one hack's first impressions... WOW. I was just joking when I posed the thought that the ncaa committee would go to new lengths to screw the west...but I think they took it as a challenge. The #16 SCU thing has got to be a joke... Why was Utah put out here? They are not a west school and took the spot of a real west school...like a lmu, ucsb, etc...same for colorado. that is just unfair. so we got less teams in than last year...and the portland-colorado game should be a sweet 16 game, not a second round! Hey Arizona..way to go, win the pac-10 and travel to the other side of the country. that is just unreal. I would be so mad if I were them. The UCLA site isnt equitable either (why so many repeat games? Isnt the ncaa's a chance to play someone new?) I am not sure pepp should have gone over, say a ucsb or was st. Pepp won 1 conference game. wsu beat u of a, ucla tied tenn and stanford. pepp didn't beat anyone and had bad losses. I can't believe how few teams are out of the west are in. I keep looking at my bracket....what would they have done if byu was good? well for u of a and uw, represent....this is the chance for the west to play some non west schools. tear thru your side and open the eyes of the east.
Biggest shock by far--Santa Clara seeded No. 16. The committee has a history of royally screwing the Broncos, but this is just inexcusable. I guess my thought that Arizona would be shipped East turned out to be true. They'll probably be playing in some cold weather, which is a change for a team from the Desert. USD and Pepperdine are traveling to UCLA...again, which is getting kind of old. After today's draw, in the future I will no longer be surprised by what the NCAA committee pulls out of their hat.
Are you sure it's out of their hat??? I agree, Santa Clara at 16 is (to quote a famous UCLA alum) HORRIBLE. Nonetheless, Go Pilots!
Lot of love for the Big 12. Not sure what Texas did to get a top 16 seed. Finishing 4th in their conference and they are seeded 12th, yet Santa Clara wins their conference and is only 16th nationally? Princeton a 7 seed? That's awfully generous. I think Auburn should've been a seed and should be hosting. Tough draw for them having to go all the way out to Washington and to open with Clemson to boot. Surprised ND fell to a 4 seed, though for sure they'd still be #2. Florida got no favors either, having to open with a tough UCF team(that beat FSU in Tallahassee a few weeks ago) and also having FSU and BC in their bracket. In general, I think the committee did a better job overall than last year, but still a lot of head shaking with this bracket. Not sure what SCU did to the committee members, but damn they keep getting screwed over. Potential 3rd round with them vs. UNC, that's a final 4 type deal, not 3rd round. Bad committee.
I agree with all of the above. And if I'm looking at the NCAA bracket correctly, I think Auburn is hosting the first two rounds. Washington has to go to the South for a bracket that includes the aforementioned Auburn, Clemson, and Birmingham.
I'm still scraping my jaw off the floor. Santa Clara at 16 is insane. SCU was ranked #4 in the NSCAA/adidas poll last week BEFORE winning the WCC title. SCU has to get by Cal Poly, Stanford and/or Cal in the first rounds, then - if they make it - travel to take on UNC at home in the 3rd round???! I'm not ususally a conspiracy theorist, but if I were Jerry Smith I'd be asking for an investigation.
My bad, Auburn is hosting. That seems strange, as UW draws big crowds at home. I guess Auburn got a break then, being able to host, but that pod is tough.
UW not hosting is a big error. Why only 3 host sites out west? I mean, we have Kansas hosting (i thought their facilities are bad) and 3 on the west coast...what? the weather point is a good one about u of a. wasn't uconn a final 4 team last year? hey great job u of a, way to be pac 10 champs. not to beat a dead horse...but this saving money thing has got to go. these teams have seen each other all year, and now in the biggest trny in the nation, they have to play each other. even in club ball they try adn split up teams that see each other all the time. its just so boring to play teams you have seen all year, adn many who have played each other. can someone give us numbers on a conference breakdown?
The Longhorns certainly caught a break. I figured there was no chance that we would host after failing to win the conference tournament. Actually, I figured we would have to go to College Station like three and two years ago, which ain't much fun. Scratching my head, but happy... Go Texas Soccer!! - http://GoTexasSoccer.com
ACC--> 8 Big 12--> 5 Big East--> 5 Big 10--> 5 Pac-10--> 5 WCC--> 4 Ivy--> 3 SEC--> 3 I thought Washington State and Oregon State from the Pac had a chance to make the tourney. Most of the surprises for me were the seeds that some teams got.
How does the PAC 10 get more than the SEC, especially if we reward conferences for RPI rankings. Surely the SEC is above the Pac-10 for goodness sake. A few thoughts.... How does Auburn and Florida get matched up with a potential meeting in the round of 16, yet the Texas schools (A&M and Texas A&M at Austin) avoid each other until the Final Four? Texas getting a national seed is ridiculous. They don't deserve it. Santa Clara definitely has something to cry foul about.
No real surprise the lack of respect shown the SEC. Last year, all 5 teams were in the same half of the bracket and Florida had to play Ole Miss and Tennessee. They made sure that at most, only 1 team would get to the final 8 the way the bracket was set up. I felt pretty good the league would get 4 teams, so only 3 was a surprise. I don't know if the Pac-10 is better than the SEC, but if they are, it's not by much and certainly don't deserve 2 more teams than the SEC got. I'm glad 3 SEC teams are hosting at least. BTW, if they advanced, Auburn and Florida wouldn't meet until the final 8. The SEC does have a gripe, but Santa Clara is the real travesty in all of this.
First, Portland got seeded over SCU for one reason only. Sinclair has a good chance of getting the Hermann award (one of the top nominees) and I guess they figure that it wouldn't look too good or continue in her favor if the Hermann award (winner?) went out of the tournament before the third round. So commitee has to do something (rig it) to prevent that from happening. So where else does Santa Clara fit in? Oh lets put them at 16 cause anything else would mess up the plan. Also strictly in a business sense the whole seeding is divised to favor the east coast teams getting to the final four (except for Portland). They feel attendance will be much higher because of geographics if you get UNC, Virginia, Penn State and Notre Dame in the final four(but Portland will spoil that) and it's set up that way so they can get Sinclair in the final four.
I absolutely disagree. I do not think there is any conspiracy theory. I just think the people on the committee don't really know what is going on in the soccer world. They are not out there watching games. I bet half of them don't even know who Sinclair is. I seriously mean this. You give them way too much credit.
Generally speaking the NCAA committees seem to have some idea what is going on in the other NCAA tournaments ie basketball, etc. Is soccer just the exception? I personally don't think so.
It is totally different. There is absolutely NO crossover on committees. They might as well be from different organizations. These soccer choices are being made my individuals, mostly administrators, with no connection to the choices made in other sports.
Boston Bob is right - this year's Women's Soccer Committee is Colleen Lim, Yale University, chair Shelly Applebaum, Michigan State University Ann Cliffton, Villanova University Charlie Cobb, North Carolina State University John Cropp, University of Kentucky Melissa Freigang, Weber State University James Price, Liberty University Paul Schlickmann, State University of New York at Stony Brook Diane Turnham, Middle Tennessee State University Carrie Wolf, Mountain West Conference Many of these people are Athletic Dept administrators who lack soccer specific knowledge. But after last year's seeding debacle - I recall Scott French summed it up with the word "travesty" in Soccer America - I figured they'd be shamed into doing their homework. Clearly not. I still think Santa Clara should file a protest.
I am not saying that the same committee members crossover and are involved in multiple sport NCAA tournament selections/seedings. But you would think the NCAA would want a credible committee to make these seedings as fair as possible for each sport. Are you saying that in soccer only, they pick a commitee that has no clue and pulls straws for the seeding of the tournament? I am saying there is some credibility in other NCAA tournament selection committees ie basketball etc. so why shouldn't they make an effort to have a committee that has a clue in soccer. There seems to be a pattern here and basically it is the same as last year.
Caligirl - last year the committee took some heat, and acknowledged that they intentionally didn't even look at national rankings when making their selections. For them it's a apparently a puzzle involving w-l record, geography (i.e., cost) and conference. Whatever their formula is, credibility doesn't seem to be a factor.
Oh well, I think Santa Clara and coach Smith will look at this as a challenge. He is one class act and he and his players will find the positives and build on them. Anyway, they atleast get a chance to face UNC one week sooner and fresher than last year if they can get past this weekend.
That's a good lemonade-out-of-lemons attitude . Thing is, it's not exactly fair to UNC either, same as it wasn't fair to Portland last year. And once again, one of the more entertaining matches won't be televised.
I am saying exactly what I said. That the committee is mostly made up of people who rarely watch the game and know little about the game. As for Santa Clara, the seeding is an absolute embarassment.
Yeah if I were UNC, I wouldn't like the possibility of playing SCU as early as the 3rd round, especially the way SCU finished their season. The defense has really come around and worked out the problems they faced with the early season ending injuries to key defensive players. Proof of that was the 1-0 win over Portland and only allowing Portland one shot in the entire game (Natalie Budge) and snuffing out Christine Sinclair completly.