NCAA Top 25--April 27

[sluggers]

TOP 25

1 Washington (19) 37-5 736 1
2 Michigan (11) 37-5 728 2
3 Arizona 38-7 694 3
4 Alabama 39-9 643 4
5 UCLA 33-9 625 6
6 Florida 35-7 584 4
7 Arizona St. 37-10 530 9
8 Georgia 40-8 514 12
9 Georgia Tech 43-8 507 8
10 Missouri 36-9 453 11
11 Oklahoma St. 41-10 449 7
12 Oklahoma 36-10 410 14
13 California 34-13 396 13
14 Stanford 30-12 384 10
15 Texas 37-10 351 15
16 Tennessee 39-9 284 17
17 LSU 39-10 280 16
18 Illinois 33-5 250 18
19 Ohio St. 30-11 216 19
20 Oregon 31-10 189 20
21 Massachusetts 29-7 138 21
22 Texas A&M 36-13 103 22
23 Hawaii 39-11 88 25
24 Florida St. 39-14 69 24
25 Notre Dame 38-9 61 23

My view:

Washington looks solid as a Number1--Danielle is very, very good.

The top 5 teams are "really" Washington, Arizona, UCLA, Alabama and Florida.

The Big 10 continues to be deluded into thinking they play softball. Michigan at number 2? The only reason Michigan is rated at number 2 is because coaches from the midwest vote. They haven't beaten any of the top teams. Michigan should be around 15. Illinois and Ohio State are very weak.

UMass and Notre Dame should be excluded from all future polls...

 

[Bishop]

That's almost as respectful as the folks that claim the PAC-10 and SEC confrences are only top ranked because they bloat thier RPI during confrence play.

 

[shockcoach]

To be fair to MI, they played a tough schedule the first half of the season. That helped to offset their weak second half. WA did the opposite...sort of. They had a lighter front side schedule before PAC 10 game started. I can tell you which schedule will help come regional's, though.

MI also has a better #2 and #3 pitcher than WA does, but WA definitely has the most dominant pitcher in college softball right now. It's going to be a fun WCWS this year. Did you see the UCS coaches poll that puts MI at the #1 spot? Would they be willing to put a wager on MI taking 2-3 from WA with Danielle Lawrie in the circle?

 

[shockcoach]

Just read the MI split with Ohio State today. That won't help them in next week's poll.

 

[sluggers]

The first game was strange. 1st inning, Ohio State up:

1st batter- out 4-3
2nd batter--singles
3rd batter strikes out swinging... BUT WAIT!!! Illegal pitch called (crow hopping) runner at 1B awarded 2B. No pitch, and batter given a ball. Batter then proceeds to walk.
4th batter: HR, Ohio State up 3-0.

The Michigan pitcher could have been called for an illegal pitch every time if the umpires wanted.


I was mistaken in my earlier post--Michigan has beaten Arizona and Oklahoma State. So, they have beaten a couple of good teams.

 

[absdad]

Polls are mostly crap. It's an opinion loosely based on facts. There are teams in the top 10 that have no real business being there, and teams ranked 11 and less, that should be in the top 10. Next month tell the tale.

 

[sluggers]

How true, but it is so fun to get the Wolverweenies stirred up.

 

[absdad]

RPI though, paints a slightly different picture. But as we all know, anything can happen...

2010 NCAA Women's Softball RPI

I'm not a Wolverweenie though.