Besides seeding the teams, the NCAA men’s soccer committee’s other main task is to pick the 26 at-large teams. Here are some questions the committee must examine:
Does it again give the nine-team ACC eight berths? Champion Duke, Wake Forest, Maryland, Virginia, Clemson and North Carolina are locks. Boston College should get in. Virginia Tech lost in the ACC tournament play-in game to N.C. State but had wins at St. John’s (2-1) and over Clemson (5-2) and a tie at Duke (0-0).
Does the Big East again get seven berths? Champion St. John’s, West Virginia, Rutgers and Providence — the final four teams — are shoo-ins. Notre Dame and UConn ranked in the Top 25 in the RPI rankings released by the NCAA on Oct. 24. Cincinnati would figure to be a bubble team, but its Big East Red Division title should ease the Bearcats in the NCAA’s final 48.
Does the CAA get at least four tournament berths? Besides champion Hofstra, Towson (13-game unbeaten streak), Old Dominion (at-large bids in the last four seasons) and George Mason (2006 runner-up) should get in. UNC Wilmington’s overtime loss to ODU in the first round of the CAA Tournament probably cost the Seahawks (who beat Duke) serious consideration.
How many Pac-10 teams will get in? There is no automatic berth for the Pac-10 this season — the delayed fallout from Fresno State’s decision to drop men’s soccer after the 2002 season — but champion California and UCLA will go, for sure. San Diego State (9-5-4) finished second in the Pac-10 and beat Cal twice. Washington opened with eight straight wins, slumped when conference play began but might have saved its at-large berth with a 2-1 overtime win at Oregon State on Friday.
Who besides champion Indiana from the Big Ten goes? Penn State played the toughest non-conference schedule in the country but can’t realistically get in with a 7-12-2 record. Runner-up Ohio State should get in. Semifinalist Wisconsin and Northwestern, which lost to Penn State in the quarterfinals, will be sweating it out.
Does Penn give the Ivy League three NCAA-bound teams? Champion Harvard gets in. Brown, 11th nationally in the Oct. 24 RPI rankings, should move on. Penn’s 1-0 win over Princeton on Saturday gave the Quakers second place in the Ivy League and perhaps wrapped up a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Will UC Irvine get in as an at-large team from the Big West? The Anteaters blew a chance to clinch the Big West title when they lost to Cal State Northridge on Saturday and UC Santa Barbara beat UC Riverside, but UCI finished with 13 wins, a school record. Another Big West candidate: Northridge, which beat UCI twice.
