More changes from fall to spring: Yuuka Kurosaki has signed with a management agency in Japan and it appears from Mark Carr's Twitter response that she will not return to Oklahoma for the spring. Kurosaki had one of OU's three goals in Big 12 play and the Sooners' only assist. Matt Fannon has quietly had a total staff turnover at Iowa State.
Thanks, I am always interested in news about Japanese players, and Kurosaki was a very promising talent when she left Japan two or three years ago.
https://big12sports.com/news/2021/1/29/soccer-nine-tabbed-to-mac-hermann-trophy-watch-list.aspx 2020-2021 Women’s MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List (Big 12 selections only) Brookelynn Entz, MF, K-State Kim Rodirguez, D, Oklahoma State Emily Alvarado, GK, TCU Grace Collins, F, TCU Yazmeen Ryan, MF, TCU Julia Grosso, MF, Texas Kirsten Davis, F, Texas Tech Cassie Hiatt, D, Texas Tech Jordan Brewster, D, West Virginia
I wonder if all these players would be on the watch list if all the other conference had played a full season. There are definitely some strong players in the Big 12 but just curious how they would have matched up with the full competition in place.
Does anyone have a full schedule for the conference? It looks like only OSU and one or two others have posted games but not all in the conference have games posted yet???
It doesn't look like anybody in the conference except OSU has released a spring schedule yet. No one else has anything listed on official sites or social media, and OSU's schedule is the only one up on the conference site as well. In addition to the OSU slate, other conferences have these games on their schedules: ACC: Duke at West Virginia, March 27 Conference USA: Oklahoma at North Texas, March 4; Texas Tech at North Texas, March 28 Missouri Valley: Northern Iowa at Iowa State, Feb. 28 Southland: Abilene Christian at Texas Tech, March 7
I think that KU schedule shows why we haven't seen many released yet in the Big 12 - I'd bet there's a lot of difficulty in working around other conferences' scheduling guidelines if a school isn't looking for a slate of power conference opponents. I'm surprised OSU was able to rescue three of the games it had scheduled for fall nonconference.
Kansas State has posted their schedule, and it's bizarre. As we knew, the Wildcats will play Kansas twice. We now learn they will also play Missouri and Iowa State. But their other scheduled contests are an intrasquad scrimmage and a game against Oklahoma they're counting as an exhibition. https://www.kstatesports.com/news/2021/2/4/k-state-soccer-to-play-five-matches-this-spring.aspx
And now Baylor. Another one heavy on conference opponents. https://baylorbears.com/news/2021/2/4/soccer-soc-announces-spring-slate.aspx
Why are they calling the game with Oklahoma an exhibition game? Is it because Oklahoma has such a poor record this year? They are in the same conference so that doesn't make sense
******** Baylor will kick off the Spring season vs. #8 Texas A&M then followed by #9 TCU. https://baylorbears.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule/2020
***** - Agreed! Heavy attention to the conferences who have played in the fall. Pac 12, Big 10 and others playing catch up - a lot of talent there!
Will be interesting to see how selection committee handles selecting the at large bids. Do they take into consideration teams who may have looked good in the fall but had players leave for the pro ranks? Will be interesting to see how some teams handle losing players to the NWSL or other pro leagues. Also if some of these teams in the BIG10 or PAC12 only get 6-8 games in do to cancelations how does the committee compare them to a BIG12, SEC or ACC team who may have 14-18 games played
Here is a link to an article I have written about the at large bids for this season. It discusses one possible approach that I think would produce a credible bracket. The article does not address the question of players, who played in the Fall, leaving for the pro ranks before Tournament time. I am not sure that would be viable to consider, especially when we are dealing with the possibility of players likewise not being available for Covid-related reasons.
Thanks that looks like it took a lot of work! Very interesting read. I think the players leaving for pro ranks will be interesting to see what affect this has. For teams like North Carolina and Florida State its probably not that big of a deal. It’s next player up. For others losing their star player now makes them a completely different team
Looks like Baylor may already have a cancellation. That A&M game was supposed to be an exhibition and they had a neutral-site game with Missouri in their announcement graphic that has now been scrubbed from the text.
Big 12 Spring schedule thus far. https://big12sports.com/calendar.aspx?path=soc A&M lists the Baylor game as exhibition on their website so not sure?
There are still 5 schools that have not posted spring schedules - anyone know the schedules for the other schools or when those will be posted?
that was very well thought out - great job. you mention the ncaa seeds the top 16 - so we know those. You then assume that the next 16 would be the 1st round hosts (not seeded). However, the NCAA after they seed teams, they then start to pair teams geographically. They have typically allowed the higher 'rated' team to host. But it is not unusual for two teams to play in the first round that are both in the top 32.
This is what I always had thought until about 2 years. In discussions with a coach who was familiar with how the Committee discussions go, he indicated to me that in most cases, the unseeded host teams in fact are the next 16, though my understanding was that still was not always the case. I know the Committee has been considering explicitly (at least for itself) ranking the Top 32, but they had not decided on that yet as of January 2020. So, my using the seeds and unseeded first round hosts may not be exactly right, but it is about the best I can do.
Three more spring schedules: West Virginia https://wvusports.com/news/2021/2/17/womens-soccer-wvus-spring-slate-announced.aspx Texas https://texassports.com/news/2021/2/18/soccer-announces-its-2021-spring-schedule.aspx TCU https://gofrogs.com/news/2021/2/18/womens-soccer-soccer-announces-spring-slate.aspx Still nothing from Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Iowa State.
Nine down, one to go (Texas Tech). Iowa State https://cyclones.com/news/2021/2/22/soccer-announces-2021-spring-schedule.aspx Oklahoma https://soonersports.com/news/2021/2/22/soccer-announces-spring-slate.aspx