What D1 team has excellent academics but a bad team?

Ga Tech's 800 squad was incredibly deep for the last few years.

Are you kidding me? Davidson's distance program is fantastic. The distance runners have been dominant in their 2 years in the A10. I'm pretty sure they've combined to win something like 6 individual A10 titles in just 2 years. Plus, Will Brewster qualified for the first round of NCAAs in the 5k. They have Brewster and Mogen returning. They are going to be even better next year.

Flagpole wrote:

Well, it's not a BAD team, but not a great one either -- Davidson. Some other schools in the Atlantic 10 conference would qualify too. Davidson though is a GREAT school.

they call me flopro wrote:

Stanford a top 2 recruiting class every single year yet never sniff the top 10 indoors or outdoors. Stanford ruins more good runners then maybe every team in the Country combined.

Maybe the past 5 years. But Cal has been doing it for a much longer period.

............ wrote:

Surprised nobody mentioned Berkeley. Top 3 Engineering programs in the country, ranked #1 public university in the world, and not a great team

Top public U in the country, yet 7th at Pac12s last year sandwiched between academic powerhouses Arizona State and Washington State. With one guy in the top 20. That's gotta be the biggest disparity out there.

The crazy thing is as one poster mentioned, you have to be a 1:53/4:14/9:15 guy to even get a look....but then you go nowhere or regress for 4 years. How you start with the talent yet do nothing is mind-boggling.

letsracer wrote:

most reputable academic college in Florida.

Isn't that kind of like being the best-looking guy in the Traveling Wilburys?

Beyonce wrote:

Ummm Duke? Carolina? Emory? UVA? Miami is fine but there are plenty of schools much better, even in the south

Hmmm, I always thought Miami was the same caliber as Duke and Emory. I guess it depends on what specific department your are talking about. But all three are pound for pound better, or at least more selective than UVA and Carolina.

Southern? Bloke wrote:

Beyonce wrote:

Ummm Duke? Carolina? Emory? UVA? Miami is fine but there are plenty of schools much better, even in the south

Hmmm, I always thought Miami was the same caliber as Duke and Emory. I guess it depends on what specific department your are talking about. But all three are pound for pound better, or at least more selective than UVA and Carolina.

oh, and bottom line - Miami XC is a joke

I can't speak on Emory, but I did take a hard look at both Duke and Miami and feel that Duke is a better school for more important programs. Miami had an impressive business and medical school, but after that it was psychology, music, and marine biology. They seemed to miss out on the whole computer thing. Both schools require a 2000+ SAT score, but unless you are going to study Finance, Accounting, or International Business, I think Duke would be the better choice.

And UNC is for Carolina kids who can't get in to Duke

Rogueyogger wrote:

Are you kidding me? Davidson's distance program is fantastic. The distance runners have been dominant in their 2 years in the A10. I'm pretty sure they've combined to win something like 6 individual A10 titles in just 2 years. Plus, Will Brewster qualified for the first round of NCAAs in the 5k. They have Brewster and Mogen returning. They are going to be even better next year.

Flagpole wrote:

Well, it's not a BAD team, but not a great one either -- Davidson. Some other schools in the Atlantic 10 conference would qualify too. Davidson though is a GREAT school.

Was thinking more along of the lines of a national power. Decent in their conference yes, and it would be a great place to go to school. They are D1, so compared to other top D1 teams, they are not BAD (as I said earlier), but not great either. Also, the excellent academics stand out which is what part of the question was.

Cowboy shootout wrote:

............ wrote:

Surprised nobody mentioned Berkeley. Top 3 Engineering programs in the country, ranked #1 public university in the world, and not a great team

Top public U in the country, yet 7th at Pac12s last year sandwiched between academic powerhouses Arizona State and Washington State. With one guy in the top 20. That's gotta be the biggest disparity out there.

The crazy thing is as one poster mentioned, you have to be a 1:53/4:14/9:15 guy to even get a look....but then you go nowhere or regress for 4 years. How you start with the talent yet do nothing is mind-boggling.

The OP question was "which D1 school has excellent academics and a bad team."

So, automatically, ever Pac-12 school is not eligible, because even the worst XC programs are decent on a national level. So it has to be a SEC or ACC school. Aside from Vanderbilt and Auburn, the SEC is far from excellent in academics. Vanderbilt had an awful XC program for men and a decent one for women. Auburn was middle of the road in both men and womens. So Vanderbilt is definitely a contender.

Now let's move on to the ACC. Most ACC schools have excellent education, especially when compared to SEC schools. So they are all eligible. But Miami's XC program in mens and womens is absolutely awful, perhaps the worst in the country.

So now it is Vanderbilt vs. Miami. I don't know much about academics at either, but Vanderbilt is known to have the best academics in the SEC - but that is not difficult to achieve. Miami seems to be on the same level as the rest of the ACC - so I don't know how to lean here. But even if Vanderbilt had a "more excellent" of a school than Miami, Miami's XC program is so much worse, that Miami has to take the cake.

Miami sucks, so they win the OP's contest

Southern? Bloke wrote:

Beyonce wrote:

Ummm Duke? Carolina? Emory? UVA? Miami is fine but there are plenty of schools much better, even in the south

Hmmm, I always thought Miami was the same caliber as Duke and Emory. I guess it depends on what specific department your are talking about. But all three are pound for pound better, or at least more selective than UVA and Carolina.

Wait. Are you saying that Miami is academically superior to UVA and UNC? If so, you are sadly mistaken.

The Cali WCC Schools ( Santa Clara, St. Mary's, ect.). They all are expensive as hell, tough academics, below average teams.

Notre dame. Consistently placing in the bottom of the ACC now.