With most of the conference tournaments completed, I started putting together a bracket. This year is going to be weirder than normal - with many conferences only playing within their own conference, Sunbelt and ACC playing in the fall 2020, COVID cancellations, some conferences not playing, etc. Just a reminder, 36 teams with #8 and #9 in each bracket playing a play-in game next week. All the games are held in NC (with limited specators). There are 22 conferences (24 normal, but BW and Ivy didn't play this spring). So that leaves 12 other teams. Here are the teams that have already qualified: America East – NH American Athletic Conference: UCF Cincinnati ACC: Clemson Atlantic Sun: FGCU Atlantic 10: Fordham Big East: Seton Hall Big South: High Point Big Ten: Indiana Colonial: James Madison Conference USA: Charlotte or Marshall depending upon 4/18 result Horizon League: Milwaukee MAAC: Monmouth Mid-American: Depends upon 4/18 matches (BGSU, WV, WMich) Missouri Valley: Missouri State Northeast: St Fran-NY Pac-12: Stanford Patriot League: American Southern: UNCG Summit League: Denver Sun Belt: Coastal Carolina Appalachian StateWAC: Air Force WCC: LMU Who would be my 12 wild-card teams? Final losers in some of the bigger conferences. 1. Georgetown 2. Pittsburgh 3. Penn State 4. Washington 5. Loser for CUSA (Charlotte or Marshall) Final losers in a conference that team has had a very good year and looked to be a lock but lost 6. Lafayette 7. Grand Canyon 8. Quinnipiac 9. Northern Ky Others 10. Wake Forest 11. St Mary’s 12. Tulsa or Oregon State - I'm leaning toward Tulsa Here is the RPI according to the most reliable source, GauchoDan’s site: http://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/RPI Rank Here is the less reliable NCAA RPI. https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1/ncaa-mens-soccer-rpi I have no doubt that I have overlooked a viable team. Here are a few that have claims for inclusion that may have gotten in if not for upsets by AU, USAF, Monmouth, etc. UNC Marquette (meh) crushed by SHU in BE SF. Michigan
Let me try this again.... Who would be my 14 wild-card teams? Final losers in some of the bigger conferences. 1. Georgetown 2. Pittsburgh 3. Penn State 4. Washington 5. Loser for CUSA (Charlotte or Marshall) Final losers in a conference that team has had a very good year and looked to be a lock but lost 6. Lafayette 7. Grand Canyon 8. Quinnipiac 9. Northern Ky Others 10. Wake Forest 11. St Mary’s 12. Tulsa 13. Oregon State 14. UNC These are the last teams that didn't get in per me. Michigan Marquette (meh) crushed by SHU in BE SF There are probably a handful of ACC teams worthy (ND, UVA, L)
SIUE @ WV match is canceled. Here is the MAC explanation. SIUE is at the bottom of the MAC table. Here's a twitter interview (from a WV ally?) that coach Dan Stratford claims that SIUE doesn't have COVID issues but have injury issues with nothing left to play for. Seems pretty douchy (if true). Current MAC standings. With this forfeit (WV gets no relief) instead they have no chance to win the MAC. It sucks - but so does 2020 and COVID - though this isn't related. Now, WV could have beaten Bowling Green on Wednesday and this situation may have been to WV advantage. As you see above, Math is not my forte. Bowling Green is in the driver seat with a victory over 2nd worst team in MAC (NIU), they would win the MAC. But, NIU has a few players that are interesting and soccer can be cruel.
Pretty obvious solution: add Maryland into one of the 8/9 games and let the fun begin. Those RPI lists are risable, to say the least. Indiana is 38 in one, and 40 in the other.
There simply isn't enough data and/or inteconference play for the RPI to reliably rank teams this season. For the first time since forever, it appears that the united coaches poll will be more accurate.
Marshall 2-0 Charlotte - Marshall grabbing the auto-bid, Charlotte one of the JSF final losers bids. Bowling Green 2-1 NIU, Bowling Green capturing the MAC's auto-bid.
Here are the teams that have already qualified: America East – NH American Athletic Conference: UCF Cincinnati ACC: Clemson Atlantic Sun: Jacksonville? I had FGCU. Atlantic 10: Fordham Big East: Seton Hall Big South: High Point Big Ten: Indiana Colonial: James Madison Conference USA: Marshall Horizon League: Milwaukee MAAC: Monmouth Mid-American: BGSU Missouri Valley: Missouri State Northeast: St Fran-NY Pac-12: Stanford Patriot League: American Southern: UNCG Summit League: Denver Sun Belt: Coastal Carolina Appalachian StateWAC: Air Force WCC: LMU Who would be my 14 wild-card teams? Final losers in some of the bigger conferences. 1. Georgetown - Yes 2. Pittsburgh - Yes 3. Penn State - Yes 4. Washington - Yes 5. Loser for CUSA (Charlotte) - Yes Final losers in a conference that team has had a very good year and looked to be a lock but lost 6. Lafayette 7. Grand Canyon - Yes 8. Quinnipiac 9. Northern Ky Others 10. Wake Forest - Yes 11. St Mary’s 12. Tulsa 13. Oregon State - Yes 14. UNC - Yes These are the last teams that didn't get in per me. Michigan Marquette (meh) crushed by SHU in BE SF - Yes, but didn't think they would get in. There are probably a handful of ACC teams worthy (ND, UVA, L) VT - Yes but didn't think they would get in. So, in summary, the committee decided not to include these teams Lafayette Quinnipiac Northern Ky St Mary’s Tulsa For these teams. Who did I not have? Maryland UMass KY VT Marquette Essentially, the committee found the bigger conferences deserved more slots regardless of how the teams played this spring.
I'm amazed that two teams with .500 records, Virginia Tech and Maryland, got in. Neither has to "play-in" on the first round. If I were Michigan I'd be bitter.
Agree. Just off the top of my head, Furman was 7-2-1 with one loss from conference play in the tournament. While there is no doubt the ACC is the elite conference and SOCON is arguably the exact opposite, I would be pissed.
"UMass KY VT" It's interesting UMass and VaTech had a game scheduled (Blacksburg) the last weekend of season. It was a late sched. inclusion I'm sure. Both were close but UMass in particular was in trouble being in the very weak RPI A-10. They played to a draw and both get an at-large bid.
Anyone want to guess how many teams will suffer the same fate? https://denverpioneers.com/news/202...aws-from-ncaa-tournament-due-to-covid-19.aspx
UN Omaha and long-time / many schools college coach Bob Warming takes Denver's place: https://omavs.com/news/2021/4/20/me...present-summit-league-in-ncaa-tournament.aspx
I am definitely not hot on Virginia Tech's inclusion. They were also mildly lucky to get in last year. This season Virginia Tech looked ok in the fall when they were drawn into the weaker of the ACC's two divisions. However, overall they only have two good wins (Coastal Carolina and UNC) and 2 decent wins (Virginia and Virginia). That's it. Despite the win over UNC, overall the Spring season revealed a pretty big gap between Virginia Tech and the ACC's better teams.
The tournament has begun, with the four play-in games today, the winners playing the top four seeds on Sunday. Jacksonville v American (winner gets #1 seed Clemson) Omaha v UNC Greensboro (winner v #4 Stanford) Milwaukee v St Francis Brooklyn (winner v #3 Indiana) Bowling Green v Monmouth (winner v #2 Pittsburgh)
I should have posted this before the games yesterday, but I saw this link about American's David Coly in one of the newsletters I receive: https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...can-university-soccer-delayed-college-career/. It gave me a reason to watch their game last night since IU's opponents weren't on TV.
I'm trying to find an app that can be used w/ Roku or FireTV, but haven't had any luck. Looks like I have to cast from a computer...