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re: The most difficult title defenses in college sports?
Posted on 5/23/15 at 9:14 pm to Ray Penpillage
Posted on 5/23/15 at 9:14 pm to Ray Penpillage
quote:
There's what, 350 D1 basketball teams?
Practically speaking, though, there are only 32 teams with a shot (based on 8 seed Nova in 1985) to win it all, and even that's a stretch.
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Posted on 5/23/15 at 9:40 pm to ksayetiger
Uh, understand title defense?
Posted on 5/23/15 at 9:57 pm to randomways
Basketball for sure, the NCAA tournament is a gauntlet and it's cutthroat as heck. There's no losers bracket to fight your way through... then I would say baseball. And I say baseball because out of all three sports its the one sport where David (little schools) ALWAYS has a legitimate shot at slaying Goliath (big schools). The parity in college baseball these last few years makes repeating champions nowadays a way bigger accomplishment than when Southern Cal did it back in the 70s or even when LSU did it in the 90's. That's why it was such a big deal when Oregon State did it in '06-'07 or when South Carolina made it to the CWS finals three years in a row (in '10,'11,'12) and won twice. And the trend of parity in baseball will only continue...
Football is so top heavy that in all honesty there are only about 10 teams that could win back to back titles realistically.
Football is so top heavy that in all honesty there are only about 10 teams that could win back to back titles realistically.
Posted on 5/23/15 at 10:06 pm to DorchesterGamecock
quote:
Basketball for sure, the NCAA tournament is a gauntlet and it's cutthroat as heck. There's no losers bracket to fight your way through... then I would say baseball. And I say baseball because out of all three sports its the one sport where David (little schools) ALWAYS has a legitimate shot at slaying Goliath (big schools). The parity in college baseball these last few years makes repeating champions nowadays a way bigger accomplishment than when Southern Cal did it back in the 70s or even when LSU did it in the 90's. That's why it was such a big deal when Oregon State did it in '06-'07 or when South Carolina made it to the CWS finals three years in a row (in '10,'11,'12) and won twice. And the trend of parity in baseball will only continue...
Football is so top heavy that in all honesty there are only about 10 teams that could win back to back titles realistically.
Pretty good analysis. Basketball also seems to have more Cinderellas in recent years than in times past. I'm sure statistics will muddle, if not outright refute, my claim here, but it still feels that way.
I am hoping people who follow non-Big 3 sports more than most of us will have some thoughts to offer too. Gymnastics, golf, soccer, Quidditch, the path to repeating in sports like those also interests me. I know, for instance, the UNC women's soccer has been absolutely dominant over the last 30 years, but the gap is getting smaller as more schools devote greater attention to recruiting and developing players, so repeating is getting a bit harder (though it's almost always the same 5-6 teams rising to the top still.)
quote:
In the last 25 years, baseball has had 3 sets of repeat champions (USC, Oregon State, and LSU). Football has had 2 sets in the same time frame (Nebraska and Bama). Basketball also had 2 sets (Florida and Duke)
Sorry, I missed this the first time through. Thanks for the specifics. Do you think, as DorrchesterGamecock suggests above, that the title defenses are getting harder? Sports aren't static, so success can get harder or easier over time.
This post was edited on 5/23/15 at 10:10 pm
Posted on 5/23/15 at 11:05 pm to randomways
Regular season - Football. No room for errors, anything more than a single loss and your chances drop to nil.
Postseason - Basketball. The lack of a loser's bracket means that once that part of the season has started, it's all or nothing. I suppose that would apply to any single-elimination sport. After that, probably baseball/softball.
Postseason - Basketball. The lack of a loser's bracket means that once that part of the season has started, it's all or nothing. I suppose that would apply to any single-elimination sport. After that, probably baseball/softball.
Posted on 5/23/15 at 11:33 pm to randomways
SCAR defended .... almost three-peated against three different teams.
Baseball, football, basketball, ... all of them are tough to repeat much less three-peat.
Baseball, football, basketball, ... all of them are tough to repeat much less three-peat.
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