NFCA top 25--May 10, 2011

[sluggers]

1 Arizona St. (30) 48-5 750 1
2 Michigan 49-4 717 2
3 Florida 47-8 692 4
4 Alabama 45-7 655 6
5 Texas 45-7 611 3
6 California 36-9 576 8
7 Tennessee 44-10 565 5
8 Georgia 44-10 536 7
9 Missouri 43-7 525 9
10 Arizona 39-14 481 11
11 Stanford 38-12 424 10
12 UCLA 32-15 400 12
13 Oklahoma 38-16 389 15
14 Oregon 37-13 365 17
15 Washington 32-13 355 13
16 Nebraska 35-12 277 14
17 Baylor 39-12 257 20
18 Texas A&M 38-13 213 22
19 Georgia Tech 44-9 197 19
20 Oklahoma St. 37-14 187 16
21 LSU 38-15 174 21
22 Kentucky 36-13 141 18
23 Auburn 38-16 105 23
24 Notre Dame 44-8 82 25
25 Louisiana-Lafayette 45-9 63 24

 

[sluggers]

There is no question that Arizona State should be Number 1. Michigan is not the second best team in the US.

Florida should be number 2, followed by Alabama, then Michigan.

Texas has no business being in the top 10. In consecutive weekends, Texas split with #9 Missouri and #13 Oklahoma. Does winning and losing mean anything?

Same for Tennessee--they were *swept* by Florida, and yet they end up ranked #7 in the country?

 

[MsDinosaur]

I agree that Fla should be higher. I watched them win two over Tenn and they looked mighty impressive.

And still no love for Mizzou, who beat Oklahoma in both games and split with Texas? Well, to be fair, it's their own darn fault for not going out there and winning both Texas games. When you get a crack at a rival, you've got to step up....like Florida did.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Kenzie Fowler is back for AZ. That makes all the difference in the world.

 

[Jdaddy]

There is no question that Arizona State should be Number 1. Michigan is not the second best team in the US.

Florida should be number 2, followed by Alabama, then Michigan.

Texas has no business being in the top 10. In consecutive weekends, Texas split with #9 Missouri and #13 Oklahoma. Does winning and losing mean anything?

Same for Tennessee--they were *swept* by Florida, and yet they end up ranked #7 in the country?

This is why we have the tournament (Thank you Lord!). Every team that deserves to make the series will make the series and hopefully provide us with some excellent softball games.

 

[sluggers]

I agree...if the rankings were simply window dressing, it would be better. The problem is that the rankings are used to determine seeds and host teams for the regional.

There is a "good old girls" network in softball. It isn't what it once was, but it is still there. Why is Tennessee ranked so high? Why is LSU in the top 25? Well...there was a time when the SEC refused to have softball teams. (They were dragged kicking and screaming into the sport. The conduct of the SEC, was bad while the Big 10 was worse.) Until that time, there were only about three places to play softball in the south: Louisiana-Lafayette, coached by YYvette Girouard (now coach of LSU); UT-Chattanooga, coached by Ralph Weekly (now coach of Tennessee); and South Carolina, coached by Joyce Compton. The Texas coach Connie Clark played for Candrea at Arizona Central JC.

So, these ratings that Tennessee, LSU and Texas have more to do with how they are juiced into the system rather than the performance of the teams.

 

[shockcoach]

I agree...if the rankings were simply window dressing, it would be better. The problem is that the rankings are used to determine seeds and host teams for the regional.

There is a "good old girls" network in softball. It isn't what it once was, but it is still there. Why is Tennessee ranked so high? Why is LSU in the top 25? Well...there was a time when the SEC refused to have softball teams. (They were dragged kicking and screaming into the sport. The conduct of the SEC, was bad while the Big 10 was worse.) Until that time, there were only about three places to play softball in the south: Louisiana-Lafayette, coached by YYvette Girouard (now coach of LSU); UT-Chattanooga, coached by Ralph Weekly (now coach of Tennessee); and South Carolina, coached by Joyce Compton. The Texas coach Connie Clark played for Candrea at Arizona Central JC.

So, these ratings that Tennessee, LSU and Texas have more to do with how they are juiced into the system rather than the performance of the teams.

I was thinking during that time Ralph Weekly was at PLU wining games. I coached a girl a few years back in both rec ball and TB who's mom played for Mr. Weekly at PLU. She was also team mates with a woman by the name of Karen Kvale, who was a pretty good ball player.

 

[Ade's Dad]

So where should TN be ranked...........26th.....ish?

 

[sluggers]

I think Tennessee should be somewhere around 15th. They are a good team. But, again, I think "they" want to do a regional in Tennessee.

It goes back to connections and "who knows who" with rankings. Louisiana-Lafayette is a very good team. They have been competitive in softball before for at least the last 25 years. This year, they played Arizona, Arizona State and Alabama. Getting on the field with those three in one year is pretty brave. But, their coach doesn't get a lot of love from the rest of softball, so they are barely ranked in the top 25.

 

[PEPPERS]

I was thinking during that time Ralph Weekly was at PLU wining games. I coached a girl a few years back in both rec ball and TB who's mom played for Mr. Weekly at PLU. She was also team mates with a woman by the name of Karen Kvale, who was a pretty good ball player.

RALPH WEEKLY'S COACHING CAREER
Season School W-L-T Pct.
2010 Tennessee* 49-15 .766
2009 Tennessee* 40-18-1 .686
2008 Tennessee* 50-16 .758
2007 Tennessee* 63-8 .887
2006 Tennessee* 61-12 .836
2005 Tennessee* 67-15 .817
2004 Tennessee* 55-16 .775
2003 Tennessee* 45-25 .643
2002 Tennessee* 35-25-1 .582
2001 Chattanooga* 49-18 .731
1998 Chattanooga* 47-15 .758
1997 Chattanooga* 32-19 .627
1996 Chattanooga 34-15 .694
1995 Chattanooga 29-21 .580
1994 Pacific Lutheran 39-19 .672
1993 Pacific Lutheran 35-9 .795
1992 Pacific Lutheran 34-13 .723
1991 Pacific Lutheran 36-8 .818
1990 Pacific Lutheran 40-8 .833
1989 Pacific Lutheran 33-13 .717
1988 Pacific Lutheran 39-6 .867
1987 Pacific Lutheran 29-11 .725
1986 Pacific Lutheran 25-6 .806
Totals: 966-331-2 (.744)

*Co-Head Coach with Karen Weekly
School Years Record Pct.
at Tennessee 9 465-150-2 (.755)
at Chattanooga 5 191-88 (.685)
at Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) 9 310-93 (.769)

Totals: 23 966-311-2 (.744)

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the Weeklys and they are first rate, you can see the complete BO at this link.

http://www.utladyvols.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/weekly_ralph01.html