Big Ten Softball Rosters

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Just a question(s) for the forum. There are lots of discussion these days about where the college players on Big Ten rosters are coming from and how they are impacting those teams. And because of where most of our loyalties lie - how it effects tOSU. Here is a quick bit of data based on team websites.

Wisc - 7 players from the West coast (1 of them from TX)
Minn - 5 players from the West coast (1 of them from Colo)
NW - 11 players from the West coast (1 of them from Okla)
m*ch - 6 players from the West coast (1 of them from TX)

The above are the teams tOSU is chasing for relevance in the Big Ten, and hopefully a trip to the NCAA tournament down the road. Here is the OSU roster breakdown.

OSU - 9 players from the West coast (1 of the from TX)

*Facts are facts - players from the west are impacting the better teams in the conference. Not sure how they are performing on the field, but the spots they assume on the roster are telling.
*I doubt that the NCAA powers are mortified by drawing any Big Ten teams they will face in the tournament. I am not saying the teams from the Big Ten won't win - just that the Nation won't be scared.
*Big Ten teams have ALWAYS recruited players from the west - and dispite a few great runs the conference as a whole has not stood out in the NCAA's.

All that being said here are a few discussion points.....

1) Are the players that the bulk of the teams are recruiting from the west top tier players out there, or are the Big Ten schools getting the kids passed over by the majority of teams that land annually in the NCAA tournament? Granted some are stars before they arrive.
2) Are these same western players that are being picked by conference schools squeezing rosters and making it easier for local talent to choose other schools. Or is it simply that these local based players are looking for better competition and a better chance to play in the big dance?
3) Are the western based players better at the recruiting game? An example is that one of the toughest showcases to get an Invitation to on the East Coast each June is the Team New Jersey Showcase. Of the 57 teams invited - 15 are from the West. That's 15 teams traveling as far as humanly possible to be seen by ANY school interested. That is committment.
4) If the local kids all stayed in the Big Ten would the conference be any better than they currently are?

We have had this discussion every year for the last 15 years. Since the smartest people in the history of this sport are on OFC - lets look at the above starting points, add to them, and figure this whole thing out.....

 

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one other thought regarding West Coast players....i've heard that many of these Cali and Texas players that have a GPA of 3.0 and above are on "Diversity" Scholarships not just within the Big Ten (although the Big Ten prides itself in diversity) but at a lot of schools...whether it be hispanic/latino/african american etc. It's a win win for the programs- they get great athletes with good grades and they don't have to spend a lot of $$$$ to get them

 

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Whats a "diversity" scholarship?

 

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one other thought regarding West Coast players....i've heard that many of these Cali and Texas players that have a GPA of 3.0 and above are on "Diversity" Scholarships not just within the Big Ten (although the Big Ten prides itself in diversity) but at a lot of schools...whether it be hispanic/latino/african american etc. It's a win win for the programs- they get great athletes with good grades and they don't have to spend a lot of $$$$ to get them

I'm sure all those coaches are greatly concerned with "diversity." What a scam. Here is my proposal for every college sport...Let everyone give as many scholarships as they wish. Get the NCAA out of the scholarship monitoring business. And then the leagues will sort themselves out based upon who wants to compete at what level. With the Big Ten, the league isn't likely to equal the SEC or PAC 12 or even the Big 12 anytime soon. The schools in those leagues simply take the sport much more seriously and are usually going to draw the best players. Better facilities, better budgets, better base of local players to recruit, etc. Michigan is the anomaly.

 

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Mark, Nice, well-thought-out post.

My thoughts:

"East Coast/Mid West" teams automatically drool over any player with a California birth certificate. Which forces our top players to look at schools not in the Big Ten.
I don't know if they play the recruiting game any better - I suspect it goes a lot on West Coast reputation.
And, I suspect that if the top Ohio players stayed in the Big Ten, it would improve the level of play. (After ousting a few lame duck coaches.)

 

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I live in Michigan and have studied the to B10 programs here quite a bit. Especially since the one I love is not doing so well.

And I will say that that other team does it brilliantly. They routinely get the top tier players from the State of Michigan. And then they have (lately especially) have gone out and gotten absolute STUDS from outside the State.

I think a couple of things they do that many college teams do not do very well is get their players better. Kids get better playing at that school. That is not true at most college programs in my opinion. Especially on the mound. They do an amazing job of making their pitcher better mechanically and performance wise.

They also get complete buy in from the players and commitment. They have definitely pulled away from pack on a whole. Now with all that said they did get punched in the face by Wisconsin in the B10 tourney. Not sure what happened there did not see the game.

 

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a diversity scholarship = affirmative action/minority scholarship.

 

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I should be clear. I don't blame the coaches for taking advantage of the diversity scholarship game. I would be at the forefront of those coaches taking full advantage. Incidentally, pending Supreme Court cases might strike down the whole affirmative action scheme. A decision on the key case is expected next month.

 

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I should be clear. I don't blame the coaches for taking advantage of the diversity scholarship game. I would be at the forefront of those coaches taking full advantage. Incidentally, pending Supreme Court cases might strike down the whole affirmative action scheme. A decision on the key case is expected next month.

It all boils down to a cost/benefit analysis with recruiting- EXAMPLE: say a college is looking to recruit a SS for the class of 2015. They have a list of 20-25 players that they are looking at for that position. Then what they do is look at other factors such as:

GPA/Test Scores (academic scholarships/grants)
Parental Income (need based aid- this is where the middle class gets SCREWED)
Diversity Status (diversity/affirmative action $$)
In State Status or Reciprocity
Major declared (yes, lots of schools have specific scholarships for certain majors)
Other factors (other grants available)

From this, they assign a value to each kid as far as how much they will cost the program....(and most coaches know what the kid will qualify)

I've said it before, RECRUITING is NOT fair. DO your homework when it comes to financial aide/ scholarships. Realize that if Notre Dame and Northwestern are your dream schools, Grades will likely NOT get you any money because EVERYONE is smart....

 

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Look beyond the rosters and focus on the impact players - team stat leaders and all-conference honors. Here are the all-B1G honorees.

Players from SoCal
- Player of the Year: Sierra Romero, Fr, SS, MICH
- Pitcher of the Year: Tatum Edwards, Jr, NEB
- 1st Team (9): Megan Blank, So, SS, IOWA; Ashley Lane, Sr, 2B, MICH; Sierra Romero, Fr, SS, MICH; Lauren Sweet, So, C, MICH; Kylene Hopkins, Sr, OF, MSU; Tatum Edwards, Jr, P, NEB; Taylor Edwards, Jr, C, NEB; Amy Letourneau, So, UT, NU; Mary Massei, Jr, OF, WIS
- 2nd Team (4): Haylie Wagner, So, P, MICH; Emily Lockman, Fr, P, NEB; Marisa Bast, Jr, 3B, NU; Anna Edwards, So, SS, NU;

First Team All-Big Ten
MI Caitlin Blanchard, Jr, 1B, MICH
MI Sara Driesenga, So, P, MICH
GA Sierra Lawrence, Fr, OF, MICH
MN Sara Moulton, Jr, P, MINN
AZ Kaitlyn Richardson, So, 3B, MINN
CA Tyler Walker, So, SS, MINN
CA Mari Majam, Jr, OF, NU
CA Cassidy Bell, Sr, OF, PSU
WI Andie Varsho, Jr, OF, PUR
IA Cassandra Darrah, Sr, P, WIS
CA Whitney Massey, Sr, C, WIS

Second Team All-Big Ten
IL Alex Booker, Jr, OF, ILL
IL Amanda Wagner, Sr, 3B, IND
IA Johnnie Dowling, Sr, OF, IOWA
MI Jayme O'Bryant, Sr, 3B, MSU
NE Alicia Armstrong, Fr, SS, NEB
TX Jordan Bettiol, So, OF, NEB
CA Courtney Breault, Sr, DP, NEB
KS Brooke Thomason, Sr, OF, NEB
OH Cammi Prantl, Fr, OF, OSU
CA Maia Monchek, Sr, OF, PUR
KS Kendall Grimm, Sr, OF, WIS
AZ Meghan McIntosh, Sr, P, WIS

 

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I live in Michigan and have studied the to B10 programs here quite a bit. Especially since the one I love is not doing so well.

And I will say that that other team does it brilliantly. They routinely get the top tier players from the State of Michigan. And then they have (lately especially) have gone out and gotten absolute STUDS from outside the State.

I think a couple of things they do that many college teams do not do very well is get their players better. Kids get better playing at that school. That is not true at most college programs in my opinion. Especially on the mound. They do an amazing job of making their pitcher better mechanically and performance wise.

They also get complete buy in from the players and commitment. They have definitely pulled away from pack on a whole. Now with all that said they did get punched in the face by Wisconsin in the B10 tourney. Not sure what happened there did not see the game.

This is pretty accurate. It comes down to coaching. Hutch is a legend.

 

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This is fascinating reading. Please others, keep adding.

 

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I think the key point for Mich. that was made earlier is that whatever players Hutch gets, she and her staff make them better. That's especially a key when recruiting girls from the colder weather states who is the past simply did not have the chance to play year-round. One DI coach told me that the talent level isn't that different between Cali girls and the rest of the country. But what was different was the experience level and to a certain extent lack of high level coaching. The coach said that an Ohio girl, for example would take about 2 years in college to catch up to a Cali girl. In that sense, I think maybe Tess Sito is a case study. Two years at Cleveland State, then on to the SEC. Conversely, Tara Dill, spent all four years at Kentucky after playing Travel ball and High School in the same county as Sito.

 

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I think the key point for Mich. that was made earlier is that whatever players Hutch gets, she and her staff make them better. That's especially a key when recruiting girls from the colder weather states who is the past simply did not have the chance to play year-round. One DI coach told me that the talent level isn't that different between Cali girls and the rest of the country. But what was different was the experience level and to a certain extent lack of high level coaching. The coach said that an Ohio girl, for example would take about 2 years in college to catch up to a Cali girl. In that sense, I think maybe Tess Sito is a case study. Two years at Cleveland State, then on to the SEC. Conversely, Tara Dill, spent all four years at Kentucky after playing Travel ball and High School in the same county as Sito.

http://www.thesoftballzone.com/vb3/...more-kids-playing-out-state-travel-teams.html

I completely agree...

 

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The SEC is a level or two above the b10 ... and doing it with east coast kids . fact. The love affair with west coast kids is losing it's luster . Not saying they might a SLIGHT edge but the days where it was obvious choice to heavily recruit Ca if you wanted to win are long gone . Thank God !

 

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The SEC is a level or two above the b10 ... and doing it with east coast kids . fact. The love affair with west coast kids is losing it's luster . Not saying they might a SLIGHT edge but the days where it was obvious choice to heavily recruit Ca if you wanted to win are long gone . Thank God !

And to that we owe a thanks to those like Sito, Dill and others AS WELL AS top tier midwest travel ball organizations who have and are competing at the highest level - thanks for showing the softball recruiting community that midwest kids are dedicated, passionate (heck we play in cold weather) and just as athletically gifted as those on the left coast.

 

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The SEC is a level or two above the b10 ... and doing it with east coast kids . fact. The love affair with west coast kids is losing it's luster . Not saying they might a SLIGHT edge but the days where it was obvious choice to heavily recruit Ca if you wanted to win are long gone . Thank God !

The rumors of CA's demise in softball have been greatly exaggerated.
- Looking at the core players (starters + #2 pitcher) of the 8 teams that made it to OKC, 42 of the 85 were from CA.
- OU wins WCWS with 8 of their 11.
- TN gets to championship series with 5 of 11.
- TX had 5 of 10 and the other 5 were all from TX.
- WA had 6 of 10.
- MI had 5 of 11.
- FL only had 2 of 10 and was the only team to have more from in-state (5) than CA. However, 6 of their 13 verbals are from CA.
- ASU 7/11
- Neb 4/11 (and more on the way).

 

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The rumors of CA's demise in softball have been greatly exaggerated.
- Looking at the core players (starters + #2 pitcher) of the 8 teams that made it to OKC, 42 of the 85 were from CA.
- OU wins WCWS with 8 of their 11.
- TN gets to championship series with 5 of 11.
- TX had 5 of 10 and the other 5 were all from TX.
- WA had 6 of 10.
- MI had 5 of 11.
- FL only had 2 of 10 and was the only team to have more from in-state (5) than CA. However, 6 of their 13 verbals are from CA.
- ASU 7/11
- Neb 4/11 (and more on the way).

Even though you bring up a good point (can't argue with those numbers), but I bet if you look at the numbers 10+ years ago; I bet your numbers would be higher with Cali girls.

With that being said, more northern states girls are making the jump to the organizations that has name to get into the larger tournaments where the top D1 coaches go.

 

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Interesting point about OH girls being 2 yrs behind the CA girls but I am not following the Sito case study idea. She was major D1 ready out of high school and chose to play at CSU instead of a more prominent program. She didn't need 2 yrs of development to catch up, as reflected by her strong performance in both years . Not really sure what your point was about Dill. Are you saying she played on a better travel team than Sito?

 

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I think McK7 was just naming a few OH girls who made it to the Show. 'Not necessarily ranking them. (They forgot Erin Gabriel, too)