I'm genuinely disappointed in the lack of recognition for Marquette University. Don't you know that one of our most distinguished athletic alums is Big Tommy Boy Callahan? He played on our rugby team for seven years.

(11-13-2018 11:55 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  I'm genuinely disappointed in the lack of recognition for Marquette University. Don't you know that one of our most distinguished athletic alums is Big Tommy Boy Callahan? He played on our rugby team for seven years.

That should enshrine Marquette to lifetime Tier 1 status!

As a Denver fan, I am obviously biased. DU is the Learfield Director Cup non-football D-I winner for 11 of the last 12 years. DU has won 33 NCAA titles at the D-I level, 13th overall among all schools. It's remarkable for a school with a $35 million sports budget that must fly to 85% of its away games, and where it's difficult (in some sports) to get opponents to travel here, due to air distance and altitude.

DU has many NCAA tournament teams in many sports - Skiing is the dominant program in the nation (annually #1 or #2), while men's Hockey, Lacrosse, and Soccer (more recently) are the best known as national top 10 programs, with either recent national titles or final four appearances. Top 20 programs include women's gymnastics and women's lacrosse. Top 50 programs include women's volleyball, women's soccer, men's and women's swimming, tennis and golf. In short, DU is very strong in sports that fit the affluent demographic of a private school in an affluent, educated area with an international drawing power of similar students who want to go to school in Colorado.

The difficult hurdle for Denver remains men's basketball, where DU teams tend to be middling. Colorado is not a great basketball area in general - none of the schools here have a strong tradition in men's hoops, and this is largely due to the demographic realities of Colorado, where the recruiting base for basketball is pretty poor.

(11-12-2018 04:17 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  What non-football school is the best in D-I? Pick one or several but give a brief (or detailed if you wish) explanation.

My choice: Denver. They are a consistent powerhouse in hockey, soccer, and lacrosse. They are in a terrific market and have good academics. Should be in a better conference like the WCC or Big East.

They are in the Big East in one of the three sports you mention, and in the powerhouse NCHC in a second.

The Big East and WCC are BBall First conferences, they aren't going to advance a multi-sport invite to Denver to get their soccer ... and Denver can't bloody well shop their soccer around to the WCC or Big East as an affiliate when their own BBall multisport conference needs the team sports to hold onto their D1 status and all-valuable Tourney autobid.

To be sure, the Summit (average rank this year 115) doesn't elevate Denver's standing in soccer ... but it's a small enough conference that it doesn't really undermine Denver's standing either, they have plenty of OOC games available to build up their tournament resume. They have ample opportunities to play the schools from the Big West (avg. 86), WCC (avg 88) or Big East (avg 94) that would be the teams to make those appealing places to have their soccer team. And they can skip the schools (like the Zags at 182nd dragging down the WCC average ranking) from those conferences that aren't as impressive on their resume.