For the record, I post nothing but facts about ACC soccer. The facts speak for themselves. Some of those facts are negative. Most are positive because of the conference's historical dominance.
i know it doesn't exist on a national scale like the sec crap, but neither does college soccer. after the ncaa tournament games being mostly broadcast by acc commentators, it is just a little much. and sandon is right. the facts are there because they are good. edit: and why is there a week's break between the 2nd and 3rd round of the draft!? it's the middle january, and i'm grumpy. 22 days until i have a week at the beach. woosah.
ACC certainly been the top 1 or 2 leagues for the past 10 years. But team for team, Pac-12 has been in the same ball park. The big 10, Big East, and powerhouse teams like Akron, New Mexico, and Creighton were also strong. The championship's you like to point to are a function of the way NCAA chooses to set up its competition, not the dominance of the ACC. Stanford had to travel across the country to play Wake and barely got by them. Once they got to a neutral place where both teams had to travel about the same distance, the results were vastly different. I have put together a West vs the rest for a couple of years. The home field advantage is significant. Many years the final 4 was held in or very close to ACC colleges (NC, Virginia, Alabama). When the final 4 was held in California in 2010 and 2004, the ACC teams lost every game much like probably would been the case if the ACC teams weren't fortunate to get paired against each other in KC. Those are the facts.
A week is not 5 days. If you are asking why there are 5 days between the "Super"draft and the supplemental, my supposition is that it gives teams to get back home, reassess their needs and the available players and create a plan for Tuesday. The suppplemental draft will go much faster.
How many of those drafted in the supplemental draft will make a 1st roster? Or do those players typically end up on 2nd team rosters?
Very few. Most will be in USL or NASL if they continue to pursue playing after college. Last year only 26 drafted players played a single minute or more in an MLS game. Of those 26, all but 4 were in the first 40 picks.
The better the MLS gets the less likely players from the draft will play right away. That's a good thing.
Define "better the MLS gets." Right now, from every statistic I've seen, MLS leads all but one professional soccer league in percentages of international players in the league at over 40% -- Cyprus was the only other that was more. Some would say it's "better" now, but look at the complaints of our USMNT. No development opportunities for our younger players at the pro level isn't necessarily "better."
Do you have data on that? I find it very hard to believe that MLS uses a smaller percentage of American players than the EPL uses English players.
I'll see if I can find it. I use to have it. Big European leagues are around 20-35%, depending on which league. There's actually been momentum of England and Italy both reducing their international make-up, mainly stemming from their lack of success by the national teams. Italians are really upset that their identity is lost. England has proposals of getting more of their players on rosters, but not just that, getting more of their domestic players first-team minutes. While England may have a decent percentage of domestic players, international players get the bulk of the minutes. That doesn't help anything either. Very similar to what we see in MLS with their 2015 draft class having 5 players only see 20+ games. Poor. I'll see if I can dig up the info.
Ah, with an unlimited roster filled with youth players who rarely play, it's possible the EPL has a higher percentage of domestic players. MLS definitely has more domestic minutes, though. I don't have my computer & spreadsheet at the moment, but US-eligible players finished 2015 with around 52% of the minutes and another 5% went to domestically produced players who aren't US citizens or who play for other countries like Fagundez, Lahoud, Moises Hernandez, Rodney Wallace, Beitashour, Will Johnson, and many others.
Direct from MLSsoccer.com in April 2015 (sidetracked...I despise that URL): That would be roughly 42% of the League being international. Compared to other US sports: http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/...erse-professional-sports-league-north-america
Better meaning level of play with higher pay meaning quality veteran players meaning that it will be tougher to crack the lineup your first year.
More info on what I was talking about across the pond (article from fall 2015): http://www.espnfc.com/blog/marcotti...opment-in-soccer-is-a-nature-vs-nurture-issue Crazy that it's seen as an "issue" abroad. Meanwhile...in MLS, they are bragging about diversity. And, those numbers could also be skewed since the "homegrown" and/or "club-trained" determination only means one has to spend around 3 years at a club between ages 15-21. As we all know, many times a 17 or 18 year old isn't exactly "homegrown" or "club-trained" if he/she only is there from then until 20-21 years old. Much development and training is done way before then.
Speaking of the MLS, thought this was an interesting article by former IU national championship GK Luis Soffner, on the MLS's "throw-away culture:" http://thefirsteleven.com/major-league-soccer-throwaway-culture/
I don't find his argument very convincing. Many sports leagues around the world similarly cycle through players. Also this: doesn't show much understanding of MLS structure. Yes, contracts are technically held by the league, but the team has the player's rights and has just as much interest in a player as a club in another country would have in their player.
Came across this from the MLS reviewing what happened to all players drafted in 2015: http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...ow-did-last-years-class-fare-their-1st-season
I enjoy these updates. Anyone have any information on Leo Stolz? His option was declined and he (seemingly) disappeared from the soccer press.
http://buffalonews.com/2016/12/14/ubs-cicerone-becomes-first-big-4-player-invited-mls-combine/ A record-setting career at the University at Buffalo has opened doors for the Bulls' Russell Cicerone. The 2015 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and four-time All-MAC selection was chosen to participate in the Major League Soccer Combine, which unites roughly 70 of the nation's top college players for five days preceding the MLS SuperDraft. The Bloomfield Hills, Mich. native becomes the first-ever Bull -- and Big 4 player -- to be selected to the event.