Directors' Cup Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Printable Version
+- The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board)
+-- Forum: C-House! (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: Directors' Cup Directors' Cup 2025-2026 (/thread-26192.html)
+- The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board)
+-- Forum: C-House! (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: Directors' Cup Directors' Cup 2025-2026 (/thread-26192.html)
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 05-28-2026
As BobK noted in the previous post, Tennessee beat Texas 6-3 in their opening game of the WCWS.
So in order for Stanford to keep its improbable-almost-impossible Directors' Cup dreams alive, we need to cheer for the following:
WCWS (today through Thursday, June 4/Friday, June 5 if necessary)
* Unseeded Mississippi State eliminates 2-seed Texas softball Friday evening.
* 8-seed UCLA loses to 1-seed Alabama later on today (Thursday) and is eliminated by Nebraska or Arkansas on Friday.
Baseball Regionals (today through Monday, June 1)
* 6-seed Texas baseball loses to 25-28 Holy Cross in the opening game of the Austin Regional on Friday and is eliminated by Tarleton State or UC Santa Barara on Saturday.
* 1-seed UCLA loses to 34-25 Saint Mary's in the opening game of the Los Angeles Regional on Friday and is eliminated by Cal Poly or Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Women's Rowing (Friday through Sunday, May 31)
I'm hoping that someone knowledgeable will start/continue a thread on that competition. Of course I'm cheering that Stanford takes home another national title, and I'm cheering for Texas' boats to spring a leak in shallow water--I think UCLA is not in this tournament.
Men's Golf (Friday through Wednesday, June 3)
Of course I'm cheering for #15 Stanford men to take home a national championship and for #3 Texas and #30 UCLA to finish out of the top 15 in stroke play.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - M T - 05-28-2026
I’m cheering for the Director’s Cup board to count all the NCAA championship results, not just some.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - BostonCard - 05-28-2026
(05-28-2026, 05:16 PM)M T Wrote: I’m cheering for the Director’s Cup board to count all the NCAA championship results, not just some.
It hasn’t counted all the results in a long time, and we used to win regularly with the number of results capped. The recent change has been that instead of counting your 20 best (or 10 best mens and 10 best women’s) scores, now some sports are counted no matter what, and other sports are subject to the cap. Hence my quip that all sports are equal; some sports are just more equal than others.
BC
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Jamesy - 05-28-2026
(05-28-2026, 02:16 PM)Papa John Wrote: As BobK noted in the previous post, Tennessee beat Texas 6-3 in their opening game of the WCWS.
So in order for Stanford to keep its improbable-almost-impossible Directors' Cup dreams alive, we need to cheer for the following:
WCWS (today through Thursday, June 4/Friday, June 5 if necessary)
* Unseeded Mississippi State eliminates 2-seed Texas softball Friday evening.
* 8-seed UCLA loses to 1-seed Alabama later on today (Thursday) and is eliminated by Nebraska or Arkansas on Friday.
Baseball Regionals (today through Monday, June 1)
* 6-seed Texas baseball loses to 25-28 Holy Cross in the opening game of the Austin Regional on Friday and is eliminated by Tarleton State or UC Santa Barara on Saturday.
* 1-seed UCLA loses to 34-25 Saint Mary's in the opening game of the Los Angeles Regional on Friday and is eliminated by Cal Poly or Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Women's Rowing (Friday through Sunday, May 31)
I'm hoping that someone knowledgeable will start/continue a thread on that competition. Of course I'm cheering that Stanford takes home another national title, and I'm cheering for Texas' boats to spring a leak in shallow water--I think UCLA is not in this tournament.
Men's Golf (Friday through Wednesday, June 3)
Of course I'm cheering for #15 Stanford men to take home a national championship and for #3 Texas and #30 UCLA to finish out of the top 15 in stroke play.
I'm not worried about UCLA passing us in the Director's cup. For rowing, I expect all three boats from UT, UT (Tennessee) and us to make the grand finals so you don't really need to pay attention until the last set of races. There is less unpredictability in rowing than the other remaining sports though. It'll likely end up some order of Stanford, Texas, Tennessee at the end of the day.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 05-29-2026
(05-28-2026, 02:16 PM)Papa John Wrote: Baseball Regionals (today through Monday, June 1)
* 6-seed Texas baseball loses to 25-28 Holy Cross in the opening game of the Austin Regional on Friday and is eliminated by Tarleton State or UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.
* 1-seed UCLA loses to 34-25 Saint Mary's in the opening game of the Los Angeles Regional on Friday and is eliminated by Cal Poly or Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Holy Cross's 9th-inning rally comes up short and they lose to Texas 19-1 /s. So the next-best scenario is for the Longhorns to lose to the winners of Tarleton and UCSB on Saturday at 4 pm PT.
However... UCLA became the first-ever #1 seed to lose an opening regional game, falling to St. Mary's 3-2! The Bruins face elimination vs the loser of Cal Poly and Va Tech Saturday at 1 pm PT.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Mick - 05-30-2026
Answer to an earlier question, Texas does not have men's volleyball. Stanford lost in the quarterfinal round of the MPSF championships, and therefore did not qualify for the NCAA championships, therefore did not earn any directors cup points.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 05-30-2026
UCLA baseball escapes with a walk-off win over Va Tech in an elimination game, although I'm not sure they can catch Stanford for 2nd place in the DC.
Unfortunately for Stanford, Texas continues to excel in men's golf.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 05-31-2026
Texas is a lock for match play in men's golf as they are 19 (!) strokes ahead of 9th place Oklahoma. Also, Texas softball had a late-inning comeback vs Nebraska to stay alive in the WCWS. Longhorns baseball just needs to beat UCSB today or tomorrow to advance to the Super Regionals.
Stanford needs a miracle from men's golf and even that might not be enough.
And did anyone else notice that former Stanford 2B Temo Becerra is a grad transfer playing for Texas? He's hitting .320/.434/.468/.920.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 05-31-2026
Texas defeats UCSB 6-4 and will host a Super Regional vs Oregon.
On a somewhat related note, UCLA baseball and softball were eliminated today (Sunday), so I'm wondering if UCLA's hold on third place in the Directors' Cup might be slipping.
In the case of baseball, UCLA somehow lost twice to Saint Mary's College, who lost twice to Cal Poly SLO at the Los Angeles Regional. So Cal Poly will face 16-seed West Virginia or unseeded Kentucky in a Super Regional next week.
It's possible that Cal Poly will be the lone California team still playing baseball after Monday, when U of Satan's Children plays Texas A&M in the College Station Regional championship game.
Re: the Directors' Cup, Stanford has to somehow find its way to 8th place or better on Monday. This is our last opportunity to earn additional points for this year. Texas is still alive and possibly earning more points in baseball, softball, men's golf and outdoor track & field.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Jamesy - 05-31-2026
(05-31-2026, 09:36 PM)Papa John Wrote: Texas defeats UCSB 6-4 and will host a Super Regional vs Oregon.
On a somewhat related note, UCLA baseball and softball were eliminated today (Sunday), so I'm wondering if UCLA's hold on third place in the Directors' Cup might be slipping.
In the case of baseball, UCLA somehow lost twice to Saint Mary's College, who lost twice to Cal Poly SLO at the Los Angeles Regional. So Cal Poly will face 16-seed West Virginia or unseeded Kentucky in a Super Regional next week.
It's possible that Cal Poly will be the lone California team still playing baseball after Monday, when U of Satan's Children plays Texas A&M in the College Station Regional championship game.
Re: the Directors' Cup, Stanford has to somehow find its way to 8th place or better on Monday. This is our last opportunity to earn points for this year. Texas is still alive and possibly earning more points in baseball, softball, men's golf and outdoor track & field.
We might be able to earn some points from women's outdoor track and field.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 05-31-2026
(05-31-2026, 09:38 PM)Jamesy Wrote: We might be able to earn some points from women's outdoor track and field.
Good point, it's possible for Stanford to earn a few points from women's outdoor T&F. I think I read that they could finish as high as 10th, which would be 67 points and cause us to drop women's indoor T&F, which earned 63.75.
But men's golf has the potential--highly unlikely, but mathematically possible--to add a significant number of DC points if they can make match play.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - fullmetal - 05-31-2026
Texas wins the rowing championship, and Stanford places second for a less-painful consolation prize.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 05-31-2026
(05-31-2026, 10:14 PM)fullmetal Wrote: Texas wins the rowing championship, and Stanford places second for a less-painful consolation prize.
Yes, a lot of results like rowing add up. That's 100 DC points for Texas and 90 for Stanford, so a 20 point swing if the results are reversed. More examples: #1 women's soccer finishes 2nd (90 points instead of 100), and beach volleyball and women's water polo were real possibilities for more points. But those kinds of unexpected results happen every year and are usually offset by unexpected gains.
As we've already discussed, what really hurts are the 0 points scored by three of the five mandatory sports: men's and women's basketball and baseball. Making the NCAA tournament in two of those three--which used to happen all the time--would have likely wrapped up the Directors' Cup for Stanford.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - M T - 06-01-2026
If we're at the point where the next sport points to be dropped are W I T&F's 63.75 points, that means we've already lost
3rd M WP: 55 points
10th W Fencing: 60 points
15th M Fencing: 45 points
plus anything in the spring scoring less than 63.75 points
W O T&F ??
That's on the order of 200 points or more.
Yeah, we could make that up with, say, winning WBB and MBB, but why take away the points???
I think it is clear that Stanford would continue to win year after year if all the sports were counted.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - fullmetal - 06-01-2026
The trophy adminstrators aren't interested in total excellence...just more names in the mix and relevance to other fan bases. Like the Capital One Cup, they're all turning into the anyone-but-Stanford awards.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 06-01-2026
(06-01-2026, 12:26 AM)M T Wrote: <snip>
Yeah, we could make that up with, say, winning WBB and MBB, but why take away the points???
WBB and MBB, as two of the five mandatory sports, don't take away points. They can only add them. Of the non-mandatory sports, the 14 highest-scoring count with the remainder discarded.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - M T - 06-01-2026
(06-01-2026, 09:23 AM)Papa John Wrote:"discarded" = "take away" That's the question. Why discard or take away points?(06-01-2026, 12:26 AM)M T Wrote: <snip>WBB and MBB, as two of the five mandatory sports, don't take away points. They can only add them. Of the non-mandatory sports, the 14 highest-scoring count with the remainder discarded.
Yeah, we could make that up with, say, winning WBB and MBB, but why take away the points???
BC refers to this as "some are more equal".
The reason seems to be that they don't want to reward doing well in a large number of sports (which naturally means a larger number of athletes).
Anybody but Stanford.
Since you didn't seem to get my point, they've taken away the equivalent points of winning WBB and MBB. Why complain that Stanford didn't get points in those sports (of course, we wish Stanford had) rather than complain that arbitrary rules take away so many points that Stanford did earn.
Once upon a time, I believe they claimed it was because some schools didn't have the budget to have many sports. If they want to talk about budgets, then maybe they should exclude sports that require giant NIL budgets for a few athletes.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Goose - 06-01-2026
(06-01-2026, 12:01 PM)M T Wrote: Why complain that Stanford didn't get points in those sports (of course, we wish Stanford had) rather than complain that arbitrary rules take away so many points that Stanford did earn.All the rules for the so-called "Director's Cup" are arbitrary. It is a synthetic contest that measures nothing and means nothing. I can't get too excited about "winning" such a contest, let alone not winning it.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - Papa John - 06-01-2026
(06-01-2026, 12:50 PM)Goose Wrote:(06-01-2026, 12:01 PM)M T Wrote: Why complain that Stanford didn't get points in those sports (of course, we wish Stanford had) rather than complain that arbitrary rules take away so many points that Stanford did earn.All the rules for the so-called "Director's Cup" are arbitrary. It is a synthetic contest that measures nothing and means nothing. I can't get too excited about "winning" such a contest, let alone not winning it.
I don't think the rules are arbitrary at all. I think the folks in charge are looking to create competition. If every sport counted equally, Stanford would win every year because we host the most sports and are good to excellent at most of them. So 19 sports count--the 5 mandatories and 14 additional--because almost all D1 programs host that many NCAA-sanctioned sports. Again, that's not arbitrary, and I don't consider that approach to be Anybody but Stanford. Having said that, I can understand why others would disagree with me given the history of the Directors' Cup, esp. Stanford's dominant run and the changes in scoring structure over the years.
I do agree that the DC is a synthetic contest, but I happen to find it engaging and actually follow it throughout the year. But it's possible that I am alone in that regard given that there was no thread on this topic (that I could find) until recently.
RE: Directors' Cup 2025-2026 - TonyLima - 06-01-2026
(06-01-2026, 02:15 PM)Papa John Wrote:Last time I checked (about a century ago) Stanford and Navy were tied for most sports. My guess is Stanford took the lead with the proliferation of women’s athletics.(06-01-2026, 12:50 PM)Goose Wrote:(06-01-2026, 12:01 PM)M T Wrote: Why complain that Stanford didn't get points in those sports (of course, we wish Stanford had) rather than complain that arbitrary rules take away so many points that Stanford did earn.All the rules for the so-called "Director's Cup" are arbitrary. It is a synthetic contest that measures nothing and means nothing. I can't get too excited about "winning" such a contest, let alone not winning it.
I don't think the rules are arbitrary at all. I think the folks in charge are looking to create competition. If every sport counted equally, Stanford would win every year because we host the most sports and are good to excellent at most of them.
<bf snip>