NSCAA coaches poll

The coaches poll is out.

NSCAA poll

UNC
Stanford
Notre Dame
UP
UCLA

So, pretty much the same top five as ended the season, which is the way the coaches usually start the season.

Now we just have to bring them around...

Santa Clara at #22... wow, you'd think a quality win or 2 this season would be in order first.

aleppiek wrote:Santa Clara at #22... wow, you'd think a quality win or 2 this season would be in order first.

Well based on their talent and the absolute devastation due to injury the last few years, it really isn't THAT surprising.... Perhaps the coaches follow the Geez's SCU credo as well...

I'm OK with a quality win or two on their part.

Just as long as it isn't against us....

Let 'em beat Notre Dame and Stanford and I'll buy Jerry Smith a beer.

I enjoy the Pilot blog but to be honest, I my alligience is, shall we say, elswhere? Obvioulsy, it doesn't matter where you begin but where you end up. I think Portland has a very good shot to be in the final four, if not playing for and winning the championship. I will say, however, of the four other teams ranked, Portland will have the easiest of the schedules. If you disagree, take a look at who and where UCLA and NC, for that matter, have to face and play. Good luck, Pilots.

chiefer wrote:I enjoy the Pilot blog but to be honest, I my alligience is, shall we say, elswhere? Obvioulsy, it doesn't matter where you begin but where you end up. I think Portland has a very good shot to be in the final four, if not playing for and winning the championship. I will say, however, of the four other teams ranked, Portland will have the easiest of the schedules. If you disagree, take a look at who and where UCLA and NC, for that matter, have to face and play. Good luck, Pilots.

Welcome to the forum. We enjoy views from the outside.


No one seemed all that concerned last year when ND had the weakest schedule of the top 5 and still got the top seed because they were undefeated.

The harder schedule will only help you if you win those games.

Congrats Geez, you didn't even correct chiefer's spelling!

Seriously though, Portland does play some quality opponents, and outside of UNC, UCLA plays a lot of the same ranked teams that we do, obviously USC and Florida don't appear on our schedule, but A&M doesn't appear on theirs.

Yes UCLA's schedule is slightly stronger, but we don't know by how much until some of these games get played out.

I think we all know that UP's schedule is a bit weaker this year, though I would argue that while it's definitely less top-heavy (i.e. no UCLA or UNC) it is still very deep... we aren't playing many non-tournament teams outside of the WCC. No cake walk, that's for sure.

It'll actually be interesting to see how it plays out. Our resident RPI guru (UPSF) can help us out with this, but perhaps our overall RPI will end up being better if we have a slightly weaker schedule but no losses? Or is it better to lose one or two to the very top teams? I really don't know...

aleppiek wrote:Congrats Geez, you didn't even correct chiefer's spelling!

I was a afraid it would have been to scarey if I had. It was, after all, the first post.

I've thought about doing a computation to see how the top teams' opponents' average RPIs from last year compare to each other. It would be a little deceptive, since a team like Santa Clara figures to have a much higher RPI this year than last. After I finish some RPI-related tasks I'm doing, maybe I'll try it. I'm guessing that UNC will have the best average based on last year. Portland's was by far the best in terms of out-of-conference opponents, but we were hurt by Santa Clara's being so far down once we added the conference games in.

I think the big question this year is going to be how Santa Clara does. Remember, before they started their slew of injuries the year before last, they were ranked at or very near the top. If they can return this year, then our schedule will be right up there for toughness. And, we are scheduled to play 6 of the top 30 teams, based on the recent polls. This is not different than other years, except that we don't have UNC, UCLA, Stanford, or Notre Dame.

The big thing is, there's going to be a premium on the Pilots winning every game. So let's first get by Oregon, and then Cal, and go from there.

Frankly, there's a bit of smugness I sense in those that claim some sort of superiority from their schedules. It might be better to revisit the issue in November... The team that can probably claim a harder schedule than many schools is somebody like Oregon Or OSU. They play us and all of the PAC10.

Does anybody really believe they will be in the College Cup?

Virginia or Virginia Tech ---now they play hard schedules.

How about Loyola Chicago? They play Notre Dame, Illinois, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan State, and Purdue.

I'm with the Geez: Let's see how the season goes before deciding whose schedule is strong.

Let me try and make my point a little more clearly, spelling errors, notwithstanding. I believe Portland will make it to the final four, no doubt, because of their talent on the field and maybe more importantly, because they have a schedule, I believe, which will pretty much guarantee that result. If the comment about "smugness" pertaining to others schedules was directed to me, let me clarify. I don't think that pointing out that the other top teams have a tougher schedule, demeans Portland's. My point is, it might be tougher for some of the bubble teams, like a UCLA to get to the final four because of their schedule, unless they run the table, which I doubt. Portland does not have to go through the gauntlet that the other four top teams will, which should put them in the best position to get that No 1 seed. So, lucky you and good for you. Everything is lining up well.

If you look at the schedules of the top 5; Stanford has #3 ND, (basically, at home) and #1 NC. NC has #5 UCLA and is away at #3 ND and #6 FSU. UCLA at #1 NC, #2 Stanford, neutral vs #10 Florida and #8 USC at home. Portland is away at #7 A&M. My question to you guys is, would you be as confident, right now, to secure a No 1 seed in the bracket if you had, let's say UCLA's schedule this year? That's all.

The smugness was most definitely not aimed at you... Haha think more along the lines of schools from the Big 12 and over toward the east...

The point made by the old guys (Geezer and UPSF) and also by this old guy is that schedules that sound easy or hard now might not seem that way later in the season. If I remember correctly, USC last year was expected to be a top 4-5 team as the previous years champ but ended up down a ways. A & M could be better then expected this year, and Santa Clara WILL be better than expected.

Always remember - Old guys rule!!

I suppose the old adage "that's why they play the games" is an adage for just such a reason

chiefer wrote: My question to you guys is, would you be as confident, right now, to secure a No 1 seed in the bracket if you had, let's say UCLA's schedule this year? That's all.

That's a fair point. We had a schedule last year that was substantially more difficult going into the season than UCLA's for this year. We played the #1 and #3 teams the first weekend. (USC and UCLA). At the end of the non-conference, UPSF computed us as best in the nation. Just that wasn't enough to get a #1 seed, mostly because the rest of the conference (particularly SCU) had a bad year out of conference.

But Notre Dame had a schedule you could say on balance was easier than ours this year, and It WAS enough for a #1 seed. The difference was one game by each team that could have gone either way. If UP had beaten UCLA or anyone had beaten Notre Dame the result would have been reversed. UP would have been the consensus #1 in the nation on the basis of being undefeated and having the toughest non-conference, or Notre Dame might have slipped to a 3 or 4 seed on the basis of not being able to weather an easy schedule. Their only wins in the top 20 were UNC 1-0 (good win) and Duke at #9. That's IT. They also played 8 teams with losing records (3 of them non-conference). That was good enough to get the top seed in the tournament.

UP would also have gotten a #1 seed if the Stanford -UNC game hadn't ended in a tie.

I submit the situation is reversed this year. Yeah, we don't play the #1 and #2 teams the first weekend but our schedule isn't any softer than theirs was last year, and nobody's schedule this year looks stronger than our season did last year. So the way I figure it - we win out and others don't, we get a #1 seed.

The down side is that if we lose, we can't claw ourselves back into the top four as easily as UNC did after their loss to ND. and if ND had lost to UNC last year, they would have been a 3 or 4 seed with only one win in the top 20. So it cuts both ways. An easier schedule comes with more pressure to win out.

Also, some of the top rankings are surely bogus. Every year teams disappoint. USC is the prime example from last year. They started the season #1 but ended it -what- #8? Santa Clara also tanked with their first losing season in like 20 years. A couple of shifts like that and the season looks a whole lot different.

There are a couple of teams that may surprise this year. Santa Clara of course tops my list, but you may see UW, WSU, Miami, Illinois, Oregon, - even lowly OSU surprising some folks, and one or two of the top five may tank their season - great schedule or no. All that has to happen is for a couple of those teams to improve over last year and all of a sudden the UP schedule looks a lot stronger.

So- get some wins first. If Stanford or Notre Dame lose to unranked Santa Clara, their hopes for a #1 seed are over. That's probably true if almost anybody knocks off UNC who isn't in the top 5. The same is true if any top team gets beaten by a lower ranked team.

What does that have to do with old guys rule??

Oh, I see - never mind. You're referring the other part.

I cannot think of a single thing to say that Geez did not just cover. Well said.

Polls are nice but I'm going to open a can of worms here!! Even if Portland ends up #1 in the polls at the end of the season....our disadvantage come tournament time is the tournament selection committee seems to send the Pilots elsewhere for the 1st rounds. We typically don't have a home advantage to start with. That sucks! That's why we're more interested in RPI and how our neigboring school's programs are doing.

GO PILOTS!!!

Go UW and WSU, and ORE and OSU and PSU, and etc..... but don't be too good!

aleppiek wrote:I cannot think of a single thing to say that Geez did not just cover. Well said.

I could have added that last year Santa Clara had by far the toughest schedule in America. It did them little good.

Haha indeed... Its all a moot point if you don't win the games...

Purplegeezer wrote:

aleppiek wrote:I cannot think of a single thing to say that Geez did not just cover. Well said.

I could have added that last year Santa Clara had by far the toughest schedule in America. It did them little good.

OK there is that...