(04-19-2021, 01:07 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: Looking at the 28 teams currently ranked ahead of Stanford, here's how it breaks down by conference:
SEC (10): UGA, LSU, Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, South Carolina
ACC (7): UNC, FSU, NC State, UVA, Georgia Tech, Duke, Miami
Big 12 (4): Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas Tech
Big Ten (3): Northwestern, Ohio State, Michigan
I mean, there's just no two ways about it: the Pac-12 is being punished for a limited schedule due to local covid restrictions. The idea that ten SEC schools are better than Stanford is laughable. And they know it's laughable. Heck, Vanderbilt is 13-8, including 5-8 in the SEC, they're the 10 seed in the SEC tournament, and somehow they're #22 in the country! Goodness gracious.
But the coaches' poll isn't much better. (Neither poll takes the win over Cal into account yet, and I have a feeling we'll see a bigger boost from the coaches for that than we'll see from the computer rankings.)
Playing on the road is always tough, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a team like USC or ASU as a 2 seed in a 4-team regional end up advancing to the final site.
Anyway, the SEC tournament starts today with the 12/13 and 11/14 matchups. These matchups won't affect the top of the rankings, but tomorrow's matchups will. We want (2) Florida and (5) Tennessee to take upset losses, while those teams not in the mix for hosting ((3) TAMU, (6) Auburn, (7) South Carolina, (8) Ole Miss, (9) Kentucky, and (10) Vanderbilt) should feel free to pull off all the upsets they want.
The ACC tournament starts Wednesday, and we're rooting in particular against (4) UVA, (5) Duke, and (6) Georgia Tech, with the top 3 seeds of UNC, FSU, and NC State taking control. (7) Miami can feel free to pull off as many upsets as they can!
The Big 12 tournament starts Thursday, and we want (2) Baylor to take a loss, while (3) Texas Tech and (4) Oklahoma should feel free to run rampant.
Big Ten tournament is next week, and (2) Michigan taking an upset loss would aid the cause as well. But the rest of the tennis world will have a week off before the bracket and host sites are announced--we'll all be waiting on the Big Ten.
We'll see two more sets of rankings: this Wednesday the 21st and next Wednesday the 28th, so we should climb a few spots this week and hopefully a few to several more the following week.
Ridiculous rankings--particularly those that favor SEC schools over Stanford/Pac 12 schools:
LSU currently ranks fourth nationally in women's golf. Here's their starting lineup with world rankings following:
Linblad, 3
Stone, 77
Griffin, 145
Mulet, NR
Wallace, 428
Here is #22 Stanford:
Heck, 23
Ye, 25
Krauter, 35
Englemann, 112
Seay, 309; or
Wang, 226; or
Becht, 241; or
Reyes, 426