HAS THE DI DYNAMIC CHANGED FOR 2012?
The pre-season polls begin next week with the ESPN/USA Softball preseason poll.
As you can see from the final 2011 rankings, several teams advanced sharply after regional and super/regional play, notable declines including Tennessee, Michigan and Texas, while Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State jumped higher. Indeed, four Big 12 teams qualified for the 2011 World Series.
How likely are any of these teams to hold those rankings in 2012? SPY published an article earlier in the week on the conference predictions we have received. Today, we add more notes in a separate article, primarily from conference and team web sites.
A major question is how will those players who starred on the Junior Women’s gold medal team upgrade their varsities? Players like Carda (a no-no in South Africa) and Haeger are among the best young pitchers. Chamberlain is a certified fence buster.
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
2011 Season – Final
|
Rank |
Team |
Record |
Points |
Previous Ranking |
|
1. |
Arizona State (20) |
59-6 |
500 |
1 |
|
2. |
Florida |
56-13 |
480 |
T5 |
|
3. |
Alabama |
53-11 |
459 |
3 |
|
4. |
Baylor |
47-15 |
429 |
15 |
|
5. |
California |
45-13 |
417 |
T5 |
|
6. |
Missouri |
53-10 |
414 |
4 |
|
7. |
Oklahoma |
43-19 |
375 |
T12 |
|
8. |
Oklahoma State |
40-20 |
332 |
25 |
|
9. |
Georgia |
51-14 |
329 |
8 |
|
10. |
Stanford |
42-17 |
308 |
T12 |
|
11. |
Arizona |
43-18 |
271 |
10 |
|
12. |
Kentucky |
40-16 |
248 |
21 |
|
13. |
Texas A&M |
44-15 |
242 |
17 |
|
14. |
Oregon |
42-16 |
231 |
11 |
|
15. |
Washington |
37-15 |
228 |
14 |
|
16. |
Tennessee |
49-12 |
222 |
7 |
|
17. |
Michigan |
53-6 |
195 |
2 |
|
18. |
Houston |
44-18 |
169 |
RV |
|
19. |
Texas |
46-10 |
154 |
9 |
|
20. |
UCLA |
36-19 |
126 |
16 |
|
21. |
Nebraska |
41-14 |
87 |
20 |
|
22. |
LSU |
40-18 |
63 |
22 |
|
23. |
Notre Dame |
46-11 |
62 |
19 |
|
24. |
Georgia Tech |
45-12 |
37 |
18 |
|
25. |
ULL |
51-11 |
26 |
24 |
Parenthesis denotes first place votes.
Dropped Out: Auburn
New to Poll: Houston
Others receiving votes: Tulsa (22); BYU (20); Auburn (12); DePaul (10); Louisville (9); San Diego State (9); East Carolina (8); Penn State (4); Florida State (1); and Syracuse (1)
