Automatic (23 teams): Decided: America East - Binghamton Atlantic Soccer - FIU Atlantic Sun - UCF Ivy - Brown Metro - St. Peter's PAC-10 - UCLA West Coast - Santa Clara 16 games to be played: ACC - Maryland vs. UVA Atlantic 10 - Rhode Island vs. Temple Big East - NOtre Dame vs. St. John's Big South - COastal vs. Birmingham Southern Big Ten - Indiana vs. Penn St. Big West - UC-Santa Barbara or Cal St. Northridge Colonial - VCU vs. George Mason Conference USA - SLU vs. UNC-C Horizon - Butler vs. UW-Milwaukee Mid-American - Bowling Green vs. Western Michigan Mid-Continent - Oakland vs. UMKC Missouri Valley - SMU vs. Bradley MPSF - San Jose St. vs. New Mexico Northeast - FDU vs. Central Connecticut Patriot League - Lafayette vs. Lehigh Southern - Davidson vs. College of Charleston At-Large - 25 Teams - "For Sure" - at-larges that are already out of their tourney's: 1) Wake Forest 2) UNC 3) Old Dominion 4) Hartwick 5) Notre Dame/St. John's loser That leaves 20 spots - and 15 losers from the above matches. Who else will get in?
Besides the five you listed, in no partiular order... UC Santa Barabara - 15-4-1 (CS Northridge won the Big West Saturday night) Akron - 14-4-2 Virginia Tech - 14-4-2 Oregon State - 13-5-0 (has a game Sunday) Michigan - 13-6-0 San Diego - 12-4-3 Tulsa - 12-5-2 Washington - 11-4-2 (has a game Sunday) Creighton - 10-5-3 Yale - 10-6-1 Like you said, the Big East loser is a lock so add that to the other four you posted and the 10 I just named and suddenly you're down to 10 at-large spots. There are a LOT of teams on the bubble and they are screwed every time there's an upset Sunday. For instance, Indiana is in, regardless, while Penn State needs a win to go the NCAAs. Same with the Maryland/Virginia in the ACC and Saint Louis/Charlotte in the C-USA. A lot of the bubble teams will be losers Sunday. Lehigh-Lafayette, Farleigh Dickinson-Central Connecticut, SMU-Bradley, etc...
Big East according to Ray Reid Ray Reid was interviewed on TV during the telecast of the Big East Finals (Great win by Notre Dame). Reid sees 6 Big East teams going to the big dance : St. John's. Notre Dame, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall and of course, UCONN.
I have 22 of the 23 automatic qualifiers, still waiting on Mountain Pacific. Otherwise, I've listed the rest here: http://onthesidelines.org/college111403.htm
Who's IN? Automatic (23): UVA Binghamton Rhode Island FIU UCF Notre Dame Coastal Indiana Cal St. Northridge VCU SLU UW-Milwaukee Brown St. Peter's Western Michigan UMKC San Jose State SMU FDU UCLA Lafayette Davidson Santa Clara At-Large Locks (6): Maryland Wake Forest St. John's UNC ODU Hartwick The Bubble - 19 spots - I see 29 teams in the running. I used the computer ratings top 50 - so anyone not in the top 50 and not in automatic is not listed. The computer ratings are a week old, so don't take into account the past weeks results: Far West - 4 are already in: Wahington Oregon State UC Santa Barabara San Diego California Portland Loyola Marymount CSU Fullerton Great Lakes - 4 are already in: Akron Michigan Michigan State Dayton Mid-Atlantic - 4 are already in: Penn State Rutgers Seton Hall Mid West - 2 are already in: Cincinnati Tulsa Creighton Bradley Kentucky Oakland New England - 2 are already in: Connecticut Columbia New York - no one on the bubble - 3 already in S. Atlantic - 5 are already in: Virginia Tech William & Mary South - 5 are already in: Clemson UAB College of Charleston USC Who are the 10 eliminated? Don't forget - regional representation is very political in the NCAA's - as long as one team is in from each region - one region could have the remaining 40 spots.
MARYLAND is in it!, I went to their camp over the summer and their team is excellent. They lost to UVA, but still can win the NCAA Championship
why are we all assuming UConn is in? Because Ray Reid says so? Look at their non-conference top-25 results and with the exception of a 2-1 home win over Indiana, all are poor. Losses toWake Forest UNC, Maryland and Yale. In my opinion, the loss to Yale will be the difference in an NCAA bid. Also dont think Seton Hall is in either, although would be less surprised by their at-large bid than UConns. I see four from the Big East (ND, SJU, Va Tech and Rutgers). Also could see two top 5 seeds in ND and SJU. I can see Binghamton at Rutgers in the first round. Possibly St. Peter's at FDU as well.
Someone needs to merge the duplicate threads. I wonder if for example Michigan will be penalized by the absence of one of their best players, Knox Cameron. I remember when the NCAA committe put Kenyon Martin's Cincinnatti (sp?) Bearcats in a lower seed for the basketball tourney because he broke his leg and would not play. Is it possible that the teams with U-20 National team players will also recieve similar seeding?
UConn has a very good strength of schedule. That, and wins over Indiana and Notre Dame will likely do it for them.
Player availability is a factor in selection - whether it be due to injury, red card, or National team duty. I htink UConn w/ 8 losses and not a strong showing in their tourney is out.
If UCONN is in (and I doubt it) then NC State should be in (and they probably won't). State has a better record, similar strength of schedules (NC State's should improve after playing Maryland and UNC this past week) and better results against common opponents. The Big East and UCONN this year have essentially been the ACCs whipping boy (1 win, 9 losses). If you review the schedules and results of the top Big East teams - the only team that has some good wins (out of conference) is Notre Dame. Also if you are using the computer rankings, the Big East is only the sixth toughest conference. The top three power conferences are the Pac 10, WCCF and the ACC. Five teams from the Big East would be ridiculous.
ACC Teams The ACC will get five for being the best conference in the country: Maryland Wake UNC UVA Clemson
I think Clemson has a tough argument - 8 losses and 1-5 vs. top competition. Not a great finish. They do play a tough schedule to their credit.
clemson doesn't seem right to me, but they do have a winning record (actually better than uva), but i'm just not sure if there were enough big wins. one could argue that nc state should also make it too. for the sake of the acc, i hope they both make it though.
Clemson..... Clemson will get in on their win at UNC, that's what it comes down to I think. I am 99% sure you will see them in the field, probably playing the Friday game @ Coastal Carolina
sheep...in love I admire your support for your team, but as you know, it all comes down to politics in those at large bids...it is who you know! Beating UNC was good, but not good enough! I hope they make it for their players' sake! Would they host or have to go to Coastal?
Clemson As I'm sure you already know Nostradamus, Clemson is in because of strength of schedule and the fact that the ACC deserves 5 spots every year. They will play at Coastal or at FIU Friday night.
Coastal is 18-2 and you think they're playing a first round game? They may not be seeded (Top Eight) but they're gonna be one of the 16 teams to get a first round bye. And, I imagine they'll host Sunday, too.
Re: Sandon Not as I understand it. My take is that there are 48 teams in and the top 16 get a bye the first round. Presumably, the first round is Friday and the team's that had a bye host the second round Sunday. Mathematically, you need an exponential of 4 to make a tournamend work and 48 ain't it. (4,8,16,32, etc...) Thus, with 48 teams, you need a bye for a number of teams to get you back to that exponential of four. If 16 teams ina 48-team tournament get a first round bye, that means 32 teams play the winners, added to the 16 teams that got a bye puts you back at 32 in the second round and your back on one of the magic exponential numbers. Coastal may host a game Friday night but it will be as a neutral site for the two teams with the winner playing Coastal Sunday.
big gulps huh Isn't that what I said? Clemson will play @ Coastal on Friday night against someone with the winner playing Coastal on the Sunday. Maybe you just misunderstood or I was unclear.
Actually, the format this year is the same as last year, with the first round occuring on Friday and the second round on Wed., Nov. 26. For example, instead of the scenario posted earlier with Clemson and, say Old Dominion playing at Coastal, Clemson would play at ODU (just an example, mind you) Friday, with the winner playing at Coastal next Wednesday. Is that clear? In other words, no neutral site games (barring special circumstances). I think the NCAA went to this format to try to boost attendance, which was usually pretty poor for that first round game that didn't include the home school.
Re: Clemson Strong schedule with only one important win...a stretch...looking at schedule could not beat Winthrop or Air Force. I hope they make it though! That the ACC deserves 5 spots, is purely especulation on your part. Regional pairing is what NCAA looks for.