For this weeks rankings there where not changes in the top 6 teams. This is fine for the four teams that one their games, but does not make sense for the two that lost. Maryland lost to Bucknell 1-0. How can that not have an effect on their ranking? St. John lost to Gustavo Adolphus 3-0. How can that not have an effect on their ranking. Some of the other top teams beat other ranked teams and did not move up into a place that should have been vacated by these two teams that lost to non-ranked teams. If the committee is wanting to fix the rankings for these teams, then lets call the season over and just move into the NCAA tournament, since they are not adjusting the rankings like they should be...
You've got a very good point about Maryland not dropping in the rankings. However, I think you have your St. Johns confused. St. John Johnnies(from MN, I believe) lost to Gustavo Adolphus, not the St. John Red Storm that is currently ranked #4 in the country.
4 teams that one their games This has to rank with won of the dumbest posts and dumber posters of the year. Let's not start another thread for the dumbest post and poster, because soccerinstlouis has one hands down.
Re: 4 teams that one their games You're being too harsh. Do you really think Maryland should still be ranked #2 after losing to Bucknell? I don't.
You do realize that these are subjective rankings and not any sort of mathematical equation, right? You argue that Maryland should drop for losing to Bucknell. While it wasn't a good result, it only dropped the team's record to 16-2. Compare this to the records of the teams you are advocating for. Wake is 14-3, but Maryland beat them head-to-head and finished ahead of them in the league. St. John's is 14-4-1. Notre Dame, 3 losses, 3 draws. SLU, 3 losses, 2 draws. Why should any of these teams be ranked ahead of Maryland? They've all had more negative results this year, and without looking at the schedules, I'd be willing to bet that they lost at least once to a team they shouldn't have. Rankings should represent what has happened over the course of an entire season, not just in the last week. UCLA and Maryland were far ahead of the pack before last week, and now the Terps have slipped back closer to everyone else. Still doesn't mean they aren't the second best team in the country.
Although other teams did lose earlier in the season to teams they probably shouldn't have, each team that lost dropped in the rankings and had to earn their way back to where they are...I definitely believe that Maryland is a great team but a loss is a loss and they should have to earn their way to the top of the rankings rather than it being handed to them
Ah, I thought we were already working with the new rankings for the week, and that's why there were complaints. No big deal, even though I still think that Maryland should be #2. Thought of a better way to explain my argument. I understand where you're coming from with the idea that a team should reearn its spot. Consider college football though. Say Oklahoma loses a game. Would you drop them, assuming they don't get blown out? Clearly they're far and away the best team in the country, and taking a loss would only mean that they have the same record as USC, LSU, OSU. It's really just a matter of perspective, if you feel rankings should be for the whole of a season, or more representative of the last week or two.
NSCAA has Maryland tied at #2 The NSCAA has Maryland tied at #2 with Wake Forest. I like your thinking on the ranking system. The problem I have is that I do not think the current system is applied to all teams fairly. I think teams like UCLA and MD get more forgiveness when they lose because of their past success. For instance last week when Old Dominion lost two games, going to 14-2, same number of losses as MD, they dropped from #4 to #14. Whatever the system, it should be applied fairly to all involved.
Re: NSCAA has Maryland tied at #2 They actually dropped from #3 to #8 for those 2 losses. The tie to William and Mary dropped them to #14. Or you could say it was a culmination and those two losses and the tie that dropped them to #14. I see a trend with Old Dominion that I don't see with Maryland. The rankings seem about right to me. The system is just a bunch of college coaches voting on what they think are the best teams. Fortunately for college soccer, there is a playoff system that determines which team is tops.
St. John's are one of the best teams in the nation, but my favorite in the NCAA tournament this year is St. Peter's from New Jersey, for more on St. Peter's https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71093
NCAA Rankings I completely agree that the rankings are a complete joke but they've got nothing to do with the NCAA. The NCAA Committee is more fair. They go with RPI, strength of schedule, quality wins, bad losses, record in the last ten games, factor in injuries... and much more. Not to say they're perfect (far from it) but like every other sport, the AP, USA Today, NSCAA and Soccer America rankings have ZERO effect on who's in and who's left out.
i would envision a lot more passion and interest in college soccer if all college teams played in regional leagues with points awarded for wins (3) and ties (1). each region could have 3 levels with about 15 teams in each level. advancement to a higher league and relegation to lower leagues would be at stake based on performance. teams with higher points from each region level could play in a season ending tournament to determine the ultimate champion. can you imagine the emotion of having your team advance to the upper league; likewise the emotion of seeing your team relegated, but the hope that next year will bring advancement again. basically, we can whine all we want about polls and rankings (and other sports do it all the time at the college level), but polls are at their roots only subjective opinions and that means that some team somewhere will inevitably feel that they were not treated fairly. there will always be stupid debate about this team and that as long as conferences and the ncaa use wins, loses and polls to determine ranking.