College Rankings Feb 2, 2011

For now, Neeley and I have decided to stick with our tiered ranking system. There have been a few higher level tournaments around the country, but we still don’t think there has been enough inter region play to make an accurate ranking list. Also, with the start of the season, a few teams have emerged as possible contenders so our rankings are growing for now. Look for the rankings to change format after QCTU, Warm Up, and Presidents Day tell us more about where teams actually stand. For now we’re revising our ranking based on the following rules:

1. A team cannot be hurt or helped by not having played.
2. A team doesn’t have to move completely out of the rankings because they lost to good competition.

Following these rules we have 5 groups of teams, the teams that can’t move, the teams that have to move down, the teams that have to move-up, the new teams that have to be included, and the teams that have a strong argument to be included.

• Can’t Move: Carleton, Colorado, Florida, Harvard, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Pit, Texas, Tufts, UNCW, Virginia, Wisconsin
• Have to Move Down: Cal, UCSC
• Have to Move Up: UBC
• Should be included: Middlebury, Ohio State, SDSU, UNC, Washington
• Solid argument for inclusion: Florida State, Michigan State

Next, we put these teams back into our tiered ranking system.

• Tier One: These are the teams that we know are good. It would be surprising not to see them in the Quarterfinals, and they are high on the list of championship contenders.
• Tier Two: Maybe they are a traditional power that is rebuilding. Maybe they’re on the rise. Either way, these teams are those that don’t quite stick out as dominant, but very well could be by May.
• Tier Three: Those in tier three either barely missed in 2010 or are now missing most of the players that made it happen. Look for them to give opponents trouble throughout the year, and watch out if they get hot en route to Boulder.

Tier One:

Carleton, Colorado, Florida, Pittsburgh

Tier Two:

British Columbia, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Illinois, Iowa,, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, Wisconsin

Tier Three:

California, California- Santa Cruz, Georgia, Michigan, Middlebury, North Carolina, North Carolina-Wilmington, Ohio State, San Diego State, Tufts, Virginia, Washington

*Metro East Power Rankings:

Cornell. Seriously, we don’t know what to do with these guys. We’re unsure of where they stand nationally, but they’ll definitely have a chance to let us know at the end of the spring.