Most men’s college basketball fans think there are a few power conferences. The ACC, for example, features two teams (Duke and UNC) ranked in the top 5 in the nation. The Big East has four teams in the AP Top 25.
Northwestern has struggled in the top heavy Big Ten, where three teams are in the Top 25.
But think about how powerful the Midwest Fencing Conference is, the conference the Wildcats compete in. Three of the nation’s top four teams hail from the elite conference.
And while college basketball rankings are nationally distributed through newspapers and on Web sites because of the sport’s wide ranging national coverage, fencing rankings get distributed via e-mail to head coaches of each team.
On Wednesday the newest fencing rankings were released. Here’s how the coaches voted:
2nd USFCA COLLEGE FENCING COACHES' POLL
Women (previous ranking in parenthesis)
1. Ohio State (2)
2. Notre Dame (1)
3. Columbia-Barnard (3)
4. Northwestern (6)
5. Pennsylvania (7)
6. Harvard (5)
7. St. John's (8)
8. Temple (9)
9. Penn State (4)
10. Princeton (10)
Others receiving votes: North Carolina, Stanford, Brown, Yale, Cornell, Wayne State (MI), NYU, Brandeis, UC-San Diego, Duke, Air Force, MIT
It’s noteworthy that Wayne State( MI), who also received votes in the poll, is a member of the Midwest Fencing Conference. Essentially the conference has four teams in the top 20.
Another interesting comparison that can be drawn between the two sports and their ranking systems is how often the polls are released. Every Monday college basketball fans await the release of the new rankings to see who’s jumped and who’s dropped in the rankings.
Fencing polls are released once monthly in January, February and March. The third and final 2008 poll will be released on March 3 after conference championships and NCAA Regionals.
Speaking of NCAA Regionals and the power in he Midwest Conference… NU gets the short end of the stick in terms of representation at Nationals. Each team’s four best fencers in each weapon get to compete at NCAA Regionals, and from there, the two best get to travel to NCAA Championships. Every conference and every geographical location gets equal representation, no matter where the talent pool lies.
With so much talent on NU’s epee squad, for example, where the team’s starting four are so close in talent level, it almost seems unfair to exclude two of those members at NCAAs. Even the less talented Cats who don’t compete at the Division I level could go to NCAA Championships if they went to a lesser school in a lesser conference.
In one instance, the conference is so talented so you know who the best fencers are. On the other hand, the nation’s best fencers should get to compete at NCAAs and get rewarded with that opportunity of a lifetime.
All of that, though, won’t be on the Cats’ minds this weekend as they travel to South Bend, Ind., for the Conference Championships.
Last season, NU’s foil team did not give up a point until the finals, and then beat Ohio State 5-4 in the championship round
Foilist Sam Nemecek has had the Cats best individual performance the last two seasons. She hopes to continue that success and finish in the top two again this season.
In epee, Christa French advanced to the semifinals a season ago, while twin sister Kayley advanced to the quarterfinals.
NU’s Sophie Eustis, now graduated, advanced to the quarterfinals in sabre. The Cats have struggled in sabre all year long, and with the departure of Eustis, may continue to struggle this weekend.
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