U-M guaranteed to be Stanford's bridesmaid in Director's Cup standings

Submitted by Human Torpedo on June 10th, 2019 at 11:01 PM

To give an idea of just how big the gap is, Stanford, before the final standings for baseball, is at 1,700.50 points with us at 1224.75. That margin of about 475 points is 319 more than the margin between us and #3 Virginia. None of the teams in the top 10 besides us are in the CWS so it's pretty much set in stone

bronxblue

June 11th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^

Some of it is the number of sports but as big a reason is they don't weigh the relative difficulty of finishing at a particular place.  For example, finishing #5 in football gets as many points as #5 in women's water polo, which is bananas due to the fact that there are a ton more competitive teams in football compared to some of these other sports.

oriental andrew

June 10th, 2019 at 11:14 PM ^

Yup, and the first year it existed, Stanford was 2nd. 

Stanford is also only one of two schools that has been in the top 10 (well, top 2 for them) in every ranking. The other school is Florida, which has been as high as #2 five times and no lower than #7 three times. 

Michigan has appeared in the top ten 19 times, tops in the Big Ten and 5th overall (tied with Texas at 19; UCLA 22 times, UNC 20 times)

TrueBlue2003

June 11th, 2019 at 2:48 AM ^

The sports for which playing school doesn't matter to top players (and for which having to play school might hurt to some extent) are the ones they don't have an insane advantage in.

For pretty much all other sports?  Absolutely you go to Stanford and get that degree if you have a scholarship offer.

mjv

June 11th, 2019 at 8:21 AM ^

What I don't understand is why Stanford isn't better at basketball.  They aren't going to get the one and dones, but you would think that they could put together a 3-4 man recruiting class every year of talented, smart kids that realize the value of a Stanford degree.  And that degree should keep them in school for at least three years. 

Combine that with a willingness to spend money on sports, which is somewhat unique among the truly elite academic schools, and that should be a recipe for success.  

xgojim

June 11th, 2019 at 11:28 AM ^

Case in point:  football!  Their Beilein was Harbaugh.  They had a number of up but mostly down years and Harbaugh started what has been an annually successful period in the Pac-12, in spite of SC, UCLA, and Washington.  Seems like it would be easier in basketball since a school doesn't need the numbers of good players to become excellent.  You would think it inevitable that Stanford would eventually field an annually good team in basketball.

bronxblue

June 11th, 2019 at 10:48 AM ^

They did for a stretch in the early 2000s.  It does seem like Stanford might not be above hanging out in the gray area (their former HC Mike Montgomery got Cal into some trouble not long after he changed schools for recruiting issues, and I doubt that started when he went to Berkeley) for basketball, but that hasn't been the case.  And honestly, if you're a smart guy who wants to play basketball, Duke, UNC, Michigan, UVa, etc. are all reasonably good colleges with a TON more potential for being successful on the court.

True Blue Grit

June 11th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^

This award has become pretty meaningless given that Stanford wins it every year.  They were discussing this on WTKA yesterday, suggesting they should award the cup to the 2nd place school every year and call Stanford something like the "Grand Champion".  Because unless they change the criteria for how the cup is won, or Stanford goes belly-up (Hell has a better chance of freezing over), no one is going to beat them.  They have a virtual limitless pool of money to give out "academic" scholarships for these non-revenue sports, plus have the best facilities/coaches money can buy.  Oh, and their academic rating is near the very top too.  

chatster

June 11th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^

Not that they’ll be threatening for a “medal” in the overall standings, but there have been impressive Winter/Spring seasons for Michigan's first-game opponents in the College World Series, the Texas Tech men – NCAA basketball runner-up; NCAA outdoor track champs; NCAA baseball World Series.