Monday, 11 December 2017 09:51

Women's Preseason National Poll: OU Tops Poll Featured

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2018 Women's Preseason Coaches' Poll 2018 Women's Preseason Coaches' Poll Source: NCAAGym.com / NACGC/W

OU tops the Women's Preseason Coaches' Poll, with 33 first place points.  Florida is 2nd with 20 first place votes and LSU is 3rd with 7 first place votes.  Bama is 4th, Utah is fifth, and UCLA is 6th. 

The Preseason Poll usually reflects the final results from the prior season, either by following the final National finish or Regular Season (RQS) finish.  Because information is sometimes incomplete, voters may not fully consider off-season losses to graduation or the impact of incoming classes and other returning injured performers.

Some votes seem to be factoring strong incoming classes at certain schools, with Florida being among the most notable.  At the same time, the Coaches collectively seem to be lowering WVU (-8/-3), Washington (-7/-2 spots) and UGA (-4/-6) below their National/RQS finish while elevating others like Cal (+5/+5), PSU (+6/+8) and especially Stanford (+10/+14). 

In the case of Stanford, a new coaching staff and an exceptional strong freshman class is facing some high expectations (although not too high).  In the case of Cal, key gymnasts like Toni Ann Williams and Cassidy Keelan are returning, joined by a large and talented class of frosh.  At the same time, Cal has lost 9 gymnasts from last season.   

With 50 voters, the first three teams are spaced 30 to 41 points from each other.  Then, there is a clear gap to Bama in 4th, and then roughly even spacing through Michigan in 7th (34 to 67 points).  Denver is clearly in 8th, while NU leads a tight group between 9th and 15th (UW).  Thus, it's tough to read too much into these relative placements in this range as the point totals are only 100 points, or two relative places, apart from 9th to 15th.   

Here's the full poll. 

Rank Team (1st place votes) Points
1 Oklahoma (33) 1769
2 Florida (10) 1728
3 LSU (7) 1692
4 Alabama 1584
5 Utah 1544
6 UCLA 1477
7 Michigan 1443
8 Denver 1313
9 Nebraska 1214
10 Kentucky 1213
11 California 1201
12 Oregon State 1141
13 Boise State 1125
14 Auburn 1119
15 Washington 1114
16 Georgia 1011
17 Missouri 975
18 Stanford 903
19 Arkansas 872
20 Iowa 819
21 George Washington 701
22 Ohio State 690
23 Illinois 609
24 Southern Utah 605
25 Penn State 599
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