So sensitive. You aren't even having the same discussion as I am. Instead of using facts (which you reference numerous times, but are yet to include any into your posts) you just make vague hyperbolic statements. Saying it, doesn't make it true. I do not believe the entire ACC is the best conference. You can twist my words, but if you are interested in having an ACTUAL discussion, here I am. OK, let me see if I can say this another way for you to understand. When someone says the ACC is the best conference or the best soccer of whatever, my contention, supported by numerous metrics, is that the conference as a whole is not elite. Rather it has 4 elite programs and a bunch of solid ones. I am not taking anyone out of the conference. Merely making the statements that there a bunch of programs living off of the reputation of a few. Being a leach sucking on a human doesn't make you a human. It makes you a leach. I am saying you can't call any entity, conference included, the best, when really only the top 25% is good. Doesn't seem that difficult to understand.
'Best' lists are relative, not absolute. Something - let's say a certain brand of car, Car A - might be only 25% good, but if every other car is even worse, Car A is the best. It can still be 'the best' without actually being good, if no better alternative actually exists. You seem to be arguing the ACC isn't 'perfect' or 'great' or 'elite,' but those are different metrics entirely. The ACC is being compared to other conferences which actually exist (and which all have bad teams at the bottom), not to a subjective standard.
I think that evaluation stands true with every power 5 and to an extent midmajor. The good teams will always get the best players. The mediocre teams get mid to good players and the bottom dwellers get whatever is left
The numbers say that, at this point in time, the ACC, Big 12, Pac 12, and SEC (alphabetical order) -- and possibly the Big 10 but possibly not -- are elite conferences. You all can argue about which is the "most elite," but none of you can make a convincing case to serious but disinterested observers.
No, that wasn't the point he was responding to. He was responding to the respective first-round records of the ACC and SEC, and he suggested that the SEC would have lost another game if Tennessee didn't have Shaw, which is a dopey comment.
How is that a dopey comment? It was clearly sarcasm in response to another dopey comment, not to be taken seriously (which I already stated). Get over it.
So to put this to bed, the numbers show the ACC is just as strong as Pac-12, SEC, Big-12 (per cpthomas). You wanted facts, there they are.
Please, please, can that be the end of this discussion. Not sure what the point was to begin with, but it’s clearly run its course.
It's less about the "top" players on the field and more about the chemistry those players create within the team.
All this discussion seems to support the fact that parity is constantly increasing in women's college soccer. It is no surprise that the top conferences have some strong teams at the top and other conferences can have at least one strong team capable of winning on any give day (Georgetown, Santa Clara, and West Virginia come immediately to mind.) It's over on the men's side that parity has seemed to have slipped away. 20-30 years ago there were strong college teams from all over but no dominant college conference. Teams come to mind like St. Louis, various New England college teams, midwestern teams like Indiana, Notre Dame, and Akron, ACC teams like Maryland, Virginia, and Clemson, west coast teams like UCLA and SanFrancisco . But that has all changed. Looking at the bracket for this year's NCAA D-1 NCAA tournament and you see the 16 seeded teams include 8 from the ACC, 2 from the Big Ten (one of which was recently from the ACC-Maryland) and one each from other conferences. That is a surprising dominance. What gives?
ACC gets 7 teams into the Sweet 16. PAC 12 gets 3, SEC just 2. Easy to see who the best conference is, let the performance and results talk.
First, congrats to the ACC. There is the level of elitism within the ACC that just isn't reality though. They won, and that is important. But this supposed quality is a myth. I watched quite a few games. NC State was outshot 25-3. Wake was outplayed by WVU Virginia Tech was outplayed by Arkansas Texas Tech and UVA was very close Clemson was outplayed and lost to Ole Miss Louisville lost to Tenn Boston College lost to Hofstra who just lost 6-0! SO.... back to my original post. Outside of FSU, Duke and UNC, the conference isn't elite. The conference is 10 schools riding the coattails of 3 or 4. The top of the conference is very good.
We don't need to rehash this absurdity. Blah blah blah, remove UNC, Duke, FSU.... and the conference still has more teams in the sweet sixteen than any other conference. Nobody is claiming every team in the conference is in the top tier of college soccer programs. Just that the top and middle of the conference are very strong and pair up with the top and middle of other conferences favorably. There are no coattails to ride in postseason play and the results speak for themselves. You can argue against those results if you want to, but it isn't a good look.
Someone has a serious axe to grind. UVA in the last 16 for the 14th straight time. Not elite. Lolololol. Who ever heard of games being close when it’s one and done ? Lolololol. It’s entertaining reading your defense of an indefensible position. Personally I don’t really care whether the acc is or is not elite.
LOL. Stop responding to this guy. He'll never admit to being wrong even when you show him facts. Which he allegedly relies on to form his opinions. He's also changing his story now. Now he says the conference isn't "elite", where previously he was saying it wasn't even "strong".
If you took the time to read, UVA was in the top 4. The ACC has 14 teams. 4 are good. The other 10 brag about the top 4. That isn't a good look My kid was recruited to an ACC school. The coach talked the whole time about the ACC and how strong it was. Didn't she want to play in the ACC. We left and my kid said, she didn't say anything about her own school. It's like me bragging about how rich my neighbor is. NC State got outshot 25-3! BC lost to Hofstra 4-1. My indefensible position has a defense.
Please show me the conference that only has elite teams ? It’s time to win games. I don’t care about shot titans and I don’t use who wins these games as a barometer of a program. Anything can happen in a one off game. Fact is Unc uva duke FSU are among the very best soccer programs in the country. Whatever that makes the acc to you I don’t really care. You clearly are butthurt over something.
Your words SO.... back to my original post. Outside of FSU, Duke and UNC, the conference isn't elite. The conference is 10 schools riding the coattails of 3 or 4. The top of the conference is very good. I can read.
Congrats to all my ACC schools for being the best conference in women’s soccer and sending SEVEN schools to the sweet 16!!
It was a very good day for the ACC--but also anomalous in the sense that its teams won three games on penalty kicks and another that was about 2 minutes from going to penalty kicks. Without detracting from their performances, some of the wins could easily have been losses, given the nature of PKs, and NC State's win was absolute grand theft. Still, the ACC has bragging rights right now.
NC State is not one of our top four, so them winning with gravy. Until somebody beats Stanford, they are the top dog regardless of conference affiliation
My comments on the ACC schools - FSU,UNC,UVA and Duke - stands no matter how well they do in NCAA tournament. Its not a badge they earned in one season and its not one they will lose in one season. They are excellent year in year out. Any team can lose a one off one and done game. Does not really change what they are. 7 teams is certainly luck. I dont know what all the back and forth re Bragging rights for a conference. I really dont think it matters.
Georgetown would like to say Hello. But you are correct. Everyone in the ACC is unbeatable and my indefensible argument has no legs.