NCAA Team Power Rankings: Breaking Down The Top 25

By Garrett Zatlin

As most of you have probably seen, Flotrack has now begun their release for the Top 31 collegiate teams in the nation. They have done an excellent job so far, although there are plenty of things that I would do differently. After talking with Flotrack’s Meg Bellino, we’re in the clear to do our very own top teams list. However, we will be doing the top 25 teams rather than 31.

Flotrack is set to release their 25^th team tomorrow (8/23). So here at Etrain, we figured why not do a head-to-head comparison? We’ll be matching up our top 25 and seeing where our opinions vary with Flotrack. Hopefully, we’ll get some pretty decent discussion out of it. My list is compiled and completed, however, it was not an easy process. A lot of different viewpoints on Letsrun and Flotrack encouraged me to reconsider some of my choices. Let’s start with the just missed teams on my list…

Just Missed:

Indiana Hoosiers

UNC Tar Heels

Georgetown Hoyas*

Michigan State Spartans

Southern Utah Thunderbirds

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks

If I had to choose a #26 team, I probably would’ve gone with the Indiana Hoosiers. Many people don’t give them enough credit for their 15^th place finish at NCAA’s last year despite sneaking in to the championship with an ‘at-large’ bid. Shwartzer [ET#41] and Crist have led the Hoosiers to some great finishes. However, the inconsistency with Rorey Hunter and the struggle to find a reliable 4^th/5^th man keep the Hoosiers off the list. I’ll probably get some crap for leaving NAU off (which is reasonable), but I’ll hold my ground. NAU graduates three of their top five as well as five of their top seven. They lose a heavy portion of depth that took years to build. It will take some time to rebuild what they once had. Futsum has already placed so well that he can barely make a difference in the scoring. It’s hard to argue that NAU is a top 25 team. However, they get the honorable mention considering the prestige of their program and what they could eventually develop.

Georgetown gets an asterisk because it’s extremely difficult to know what is happening there. The loss of an established coach, the cancellation of nearly every regular season meet, and the uncertainty about if any guys will transfer leaves GTown with a lot of questions to be answered. Assuming most of their guys do stay, then the Hoyas could at least be a factor at regionals. But until then, I’m not holding my breath. I’m also looking for UNC to eventually make the list. They’ve got some underrated pieces that could come together and do some damage.

Of course, all of this research allowed me to rediscover some new names that I missed on my Top 50 List and weren’t given honorable mentions. The names below are no indication as to whether or not their respective teams made the Top 25 or not. That’s not to say those teams are completely out of the question…

You Got Robbed:

Amos Kosgey (Eastern Kentucky)

Aaron Bartnik (Minnesota)

Frankline Tonui (Arkansas)

Glen Yarham (Florida State)*

Glen Burkhardt (Penn State)

Hayden Hawkes (Southern Utah)

*Did he graduate? He was a redshirt junior last year. Unsure what his status is.

I won’t discuss how many teams from each region made the list in fear that it will give too much away. However here some stats and facts that I can reveal…

·     - Of the top 25 teams in my rankings, EIGHT of them did not make NCAA’s last year.

·     - Of the 31 teams that ran at NCAA’s last season, FOURTEEN did not make the Top 25 rankings.

·     -  Of Flotrack’s Top 10 teams during the 2014 preseason, NINE of those teams ended up placing in the top 10 at NCAA’s (Nice job Flotrack. Well done)

·     - Of those Top 10 teams, Flotrack predicted the exact places of FOUR of those teams at NCAA’s.

Tomorrow the release will start at 11:11pm. So I’ll leave you all with some questions…

Which teams made my Top 10?

How many Ivy League teams made the list? Who are they?

Are there any Southern Central region teams that made the list? If so, who?

Which team will unexpectedly make the list either now or later on this season?

Get ready and let the rankings begin.

Run on,

Garrett