Congrats to the Oklahoma State men and the Arizona State women, who were named in this week's Golf World as the preseason No. 1 ranked teams in the country. (Here is a link to the men's poll and the women's poll.)
As I mentioned last year at this time, before Cowboy and Sun Devil fans go off and get a big head it's interesting to note that since Golf World re-introduced the college coaches' poll at the start of the 2000-01 season, only two men's and two women's schools picked for the top spot before the season started actually won the NCAA title the next spring.
MEN
Year Preseason pick NCAA champ
2000-01 Clemson Florida
2001-02 Florida Minnesota
2002-03 Clemson Clemson
2003-04 Clemson California
2004-05 Georgia Georgia
2005-06 Georgia Oklahoma State
2006-07 Oklahoma State Stanford
2007-08 Stanford UCLA
2008-09 UCLA Texas A&M
WOMEN
Year Preseason pick NCAA champ
2000-01 Duke Georgia
2001-02 Duke Duke
2002-03 Duke USC
2003-04 Duke UCLA
2004-05 UCLA Duke
2005-06 UCLA Duke
2006-07 Duke Duke
2007-08 Duke USC
2008-09 USC Arizona State
Interesting, too, is where the teams that won the national title were actually ranked in the preseason poll. On the women's side, there have been no "surprises." On the men's side, twice in the last nine years the eventually NCAA champion was well under the radar (as in not ranked at all) to start the fall.
MEN
Year NCAA champ Preseason ranking
2000-01 Florida 12th
2001-02 Minnesota 16th
2002-03 Clemson 1st
2003-04 California Not ranked
2004-05 Georgia 1st
2005-06 Oklahoma State 2nd
2006-07 Stanford Not ranked
2007-08 UCLA 5th
2008-09 Texas A&M 9th
WOMEN
Year NCAA champ Preseason ranking
2000-01 Georgia 7th
2001-02 Duke 1st
2002-03 USC 8th
2003-04 UCLA 3rd
2004-05 Duke 2nd
2005-06 Duke 2nd
2006-07 Duke 1st
2007-08 USC 4th
2008-09 Arizona State 4th
What's all this suggest? On the women's side, if you're ranked inside the top eight (Arizona State, UCLA, USC, Oklahoma State, Denver, Wake Forest, Alabama and Auburn) you've got a chance in 2009-10. And if you're on the men's side, you could potentially make a run even if you're not ranked.
For more visit
www.espn.go.com/golf
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