Director's Cup

[Olympic Fan]

The next-to-last ranking for the Director's Cup, which measures all sports nationally, has been released and Duke is current at No. 25, fourth in the ACC:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/June8DIOverall.pdf

That's everything, except baseball.

NC State, currently at No. 26 -- one point behind Duke -- will get some points for baseball after reaching the regionals, so they will jump Duke. I also think that LSU could move past the Devils.

Still, top 30 is pretty good ... it's just that 5-6 years ago, Duke was in the top 10.

[duke79]

The next-to-last ranking for the Director's Cup, which measures all sports nationally, has been released and Duke is current at No. 25, fourth in the ACC:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/June8DIOverall.pdf

That's everything, except baseball.

NC State, currently at No. 26 -- one point behind Duke -- will get some points for baseball after reaching the regionals, so they will jump Duke. I also think that LSU could move past the Devils.

Still, top 30 is pretty good ... it's just that 5-6 years ago, Duke was in the top 10.

I sort of vaguely remember that there were several years where Duke finished either second or third among private universities in the Director's Cup, after Stanford and maybe Notre Dame. It seems like we have slipped somewhat (or the other schools have improved their athletic teams?).

[CrazyNotCrazie]

[/B]

I sort of vaguely remember that there were several years where Duke finished either second or third among private universities in the Director's Cup, after Stanford and maybe Notre Dame. It seems like we have slipped somewhat (or the other schools have improved their athletic teams?).

Yes - we had a few really good years where we were in the top 10, I believe. Looking through the standings, we got zero for Men's soccer, which used to be a strength for us. Men's and women's basketball obviously did not do as well as hoped. Lacrosse was not as good as it has been in the recent past, particularly women's. We did score a fair amount of points from fencing, and also scored in wrestling and men's and women's swimming, which historically have not been very strong. And I believe football is based on rankings so after scoring some points in recent years, we got a zero this year. Golf, women's in particular, used to be big for us, but did not score as well this year, and tennis is also OK but not at past levels.

I am still very proud of all of our teams and the outcome continues to show the strength of Duke sports. We tend to score in almost every sport where we field a team. We are somewhat disadvantaged against some other schools that field more teams and thus have more chances to score points.

[johnb]

17th (2009),
10th (2010),
5th (2011),
16th (2012),
12th (2013),
9th (2014),
20th (2015),
24th (2016)

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=1480786

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

17th (2009),
10th (2010),
5th (2011),
16th (2012),
12th (2013),
9th (2014),
20th (2015),
24th (2016)

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=1480786

Looks like OAD era is killing our Cup chances.

/joke

[MCFinARL]

The next-to-last ranking for the Director's Cup, which measures all sports nationally, has been released and Duke is current at No. 25, fourth in the ACC:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/June8DIOverall.pdf

That's everything, except baseball.

NC State, currently at No. 26 -- one point behind Duke -- will get some points for baseball after reaching the regionals, so they will jump Duke. I also think that LSU could move past the Devils.

Still, top 30 is pretty good ... it's just that 5-6 years ago, Duke was in the top 10.

There is actually a more recent spring ranking (http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/June14DIOverall.pdf), which includes track and field (but still not baseball), in which Duke, unfortunately, has fallen to 29th. This is sixth in the ACC, behind UNC, Florida State, Virginia, Notre Dame, and Louisville, but still ahead of NC State, which fell to 33rd. Interestingly, Stanford's lead is now so prohibitive that they have already been declared the cup winner, despite the fact that baseball is not over.


Yes - we had a few really good years where we were in the top 10, I believe. Looking through the standings, we got zero for Men's soccer, which used to be a strength for us. Men's and women's basketball obviously did not do as well as hoped. Lacrosse was not as good as it has been in the recent past, particularly women's. We did score a fair amount of points from fencing, and also scored in wrestling and men's and women's swimming, which historically have not been very strong. And I believe football is based on rankings so after scoring some points in recent years, we got a zero this year. Golf, women's in particular, used to be big for us, but did not score as well this year, and tennis is also OK but not at past levels.

I am still very proud of all of our teams and the outcome continues to show the strength of Duke sports. We tend to score in almost every sport where we field a team. We are somewhat disadvantaged against some other schools that field more teams and thus have more chances to score points.

Football is based on rankings and bowl game wins--so if you win a bowl game you can still get points outside the top 25. But either way, no points for Duke this year.

Re your point about being somewhat disadvantaged, that is true up to a point. For the DI Director's Cup, each school can count up to 10 men's and 10 women's sports (sports like fencing, skiing, and rifle, for Director's Cup purposes, can be counted once, toward either sex, as space is available). Duke has enough sports to do this, with 12 men's sports (indoor and outdoor track and field are counted separately), 13 women's (counting softball, which is still just launching, so 12 this year), and the androgynous fencing. And I'm pretty sure I remember at least one recent year where Duke scored in more than 10 sports on the women's side and had to drop the one worth the lowest points. This year, not so much, as Duke scored in 6 men's, 6 women's, and fencing.

Of course, schools that field more sports still have more opportunities to get 10 men's and 10 women's in scoring position. For UNC, which (sadly) does very well and is in 6th place before baseball, there are only two sports offered that Duke did not offer this year--women's gymnastics and softball--but they scored in both. Stanford, on the other hand, offers a whopping 15 men's sports and 19 women's (double counting fencing, plus counting a couple like sailing, which I'm not sure is eligible for Director's Cup points), so they have an enormous advantage from that perspective.

[Olympic Fan]

Final rankings released Thursday:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/D1final2017.pdf

Duke finishes at No. 32 (seventh in the ACC)

Not bad, but a continuation of the school's decline in the last three years ...

[justforfun]

Looks like the Chronicle wrote about this in January— http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2017/01/the-worst-year-for-duke-athletics-in-3-decades

thoughts?

[sagegrouse]

Looks like the Chronicle wrote about this in January— http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2017/01/the-worst-year-for-duke-athletics-in-3-decades

thoughts?

My guys at the Chron wrote a good story, but we are doing just fine. The Chronicle properly notes that Duke won zero ACC championships in 2015 and 2016.

In 2015, no ACC championships, but we won a national championship in basketball. We also made it to the NCAA semis in women's golf, after winning the regionals, losing a close match to Baylor.

In 2016, we again made the NCAA semis in women's golf, losing 3-2 against Stanford. The Chron duly notes that Virginia won the individual title. We also won our first football bowl game since Ol' Sage was a student.

Well, if you are yearning for ACC titles, in 2017 we won three, didn't we? Hoops plus men's and women's golf. We know the hoops record by heart. Men's golf won the ACC's by 12 strokes and finished second in the regional. Similar story for the women, and Leona (#1 in the world) finished second at the NCAA's in individual competition.

[Tom B.]

Final rankings released Thursday:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/D1final2017.pdf

Duke finishes at No. 32 (seventh in the ACC)

Not bad, but a continuation of the school's decline in the last three years ...

Seems like a bit of a down year for the ACC across the board. Only one ACC team in the top 10 (Carolina, at No. 5), and only three (barely) in the top 20 (FSU at No. 13 and Virginia at No. 19).

[Faison1]

Seems like a bit of a down year for the ACC across the board. Only one ACC team in the top 10 (Carolina, at No. 5), and only three (barely) in the top 20 (FSU at No. 13 and Virginia at No. 19).

The funny thing is, my perception was the ACC had a really strong year between winning the Football and Basketball Championships, and had some of the best Baseball teams outside of the SEC....

[sagegrouse]

The funny thing is, my perception was the ACC had a really strong year between winning the Football and Basketball Championships, and had some of the best Baseball teams outside of the SEC...

As someone once remarked, the solar system consists of the Sun, Jupiter and some debris. Similarly, there is a view that college sports consists of football, men's basketball, and some other sports of little significance to the public at large. Yep, I would say that the ACC's winning football plus men's basketball is a heckuva accomplishment.