Virginia is in 8th place in this morning's updated Director's Cup standings, but the baseball team's run will lock the Hoos into the top 5. This morning's update includes men's and women's track and field, where UVA finished 54th and 44th, respectively, and means that baseball is the last remaining sport to be counted. While we speculated weeks ago that UVA was primed for a top-ten finish, the program's spring has already outperformed high expectations.
Here are the top ten of the current standings (full breakdown can be found here):
Rank | School | Points |
1 | Stanford | 1481 |
2 | Florida | 1191.5 |
3 | Notre Dame | 1128.25 |
4 | Penn State | 1113 |
5 | UCLA | 1078.5 |
6 | USC | 1063.75 |
7 | Duke | 1051 |
8 | Virginia | 1028.5 |
9 | Texas | 1010 |
10 | Michigan | 983.25 |
While UVA sits in 8th place currently, Stanford, Florida, and Texas are the only other schools in the top 10 that will earn points for baseball - Stanford earns 64 points for making the Supers, while Florida gets 25 for their regionals appearance. This will be the third year in a row that Stanford-Florida finished 1-2.
Now, let's review the point system. (The full scoring system can be found here). What's relevant is that a championship is worth 100, losing in the championship round 90, a 3rd or 4th place finish 83, and a 5th-8th place finish 73.
If Virginia baseball wins it all, the Hoos earn 100 points and edge Notre Dame by 1/2 a point for a third place finish.
If Virginia makes the championship series but loses, they'd earn 90 points, good enough for 4th place.
The worst the Hoos could do, losing their next 2 against Ole Miss/TCU, would mean that UVA would pick up 83 points and finish 5th.
Texas cannot pass Virginia - they are 18.5 points behind currently, and can't make up more than 17 points (if UVA earns 83 for a 3rd/4th place finish and Texas gets 100 to win it all).
Thus, Virginia will finish 3rd (baseball championship), 4th (finals appearance), or 5th (fall short of the finals) in the final Directors' Cup. That's the highest since UVA's 2009-2010 3rd place finish (behind, you guessed it, Stanford and Florida), and a VERY nice rebound after 2 years outside the top 10.