[Jamesy]

If you can't get into the minutiae of collegiate rowing here, where can you?

well, uh:
https://rowingillustrated.com/boards/
https://reddit.com/r/rowing

Okay, I was hot on Princeton at the start of the season because they were the only 1V boat with eight non-seniors/5th yrs at NCAAs last season.  Not saying the same rowers ended up earning their seats back this season, but it's a big deal to have an A final boat return everyone.  Texas only returned two, most other crews lost a couple or so.  But then Yale comes back with two Olympians (one silver medalist) and another who tried to qualify for the Olympics -- all three trained full-time in 2024, and they beat Princeton a couple of weeks ago.  As much as one would expect Princeton to get faster from last season, Yale got even faster.

The cMax rankings (ordinary least squares) for the 1V boats bear this out.  They also predict that Stanford is ahead of the field, but unlike any other human poll, they put Yale in second place.  I think the margins will shrink after Stanford's trip to Austin, but not enough to change the ranking.  (I don't quite believe Tennessee is faster than Texas either, and Rutgers over Brown would be news to me.)

https://www.row2k.com/polls/index.cfm?ca...20Rankings

The east coast and midwest schools tend to get comparably faster through the season because of the comparatively more valuable experience on the water after a winter frozen off the water.  We'll see what happens.

Thanks. I remember posting earlier this year how i felt it would come down to Texas or us for the natty and you had shouted out Princeton. The Ivy championships in a couple weeks should be interesting to see how Princeton/Yale shape up. An Ivy team hasn't won or finished second at NCAA's in 14 years (Brown won in 2011) and I still think it comes down to us or Texas. 

Rowing illustrated has 2 threads this month on women's college rowing and the reddit thread isn't college focused enough for my (admittedly narrow) taste so I really appreciate your analysis.

[Jamesy]

If you can't get into the minutiae of collegiate rowing here, where can you?

well, uh:
https://rowingillustrated.com/boards/
https://reddit.com/r/rowing

Okay, I was hot on Princeton at the start of the season because they were the only 1V boat with eight non-seniors/5th yrs at NCAAs last season.  Not saying the same rowers ended up earning their seats back this season, but it's a big deal to have an A final boat return everyone.  Texas only returned two, most other crews lost a couple or so.  But then Yale comes back with two Olympians (one silver medalist) and another who tried to qualify for the Olympics -- all three trained full-time in 2024, and they beat Princeton a couple of weeks ago.  As much as one would expect Princeton to get faster from last season, Yale got even faster.

The cMax rankings (ordinary least squares) for the 1V boats bear this out.  They also predict that Stanford is ahead of the field, but unlike any other human poll, they put Yale in second place.  I think the margins will shrink after Stanford's trip to Austin, but not enough to change the ranking.  (I don't quite believe Tennessee is faster than Texas either, and Rutgers over Brown would be news to me.)

https://www.row2k.com/polls/index.cfm?ca...20Rankings

The east coast and midwest schools tend to get comparably faster through the season because of the comparatively more valuable experience on the water after a winter frozen off the water.  We'll see what happens.

Thanks. I remember posting earlier this year how i felt it would come down to Texas or us for the natty and you had shouted out Princeton. The Ivy championships in a couple weeks should be interesting to see how Princeton/Yale shape up. An Ivy team hasn't won or finished second at NCAA's in 14 years (Brown won in 2011) and I still think it comes down to us or Texas. 

Rowing illustrated has 2 threads this month on women's college rowing and the reddit thread isn't college focused enough for my (admittedly narrow) taste so I really appreciate your analysis.