DirectorsCupUpdates

I can't really understand it either. We do have two incredible sprinters coming in next year - sisters that have the #1 and #3 all time high school records for the 60 m indoor as well as other sprinting accolades. But, there has certainly been a lull in bringing high end talent to the track program. It is a tricky sport to recruit to because of scholarship limits. Especially on the men's side. All the scholarships have to be split between T&F and CC. Seems that Texas always focused the scholarships on T&F. There are no longer limits, only roster limit which I think is like 45. That excuse is mostly off the table now, or at least whenever Texas is able to fund all 45 scholarships. T&F and CC make up 6 out of 21 sports on campus for Texas. That's 28.5% of the athletic program and the lack of high end results there would be the biggest contributing factor to us not winning the Directors' Cup this year.

We need that, plus other top finishes from our highly ranked programs (M Ten, rowing, beach volleyball, etc) to be in the running with Stanford. My biggest concern right now is track and field. Both are ranked in the mid-teens currently. We need that or better to stay competitive. And then, it also depends on Stanford. Both basketball teams are on the bubble - we need both to miss the tourney. What about Stanford baseball? They haven't had a strong start to the year. We need them to miss the post-season as well.

Stanford Men's Hoops has been a regular 0 for them recently. They had a hot start but have fallen off recently and are probably not a tournament team this year. Their baseball has been up and down. Missed the tourney last year. Not ranked to start this season but they have a history of being pretty good. If they return to being a top 16ish baseball program, itll be tough to beat Stanford consistently in the Directors' Cup. Women's basketball was a perenial power but their coach retired and they were awful last year. They have rebounded (pun intended) this year and are likely in the tournament at this time but have also lost 4 in a row. If they continue to slide and fall out of the tournament, that would really open the door for Texas.

Mid March, Arkansas

I think it’s an uphill battle for Texas this year but a 50 point edge for Stanford can disappear very quickly. we definitely need men’s hoops to make the tourney. And need a lot more track and field points compared to last year.

this golf team is stacked. Beat host Arizona by 1 stroke. Not a super strong field. Did it all without their best golfer, Christian Maas who was competing in a pro event and finished as top amateur.

Uhhh, @Bobby Burton, I think the thread has been infiltrated by a robot.

Yes, please make sure to follow the main thread. I haven’t posted fall updates there yet but volleyball will end this weekend and I’ll have some updates to make. Texas will be 30th or so probably with about 150 points. Not a good fall for Texas but as noted above, fall isn’t typically our strength. it’s was too early to predict the finish but based on some rudimentary predictions I could see Stanford around 1250 and Texas and usc both around 1150. Lots of unknowns right now though.

Would be amazing to beat them in the finals!

A&M up 10-6 in the 5th

Nebraska takes set 4, 37-35 and the match goes to set 5

Currently 32-31 A&M

Since posted this, Nebraska has gone on a run, now tied at 21

Nebraska took the 3rd set. aggy up 18-12 in the 4th.

It really all depends on what happens next. If aggies do pull it off, we really need to make the final to see any benefit. If they win and we lost today, that’s doubly bad honestly.

Nebraska has been pretty amazing this year, 33-0 record. They have lost 7 sets the entire year. That includes 1 set in their last 24 matches! That is insane, thats 72 sets won and 1 set lost in the last 73. So.....the best thing for Texas would be Nebraska being knocked off prior to the final. Do we root for Texas A&M to knock them out?

I just followed score updates today but I don't believe Texas trailed at any point (other than starting sets 2 and 3 down 0-1). That is a dominant performance at against this level of competition even if they did not win the sets by large margins. The blocking by the team has definitely improved late in the season. Nice to see improvement and development as the season goes.

Yep, and this has been the case over the years. Plenty of good men’s teams over the years, spread across all the men’s sports at times, but the consistently high performing teams have mostly been on the women’s side. Men’s swimming, golf and tennis probably the most consistent on that side of things.

The rest of the bracket is all chalk, except for 12 seed cal poly, advancing to the sweet 16. They play 1 seed Kentucky in Lexington this weekend so it’s likely that the Elite 8 consists only of teams ranked in the top 16 overall.

75-33 point victory last night. Probably the weakest opponent we faced all year. We are going for the teams 20th consecutive sweet 16 appearance. We need every team to get to this level of consistency!

That’s some solid work. That fg percentage is a head scratcher for sure.

What is your source for these stats?

I was a little shocked to see that name as well. Clearly as an 8 seed they are not nearly the program they have been in the past.

8 seed Penn state likely in rd of 32 colorado or Indiana likely in sweet 16 wisconsin or Stanford in elite 8.

9-9 in the 5th set and then Kentucky scores 6 straight. texas had 23-19 in the 3rd set and didn’t close it out. Kentucky controlled the match from there on.