Once again the Cardinal is outdistancing itself from the rest of the world in collegiate athletics. Through the fall season, Stanford leads the Sears Cup standings by 216 points, riding a pair of national championships (women's ball [thanks Logan] and men's water polo) and three top-five finishes (W&M XC, M-soccer) to the top of the standings. As usual, the Cardinal looks solid now in the winter sports and will be strong again in the spring.

Top 20 below: (DI)
1. Stanford
2. UNC
3. UCLA
4. Colorado
5. BYU
6. Florida
6. Michigan
6. Nebraska
9. Maryland
10. Portland
11. Virginia
12. Michigan State
13. Arizona
14. Notre Dame
15. Texas
16. Wake Forest
17. Santa Clara
18. NCSU
19. No. Arizona
20. Penn State

Chip, how is Portland University in the top 10?....do they even play Division 1 basketball or football?....is this the same school that former NFL QB Neil Lomax attended (Portland State?) or did they change the name of the school?

Isn't there a minimum number of sports that the school must compete in at the D-1 level in order to be eligible for the Sears Cup?....congrats to the Terps for cracking the top 10, courtesy of the superb coaching by Gary Williams and Ralph Friedgen, among others!

[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

The University of Portland, the Pilots, is a nominally Catholic university, not to be confused with the public Portland State University. It is Division 1 in basketball, playing in the prestigious West Coast Conference (not sarcastic), a "mid major" that regularly gets a second team in the tournament, as it has Gonzaga, Pepperdine, and Santa Clara. Usually two of those three go. The Pilots are 4-10 and in no danger of being one of the WCC's two.

If memory serves me right, they are something of a powerhouse in soccer. Don't know the other sports they star in.

Mr. Gamecock (the good one!
The esteemed CITT is correct. Portland (who picked up points courtesy of of the men's xc team and the women's and men's soccer teams (who are both coached by Clive Charles!!)
Chip

Thanks for the confirmation CITT....one more question, Chip (since you are our resident expert on this subject -- and in the fine Commonwealth no less)....what is the minimum number of sports that a D-1 school must participate in to be eligible for the Sears Cup and are there any "mid-major" colleges or universities that are (or have been in the past) ineligible for consideration as a result?....I thought this might be more common than many people believe with some of the recent publicity about "smaller" schools dropping various sports due to budgetary constraints.

There is no minimum number of sports for the Sears Cup, but the minimum number for NCAA standards is such: at least 14 sports with at least six men and seven women's teams, with at least two team sports per gender. There must be at least one sport of each gender playing in each of the playing seasons (fall, winter, spring). There are also additional scheduling requirements and even more for the football classification, but I won't go into those now. The NCAA manual is more comprehensive than the tax codes!!!

ohmigod! You mean they actually play sports outside of baseball, football and basketball????
Me thinks this tracking system includes the likes of lacrosse, rugby, and women's soccer. Egads!
If so, I shall continue my intentional dismissal of this irrelevant award.

Ho hum. Another total domination by Stanford. They should rename it the Sears/Stanford Cup and just give it to the 2nd place school every year.

Stanford is not a lock for this year's Sears Cup, by any stretch of the imagination. (Although, I do concede they are once again the heavy favorites). UCLA will give the Cardinal a run for its money. The Bruins are among the top contenders this spring to take home NCAA titles in softball, men's v-ball, gymnastics, men's & women's tennis and men's basketball. The standings should get very interesting before all is said & done.