet for the tournament, but if they keep their form, they will return to the NCAA tournament which they missed last year. (33)Notre Dame (3-3-1) 3-0 loss vs (28)Washington. With a young team like the Irish have this season, your going to have games like this. They travelled to the west coast took on Portland and drew with them and travelled north to Seattle and then lost. There are times when the rigors of travelling can show up in unexpected ways, whether they lose focus or were worn down by the games and travel. Games like this can be expected for a young side like Notre Dame. With the return of Mandy Laddish and Cari Roccaro, its a desperately needed infusion of firepower and leadership that Notre Dame needs if they are to have a successful Big East season. Notre Dame only needs to have a decent Big East play, they don't need to win out, but they can't flop either, but they should be a lock for the NCAA tournament. (43)Connecticut (4-2-1) 4-1 win vs Central Connecticut. What UConn does from now on will be very important. Right now they are a bubble team. They need results especially against teams like (23)Georgetown and Villanova which should be doable. If they can get a result against (33)Notre Dame and (9)Marquette even better for their cause for an at large bid. Big East NCAA Tournament profile currently. Locks: (33)Notre Dame Teams that are near locks: (16)Louisville, (23) Georgetown, (25)Rutgers On the Bubble: (9)Marquette, (43)Connecticut SEC update. (14)Texas A&M, (15)Florida won on Sunday. (21)Tennessee and (39)Kentucky lost. Overall the SEC did well for itself, both losses by Tennessee and Kentucky were losses against tournament teams. Auburn helped their cause by beating (49)Texas Tech on Saturday. This may be the start where they turn their season around and moving it into the right direction. (14)Texas A&M (6-1) 2-0 win vs Central Michigan. This is a win that is going to help the Aggies out, Central Michigan potentially can win their conference out and will be an at large team if they don't. With wins agaisnt (31)West Virgina and Dayton and draw against (9)Marquette. This will only help Texas A&M in the long run. (15)Florida (3-2-1) 3-2 win vs New Mexico. A good win against a potential bubble team side. Florida needs to keep rolling and keep winning. They are a lock for the tournament, where they end up is all up to them. (19)Missouri (5-1) Idle for today. The start of the SEC season will see Missouri be tested like its never been before. Missouri has a good chance to progress through the SEC play and do well for themselves. They are a lock atm to make it into the NCAA tournament. (21)Tennessee (5-1-1) 1-0 loss vs (2)UCLA. Tough loss for Tennessee since a result would of raised their profile. Tennessee's non conference season has been solid, with good wins against potential bubble teams, but none against a ranked team. The SEC season is really going to tell whether Tennessee deserves any seeding discussion. They are close to a lock to make it in atm. (30)Mississippi (7-0) Idle for today. They have the potential to make some serious noice this SEC season. Depending on how they do, they are looking to have a serious shot at taking the title this year. (39)Kentucky (6-1) 3-1 loss to Samford. This has to hurt considering how well they played against (16)Louisville. But Samford is a strong team and they are always in the mix to win their conference or get an at large bid. So this loss won't affect Kentucky too much. Kentucky has had a strong season, and they are actually a lock to make it in, if they don't flub their SEC play. (44)LSU (4-1-2) 2-1 win vs (38)Memphis is a big win for LSU. This Monday win is a tonic that LSU desperately needed. It keeps their at large bid alive and they can improve if they have a good SEC play. (45)Georgia (4-3) Idle for today. Without key wins over any ranked opponent, Georgia is actually looking very shaky right now in an at large bid. They need to improve over the SEC season if they have any hope of going to the big dance. South Carolina (3-2-1) 3-0 win vs East Carolina. A win that USC needed, they just need to pile on wins and get some key results on teams they need to beat. Right now they are outside the picture on an at large bid, but they can change this, its all within their power to do so. Alabama (5-1) Idle for today. They have one quality win over Samford, but none on ranked teams. They need quality wins in the SEC play because right now they are on the outside looking in. Auburn (4-3) 2-1 win vs (49)Texas Tech on Saturday. This was a critical win for Auburn. Right now they are still outside the picture, but this win will help move them up. If they can do well in the SEC season, they have a chance to get an large bid. SEC NCAA Tournament profile currently. Locks: (14)Texas A&M, (15)Florida, (19)Missouri, (39)Kentucky Teams that are near locks: (21)Tennessee, (30)Mississippi On the Bubble: (44)LSU Outside looking in: (45)Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn Please note this can change during the conference season. If Texas A&M were to lose all the rest of their games, then they will not be a lock, but for a lock team, all they need to do is play decently. They don't need to win their conference title to get into the NCAA tournament. Teams that are near locks need only one or two quality wins to book their trip to the big dance. Teams on the bubble or outside need more help. They need quality wins by the bucketfull or their fate will be up to the selection committee. Also teams that are locked are going to be in the NCAA tournament. So for any other team, they should worry since the SEC will probbly only send 8 teams into the tournament, which means 4 of those slots have already been taken. Those who are on the bubble or outside will need to fight hard for few slots left.
I'm sure by now most people have heard the stunning news that Notre Dame will be moving all their non revenue sports excluding Football and Hockey to the ACC. If you follow college sport blogs anywhere this has been the major story all Wednesday and on. Off course this descision was based solely on football, where Notre Dame can be positioned was very important with the advent of Super Conferences coming in the future. Notre Dame had a few offers, Big10, Big12 and ACC being the 3 most convenient. Big10 wasn't an option since they are located in the midwest, and Notre Dame wanted to expand recruiting out to the east coast. Big12 same reason. So the ACC seemed the logical choice and if you followed college football blogs, many bloggers were predicting a move to the ACC two months ago, they just did not expect it to be this soon. This caught almost everyone off guard. The nearest date that Notre Dame can leave the Big East is in 2015, they have to give 27 months notice, but they can circumvent this by paying a fee to leave early, which is my bet. Notre Dame is not hurting for cash, so even if the break up fee is 10 million, Notre Dame would pay it. I think the best case scenario for Notre Dame is a move for the 2014 season, which coincides with Notre Dame playing 5 football games within the ACC as part of their deal with the ACC. So that means in 2 years time Notre Dame will be playing women's soccer in the best football conference in the nation. Good news, and which will force me to keep tabs on another conference. There are really only 3 conferences I keep tabs on. Pac12, because I follow UCLA and Oregon State. Big East because of Notre Dame and the SEC because I like the competition there. There are a few other teams I follow, Portland because I love the way they play football and Memphis after last years performance. The reason why I haven't been tracking the ACC is not because I don't like their football, its just there isn't really a team I follow there, but with Notre Dame joining, I will have to keep tabs on the conference. As for Notre Dame, they have 12 freshmen and 6 sophomores on their roster, fully 3/4 of their team are 1 or 2 year players. Quite a young roster and after watching them play today, they are already looking like a very promising side, and in 2 years time when they join the ACC, they will have a very good shot at taking a league title there. Sept 14, 2012 Today I was able to catch 3 games, Notre Dame and Louisville which was on ESPNU, Notre Dame won it 2-1 and really showed alot of character. They completely shut down Christine Exeter with Katie Naughton taking on that task, impressive work since she is a freshman. The second game I caught was the South Carolina/Mississippi State game which ended in a 0-0 draw. USC dominated possession against the Bulldogs, I wouldn't be joking if I said USC had 70% of the possession. It was that dominant, the only problem for USC is their utter toothless offense. They lacked finishing with several good chances missed. Mississippi State on the other hand looked bad, they couldn't control the midfield and USC played a very fine possession oriented game, just couldn't finish. The third game I caught was the Rutgers and Villanova game which Villanova won 2-1. A surprising result until you consider Rutgers were dominating play until in overtime when against the run of play Villanova scored on a goalkeeping error. A very bad result for Rutgers. Upsets for the week of Sept 10-14, 2012 Sept.13(ACC) (30)Maryland 2-1 (8)North Carolina Sept.13(BigEast) Syracuse 3-2 (32)Connecticut Sept.14(SEC) (42)Kentucky 2-1 (14)Florida Sept.14 Texas Tech(Big12) 3-2 (18)Long Beach(BigWest) Sept.14(BigEast) Villanova 2-1 (20)Rutgers Sept.14 Denver(WAC) 1-0 (36)Kansas(Big12) Big East update. (35)Notre Dame, (34)Georgetown and (26)Marquette all won this week. (20)Rutgers, (27)Louisville and (32)UConn all lost with UConn taking a huge hit at their at large bid. (20)Rutgers (7-2) 2-1 OT loss vs Villanova. This is a result that could come back to bite Rutgers. They were dominating Villanova had a 20-7 shot lead as well. A counterattack with a goalkeeping error cost them this game. They have (34)Georgetown coming in next, they must get a result here if they want to punch their ticket to the big dance. (26)Marquette (4-2-1) 5-1 win vs Pittsburgh. Not a surprising result, they have George Mason, which isn't a conference opponent next. An odd opponent right in between the conference schedule, but its a gimme win. (27)Louisville (6-2) 2-1 loss vs Notre Dame. This was a game I thought Louisville had a decent chance to get a result against a young Notre Dame side. How wrong I was, Louisville got dominated, with the late set piece goal making this result look decent, but Louisville had problems all along the pitch against the quick possession style oriented side. They should still be ok if they get the results they need to get. They have a few games before (26)Marquette which will be another key opportunity for them. (32)Connecticut (4-3-1) 3-2 loss to Syracuse. This is a horrible loss anyway you look at it. This loss puts UConn in a world of trouble now. Even though they were ranked pretty high, their RPI doesn't reflect that rank. They must win games and more importantly win quality games now if they want to make it into the tournament. (34)Georgetown (7-1-1) 8-0 win vs Seton Hall. Really? After getting embarassed by Stanford 6-0, they return the favor on poor Seton Hall. Very hard to figure out this game, is Georgetown letting off some steam and taking it to a weak side to prove a point? Or is Seton Hall this bad. Hard to tell. They have (20)Rutgers next, which will provide a sterner test, a win and Georgetown can clear up the picture on their at large chances. (35)Notre Dame (4-3-1) 2-1 win vs (27)Louisville. A good win against a ranked opponent. Katie Naughton impressed me alot since she was tasked to mark Christine Exeter solo and she shut Exeter down and made her a non factor. The fact she is only a freshman was even more impressive. Notre Dame are building a young dynamic core, really impressed with this young team. From here on out, their schedule should be very easy with alot of cream puff teams now on the docket. SEC update. (11)Texas A&M, (22)Tennessee, (25)Mississippi, (29)Missouri, (42)Kentucky all won today. (14)Florida, (47)LSU, Alabama and Auburn lost today with (48)Georgia and South Carolina not helping their cause by drawing. If there were questions on my giving Kentucky a lock to get into the NCAA tournament, well today answered all that with their win over Florida. (11)Texas A&M (7-1) 1-0 win vs (47)LSU. This win might help the Aggies if LSU is a bubble team, but for now its a good win for them. They have some tough matches coming up, Old Miss with USC and Kentucky up next. (14)Florida (3-3-1) 2-1 loss vs (42)Kentucky. This loss will probably knock them out of any hope of taking a top seed. Even if they won out from now on, Teams like Stanford, Duke and Florida State would need to struggle. Florida is still in the picture, but only just for a top seed. (22)Tennessee (6-1-1) 2-1 OT win vs Alabama. If Alabama got a result from this game, this would of been an upset for sure. They have Vanderbilt next so they should get a result. After that it gets tougher for Tennessee. (25)Mississippi (8-0) 4-1 win vs Arkansas. Last easy win for a bit with their next games against (11)Texas A&M and (29) Missouri. Things should clear up for Old Miss on how good they really are. (29)Missouri (6-1) 2-0 win vs Auburn. A win against a potential bubble team. Their next game is against USC who have a stubborn defense, but no offense. The challenge is going to be to get a goal past Sabrina D'Angelo. (42)Kentucky (7-1) 2-1 win vs (14)Florida. I think people are going to have to give more respect to Kentucky after this win. If their (27)Louisville win didn't do it, then this win does now. They have some easy games next, Mississippi State may be undefeated, but they are a paper tiger and Kentucky will open them up, the Bulldogs really looked bad against USC today. I don't see Kentucky having problems finishing. (47)LSU (4-2-2) 1-0 loss to (11)Texas A&M. Not unexpected, but they did limit the Aggies to one goal which they can take some solace in. They have winable games against Alabama and Auburn next before they face (42)Kentucky. (48)Georgia (4-3-1) 0-0 draw vs Vanderbilt. This should of been a win rather then a draw, a draw really doesn't help Georgia at this point. They aren't even in the bubble picture right now, they need wins desperately. Especially since Vanderbilt won't be a contender, they are really banking on that one quality win that will push them into the NCAA tournament if they keep playing like this. South Carolina (3-2-2) 0-0 draw vs Mississippi State. The Bulldogs came into Columbia with a perfect record, but they are a paper tiger and USC exposed that with crisp passing and possession football. I would even go as far to say that USC owned 70% of the possession because they simply dominated the midfield. USC's one problem is their lack of finishing from their forwards. They had several good looks which shots going wide off the mark. This is not encouraging for a side that won the SEC title last year. They are going to have to turn that around against their next opponent (29)Missouri if they have any hope of making it into the NCAA tournament. Alabama (5-2) 2-1 OT loss vs (22)Tennessee. Despite this loss, Alabama kept the score close and for a high power offense like Tennessee that is saying something. Their next game is against (47)LSU. A result will really help Alabama out if they have hopes for an at large bid. Auburn (4-4) 2-0 loss to (29)Missouri. Auburn takes another hit, but they are still in the picture with their win over Texas Tech. Texas Tech won their match against (18)Long Beach. Auburn has to hope Texas Tech keeps on winning to help them for an at large bid because their next 3 games are ugly. They have (14)Florida next then (47)LSU then (11)Texas A&M, then right after USC who have a stiffling defense. If they do not get some results, then they are out, this group of games will be the body blow that Auburn will not be able to recover from if they drop them.