Women’s NCAA 2024 season

[Guest]

There are 5 non P4 teams in the top 33 teams by RPI. Pick 4 of those. The other P4 teams might complain but they lost their conference championship. You shouldn’t get three different chances, regular season, conf championships, then NCAA. Non P4 conference teams would be incentivized to play tougher OOC schedules to make the cut. For the others have a NIT equivalent.

What I agree is that colleges that want to compete to make the NCAA tournament must schedule tough out of conference games. A team that dominates their in conference matches and falls short shouldn’t be disappointed not getting an at large bid because they did not play better ranked/rated out of conference competition. The NCAA business plan is outdated and antiquated when you have 330 plus colleges in D1. It’s impossible to come up with a fair system with so many colleges. The P4 conferences have their own networks for regular season matches and could cut deals for larger revenue streams. Having the P4 conferences playing 9 conference games as well as 9 games vs. other P4 conferences. That’s where this is heading away from the NCAA. Same will happen with comparable mid majors as well.

[Guest]

Not at all. Take the four P4 conference winners then add four at large teams. Santa Clara would always be one team on that radar.

Today, Santa Clara would never be on that radar with a #43 RPI. Actually behind UMASS.

[Guest]

The whole 64 team tournament is a poor way to determine a champion. An eight team round robin would be better. The rest have no chance to win. The March Madness is to get big revenue for BBall. Soccer doesn’t do that.
BTW, Santa Clara won it all a few years ago and is not in your precious P4.

The usual first round mauling is underway. Higher seeds rolling(wasting their time?). All of the New England teams are gone except UConn, which plays Rutgers later. Of the 30 or so games there were two upsets over a 7 or 8 seed.

[Guest]

The usual first round mauling is underway. Higher seeds rolling(wasting their time?). All of the New England teams are gone except UConn, which plays Rutgers later. Of the 30 or so games there were two upsets over a 7 or 8 seed.

It’s a reality that most on TS refuse to acknowledge that there is a big drop off between the haves and have nots. Most of these matches were over before halftime. That’s why today is a big day for many of these programs with the start of the transfer ortal. Every coach is looking to make immediate upgrades and add impact players to their rosters before committing to the 25’s and 26’s recruiting classes.

[Guest]

It’s a reality that most on TS refuse to acknowledge that there is a big drop off between the haves and have nots. Most of these matches were over before halftime. That’s why today is a big day for many of these programs with the start of the transfer ortal. Every coach is looking to make immediate upgrades and add impact players to their rosters before committing to the 25’s and 26’s recruiting classes.

There will be one more round of mauling and then we will be left with the 16 seeded teams. The pretenders will be gone and the contenders will remain.

[Guest]

There will be one more round of mauling and then we will be left with the 16 seeded teams. The pretenders will be gone and the contenders will remain.

Surprise! UConn beats Rutgers and moves on to play Stanford.

[Guest]

Surprise! UConn beats Rutgers and moves on to play Stanford.

Why “surprise” you coy, smug, fuqwad?

[Guest]

Surprise! UConn beats Rutgers and moves on to play Stanford.

Early on this wouldn't have been considered a surprise, but they hit a mid-season funk and thought their chances were gone. Great run for them and seeing 2 BE schools advance gives some credence to Xavier's gripe.

[Guest]

Early on this wouldn't have been considered a surprise, but they hit a mid-season funk and thought their chances were gone. Great run for them and seeing 2 BE schools advance gives some credence to Xavier's gripe.

Normally when you see Stanford up next it’s over. But this edition of the Cardinals is mortal. So they’ve got a shot.

[Guest]

Normally when you see Stanford up next it’s over. But this edition of the Cardinals is mortal. So they’ve got a shot.

I wouldn't put anything beyond them at this point. They are proving resilient and with Okafor, she can make anything happen from nothing. To your point...Stanford is beatable. Be nice to see NE teams keep progressing.