Directors Cup Thread

[BWilk55]

Texas Softball beats Tech in run-rule fashion to advance to the semifinals of the big 12 tournament. 

Texas is currently projected to be a regional host team but probably somewhere in the 12-16 seed range. The win tonight probably sealed their regional host status which was huge. They play Oklahoma State tomorrow and an upset win would then have them face off with #1 ranked OU on Saturday. Losing either game probably has little impact on their seeding but adding two top 10 wins could help them climb a few spots. Unlikely that they could do enough at this point to jump into the top 8. 

Michigan and Stanford both look like #2 seeds for regionals and will be forced to hit the road for the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.

[BWilk55]

On 5/7/2022 at 10:06 PM, BWilk55 said:

Men's and Women's Tennis both advanced to the sweet 16 this weekend after back to back 4-0 sweeps. 

The #4 Women's team was able to knock off Michigan which is helpful regarding the director's cup. They will go on to face #13 Auburn before potentially facing #5 Virginia (or Princeton). 

The #12 Men's team has a tough match-up against #5 Michigan who will be out to avenge the women's team. If they can knock off the wolverines, they will move on to face #4 Ohio State (or #13 USC).

Women's tennis dropped the doubles point but won the first 4 singles matches (5 actually but only 4 count) to move on to the quarterfinals. Stanford dropped their match against OU. Texas will face either #5 Virginia or #12 Oklahoma State next Friday. 

[BWilk55]

#12 Men's Tennis loses a really tight match to #5 Michigan in 4-2 fashion. 4 sets during the match went to tie-break and Texas lost them all. Winning those tie-breaks alone would have flipped the results of the match. They lost the doubles point 2-1 with 1 set going to tie break. #5 singles match had two tie-breaks with the Texas player dropping both. #1 singles did not finish as the match had concluded but had Eliot Spizzirri won the 2nd set tie break, he would have taken the point. 

Lots of Texas Fight in this one to keep it this close.

Stanford was also eliminated in the sweet 16 as expected. Michigan moves on to face #4 Ohio State. A victory there would add some extra points to Michigan's predicted score.

[BWilk55]

On 5/12/2022 at 10:43 PM, BWilk55 said:

Texas is currently projected to be a regional host team but probably somewhere in the 12-16 seed range. The win tonight probably sealed their regional host status which was huge.

Despite all 5 ranking systems having Texas in the top 16, they will be traveling to 13 seed Washington for the regional. Harder to travel and advance but they will have a decent shot against the Huskies. 

Michigan and Stanford will both be #2 seeds in regionals as well, Michigan being hosted by 16 seed UCF and Stanford #6 Alabama. 

[BWilk55]

Should come as no surprise but Texas dominated the big12 championships to take home first place winning all 6 races. Still a major favorite to take home the National Championship hardware.

[BWilk55]

2 dominant performances as both track teams take Big 12 championships. Rankings will be updated tomorrow with results from all conference championships. 

Texas women have had a pretty wide margin in the rankings so far this year. The men have some strong competition from Bama. Either way, I think top 3 finishes for both team is the floor.

[DBut82]

9 hours ago, BWilk55 said:

2 dominant performances as both track teams take Big 12 championships. Rankings will be updated tomorrow with results from all conference championships. 

Texas women have had a pretty wide margin in the rankings so far this year. The men have some strong competition from Bama. Either way, I think top 3 finishes for both team is the floor.

Who's the men's coach?  I mean women's track has always been pretty solid but the men's notsomuch. They were always a step behind the Baylors, LSUs, A&M's of the world.  What's changed?  I love track and it's awesome to see the men's side competing at the national level like this.

[TB14]

Coach Flo has completely turned Texas track around. 

[Big Daddy Cane]

22 minutes ago, TB14 said:

Coach Flo has completely turned Texas track around. 

The insurance lady from Progressive? Damn... Who knew?? Lol

[Wayne]

4 hours ago, DBut82 said:

Who's the men's coach?  I mean women's track has always been pretty solid but the men's notsomuch. They were always a step behind the Baylors, LSUs, A&M's of the world.  What's changed?  I love track and it's awesome to see the men's side competing at the national level like this.

We hired Edrick Floreal from Kentucky in 2019.  He coaches both the men and women. 

[BWilk55]

44 minutes ago, Wayne said:

We hired Edrick Floreal from Kentucky in 2019.  He coaches both the men and women. 

As to what's changed, I don't really know. Perhaps CDC decided to start pouring the resources into a top coach, top facilities, etc. I know he basically approaches each coach with the question of, what will it take for your team to reach top 3 or better status. We've seen an overall improvement across the board with CDC on campus which is great (hence why we have a shot to win the directors cup). 

[Huskie1]

Coach Flo is a superb coach who has assembled an awesome staff. He has recruited well and has a total program. Because of limited scholarships, most schools try and become a "sprint school", or "distance school", or a "field event/multis school. UT scored points in all but 1 event at the Big 12 championships. The women are still sprint heavy but they are improving in the distances. The men are LOADED with young talent. 

Success breeds success and the Horns have it rolling. Great coaching, great facilities, and recruiting great athletes will bring many championships. 

[BWilk55]

17 hours ago, BWilk55 said:

2 dominant performances as both track teams take Big 12 championships. Rankings will be updated tomorrow with results from all conference championships. 

Texas women have had a pretty wide margin in the rankings so far this year. The men have some strong competition from Bama. Either way, I think top 3 finishes for both team is the floor.

Both teams continue to be ranked #1 overall and actually strengthened their hold on the top billing.

The women have a large margin over #2 Florida. According to the rankings update:

Texas is the top-ranked team in the National TFRI for an eighth-straight week. The Longhorns added or improved eight national top-10 marks, including a pair of No. 2s from Julien Alfred and Kristine Blazevica in their respective events: Alfred ran 10.80 in the 100; Blazevica scored 6064 in the heptathlon. Alfred also moved to No. 3 on the all-time collegiate list in the 100 with her wind-legal 10.81 in the prelims. The Longhorn sprint contingent turned in a total of seven season best efforts across the 100, 200 and 400 meters that sit among the top-10 on the Descending Order List.

 

The men continue to have tough competition from Alabama. According to the rankings update:

Texas and Alabama held steady at No. 1 and No. 2 for the fourth week in a row. To break it down further, the Longhorns have been the top-ranked squad all season long, while the Crimson Tide jumped into the top-5 in Week 4 and never looked back. Texas added or improved four national top-10 marks this past weekend at the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, including chart-topping efforts from Micaiah Harris in the 200 at a wind-aided 19.72 and Jonathan Jones in the 400 at 44.43. Alabama added or improved three national top-10 marks this past weekend at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, headlined by Bobby Colantonio’s now second-ranked heave in the hammer of 72.59m (238-2).

https://www.ustfccca.org/team-rankings-polls-central

 

Regionals is the next event on the schedule. Top 12 performance at regionals are needed to advance athletes to the championship event. 

[BWilk55]

Men's golf finished up round 1 of 3 at regionals in 5th place. They are 5 shots off the lead and importantly, 5 shots ahead of 6th place (5 teams will advance). Travis Vick led the charge with a 3rd place 5 under. Top ranked amateur Pierceson Coody was the only Horn to shoot over par and his +1 score was dropped from the team score. 

[BWilk55]

22 hours ago, BWilk55 said:

Men's golf finished up round 1 of 3 at regionals in 5th place. They are 5 shots off the lead and importantly, 5 shots ahead of 6th place (5 teams will advance). Travis Vick led the charge with a 3rd place 5 under. Top ranked amateur Pierceson Coody was the only Horn to shoot over par and his +1 score was dropped from the team score. 

After round 2, Texas has moved up to 3rd place. They are still only 5 shots ahead of 6th place so will need to score another solid round to move on. Travis Vick with another solid 5 under to take the individual lead.

Stanford is in 2nd place in their regional and in strong position to advance.

[hookemhorb]

1 hour ago, BWilk55 said:

After round 2, Texas has moved up to 3rd place. They are still only 5 shots ahead of 6th place so will need to score another solid round to move on. Travis Vick with another solid 5 under to take the individual lead.

Stanford is in 2nd place in their regional and in strong position to advance.

That's pretty narrow. 5 shots between 3-6 place. I'd be surprised if there isn't a change among those teams.

[BWilk55]

3 hours ago, hookemhorb said:

That's pretty narrow. 5 shots between 3-6 place. I'd be surprised if there isn't a change among those teams.

And remember, there are really 4 rounds left to be scored (5 players all playing 1 round with the best 4 counting to the score) so a five shot swing isn't nearly as drastic as it sounds when thinking about an individual golf tournament. 

It is encouraging to know that 3 teams would have to outplay Texas tomorrow for them to drop all the way to 6th. There are really only 8 teams reasonably in contention at this point. 

All that to say, Texas does not have this wrapped up but would have to play a pretty crummy round while 3 other teams outperform them by a decent margin.

[BWilk55]

 

A solid round 3 at 4 under puts Texas through to Scottsdale with a 4th place finish. Travis Vick finished at 10 under overall and in 2nd place for the tournament. 

Stanford will advance as well. Michigan did not even make the regionals. 15 seed Notre Dame will be eliminated and #9 seed Washington is in trouble with less than 9 holes remaining and sitting in 8th place. Otherwise, not much in the way of shocking upsets. 

[BWilk55]

Texas softball starts their postseason run with a win 6-1 over Lehigh. They will face #13 Washington tomorrow for a berth into the regional championship.

Stanford and Michigan both won their opening games as well.

[BWilk55]

Texas women's golf finished the day in 19th place, 7 strokes behind 8th place. Lots of golf remains as they play a full 4 rounds with the top 8 teams moving on to match play. 

[BWilk55]

Texas women's tennis moves on to the final 4 with a hard fought victory over #5 Virginia 4-2. Texas won the doubles point but then quickly lost the first 2 singles matches. They would go on to earn the next three singles matches to seal the deal with the 7th match essentially tied and unfinished.

They go on to face #1 UNC while #2 OU takes on #3 Duke. 

[BWilk55]

Women's golf had a good day, moving up 8 spots to number 11 overall. They are 8 strokes back of 8th place so will need 2 more solid rounds to make it to match play. 

Softball beat Washington tonight to advance to the regional final and secure at worst a #17 finish overall. They will have 2 chances to secure one more win to move on to the super regionals. Michigan took their first loss while Stanford upset Alabama and has also advanced to the regional final.

Women's tennis took down #1 UNC to advance to the tennis national championship. They will face either OU or Duke.