So I know it's only Saturday night, and there are still games to come on Sunday, but a lot has happened this week and the question on my mind is who's #1. Indiana was #1 in the NSCAA poll this week and surely will lose that spot with a loss to Cal St. Fullerton St. Johns was #2 but tied Long Island University 1-1 on Saturday. Wake Forest was #3 and tied North Carolina 2-2 on Saturday. UCLA was #4 and had a 3-0 win over a Oregon State team with a (10-4) record. SMU #5 won 5-1 over Tulsa tonight. So I think that UCLA is deserving of the top spot, as they have been on fire lately. Though one can make a case for Wake Forest, who is still undefeated, albeit with 3 draws. Either way, I see both as deserving of being ranked ahead of St. Johns, though in reality they are all basically the same as evidenced by the fact that both UCLA and Wake have tied St. Johns during the season. On a different note, Maryland's victory over Clemson has to see them jumping back into the top 5. They were #7 this week and Clemson #6. Also, could as many as 6 ACC teams be ranked in the top 25 this week? Duke beat UNCG 2-1 on Friday, and a win over Charlotte on Saturday would make them 11-4-1 with quality wins over UNC and Clemson. And UNC's tie with Wake puts them at 10-5-1, and while they may not be ranked, I don't think there's any doubt they are one of the top 25 teams in the nation. The ACC this year(minus NC State) is as strong as ever!
Duke loses to Charlotte 1-0 today, so I don't think they will be ranked this week. I think 5 of 7 deserve
The ACC this year(minus NC State) is as strong as ever! The verbage in parenthesis is unnecessary. This is a given until they get a new coach.
Re: The ACC this year(minus NC State) is as strong as ever! Sadly, I have to agree. I know I posted that they have some sings of hope with their nice freshman class, but the program really is in disarray. I can forgive the 0-6 mark in the ACC - for the THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR - given AD Lee Fowler's explanation that State's facilities are sub par compared to the rest of the conference. But to be 4-5 in non-conference games, that's just unaccaeptable. Granted, 4 of the losses are to team's with winning records - Holy Cross, South Carolina, Charlotte and UNC Greensbro - but they are an ACC team for god's sake and they should be able to beat most of their non-conference foes. I mean, this is a program whose only wins this year have come against George Washington (a respectable 9-6), Charleston Southern (4-9-1), Radford (4-9-1) and VMI (2-7-1). That's just pathetic. Sadly, this once proud program is just pathetic and while I know the AD is gonna give Tarantini some lattitude until he gets better facilities, I feat that by the time the new digs get built State will be so far behind the rest of the conference that they won't be able to recover. More to the point, I just don't think Tarantini has what it takes to win any more and he needs to go. I mean, look at Oliver Weiss at Va. Tech. He has the same hurdles the Pack has in terms of facilities and being in a conference with better programs with tradition and great facilities. But, in his first season in Blacksburg he has the Hokies at 10-5-1 and 5-3 in one of the nation's toughest conferences. Even with obstacles, winning can be done with the right coach and the right players. Tarantini is no longer the right coach.
While I was watching UNC vs. NC State in Chapel Hill, there were several times in the game when Tarantini would walk away from the bench, with his back to the field...strolling for 20, 30, even 40 yards along the Belk track that surrounds Fetzer Field. During LONG stretches of the game, Tarantini wasn't even watching the game. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Against Duke, he was on Duke's side of the midfield stripe, standing in front of Rennie and Duke's bench. It's truly pathetic. What do the State players think? What would Lee Fowler think if he ever attended a match? Personally, I buy the facilities argument to a point, but there are plenty of winning programs out there that don't have UVA's facilities.
#1 I've seen eight of the top 10 this year. I've seen SJ's, Wake, and UCLA multiple times. If I was voting I'd have SJ as #1, Wake as #2, and UCLA as #3. SJ's tie to Long Island at home doesn't look good until you realize that they had a huge game the day before against UConn. A let down, and being a tad tired would be expected. Long Island may not be a top team, but they're no Lipscomb either. Wake tieing UNC on the road isn't a terrible result either. I've seen Wake five times this year, and this was their worst outing by far. They picked a bad time to forget they had a midfield. They're going to need to regroup quickly or they could find themselves on the wrong side of the score against Duke. (And what's up with Duke--talk about a schizophrenic team? Will the real Duke please stand up!) UCLA - may have a better defense than the Johnnies, but they aren't the complete team. SJs owned them for the majority of their game. Beating the Beavers isn't anything to write home about. OSU has an impressive record, but they really only have one quality win against Portland. I don't see wins against OSU and UW as being enough to propel them to the #1 spot. Of course, who knows how the voting will go tomorrow? I'm just telling you what I think from having seen these teams in action.
The NSCAA has provided their answer for who should be #1. It seems that St. John's 1-0 win over UConn was enough to offset their 1-1 tie with LIU and help them regain the top spot. UCLA is deserving of the #2 spot and Wake is a deserving 3. Rank School W-L-T Prev. 1 St. John's University 11-1-4 2 2 UCLA 10-1-2 4 3 Wake Forest University 10-0-4 3 4 Southern Methodist University 13-1-2 5 5 Indiana University 13-2-2 1 6 University of Maryland 12-3-0 7 7 University of Connecticut 11-4-0 9 8 Clemson University 10-2-2 6 9 University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 14-1-1 10 10 Creighton University 11-2-2 12 11 Cal 11-3-1 -- 12 Furman University 12-2-1 22 13 University of Virginia 10-5-0 23 14 Lehigh University 10-4-1 18 15 UC Santa Barbara 11-2-1 17 16 Coastal Carolina University 14-0-1 15 17 Boston College 9-4-0 14 18 Stanford University 11-3-1 8 19 Virginia Commonwealth University 10-3-1 15 19 University of Notre Dame 9-4-3 13 19 University of South Carolina 9-5-1 10 22 University of Pennsylvania 9-2-0 24 23 University of North Carolina 10-5-1 -- 24 Hartwick College 9-5-2 -- 25 Loyola Marymount University 12-2-2 -- South Carolina and Stanford continue their downward spirals, and UNC finally returns to the poll after drawing with Wake.