[Papa John]

Thanks, BC, my point was that when the Directors' Cup started in the 1993-94 academic year, Stanford was earning points in men's and women's basketball and baseball for a number of years until we weren't. If those sports had been mandatory back then I seriously doubt it would have made any difference in the Cup results.

Men's BB: made NCAA tourney 1994-95 season through 2004-05; 2006-07; 2007-08; 2013-14
Women's BB: made NCAA tourney 1993-94 through 2023-24
Baseball: made NCAA tourney 1993-94 through 2005-06; 2007-08; 2009-10 through 2011-12; 2013-14; 2016-17 through 2018-19; 2020-21 through 2022-23

When Stanford won the Directors' Cup in 2022-23, the following sports were mandatory:  women's volleyball, women's basketball, men's basketball and baseball. We earned points in everything but men's basketball (ugh). This year we won't earn points in three mandatory sports (triple ugh).

However, last year the Cup added women's soccer as a mandatory sport. This change will *help* Stanford this year, since Texas did not make the NCAA tournament in that sport. If softball, instead of women's soccer, had been added as a mandatory sport, Texas would have been able to drop women's soccer this year and would win running away. But it wasn't and they can't.

My sense is that the Cup committee wants a competitive race like they had last year, and the tinkering with the formula is trying to achieve that, as opposed to trying to punish a particular school for winning too many times. I suppose that competitive doesn't mean fair in the absolute sense--e.g. giving some sports more weight than others--but I'm OK with that.

[Papa John]

Thanks, BC, my point was that when the Directors' Cup started in the 1993-94 academic year, Stanford was earning points in men's and women's basketball and baseball for a number of years until we weren't. If those sports had been mandatory back then I seriously doubt it would have made any difference in the Cup results.

Men's BB: made NCAA tourney 1994-95 season through 2004-05; 2006-07; 2007-08; 2013-14
Women's BB: made NCAA tourney 1993-94 through 2023-24
Baseball: made NCAA tourney 1993-94 through 2005-06; 2007-08; 2009-10 through 2011-12; 2013-14; 2016-17 through 2018-19; 2020-21 through 2022-23

When Stanford won the Directors' Cup in 2022-23, the following sports were mandatory:  women's volleyball, women's basketball, men's basketball and baseball. We earned points in everything but men's basketball (ugh). This year we won't earn points in three mandatory sports (triple ugh).

However, last year the Cup added women's soccer as a mandatory sport. This change will *help* Stanford this year, since Texas did not make the NCAA tournament in that sport. If softball, instead of women's soccer, had been added as a mandatory sport, Texas would have been able to drop women's soccer this year and would win running away. But it wasn't and they can't.

My sense is that the Cup committee wants a competitive race like they had last year, and the tinkering with the formula is trying to achieve that, as opposed to trying to punish a particular school for winning too many times. I suppose that competitive doesn't mean fair in the absolute sense--e.g. giving some sports more weight than others--but I'm OK with that.