Thought it would be fun to see if we could all agree upon a pool of teams that would comprise the At-Large Pool. This list is getting larger by the minute. By my count, 26 teams from the real NCAA at-large pool will get tickets to the tourney. I apologize in advance for errors in team records. (Records posted here are end-of-regular season records-including conference tournament results.) Here's a start. Add on as you see fit. UCLA Washington California Stanford South Carolina Kentucky (11-5-3) St. Johns (10-5-4) Boston College (12-4-2) Notre Dame (13-2-3)
Gotta put my bid in for Penn State! The Nittany Lions are #12 in the latest NSCAA poll and boast a 10-3-7 record. The 10 wins aren't impressive, but only 3 losses and one of the toughest schedules in the nation should equal at least an at-large bid.
This list will be longer than 26 names when completed. Remember, it is the pool from which the at-large picks would come from. This list will be made up of independents and teams that have not won their league's automatic bid, but have a shot of being picked. The PAC-10 teams are on this list because they do not get an automatic bid because the small size of the league. But I agree, I think Stanford is a long, long shot, and therefore I am going to take them off. So here is my new list. UCLA Washington California South Carolina Kentucky (11-5-3) St. Johns (10-5-4) Boston College (12-4-2) Notre Dame (13-2-3)
Gotta add UNC-Wilmington, lost to Hofstra tonight in CAA tourney. UCLA Washington California South Carolina Kentucky (11-5-3) St. Johns (10-5-4) Boston College (12-4-2) Notre Dame (13-2-3) UNC-Wilmington (12-6-2)
I thought UCLA won the PAC-10. Do they not get an automatic bid because the conference doesn't get it by virtue of being the PAC-5 (UCLA, Cal, Washington, Stanford, Oregon State)?
You are correct. No automatic bid for the winner of the Pac-5. Next year, the league winner should get an automatic bid though as the league increases to the Pac-6.
Santa Clara (13-5) is mathematically elimated from the WCC crown with a 6-4 WCC record. They should be on the list. However, SCU has a long history of getting screwed in the NCAA tourny selection (as evidenced by their 5th ranked women's team getting the 16th seed this year!) so I won't be shocked if they got snubbed outright. The good thing is: they also have a good history of reaching the final four and making the selection committee look bad.
Latest List: Now up to 10 UCLA Washington California South Carolina Kentucky (11-5-3) St. Johns (10-5-4) Boston College (12-4-2) Notre Dame (13-2-3) UNC-Wilmington (12-6-2) Santa Clara
I think you'd be well-advised to put Stanford back on your list. Each of the past three years, there have been four Pac-10 teams in the tournament, and the departure of Fresno has only raised the level of competition. Stanford doesn't have a bad loss all season, and the NCAA generally rewards schools that face a difficult schedule. The Cardinal have put up a winning record while playing in the nation's toughest conference and facing non-conference opponents like UCSB, Santa Clara, and SMU. It's at least enough to put them on the bubble.
OK - Will add Stanford back on the list to discuss later. Current At-Large pool Size = 11 UCLA Washington California South Carolina Kentucky (11-5-3) St. Johns (10-5-4) Boston College (12-4-2) Notre Dame (13-2-3) UNC-Wilmington (12-6-2) Santa Clara Stanford
Both Creighton and SMU are at-large locks regardless of who wins their MVC tournament (4 teams left as of today).
No doubt. But I'll wait until one of them loses before I put them on the list and unfortunately, one of them will lose (perhaps by kicks from the spot though)
http://www.collegesoccernews.com/index_files/page0307.htm College Soccer News has an article that both describes the process: 23 automatics 25 at-larges and makes predictions on how many teams form each conference will get in. An interesting article, will be curious to see how the predictions play out.
UC Santa Barbara won the Big West, and an automatic bid, by beating Cal State Northridge yesterday 2-1. I hereby submit Northridge for consideration. They are 9-5-2 with two winnable games remaining and beat UC Santa Barabra in their first meeting. They're ranked 27th by CollegeSoccerNews.com, and 20th by SoccerRatings.com's computer and their most recent strength of schedule rating of 1594 is higher than many teams ranked ahead of them.
Lets put em on the list and can kick it around later. List of 12 now UCLA Washington California South Carolina Kentucky (11-5-3) St. Johns (10-5-4) Boston College (12-4-2) Notre Dame (13-2-3) UNC-Wilmington (12-6-2) Santa Clara Stanford CSU-Northridge
I'm pretty sure the article is wrong as it states that the Pac 10 winner gets an automatic bid and I'm pretty sure this year they don't since they only have five teams playing soccer and a conference needs six, per NCAA rules, to get an automatic bid. Ergo, there are actually 22 automatics - two of which have already been claimed by New Mexico and UCSB - and 26 at-large bids.
College of Charleston has beaten South Carolina, St. Johns, and Coastal Carolina; gotta put them in there, assuming Greensboro wins the SoCon.
Just a reminder folks! Only add teams to this list if they have been eliminated from their conference tournament, or mathematically cannot win their league championship (when there is no conference tournament). We will try to agree on the locks later in this list - and then that will mean the remaining teams will be on the proverbial bubble.
I submit Portland for consideration for an at-large bid. The Pilots are 10-6-2 but can't win the West Coast Conference. They've got wins over Santa Clara, UAB, Akron and Charleston, all teams that have a good chance of making the tournament. BTW, can we please put the teams in the list in alphabetical order? It makes it easier to find if a team has been submitted, especially as this list grows, and it's gonna grow a lot as teams lose games this week. I'll take the lead and alphabetize the current submissions. Boston College (12-4-2) California (11-3-3)* Cal State Northridge (9-5-2)* Kentucky (11-5-3) Notre Dame (13-2-3) Portland (10-6-2)* Santa Clara (13-5)* Stanford (7-5-5)* St. Johns (10-5-4) South Carolina (11-6-1)* UCLA (11-3-2)* UNC-Wilmington (12-6-2) Washington (11-5-2)* Teams with an * next to their record have games remaining and their records will need to be updated.