M 1st in Initial Director's Cup Standings
Enjoy it while it lasts....
CLEVELAND – In the first set of fall DI and NAIA Learfield Directors' Cup standings, Michigan has scored 205.00 points to lead Division I, while Oklahoma City has scored 163.00 points to lead the NAIA standings.
In Division I, Michigan captured two top-10 finishes (women's cross country, 4th; women's field hockey, 5th) and a 19thplace finish in men's cross country.
1. Michigan 205
2. Princeton 188
3. Colorado 180
4. BYU 162
5. Stanford 150
December 2nd, 2018 at 9:28 AM ^
Glad we’re top 10 in foot and basketball. It's hard to take any athletic ranking seriously that has Princeton #2.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
Agreed - why is that weird? You know there are a lot of sports where going pro isn't an option so the top academic schools excel. Not sure why that's so weird.
December 2nd, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
I was somehow ignorant of Princeton being a Div. I school. They are an Ivy school so this mistake was silly, but it also underscores how far removed Princeton is from the public consciousness (far more than Harvard, Yale, maybe even ... Cornell).
December 2nd, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^
That's a little surprising, only because Princeton has made some noise in the NCAA bball tourney in recent past, but also a ton back in the day (not that I saw it, but it gets discussed a lot, as well as the "Princeton offense"). And I assume you don't follow lacrosse, but Princeton lacrosse is historically very strong. But yeah, the Ivy League is an athletic conference, in division 1.
December 2nd, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^
TL;DR - not in sports accomplishment but in sports social awareness, Princeton feels closer to Slippery Rock or ... Brynn Mawr than Harvard.
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I respect the Ivy, but they rarely occupy my headspace. So I won't punish myself for thinking "Oh obviously Harvard is in our division but probably not Princeton." Again, to be clear, this is not a comment on Princeton's NCAA achievements but is exclusively a comment on how (very) low my awareness is of Princeton athletics. For example, the last few additions to Div. I (ick: ApSU, for example) sit more prominently in my mind as "obviously Div. I" than Princeton.
December 2nd, 2018 at 2:57 PM ^
App St has always been in D1, like Princeton. So it's likely you're just not paying attention outside of Power 5. Not uncommon, most likely. But odd that you'd recognize other teams in their league as D1 but not them.
December 2nd, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^
I suppose I could afford a different clarification now. Is the Sears Directors Cup purely a measure of Div I-A or does it consider both Div I-A and I-AA?
ApSU recently moved from FCS to FBS and therefore from I-AA to I-A. I've been lazily typing Div. I but intended I-A.
This may have been a misunderstanding but should help you make more sense of what I wrote.
December 2nd, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
Princeton? Okay
December 2nd, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
It's a small sampling with only 3 sports that have finished. Princeton happened to place in all three (including top 5 in field hockey), like us. All it means is we are off to a good start so far. Schools will move towards their normal place as the athletic year goes on, but our teams are performing at a very high level across the board and this reflects that. It's not that important in the grand scheme, but it's something that acknowledges the work our student-athletes do and we should be proud.
December 2nd, 2018 at 9:40 AM ^
Suck it, Stanford.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
Just wait for Stanford unfortunately...they have more sports than we do, and like always (usually) they end up at the top.
But god damn our Basketball Team!!!
December 2nd, 2018 at 9:42 AM ^
Here, Michigan usually does well but Stanford "always" wins this, right?
December 2nd, 2018 at 10:23 AM ^
It's often called the "Stanford Cup," so yeah.
December 2nd, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
It’s why we should get rid of it. Giving Stanford a reason to brag about another thing is pointless.
December 2nd, 2018 at 9:42 AM ^
Kansas is a basketball school. Michigan is not a basketball school, it is the school with the best all around athletic department
December 2nd, 2018 at 9:45 AM ^
December 2nd, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
What this means is that the University is well represented at most, if not all, collegiate athletics. This is something very few institutions can say. Add in the lack of nefarious behavior and subsequent bad press and you have a recipe for something that we, as fans, should be extremely proud of.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
Except, how many, we the fans, watch anything but Football and Basketball??? Maybe the occasional Hockey game? Really its cool that Michigan is well rounded in athletics but from a 'Fans' perspective really does mean much.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
You're right in that it doesn't mean much to the "fans" who only watch two sports, but to most M fans I know (granted, most are alumni) that's not the case. There was a post yesterday about M volleyball (where we should get some points in these standings), the blog does a TON about softball and I personally follow lacrosse, swimming and often wrestling pretty closely.
I'm trying not to come off as a prick in this post, but don't be one of those people who think no one cares about something just because you and your friends don't. The Director's Cup has always gotten a lot of interest on this blog, obviously there's something to it.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:37 AM ^
Something I noticed about people with that “who cares” attitude generally are the angry, hot take artists.
Ignorance is bliss. They’re missing out on so much fun following these other teams and going to their games.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:45 AM ^
i agree with you here WD. UM-Pitt in volleyball last night was a fun game I randomly caught on ESPN3, and I will follow them now into the sweet 16.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
It's cool to see Michigan represented at the Olympics every four years by so many swimmers from the US and other countries.
December 2nd, 2018 at 12:15 PM ^
You r 100 percent correct!! I follow ALL Michigan sports and care about them all They represent MICHIGAN!
December 2nd, 2018 at 10:19 AM ^
Volleyball is in sweet 16. Men's soccer made it to the 2nd round.... womens swimming is currently ranked #2, men's is top 10. wrestling i believe is ranked around #5.... men's basketball top 5.... women should make the tourney. gynmastics is perennially top 10.
For Michigan to ever win this thing and unseat Stanford, we need to get a lot of points in the sports Stanford doesnt score in. Men's Basketball, Hockey, etc.
December 2nd, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^
Stanford wins all the olympic sports like fencing and judo that only half a dozen schools in the entire country participate in.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
Kids of venture capitalists need to have an excuse to get a scholarship, so might as well put them in judo classes early!
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:17 AM ^
Honestly Stanford always wins and usually by a wide margin. In my opinion, coming in second in these standings is a huge win.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
Stanford, while a very successful department, has a much larger margin for error.
They can afford having shitty men’s basketball because they have 36 sports iirc.
We have 29 NCAA-sponsored sports.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^
No doubt about that, but having a larger department makes it all the more impressive. Having those additional sports does them no good if those sports aren't having any success, but Stanford is very good at having success with a large proportion of their teams.
December 2nd, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^
It’s all a show until stanford’s #1 equestrian recruiting class takes over.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
I'm more interested in the Fulmer cup
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^
Does this mean ANYTHING????
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
It measures the overall quality/success of a school's athletic department. As a Michigan fan, I put a lot of weight in lists like this because it sets us apart from the Alabamas of the world who care a ton about football but have like 8 other total sports in their AD.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:40 AM ^
Ya tha's why powerhouse princeton is number 1.
nice, but totally without meaning.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:56 AM ^
We're 3 sports in.
It's totally without meaning to you. Which would make it a good board topic for you to ignore. Yet here you are making multiple posts about something without any meaning. Huh.
December 2nd, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
It is one of the many legacies. UM Athletics has always been strong across many sports. Most people started hearing about the cup during Dave Brandon's reign when decided that would become super important publicly. But it is something that was already big. Check out the official home page.
https://mgoblue.com/sports/2017/6/16/trads-national-champions-html.aspx
Since we are now off the usual topic of the major team sports, the UM Chess Team tied for first at the Ivy League Chess Challenge. They lost to Princeton on tied breaks.
https://en.chessbase.com/post/princeton-wins-ivy-chess-challenge
Ann Arbor's own Atulya Shetty on board 1 was undefeated and scored 4 out of a possible 5 points.
The team finished tenth in most recent Pan-American Collegiate championship which was held at that place down south. I know that may not seem like much but if you look at the cross table, college chess has now seen an influx of money and scholarships (yes, you can get a scholarship to play chess at these places but typically you have to be really good - international master or grandmaster strength) - the top teams, Webster Univ. Univ. of St. Louis, Texas Tech, Univ. of Tex Dallas, etc can field multiple teams all with grandmasters. (a grandmaster or GM is about 10 standard deviations better than the average player)
http://www.buckeyechess.com/2017PanAmTournament.html
So the next time some scandal breaks in college sports about recruiting, money, and people getting poached, it is not just the sport but partly the effect of money, booster, supporters and administration wanting to upgrade the results.