NCAA D1 Tournament General Discussion Thread

She has a bigger body of work for them to look at. All I would say is that its a team game and quite often, the success of that team is accredited to individuals. I think in some cases, individuals undervalue the benefits they have of playing in ideal tactical situations, with superior teammates (relative to the competition). That does not happen in the pros. If you are a high pick, you are often on a poor team looking for a solution immediately. That is a TOTALLY different proposition. In some ways , to prepare for that, you would better on a team where you had to work your socks off for chances and finished the ones you saw at a high rate. Its often the kids who dont have to work that hard for chances, but get a lot of them (because they are on dominant teams) finish at a low rate, but score a lot who fall into this trap. Then you play a game where you get less and/or the pressure ramps up and ......

 

But your stock is still hot and you can get paid and you dont see your future in College academically, its now or never. Im just throwing out options. At the pro level, finishing is a lot harder, but she may not be seen as someone to do that. Just finish the chances others create.

 

I got Auburn and Ole Miss wrong along with most others.
Clemson-Alabama was a toss up IMO, but picked the wrong horse.

 

I watched the Princeton and St Louis wins on ESPN to scout the Rutgers bracket.

Princeton dominated the stat lines while Vermont played very respectable defense and just didn't convert it to chances. I understood why Princeton didn't get a seed, by being in Rutgers region the committee sort of tossed them a bone. They might rather play the second round at Yurcak and still have a fantastic fan base than play on a lacrosse turf. So I'm not mad at the committee, I actually think the end result looks favorable for Princeton as they ready for a quality TCU side. Being the de facto 5 seed at "home" against a 4, I am expecting an evenly matched game. I was just perplexed how anyone has Princeton seeded third when it's been quite known they have facility limitations (ditto Harvard).

Was so happy for Katie Shields ' St Louis team. They've been so close to advancing with this team before, like when they held Notre Dame for about 80 minutes, or went down in PK's last season to Washington State. It's the first time they advance since 2005 - 2006 era. They played a great uptempo game and really pressured Ole Miss. Looking forward to seeing them against Rutgers assuming Rutgers passes its first round test.

 

It’s the NWSL, not the NBA. The rewards aren’t that great. Lol. The financial decision is that she’d make as much money working as a manager at Walmart. Leaving school is foolish for any of these kids. The payout isn’t good enough to warrant the move.

 

I wouldn’t call Auburn losing to Samford (RPI 34 v 17 I think) a major upset. As a follower of non-P5 conferences, Samford has been as impressive as any non-P5 team this season. They have traditionally played Auburn and other SEC teams close and I would say that Samford is close to .500 against the SEC in recent years.

 

This is true, unless they get a national team contract, which is considerably more money.
Having said that, the window to enjoy a professional soccer career is relatively short over the course of a lifetime.
Someone might consider going back to school after soccer is finished. It's not ideal, but it is an option for some.

 

The *immediate* payout isn't enough. But playing the in NWSL opens a lot of future doors. If they get playing time in the league, they'd be able to finish their degrees for free when they're done playing, by taking assistant positions. I know many who have done that.

 

You have no idea what the financial rewards are for her specifically or what she wants to do with her life. Nor do I. The players the high profile players that have left school early like Mallory Pugh, Sophia Smith, Brianna Pinto or those that declined altogether like Trinity Rodman, Lindsey Horan, Jordyn Huitema are in a separate category and maybe she has a similar aspirations and a deal that makes it worth the risk. We do not know. The economics are changing for the select few who have the cachet to be appealing. Im not going to judge. For most players, I would agree, but most players are not leaving early. A College degree is not a guarantee and nothing is stopping any of them from graduating on their own dime if they have the $$ to do it.

 

Another 2 seed goes down. It was always going to be an uncomfortable first round matchup against a program with the pedigree of South Carolina.

 

Wow! Just wow!

 

I love it when North Carolina loses.

 

I could be wrong, but I think it is the first time they have ever lost in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament.

 

They were what their record implied.

 

We now have a tournament with no UNC, UCLA, and Stanford. Kind of like it.

 

It makes no difference to me what any players decides to do. I’m just stating reality with regards to finances. People head to Hollywood with dreams of hitting it big all the time. Doesn’t pay off for most of them, but at least for that dream if they hit, they hit it big. The money simply isn’t there for Women’s soccer in the pro leagues. Maybe someday it will be. With regards to going back to finish their degree later, studies show it very rarely happens once players leave. Not never. But rare. I’m just stating the odds. Of course there are exceptions to everything.

 

we are discussing a specific player who won a golden ball with the U20s in the last concacaf qualifying. Why is she any different to the players I mentioned who have gone pro?

 

That's why it's important to 'watch if you've been bad or good' or else.

 

A thought: The competition the Pac 12 gets from mid-majors in the west may be much stronger than people from outside the west may think.

 

I’m pleased to see two SEC teams knock out two ACC teams. Both were surprises as Alabama was a definite bubble team and South Carolina struggles to score—but then so does (did) UNC. But yea, it cuts both ways as Ole Miss (a better team than either Bama or SC) and a seeded team was upset. We still see how finishing is a consistent issue in this sport. Most of the big-name losers had plenty of shots but couldn’t put the ball in the net.

 

Agreed. Most of these "upsets" from mid-major teams aren't the biggest upsets in terms of RPI. Stanford and Santa Clara were 31 and 32. Samford was 33 to Auburn's 17. It sucks that so many of these great teams end up just eliminating each other.

 

Um, the defending National Champions who were hosting so considered to have a better resume don’t belong in a discussion about upsets.