Gopher Softball 2017

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It's a good thing the Gophers won the Big Ten tournament. If they hadn't, maybe the selection committee would have left them out of the field entirely.
 

GopherGoldy4 said:
Here are the email addresses of every member of the NCAA Selection Committee.

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]
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The Big Ten's representative is really from RUTGERS? RUTGERS? They don't even know what softball is at that school. St. Thomas and St. Catherine could probably both beat Rutgers (embellished only a little). There's not a single representative from middle America on that list. How would they even know? The committee thinks high enough of the Big Ten to select 5 schools, the same as the PAC 12, yet the #2 ranked champion isn't even in the top 16? Sarah
Sara Moulton posted a nice article in FPN stating how this committee needs to be held accountable.
http://fastpitchnews.com/college-softball-news/ncaa-softball-committee-commits-error/346523.

Rant ended. Now it's time to work.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
You summed it up well.

When it comes to women's volleyball and basketball NCAA selection committees, some of the most egregious seeding (or in this case non-seeding) errors seem to come down to reducing travel costs. The S curve be damned. I'm assuming after they put all 13 SEC teams into the tournament they just said to hell with it, it's too hard to figure out who to fly to Minneapolis to join the Gophers and North Dakota State.
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My speculative sources said it was all about the money as well, figuring larger stadiums in the south would draw more paying customers. I don't have any idea what the capacities of softball venues are down south, but they have erred mightily in underestimating the Minnesota bandwagon. The is a major hose job, but I can almost assure there is no protest from any official school or conference rep. I think they don't care enough about women's sports to raise a stink when one really should be raised.
 

Really seems like NCAA should throw a bone to northern teams to host. Our best kids are from Minnesota, iowa, and Canada where you get 6 months of outdoor ball max and rest inside. Irish Dome has 3 sessions each 6-8 weeks for all of cold seasons with games ending at 10pm and starting at 7am, even had a 9 game MLK tournament starting at 6:45. SEC/Pac has probably 10 months outside so the kids they are recruiting are already significantly more experienced, can practice outdoors longer, and host a lot more March games.

Sure Gophers conference schedule sucked, part from not playing Michigan, and part because other teams suck for same climate and recruiting issues. We could have had better tournaments, but seemed like some of the teams we were banking on being ranked just didn't perform. Stadium really doesn't seem like a factor, I doubt LA Tech and Albany travel more than just the parents to Alabama. At least give us like a 11-14 seed. It does no good to grow the game anywhere besides SEC and Pac when you're telling northern teams that you're not gonna be good enough to host which then hurts attendance and recruiting even more, which just feeds into the SEC circlejerk
 

Win the regional, then we're likely to hear something

A stink will be raised after the regionals are over, but only if the Gophers do their part. Raising a stink now does the Gophers or the Big Ten no good. At minimum the Gophers must win their regional to "prove" their mettle, as silly as it is that a 54-3 team should have to do that.

Win their regional, then I think we might hear something from Allister, the U, and/or the Big Ten offices (in that order).
 




SelectionSunday said:
A stink will be raised after the regionals are over, but only if the Gophers do their part. Raising a stink now does the Gophers or the Big Ten no good. At minimum the Gophers must win their regional to "prove" their mettle, as silly as it is that a 54-3 team should have to do that.
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To me, this is one of the worst parts of this whole thing. Our team is forced to win the first round, at least, or we are stuck with a huge helping of crow in our mouths courtesy of the NCAA.
 

Holy Man said:
My speculative sources said it was all about the money as well, figuring larger stadiums in the south would draw more paying customers. I don't have any idea what the capacities of softball venues are down south, but they have erred mightily in underestimating the Minnesota bandwagon. The is a major hose job, but I can almost assure there is no protest from any official school or conference rep. I think they don't care enough about women's sports to raise a stink when one really should be raised.
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Yeah, that probably entered into it. Alabama's stadium seats about 4000 and has some overflow viewing areas.
 



I know they wouldn't ever choose to, but I would have been fine with declining the invite. We had a great season, no reason to get sh*t on by the NCAA...
 


Holy Man said:
My speculative sources said it was all about the money as well, figuring larger stadiums in the south would draw more paying customers. I don't have any idea what the capacities of softball venues are down south, but they have erred mightily in underestimating the Minnesota bandwagon. The is a major hose job, but I can almost assure there is no protest from any official school or conference rep. I think they don't care enough about women's sports to raise a stink when one really should be raised.
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Maybe I'm being too simple, but I gotta believe some of the selection committee looked at the weather forecast here this weekend and simply found an excuse not to hold a regional here. Temperatures in the upper 50s would simply break the hands of those poor precious Alabama girls.
 




Panthadad2 said:
The Big Ten's representative is really from RUTGERS? RUTGERS? They don't even know what softball is at that school. St. Thomas and St. Catherine could probably both beat Rutgers (embellished only a little). There's not a single representative from middle America on that list. How would they even know? The committee thinks high enough of the Big Ten to select 5 schools, the same as the PAC 12, yet the #2 ranked champion isn't even in the top 16? Sarah
Sara Moulton posted a nice article in FPN stating how this committee needs to be held accountable.
http://fastpitchnews.com/college-softball-news/ncaa-softball-committee-commits-error/346523.

Rant ended. Now it's time to work.
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She played at Illinois.
 

RodentRampage said:
http://www.oregonlive.com/pac-12/in...on_college_baseball_idea_could_boost_nor.html

"Minnesota coach John Anderson last year proposed that the Big Ten and other northern conferences break away from the traditional NCAA spring season, play a full summer schedule and crown a “northern champion” each August. That idea was quickly dismissed."

You know, that idea is sounding better and better.
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That saber has been rattled several times over the last 15 years in baseball. Not sure if the softball people have done the same. I like the idea, too, but especially in baseball, the summer leagues fight tooth and nail against a system that depletes their supply of players. A real uphill battle for equity against an organization that has an office of "fairness."
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
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She's pretty good. Not talking just about the games her team has won, which obviously was fantastic. She is ALWAYS yakking while coaching in the box, encouraging. Always seems to have the most enthusiastic of the two teams on the field. Seems like it's no big deal, but I think it's huge. Obviously I like how she runs a squad.
She answered about how I though she would. Real feather in her cap if they go down and win that region. Also, she has Sara G.
 


Holy Man said:
That saber has been rattled several times over the last 15 years in baseball. Not sure if the softball people have done the same. I like the idea, too, but especially in baseball, the summer leagues fight tooth and nail against a system that depletes their supply of players. A real uphill battle for equity against an organization that has an office of "fairness."
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The northern teams are already at a disadvantage playing early games on the road. And then you add to that bias in seeding. Some people are saying that the Gophers RPI kept them out of hosting, but I can't see how an #11 RPI can pull the #2 ranked team out of hosting. I guess I could see not being a super regional host, but it's unreasonable not to have them host the regional. I'm all for northern baseball and softball if the NCAA doesn't play fair, but it's probably not going to happen. Still, a later season would be more fun. We'd get a lot more home games, and get them in better weather.
 

A couple of you have mentioned about going to a summer schedule for the northern teams. What you don't realise it that that is prime recruiting time for these schools. They are not going to want to give up that time so they can just fall further and further back from the SEC and PAC12 schools. If they had to be shut down from March/April-June/July they would miss some of the biggest recruiting events in the country. Granted they would probably be able to make PGF/ASA nationals but you can't recruite based on just that and your fall schedule. Also, that would cut into when they can offer camps during the summer. This is another source of revenue for them and most if not all schools need all the help they can get. I just don't see any way that they would move to a summer schedule.
 

Twinsfan007 said:
A couple of you have mentioned about going to a summer schedule for the northern teams. What you don't realise it that that is prime recruiting time for these schools. They are not going to want to give up that time so they can just fall further and further back from the SEC and PAC12 schools. If they had to be shut down from March/April-June/July they would miss some of the biggest recruiting events in the country. Granted they would probably be able to make PGF/ASA nationals but you can't recruite based on just that and your fall schedule. Also, that would cut into when they can offer camps during the summer. This is another source of revenue for them and most if not all schools need all the help they can get. I just don't see any way that they would move to a summer schedule.
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If you're already getting screwed over by the NCAA, what difference would it make? If the northern states went to a schedule that went into the summer, they would have their own championship. Schools could take a week away from games in the summer so the school can host a camp. Playing in the summer when people actually want to watch softball might actually help recruiting. As it is, teams play on the road and then play home games in some cool weather.

I don't think it will happen, but I think the advantages are looking better.
 

I know very little about college softball. I'm anxiously waiting for my invite to the selection committee. I would fit right in.
 

Panthadad2 said:
Looking at the Gophers schedule again, it doesn't look like there's a whole lot more they could do to improve SOS. The only thing I wish could have been different would be playing in the Mary Nutter Classic the last weekend of February (Arizona, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCLA, Utah, etc.) instead of the small Fresno State tourney. Otherwise, the pre-conference schedule would look pretty tough in most years. Maybe the Big10 could look at eliminating the conference tournament and doing a Big10/Pac12 challenge that same week to try to gain more exposure (TV would love it too) or simply allowing the teams to schedule home and home series against tough conferences that last week.
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The Big 10 just needs to eliminate half the conference.
 

Looking at the Gophers schedule again, it doesn't look like there's a whole lot more they could do to improve SOS. The only thing I wish could have been different would be playing in the Mary Nutter Classic the last weekend of February (Arizona, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCLA, Utah, etc.) instead of the small Fresno State tourney. Otherwise, the pre-conference schedule would look pretty tough in most years. Maybe the Big10 could look at eliminating the conference tournament and doing a Big10/Pac12 challenge that same week to try to gain more exposure (TV would love it too) or simply allowing the teams to schedule home and home series against tough conferences that last week.
 

Panthadad2 said:
Looking at the Gophers schedule again, it doesn't look like there's a whole lot more they could do to improve SOS. The only thing I wish could have been different would be playing in the Mary Nutter Classic the last weekend of February (Arizona, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCLA, Utah, etc.) instead of the small Fresno State tourney. Otherwise, the pre-conference schedule would look pretty tough in most years. Maybe the Big10 could look at eliminating the conference tournament and doing a Big10/Pac12 challenge that same week to try to gain more exposure (TV would love it too) or simply allowing the teams to schedule home and home series against tough conferences that last week.
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The Big 10 just needs to eliminate half the conference.
 

RodentRampage said:
If you're already getting screwed over by the NCAA, what difference would it make? If the northern states went to a schedule that went into the summer, they would have their own championship. Schools could take a week away from games in the summer so the school can host a camp. Playing in the summer when people actually want to watch softball might actually help recruiting. As it is, teams play on the road and then play home games in some cool weather.

I don't think it will happen, but I think the advantages are looking better.
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Because if you want to win a national title you do that in the summer, when you are recruiting. That would be really dumb to just cut out one week in the season so they can hold a camp. All you do is just hurt the northern schools even more than they already are. Do you want them to fall further behind? If you are actually going to go watch softball it's because you like it, not because it's in the summer.
 

Every game they win should be a shot at this stupid committee. This team has no problems on the road. And they will have to beat Florida either now or in the finals....so I say just go out and kick ass and gloat later.
 


I like the responses though. I'm not seeing many people thinking the committee had a clue. I'm not sure at 57-0 if we'd have been in the top 16 according to these morons. The Gophers can't change their conference. So you can only ding them for non-conference. I should just quit talking about it...
 

If RPI of their opponents is such a big deal, shouldn't their own RPI mean a lot too?
 


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