REVOLVING DOOR – FEATURING 53 TEAMS SO FAR IN '09 – CONTINUES IN NATIONAL POLLS (9/8/09) – CollegeSoccer360 introduced composite national rankings in 2008 and here is a look at updated composite rankings for the 2009 season. This composite sampling is a simple formula, taking into acount four polls/rankings and crediting 25 points for a #1 ranking, 24 for #2, etc. (for a convenient 100-point scale). The four polls used are from the National Soccer Coaches Association (NSCAA), Soccer America (SA), the Soccer Times coaches poll (ST) and the top-25 in the Top Drawer Soccer NCAA field projection (TDS). The composite rankings again will be housed on their own page here at CS360 (also posted on the CS360 blog) and gradually will include more factors, such as RPI, power rankings (Albyn Jones and Massey), NCAA Tournament selection criteria, preseason conference polls, etc.
As we look at the third in-season update for the CNR, the 2009 season thus far can be summed up in one number: 53. That's how many different teams have cycled through the four national polls this season (including 48 in the past two weeks alone!).
There now are a total of 36 teams ranked among the top-25 in at least one of the four polls mentioned above, led by six from the Atlantic Coast Conference (UNC, FSU, BC, Wake, UVa and Maryland) and the Big Ten (Penn State, Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, Minnesota and Indiana), plus five each from four different conferences: the Big 12 (A&M, KU, OK St., CU and Missouri), the BIG EAST (ND, WVU, Rutgers, Georgetown and Pittsburgh), the Pacific-10 (Stanford, UCLA, Cal, USC and Washington) and the Southeastern Conference (Florida, Georgia, Auburn, South Carolina and Vanderbilt).
All but four of the 36 teams in the current CNR are affiliated with one of the six conferences noted above. The final four teams include Portland (West Coast Conference), BYU (Mountain West), William & Mary (Colonial) and UAB (Conference USA).
The CNR's current top-10 now includes half of those teams coming from the ACC (#1 UNC, #4 FSU, #6 BC, #8 WFUand #9 UVa), plus two from the Pac-10 and one each from the WCC, BIG EAST and Big Ten. Projecting the 16 top seeds for the NCAAs (based on the current CNR), there would be five from the ACC, three Big Ten, three Pac-10, two BIG EAST, and one each from the Big 12, SEC and WCC.
In the latest update of the CS360 Composite National Rankings, North Carolina remains a near-unanimous #1 (99 pts) while Florida State (#4), Boston College (#7) and Virginia (#9) all moved up a spot, along with UCLA bumping up from #9 to #6. Two teams entered the top-10: #8 Wake Forest (up from #13) and #9 Purdue (previously #15), with West Virginia (#7 to #12) and Florida (#5 to #14) dropping into the second-10.
In addition to Purdue, the noteworthy surges in the CS360 CNR came from: Kansas (#35 to #16), Rutgers (#23 to #13), California (#18 to #11) and Georgia (#27 to #20).
A boatload of teams (12) that were ranked in the previous week's CNR have dropped out of the polls: San Diego (#21), Utah (22), Texas (26), St. John's (27), DePaul (30), Miami (33), Santa Clara (33), Colorado College (350, Dayton (35), Duke (38), Memphis (38) and Washington State (38). Other teams that suffered the biggest drops (but remain in the CNR) include: Missouri (#25 to #34), Penn State (#12 to #20), USC (#20 to #27) and Colorado (#16 to #23).
Following a second straight week of numerous upsets, eight more teams have joined/rejoined the Composite National Rankings: Indiana (#22), South Carolina (23), Maryland (26), Washington (back in, at #29), William & Mary (29), UAB (32), Pittsburgh (34) and Vanderbilt (34).
Despite the season being only three weeks old, there have been more than 50 teams (53) that have been ranked already in at least one of the four top-25 polls. Those teams include the 48 mentioned above, plus LSU, James Madison, Connecticut, Tennessee and Richmond.
D-1 Women's Soccer Composite National Rankings (#4; 9/8/09)
(compiled by CollegeSoccer360.com)
1. North Carolina 99 (NSCAA-1, SA-1, ST-1, TDS-2)
2. Portland 95 (NSCAA-2, SA-3, ST-3, TDS-1)
3. Stanford 94 (NSCAA-3, SA-2, ST-2, TDS-3)
4. Florida State 88 (NSCAA-4, SA-4, ST-4, TDS-4)
5. UCLA 78 (NSCAA-6, SA-6, ST-5, TDS-9)
6. Boston College 78 (NSCAA-10, SA-5, ST-6, TDS-5)
7. Notre Dame 77 (NSCAA-5, SA-7, ST-7, TDS-8)
8. Wake Forest 71 (NSCAA-8, SA-10, ST-9, TDS-6)
9. Purdue 63 (NSCAA-7, SA-8, ST-8, TDS-18)
9. Virginia 63 (NSCAA-9, SA-16, ST-9, TDS-7)
11. California 55 (NSCAA-16, SA-9, ST-11, TDS-13)
12. West Virginia 54 (NSCAA-12, SA-15, ST-12, TDS-11)
13. Rutgers 49 (NSCAA-17, SA-11, ST-15, TDS-12)
14. Florida 43 (NSCAA-14, SA-14, ST-17, TDS-16)
15. Texas A&M 41 (NSCAA-13, SA-21, ST-14, TDS-15)
16. Kansas 34 (NSCAA-22, SA-13, ST-16, TDS-19)
16. Illinois 34 (NSCAA-11, ST-20, SA-13)
18. Oklahoma State 25 (NSCAA-19, ST-24, TDS-10)
19. Michigan State 23 (SA-19, ST-22, TDS-14)
20. Penn State 21 (NSCAA-24, SA-23, ST-19, TDS-17)
22. Indiana 20 (NSCAA-25, SA-12, ST-21)
23. South Carolina 12 (NSCAA-18, SA-25, ST-23)
23. Colorado 12 (NSCAA-20, ST-20)
25. BYU 11 (ST-18, TDS-23)
26. Maryland 8 (SA-18)
27. USC 6 (TDS-20)
28. Auburn 5 (TDS-21)
29. Washington 4 (TDS-22)
29. William & Mary 4 (SA-22)
32. UAB 2 (SA-24)
32. Georgetown 2 (TDS-24)
34. Missouri 1 (TDS-25)
34. Pittsburgh 1 (SA-25)
34. Vanderbilt 1 (SA-25)