Don't look too far afield. One of (if not THE) the best D2 schools is just down the road as So. CT State. I used to watch them all the time when I live in So. CT. Excellent program. Plus, it'd be a lot easier to go & watch him play (this is not a trivial thing!). Just remember that, as pointed out earlier, while soccer is way cool, academics is where it's at. To give you an idea of what I mean, Pat Yates ("Mr. November") of IU is forgoing his last year of eligibility to take courses he needs for his business degree (most only offered in the fall). I'd hire somebody like him in a heartbeat. Regards, BRF
OK, UWM was 0-2 in the regular season vs. tournament teams. They were 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament. That means 1-3 vs. NCAA Tournament teams. That means on their regular season schedule there were exactly 2 teams that made the NCAA Tournament and they lost both. Good performance in the NCAA Tournament should be expected with a waltz through the Horizon League when other teams have slugged it out all year in the tough conferences. As I said, everyone knows that UWM can play with anyone but until they have five to eight teams NCAA Tournament teams on their schedule they shouldn't be in the top 25. How many tournament teams did other top teams play last year ?
Agree with you 100%. replace Pore with Brown, that is a even swap, if not better. and they also return there other foward Goddard who will be a sophmore. They also return their best midfielder in Lawson Vaughn, who will make a impact for their squad. Look for Tulsa to suprise a lot of people next year.
Thanks to you and others for the info. Getting off topic so I won't continue - maybe start a new thread. Thanks again. BTW, here is my list. 1. Indiana 2. Maryland 3. UC Santa Barbara 4. Virginia 5. Duke 6. New Mexico 7. UNC Greensboro 8. SMU 9. St. Johns 10. UCLA 11. Memphis 12. Wake Forest 13. Washington 14. Creighton 15. Tulsa 16. Virginia Commonwealth 17. Connecticut 18. Notre Dame 19. Michigan State 20. Santa Clara 21. Ohio State 22. Boston College 23. American 24. California 25. Florida International
You do realize that the vast majority of the ranked teams those schools play are from thier own confrence. Its alomost impossible to put together an out of confrence schedule consiting of all ranked teams...thats what UWM would have to do in order to even be considered for your hypothetical top 25. I think you should try to put together a college soccer schedule for a small confence team..i am certian you would change your tune after you realize it isn't as easy as hey leys call up Duke.
Tundra, Good luck with the college search. I know how stressful that can be. My son will be playing at American next year. ( I like your rankings ) He was looking at higher ranked schools but with the combination of academics, soccer and proximity, American ended up being the best choice. I think they are gonna be pretty good this year. I also like your Maryland at #2 pick. I know a lot of the incoming freshman at Maryland and I know they are gonna be good. I noticed that no one is giving JMU any love in thier top 25. I believe they are returning most of thier team and they had a very good record last year though they were snubbed by the tourney committee.
UWM will not "waltz" through the Horizon League as they will continue to battle Butler for the top spot. UWM will, however, have another "soft" non-conf. schedule; unlike Butler who annually schedules IU and other "top 25s." Butler is an honorable mention Top 15 if strength of schedule means anything (UWM is not!)!
OK. If you're making decisions based on schedule strength, how do you figure New Mexico, who's schedule strength last season was significantly lower than UW-M? Out of curiosity, have you personally ever seen UW-M play? If so, what do you know about them? And please be specific. Oh, and by the way, what were some of the NCAA tournament scores against UCSB last season (Hint: think ACC powerhouse Duke).
Once you get past about the top 3-5 schools rankings are pretty meaningless to me anyway. The level of talent gets better every year tending to level the field with the traditional powers. I watched JMU play last year and wasn't impressed (too much I and not enough team in the game I saw). AU's incoming crop is a fine lot and I'd pick them to win PL. Hopefully they could get to the qtrfinals. Good luck this fall.
This has got to be one of the dumbest things i have seen on this board. Your beloved **********cats are 1-8 against UWM since 2000...yeah you guys are such a tough battle As for your world class non-confrence schedule...you must be kidding: Butlers Non-confrence foes: Valparaiso Bradley Western Illinois Cinncinnati IUPUI Wisconsin James Madison Xavier Ohio State Indiana Northwestern UWM non-confence foes: Drake UNLV Oakland Bradley Fairleigh Dickinson Northern Illinois Oregon State Gonzaga Wisconsin Michigan Marquette Wow Butlers schedule is just so much tougher. You think just cause you have an annual in-state rivalry with Indiana you should get a top 15 based on that schedule...please. Stop lying to yourself.
"Please" you say......PLEASE read the written. Ranking of Butler's non-conf. schedule has been tougher (more top 30s over the last 3 years - HOWEVER the schedule is arrived at; in state rivalry or otherwise). I DID NOT say that one game standing alone quailifies one for ranking. PLEASE read so that you could really determine what may be DUMB!!!
Various west coast comments, starting from the south ... UCLA -- Has Feilhaber decided? If he stays, they should be title contenders; if not, their midfield looks weak offensively. UCSB -- Lost Lochhead, Jones, McAthy, and Kennedy; no way they're still a top ten team. Santa Clara -- When you factor in maturity, Mehdi Ballouchy is as good as any player in the country. He's got plenty of talent around him, too, but how good are they as a team? Stanford -- Terrific d-mids, but young at other key positions ... unless Marcus Ryan explodes, Cardinal are probably a year away from returning to prominence. Cal -- Lost a great senior class, but still a program on the rise. Need a big year from Calen Carr, and a lot more production from big target forward Pieter Berger, who thus far hasn't lived up to his potential. Oregon State -- Great offensive talent, but what about in back, especially in goal? Portland -- Early departures hurt; can't see them doing much. Washington -- Consistently strong, but their all-time record in the NCAA tournament is 6-17. This ought to be one of their better teams, though ... perhaps they'll finally make a post-season run.
Ok fine i'll recite it back to you.. You are claiming that Butlers streghth of schedule should give them a honorable mention in the Top 15 as if Butlers schedule was so hard. Then you wnet beyond that to call out UWM..the team that has owned Butler for 5 years now, and the league they play in, for having a soft schedule. So i posted both our non-confrence side by side. Now I ask you again...how is Butlers schedule so much harder than UWM's?? You are claiming in more or less words that UWM always plays a soft schedule while the might brave Butler takes one of the 15 toughest schedules in college soccer. So yes...PLEASE spare me your ill researched opinions.
Our midfield will certainly be our strength this year, and if our firepower gets better then we ought to be pretty competitive. I didn't realize the defense would be decimated, but with Big Burke in goal we can't be too bad coming into the year. I haven't read the "preview" on UVa's website (isn't up yet) but I would imagine that the new defenders won't all be untested freshmen. We need to replace Freeman's 20 assists, that will be the issue. I wouldn't rank us in the top 10 until we prove we can win a freaking NCAA quarterfinal game AT HOME. The only game I went to last year was to sit in 30 degree wind and watch us choke 3-0 against a Duke team that we had already beaten twice! AGHH! I want some killer instinct out of Gelnovatch for a change, we are good enough to go to the Final Four, let's get there and stop losing games we should win!
Actually, if you use the last season's soccerratings.com numbers for any guidance, those schedules are nearly identical, with Butler holding a slim edge in average schedule strength (1561 to 1541 for UW-M). IMO, Butler's hedged it's bets a little better than UW-M though. On a regional basis, Butler's 4 Big 10 games will probably help more come tournament time, (provided they do well) if they don't win the league tournament, since those games will be weighted pretty heavily. If UW-M wins the league and Butler ends up runner-up again, with quality results against those schools, both teams could get in. On the other hand, if Butler wins the league, it's probably a longer shot for UW-M to get in - losing to Butler and not matching their Big 10 schedule. These schools split the regular season title last season, and UW-M lost more impact players than did Butler, so this season should offer some pretty interesting competition between these two schools.
holy crap summer is just flying by. cant wait to get back up to school and watch some great college soccer. not sure how portland is going to do this year. we return the wcc freshman of the year and our all conference goalkeeper. we have a fairly strong lineup, but lots of questions. i think last year was mediocre, but the loss of josh and others really hurt. hopefully we can make a better showing this year. in all we return 7 starters from last years team and 17 players overall. i dont think top 25 is out of the question at all, i never think it is for our school. to bad we lost pearce and salazar to international clubs, they will be missed. good luck to them. this years nike invitational features Creighton, Cal Poly, and Washington to go along with Portland. Should be ok, always is fun to go to those games. is it september yet? cant come soon enough.
Ok, but you can agree that Butler's schedule isn't superior and certianly isn't one of the 15 toughest in the country. I really can't figure how that fool could even make such a statement. Which was the crux of the entire discussion.
Who said ANYTHING about Butler's schedule being one of the "15 toughest in the Country" (fool)? READ, sack!
I think what was said was that Butler's schedule should qualify them for "honorable mention in the Top 15", which is probably quite a stretch (although you might make an argument for Top 30). I think they'd be satisfied with staying in the regional top 6-7 all season, since they'd most likely end up in the tournament as a result.
Butler will be satisified to finish second place in the confrence again and bow out of the Horizon Tourney before they can get embarassed by UWM again.
They don't meet early on. Maryland plays IU as the second to last regular season match. I am really excited to see how this game plays out. However, if it plays out like the last few times we have played Maryland in the latter part of the season... look for IU to come out on top
1) IU 2) UCLA 3) Duke 4) Maryland 5) St. John's 6) UCSB 7) New Mexico 8) Virginia 9) Creighton 10) Wake Forest 11) SMU OK, so I cheated. I had to use 11 so I could get SMU in there. What is really interesting is that if you look at IU's schedule, IU will meet 3 of these 11 by the end of opening weekend this fall (UCLA, Wake Forest, SMU). It should give a good indicator of all the teams involved, though I look for IU to walk away from this one 3-0