Surprises in 2012

Anyone want to speculate on who might move up in '12 and who might be off?

From nc-soccer site lists the following rpi moves for '11.

Memphis moved from 26 rpi to 8.

Pepperdine from 71 to 14

Baylor from 62 to 15

Kentucky from 84 to 30

LaSalle from 172 to 38

VT from 44 to 21

Going the other way:

MD from 8 to 16

ND from 2 to 42

UP from 4 to 50

UW from 32 to 87

OK from 36 to 100

Any one want to go out on a limb as to might make big moves this year?

I'll make a guess and say: Memphis moves down, LaSalle moves down, ND and UP move up, Baylor moves down, Pep moves down and dogs of UW are still dogs and UO moves up.

Gnarly, for a resource, go to the nc-soccer 2012 webpages with the 2012 Schedule page here: https://www.nc-soccer.com/wsoccer/2012/composite

Once there, use the Information drop down menu and click on Schedule Strength (Historic). If you spend some time on that page, you'll be able to use the data to see which teams are likely to be consistent performers and which teams are not, based on data from the last five years. The Schedule Strength (Historic) page is intended, in part, to be a resource for college coaches in scheduling future games to maximize their RPIs. You'll find a detailed explanation of the Schedule Strength (Historic) page under the heading Scheduling to Help Your RPI here: https://sites.google.com/site/rpifordivisioniwomenssoccer/team-scheduling

Just off the top of my head, I'd watch out for Kansas and William & Mary.

Jayhawks couldn't defend to save their life last year but were very young and add in an All-American in Cassie Dickerson, who should be huge if her knees hold up.

W&M get a ton of talent back, should have an easy road through their league, and will be battle tested with a good non-conference schedule. Their opener against Duke should tell a lot about both teams. Wouldn't shock me if they went on a LBSU/UCF type run deep into the tournament.

From the above listed teams, I'd say...

UP - Notre Dame, Portland, Washington, Oklahoma
SAME - Pepperdine, Baylor, Kentucky, La Salle, Virginia Tech
DOWN - Memphis, Maryland

ChrisAWK wrote:Just off the top of my head, I'd watch out for Kansas and William & Mary.

Jayhawks couldn't defend to save their life last year but were very young and add in an All-American in Cassie Dickerson, who should be huge if her knees hold up.

W&M get a ton of talent back, should have an easy road through their league, and will be battle tested with a good non-conference schedule. Their opener against Duke should tell a lot about both teams. Wouldn't shock me if they went on a LBSU/UCF type run deep into the tournament.

From the above listed teams, I'd say...

UP - Notre Dame, Portland, Washington, Oklahoma
SAME - Pepperdine, Baylor, Kentucky, La Salle, Virginia Tech
DOWN - Memphis, Maryland

Woo Hoo, welcome Chris of All White Kit. Pilots fans, if you aren't familiar with All White Kit and Chris, he is one of the most knowledgeable people anywhere about Division I women's soccer and writes regularly here: http://www.allwhitekit.com/

It is great to have Chris visit here at PilotNation!

Chris, any chance you'll be here for North Carolina or Notre Dame?