He has been known to to get really good recruits at Tenn, but until last year extremely underperformed with those recruits making post season play only once in his tenure. Not sure exactly what his pitch is, but I'm sure selling the ACC and SEC has helped, along with the facilities at both. I am actually glad to see they had the season they did last year, not sure he would have survived if they didn't make NCAA and now they seem to be consistent.
I think Pensky sells the the facilities at Tennessee, which are first-rate--not just the soccer field but the entire athletic experience there--along with SEC, which has become a very good soccer conference. I also think that he's just a pretty persuasive guy. His predecessor, Angela Kelly, established a very solid program, had some real success--but in the last three or so years of her 12-year stint with the Vols, just when she should have been building on that success, she lost her mojo--I don't know whether she was unhappy, burnt out or what, but her recruiting fell off pretty significantly and then she fled for the big money at Texas. (She was lucky to survive at Texas after a couple of terrible years and now seems to be recruiting very well again for the Longhorns.) Pensky inherited a program that was almost bereft of talent--the Vols were bad for two/three years-- and it has taken him five+ years to really get the players one needs to be competitive. He doesn't get the classes that the big dogs (North Carolina, Duke, Pa. State, Virginia, et. al) get, of course, but he's not far behind--and he's got four players this year who could play for anybody. The Vols have been struggling a bit without CF Bunny Shaw, who has been gone for most of the season with Jamaican national team--she just won the Golden Boot in Concacaf qualifying (which may not be saying a lot). He needs to push the soccer and not just the talent, however--that is the key.
Well, I must admit University of Kentucky doesn't look very good: after winning the first three matches of the season, they went on losing the subsequent four, including a 5-1 beating by Indiana University just yesterday!
Anyway, they somehow stopped the bleeding yesterday through a 1-0 win vs Furman, with a goal by the player I am following, Yuuka Kurosaki.
Soooooo, do you think the UGA coaches will make it through the week? They lost to Kennesaw. We were there. It was bad.
Gators currently losing their 5th of the season to UCF 3-0 with fifteen minutes to play. Going to be an interesting year in the SEC.
Florida is a lot better than their record would suggest. They've played three of the top five teams in the country--losing to Southern Cal and Florida State and tying UCLA--and central Florida is supposed to be good too; they obviously are if they beat the gators 3-0! Florida has struggled to score goals--but they've got a lot of good players and athletes and will surely do considerably better in the SEC than they've done the last three weeks with their tough schedule. I wouldn't write them off at all, and I'm not even a fan of that program.
Who is your team? I was a bit confused when you said you disliked foreign players on college teams, but your profile suggested your from Europe, I guess you are not, just a fan of the Netherlands?
I don't dislike foreign players on college teams--I have lived and worked overseas, for what it is worth--but I think there should be a limit on the number a team can have--say, four max or somesuch. There is, to my mind, something mercenary about coaches who spend a lot of time chasing/signing foreign players--it's like, who can go find the most ringers. But I don't dwell on it. I do like the Dutch national teams (men and women) a lot. I started watching soccer with the World Cup in 1998, and the Netherlands had a great team that year--but of course didn't win (lost on PKs in the semifinal to Brazil). I was an athlete at Tennessee and so follow the Vols. (I'm sold on Pensky's recruiting but not on his soccer coaching.) UT's best player--yes, ironically--is Jamaican Bunny Shaw. I have a daughter who played soccer for years and then gave it up for volleyball, which I struggle to enjoy as much as soccer. All day volleyball tourneys are too much! cheers.
UT is good this year, but they and and number of other SEC teams have played an astoundingly weak out of conference schedule. I think the SEC is still quite a ways behind the ACC and PAC.
well maybe that loss woke them up. They just beat Arkansas 3-1 to open the SEC play. They already have more SEC wins than all of last year!
Georgia, which has been the doormat of the SEC for the last two years, was a deserved winner over favored Arkansas, 3-1, tonight. I wasn't expecting that--especially given that the bulldogs did not start a single upperclasswoman--the starters were all freshmen and sophs. Georgia's defense held up well against Arkansas's direct style--their frosh defender named Stout was just that all night-- and they scored a nice goal off a rebound in the first half to take a 1-0 lead. They doubled it in the second half off a corner when, with the ball sitting on the ground in the box, the razorback keeper ran into one of her teammates trying to get to the ball, which gave a georgia player a chance to kick the ball in the net. It was a rather lame play by Arkansas, and then georgia scored again moment later on a nice strike from about 15-yards out. Arkansas was gifted a goal, IMO, late in the match on a questionable penalty call in the box--SEC officials have a bad habit of calling too many questionable penalties in the box. Arkansas played less well than I expected, and georgia better. Also tonight, a solid Ole Miss team beat Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, 1-0. Mississippi dominated the first half and scored a nice goal off a corner with 20 seconds remaining in the first half. That would prove the game's only goal. In the second half, Ole Miss opted to sit back mostly and protect its lead against a bama team that doesn't have a lot of attacking talent. The Tide had a lot of the ball, pushed forward, and a couple of good chances late, but couldn't put the ball in the net. Finally, Missouri beat Kentucky, also by a 1-nil score. Didn't see the game, but the stats seem to indicate that Missouri had the better run of play--20 or so shots. The tigers scored--surprise--on a penalty kick.
Well, the ACC and PAC10 are so top heavy that I can't argue with you. I mean, the ACC has four programs, and the Pac10 3, that are perennial Top 10 programs. Against that the SEC has four or five Top 20 programs, I'd say--florida, south carolina, texas a&m, tennessee, and auburn, and in recent years at least two have been ranked in the top 10. Vandy is very solid now as well--have a good coach. I agree about the out-of-conference schedules. I hated Pensky's non-conference schedule this year; it wasn't terrible until he scheduled two or three in-state cupcakes in succession, which made no sense to me as a lead-in to conference play. I'm not sure what he was thinking. I also thought UT's nonconference schedule last year was weak and would hurt Tennessee's RPI--and yet it was just the opposite: The Vols had a very high RPI for most of the year.
In terms of the relative strengths of the ACC, Pac12, and SEC, it depends on whether one is talking about the top end of a conference or the entire conference. Both the ACC and the Pac12 have some quite weak teams. The SEC, top to bottom, is stronger in that respect. That's why, before this week's games, the SEC is at the top of the list for conferences' average ARPIs. One other item: In evaluating the strength of a team's schedule from an RPI perspective, it's important to set aside prejudices about which potential opponents are strong and which are weak. From an RPI perspective, in most cases a strong opponent is one that will have a good end-of-season win/loss/tie record, regardless of the opponent's conference. On the other hand, it looks like you're right about Tennessee. Its opponents' average winning percentage rank through last weekend's games is #174. This isn't the only element of strength of schedule, but it's the most important one. However, we'll have to wait until the end of the season to see for sure. If its opponents do well in their conferences, Tennessee's strength of schedule rank will improve.
Boston College and NC State were weak for years, and Va. Tech has fallen off. NC State has got better, lately, to be fair; not sure about BC.
Im talking NOW. Conference strength goes in cycles because in the ACC/Pac-12 case the top teams are always good. Strength is all about the ebb and flow in the other teams. NC State beat South Carolina convincingly this year. BC are unbeaten so far , albeit with a really weat schedule, but have a good roster. teams like Wake Forest, Clemson, ND and VTech are solid. Wake play some very attractive passing soccer but do get exposed at timess by athleticism. I think the ACC is very solid this year.
Agree with you 100%. There are only 3 teams in the ACC this year that seem "weak" ('Cuse, Miami, Pitt). Every other team is competitive. That's 11 teams. I would bet my 11th team in the ACC against the SEC's 11th team. BC (who I think will finish top 7 in the ACC) beat Penn St 4-1 in exhibition play. Yes, it was exhibition, but that was a harbinger of things to come from them. They're starting lineup is experienced and talented, and Coffey is a star. I think ND gets lazy and loses games they shouldn't, but they have the talent. Vtech isn't very "talented" but I've watched some of their games this year, and they are scrappy and fight. They're not giving up 3 or 4 goals a game like they did last year on so many occasions. They have McGlynn in goal, and she is one of the best. So yeah, I thik the ACC is definitely the top conference in the country top to bottom. Sorry SEC.
Here are the ACC teams' ARPI ratings and ranks through last Sunday, September 9: FloridaState 0.7496 2 NCState 0.7485 3 NorthCarolinaU 0.6926 11 WakeForest 0.6722 14 Duke 0.6656 17 Louisville 0.6548 19 VirginiaU 0.6527 20 BostonCollege 0.6446 22 VirginiaTech 0.6431 25 NotreDame 0.5746 77 Clemson 0.5618 89 Pittsburgh 0.5346 118 Syracuse 0.4583 216 MiamiFL 0.4487 232 Here are the ranks for the SEC: MississippiState 0.7630 1 TexasA&M 0.7474 4 SouthCarolinaU 0.6999 9 Auburn 0.6967 10 AlabamaU 0.6659 16 TennesseeU 0.6291 37 Vanderbilt 0.6165 40 GeorgiaU 0.6100 45 MissouriU 0.6053 53 ArkansasU 0.5832 70 FloridaU 0.5816 71 LSU 0.5639 85 KentuckyU 0.5472 106 MississippiU 0.5330 121 As you can see, the bottom of the ACC is far below the bottom of the SEC, so far as the current ARPI is concerned.
I will simply say that the SEC has been coming on strong in soccer after being late to the party in this sport--meaning at least half the programs in the SEC didn't even begin to take soccer seriously until less than 10 years ago. And I think the uber-competitiveness of the league will continue to propel it. The thing that may hold back the SEC is that, unlike in, say, football and basketball and baseball/softball, the southeast is not a hotbed of high-quality youth soccer. Southern California, it is not. Florida has got a sizable number of good players, and the suburbs of Atlanta are strong, but after that the region is pretty thin in terms of good D1 soccer prospects (excluding Texas). Charlotte is a good soccer area--but there you are recruiting against ACC schools. So schools have got to recruit out of region. I think the top programs in the SEC have got pretty close to the top programs in the ACC. Auburn and South Carolina were both in the NCAA Elite Eight two years ago; Arkansas beat Duke that same year. Georgia--doormat of the conference the last two years--tied Va. Tech this year, though I realize select game results don't mean a lot and shouldn't be used to make general conference to conference generalizations (so pretend that I just didn't do that!). I happen to think that the Pac10's top three are the true elite these days...
What if you did a head to head match up. Not going based on the RPI because at this point it doesn't mean that much. I went off who I thought were the better teams in each conference based on watching most of them this season. ACC better at the top, SEC better at the bottom. I'd 7-5-2 in ACC favor. This would be cool to see. Boston College would be higher, but they have only played two teams with a winning record, would be a good match up with MSU as both are the surprises success stories of their conference this season. I have not been impressed with Notre Dame or Florida this season. UF has had some tough breaks with injuries and ND just no fight to them. I could see that as a 0-0 boring game. Have any of these match up occurred this season? FloridaState V Texas A&M - FSU will have the ball and control the pace NorthCarolinaU V S. Carolina - Just too much pressure on USC back line VirginiaU V Auburn - UVA similar to FSU will control the pace and game Duke V Tennessee (tie) - very athletic on both sides would be a good match NCState V Vandy - NC State will have the ball a lot and quality up front BostonCollege v Mississippi State - MSU look super athletic and scoring a ton NotreDame v Florida (tie) - zzzzzzzzzzzzz............. WakeForest v Mississippi - Could be a shoot out 5-4 Virginia Tech V Arkansas - Ark style of play showing it doesn't work any more Louisville V Alabama - I think UL by a lot Clemson V Missouri - Clemson too much for Mizzou MiamiFL V LSU - Pittsburgh V Georgia - If there is a good mid major on, watch that Syracuse V Kentucky - see above, insert good D2 game for mid major
A head-to-head between the ACC and SEC would be interesting! If only it were remotely feasible, as in basketball where they do have select teams from two conferences--often the ACC and Big 10 I want to say--squaring of in a mini tournament early in the season. I still the give the ACC the overall nod as there is too much quality at the top with NC and FSU and UVA and Duke are always good, too. The ACC team that is playing well this year is Wake Forest--they have beaten Pa. State (at home, in a game where Pa. State had more chances but couldn't finish) and shut out NC State away last night. I saw them play Tennessee and it was a very competitive match--the Demon Deacons have some good international players--I'll bet they are helped a bit by the outstanding men's program--and are a solid team, as they have been in years past but don't get noticed that much because of the big dogs at the top of the conference.