M remains 2nd in final Winter standings for Director's Cup
With the addition of Men's and Women's Gymnastics, the final Winter standings for the Director's Cup were released today. Michigan remains firmly in 2nd, with Penn State, Wisconsin and Minnesota rounding out the top 5. Pretty dominant showing so far for the Big Ten. Ohio State is 7th, Notre Dame 8th, MSU 38th.
Full standings: https://s3.amazonaws.com/nacda.com/documents/2019/4/23/April25DIOverall.pdf
April 25th, 2019 at 10:57 AM ^
Perhaps the headline should say that Michigan wins the Stanford Cardinal Directors Cup. This is an impressive achievement and a credit to Manuel on continuing/ enhancing a culture of excellence in the athletic department.
April 25th, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
this has been in the making for 10+ years - the B10 will own the top 10 (minus stanford, UF and a few others on occasion). The money, the culture and the number of sports the B10 fields will mean half the top ten will be B10 teams.
B12 teams field 18-22 sports mostly, the Pac 12 is garbage outside of Stanford, UCLA and mabey UW and USC but the P12 money just isnt there. A couple SEC and ACC teams could do well like UVa and UF but many SEC schoolsobly have 18-22 sports as well.
B10 teams mostly field 26-30. The money is in full swing.
April 25th, 2019 at 11:12 AM ^
It's a pretty down year for a lot of the usual suspects. The overall top 10 teams since the inception of the Director's Cup (based on my own analysis, the nerdity of I won't bore you with), along with their current Winter rankings:
- Stanford (1)
- UCLA (32)
- Florida (10)
- North Carolina (21)
- Michigan (2)
- Texas (13)
- USC (22)
- Ohio State (7)
- Penn State (3)
- Georgia (34)
A lot of sports yet to go, but so far the Big Ten is outperforming their historical rankings. Could just be a function of the southern/western schools dominance in spring sports.
April 25th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
The B1G always does go well up until here... then UCLA, Florida, USC really take off
Times in the top 10:
Stanford 25
Florida 25
UCLA 22 (might not make top 10 this year)
UNC 20 (might not make top 10 this year)
Michigan 19
Texas 19
USC 16
OSU 12
Georgia 10
Penn State 9
California 8
Arizona 8
Virginia 7
Texas A&M 6
LSU 6
Duke 6
EDIT: I went back and checked the lowest ranked team at this point (the last six seasons) to still make the top ten: #22 (FSU), #17 (Texas), #20 (Oregon), #19 (USC), #25 (UCLA), #13 Oklahoma)
April 25th, 2019 at 11:00 AM ^
spartan swill!
Hey!
April 25th, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^
Has Stanford ever not won?
April 25th, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
The very first year of the Director's Cup (1993-94), Stanford finished 2nd. North Carolina was 1st.
Stanford has been #1 every year since.
April 25th, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
UNC won the first one. But since then it has been Stanford. Helps to have 55 sponsored sports (sarcasm, I don't know the number).
April 25th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
You're actually not THAT far off. Stanford has 36 total teams (16 men's, 20 women's).
ohio state has 37 (18 men's, 19 women's - counting Spirit teams for both)
Michigan, by contrast, has "only" 27 teams (13 men's, 14 women's, not counting Spirit)
Florida has fewer, with only 19 (8 men's, 11 women's).
And that's all I feel like looking up.
April 25th, 2019 at 11:25 AM ^
Spring sports that Michigan should do well in:
Women's Rowing - Should be Top 10.
Softball - Top 25
Women's Tennis - Top 15?
Men's Tennis - Same?
Women's Lacrosse - Early season returns are pretty impressive
Men's T&F - Top 25?
No idea about Water Polo.
April 25th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
I am thinking that women’s softball team will do a lot better than top 25.
April 25th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
They finished 33rd in the standings last year so I took an incremental step up instead of a return to the WCWS.
Well, "33rd" means "3rd place in one of the 16 regionals." In other words, 33rd-48th.
The incremental step up (2nd place in a regional) would be 17th. Right now, winning a regional but losing the super-regional looks pretty likely for the softball team--that would be 9th.
Also, baseball has a pretty good shot at making a regional, and I think a reasonable shot at 2nd place in a regional if they do make it. That would be 17th.
Rowing will finish in the top-5
W Tennis should host and at least get to the NCAA Round of 16
M Tennis will make the NCAA Tournament but I'd be stunned if we get past the Second Round. This year is a bit of step back from last year.
W Lax is an NCAA Tournament lock and may host games depending on their seeding. Ask again later. Only losses this season are to #2 and #6.
M Track & Field outside of the field events is uncompetitive so yeah, no. We'll be lucky to put points on the board at Outdoors.
Water Polo is elite and with another CWPA Championship this weekend will make the NCAA Tournament.
April 25th, 2019 at 11:42 AM ^
Don't tell OSU fans who say their athletics are better.
April 25th, 2019 at 11:54 AM ^
OSU has had some good years, especially lately. They finished 2nd in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and also 2010-11.
All-time they're 8th vs. Michigan at 5th, so hardly a follower.
Both OSU and Penn State have recently upped their game, as has Notre Dame (mainly because they're in the ACC now and getting credit).
Arizona, Cal and ASU have all fallen off the pace after being competitive earlier in the Cup's history (Spring and Summer sports)
April 25th, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
Rutger pulling in tied at #81 with Georgia Tech. They are last among B1G schools. For reference, the next closest B1G School is Northwestern(!) at #58(!!). Maryland, the other oft-hated addition, finished one spot below MSU at #39.
Here's a list of Power 5 schools that finished BELOW Rutgers, because the list above them is too long.
SEC
- Vanderbilt, #83;
Big 12
- Kansas State, #128 (Oof. Not that I have anything against K-State, but damn that's low);
ACC
- Boston College, #116;
- Pitt, tied for #107;
Pac 12
- None*
- *Washington State is the closest contender at #77;
Do with this what you will.
April 25th, 2019 at 12:00 PM ^
Do with this what you will.
Use it to rationalize (again) my annoyance with the addition of Rutgers into the Big Ten you say?
Don't mind if I do.
April 25th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
Ah, a man of culture, such as myself!
April 25th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
For fun, let's compare this to the All-Time rankings (again, my own compilation and analysis). Rutgers is indeed dead last in the Big Ten at 88th. The next worst Big Ten program is Iowa at 45 (NW is 44, Purdue 43).
There are only TWO Power 5 programs worse than Rutgers: Pitt (ACC) at 90, Washington State (Pac 12) at 95.
The ones you mention aren't as bad all-time: Vandy is 58, Kansas St is 72, BC is 66.
Rutgers' best finish was 54th in 2006-07.
April 25th, 2019 at 12:06 PM ^
Thank you for doing this. I honestly wanted to know the historical ranking, but I couldn't justify spending any more time on it based on the fact that I shouldn't even be on the internet right now. Take my upvote
#81 in the standings but #1 in our hearts... err, TV dollars... or something like that.
MSU is bad at women's sports because good female athletes don't want to come to a school dominated by a rape culture
Well, the obvious cultural problems at MSU aside, I think when it comes to not making this list, it has a bit more to do with not shelling out for staff to the extent that other schools do, and also East Lansing simply not being a noted destination for many of the sports that factor into the standings, at leas insofar as I am aware
MSU is bad at pretty much everything except men's and women's basketball.
They were hopeless in women's gymnastics prior to the atrocities coming to light. They might as well drop their program now.
Wisconsin and Minnesota might be a bit of a surprise, but most Big 10 teams do well across the spectrum athletically.
At some point, though, they just need to stop counting Stanford. There are structural advantages that they have built into this system that makes it virtually impossible for them to not finish in the top place. I don't particularly care either way but I don't remember a time when Stanford wasn't in first place in these rankings, seemingly regardless of how they performed at sports people watch or notice.