[ANALYSIS] Teams from the Pac-12 and WCC have won nine Division I men's titles and finished second 11 other times, but the conferences had to settle for one
team apiece in the 2011 NCAA Division I Tournament. Their respective conference champions, UCLA and St. Mary's, are headed to the postseason. Cases could be made for Washington and Portland, but no
other Pac-10 or WCC team seeking an at-large bid won a non-conference game against a tournament team.
Washington went 5-1-2 against non-conference opponents and beat Loyola, Ill., which
won the Horizon League, and UAB, the Conference USA runner-up.
Portland, which beat Washington, had wins over Big Ten champion Northwestern, UAB and St. Mary's (twice) and went 5-2-1
against non-conference foes.
San Diego State, which competes in men's soccer in the Pac-12, was 6-1-2 in non-conference play but only one win was over a team with a record better than
.500 (Penn at 8-7-2).
The WCC's Santa Clara was 4-1-3 in non-conference play but didn't beat a team with a record above .500.
Neither conference holds a tournament for men's
or women's soccer.
Pac-12:
champion: UCLA (15-4-1)
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Washington (12-4-2)
Tournament teams: 2-2-1
Non-conference: 5-1-2
(wins over Loyola, Ill., UAB)
San Diego State
(10-6-3)
Tournament teams: 0-2-0
Non-conference: 6-1-2
Stanford (6-10-2)
Tournament teams: 0-3-0
Non-conference: 3-4-1
Oregon State (5-11-2)
Tournament teams: 0-4-1
Non-conference: 2-5-1
California (3-9-5)
Tournament
teams: 0-3-1
Non-conference: 3-2-2
WCC:
champion:
St. Mary's (8-6-5)
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Santa Clara (11-5-4)
Tournament teams: 1-2-1
(win over St. Mary's)
Non-conference: 4-1-3
Portland (11-7-2)
Tournament teams: 4-2-1
(wins over Northwestern,
UAB, St. Mary's twice)
Non-conference: 5-2-1
San Diego (9-9-1)
Tournament teams: 0-4-1
Non-conference: 3-4-0
Loyola Marymount (7-12-1)
Tournament teams: 0-4-1
Non-conference: 2-6-0
San Francisco (6-10-3)
Tournament teams: 0-2-1
Non-conference: 2-4-1
Gonzaga (4-12-3)
Tournament teams: 0-4-0
Non-conference: 2-6-0
It seems like the committee got more than a few things wrong. I agree more with this article about the selection process:
http://bebetter-sportsmedia.blogspot.com/2011/11/ncaa-mens-soccer-selection-committee.html