Big Shoes
If your the type of person who likes data and statistics, you are really missing out if you aren't into sports. If you have ever seen the movie Moneyball (based on a true story), you will quickly learn how closely the two things are related. It's actually a bit funny that "nerds" are typically so detached from sports because although they might not have the physical prowess, they most certainly have the capacity for all the the numbers.
I guess it depends on what kind of nerd you actually are.
Truthfully, I missed the boat on both the physical ability and the "big brain".
Preseason rankings have been released in the NCAA softball world and things are looking pretty nice from where I am sitting. Although she doesn't play for Tiffin University anymore, I still like to follow the team and keep up with what is going on there. Their coach had a monster year last year and she is finally in a position where she is mostly dealing with players she recruited herself. There might still be one or two hold overs from the old coaching staff, but they have adapted to the new situation well.
Their success last season is proof of that. This year they enter the season sitting at number 22 in the Division II rankings. Meanwhile, my Alma mater Saginaw Valley State University is ranked in the number six spot in the nation. I don't really care about SVSU as much as you might think, but it's still kind of cool to see them doing so well.
In the Division I world of the NCAA you have a couple different lists. There are the power conference rankings like the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, etc, and then you have the Mid-Major schools that are still Division I, but not quite as highly regarded. Every now and then you might have one of the Mid Major teams make it into the top 25 list, but it doesn't happen too much.
It shouldn't be much of a surprise that the top five in the power conference list consists of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Oregon. I actually think the biggest shocker for me is the fact that Michigan is not in the list and Ohio State slid in at the number 25 spot. It's also pretty cool to see Liberty sitting in the number 21 spot since I recently had the chance to visit their campus and their head coach is the daughter of my nieces head coach.
Also of note, Virginia Tech is just about fifteen minutes down the road from Radford where my niece goes and VT is in the number 19 spot in the preseason rankings.
It's also important to remember my post the other day where I talked about just how flawed these rankings can be.
Finally, and most importantly, we have Radford who is sitting at number 1 in the Big South conference in the preseason rankings. They have also managed to snag the 23 spot in the national mid-major preseason rankings. Oddly enough, Liberty is also sitting at number 2 in the mid-major list, so they must be one of those teams I talked about earlier that manages to find their way into both lists.
However, Florida Atlantic that is number 1 in the mid-major list didn't manage to make it to the top 25 power conference list...
The Radford Spring season kicks off next weekend in February, and I am really looking forward to seeing how they do.
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