Fall 2023 / Spring 2024

[okayrower]

Stanford over Cal, and Princeton over Penn in the two most interesting races of the day. All the conference championships will have some intrigue, and NCAAs should have some terrific racing.

[Mandolorian]

As we get into these last weeks until conference championships, here are some looming questions that will be answered:
1. ACC: Will the ACC only get one, maybe two teams in to NCAAs?
Syracuse should be a lock, but what about Virginia and Duke?
Virginia hasn't beaten any crew in any of the NCAA events other than Ohio St back in March (and they have since lost to them at Longhorn in all three NCAA events). So none of their NCAA crews have a single win. I repeat that. They have not beaten a single crew. So unless Virginia can win the AQ, it is going to be very hard to justify the Cavaliers getting selected.
Duke - Similar to Virginia the V8 has only 1 win over ranked opponent (Ohio St at Big Ten Invite), and have lost to every ranked opponent they have seen including 3 times to Indiana, Washington St, and barely got by an unranked Alabama crew. Now their 2V and V4 have had some success against ranked opponents during the season and their performance at ACCs should determine if they get in.
2. IVY League: Will the Ivy get 4 crews in?
Princeton, Brown, Yale should be solid locks, and Penns V8 is again a force, but their 2V8 and V4 have some bad losses to go along with some good wins. How those two crews fair at Ivy's will determine their fate.
3. PAC 12: Will Washington be selected if they don't race the NCAA minimum number of times in a season? Yes you read that correctly. Should they get selected if they haven't raced enough? Right now they have four races - the NCAA minimum required is 6. There is no question about their speed, but how does that factor into selection?
4. Big Ten: Could the Big Ten get four crews selected to NCAAs and have all four finish in the C Final? Right now, Michigan is the front runner in the conference, but Ohio St, Indiana and Rutgers are all in a very tight battle right behind them All four have the regular season results to get selected, but none have shown the top end speed to finish in the top 12.
5. Big 12: Will the Big 12 get two teams in the grand finals at NCAAs? Texas looks back to form, and Tennessee has obviously shown some new speed this year. But is Tennessee simply a recycling of last years SMU in a different uniform? Is that enough to finish in the top 6 in Cincinnati? Tennessee has the results to be selected, but they have yet to face any of the elite teams this season (Texas, Stanford, Princeton, Cal, Washington, etc.) Big 12s will give us an idea of how far Tennessee can go when they face off against Texas in a couple of weeks.

[bz]

Excellent summary by mandalorian. But, with regard to the number of contests for UW: As long as the contest is against DI competition (can also include non-DI teams in the same contest) and includes 23 student-athlete participants from the school, it counts. So fall races such as Head of the Lake count toward the six contests. The conference championship also counts as a contest toward the minimum of six.

Bill Zack

[Norm]

AAC’s

SMU wins the 2V4, 1V4, and 2V8.
Tulsa takes the 1V8 with SMU 2nd.
Should be an AQ for SMU

[okayrower]

SMU earning the AAC automatic qualifier and heading to ncaas is a masterful coaching performance by Chase Graham and his staff. Well done.

[Norm]

All props to Coach Graham, but “masterful” might be a little hyperbolic. Anyone who can get a 1V8 conference victory out of Tulsa might be more suited for such accolades. Good on both coaches and their teams.

[Slim]

Enjoy it, getting to NCAAs in your first year is a great accomplishment, next year is going to be brutal.

Will the AAC have an automatic qualifier next year?

[fullmetal]

I don't think the AAC is going to exist next year, no.

[Mandolorian]

SMU earning the AAC automatic qualifier and heading to ncaas is a masterful coaching performance by Chase Graham and his staff. Well done.

I think masterful is a fair description. Cupini left SMU a complete dumpster fire and huge props to Chase, his staff, and most impressively the athletes for not just going through the motions this year. NCAAs may be a reality check, but at least they got themselves there.

[FullSend]

SMU earning the AAC automatic qualifier and heading to ncaas is a masterful coaching performance by Chase Graham and his staff. Well done.

I think masterful is a fair description. Cupini left SMU a complete dumpster fire and huge props to Chase, his staff, and most impressively the athletes for not just going through the motions this year. NCAAs may be a reality check, but at least they got themselves there.

I'm impressed by how much Chase has kept things moving, but how was it a dumpster fire besides the athletes who transferred out? Obviously a substantial hit, but that's not "dumpster fire" in my book. Seems like they have invested a fair bit into the program, that doesn't entirely leave with the coach.

[Stewie Griffin Should Cox]

[quote=Mandolorian post_id=173349 time=<a href="tel:1715634032">1715634032</a> user_id=227422]
[quote=okayrower post_id=173333 time=<a href="tel:1715556933">1715556933</a> user_id=793]
SMU earning the AAC automatic qualifier and heading to ncaas is a masterful coaching performance by Chase Graham and his staff. Well done.

I think masterful is a fair description. Cupini left SMU a complete dumpster fire and huge props to Chase, his staff, and most impressively the athletes for not just going through the motions this year. NCAAs may be a reality check, but at least they got themselves there.
[/quote]

I'm impressed by how much Chase has kept things moving, but how was it a dumpster fire besides the athletes who transferred out? Obviously a substantial hit, but that's not "dumpster fire" in my book. Seems like they have invested a fair bit into the program, that doesn't entirely leave with the coach.
[/quote]

Smart coaching….

Not just repeating the programs taught 20 years ago.

The trade off is not quality and speed for Mental Health.

But there are some awesome very talented athletes out there going very very slowly. Fortunately their overseas National Teams seem to understand as individuals they are still quality.

[Slim]

What are you on about?

[fullmetal]

Stewie means that US college coaches are not great at developing talent (in this case, non-domestic athletes) to their full potential. And that's pretty true.

[Slim]

Is it? That doesn’t seem to be the narrative in men’s rowing. No one going on about the mental health of the athletes, no one questioning the motives and integrity of the coaches.

[crewu]

A 2V8 and 4 win over Tulsa is not evidence masterful coaching.

There are probably at least 12-15 high school Eights in the US that would beat Tulsa's 2V8. Let's keep things in perspective.