Virginia 8th in 2015-2016 Directors' Cup standings after winter season

The University of Virginia checked in at #8 in Division I in the updated Directors' Cup standings released today, after the conclusion of the winter season. With 583.75 points, UVA is the 3rd highest-ranked team in the ACC (behind #4 UNC and #6 Syracuse), but is just 6 points away from 5th place in a closely-contested race.  The Directors' Cup seeks to measure the best overall college athletics programs, equally weighing each sport, men's and women's, throughout the year.  An explanation on scoring is provided here.

Stanford, which has won the last 21 Directors' Cups, is once again in first place and over 200 points ahead of second-place Ohio State. Michigan, UNC, and Texas round out the top 5.

UVA is coming off of consecutive top ten Directors' Cup finishes; the program ranked 6th last season and 4th in 2013-2014. And this year, Virginia is ahead of that pace; after winter sports the past two years, the program averaged 561 points and was outside the top-ten both times.  A strong tournament by the men's basketball team (reaching the elite eight counts as a "fifth-place finish") gave UVA a boost, as did top ten finishes from indoor track and field and women's swimming.

The outlook for the spring doesn't look quite as strong as that of last season, when Virginia won national championships in baseball and men's tennis and placed in the top 20 in all nine sports in which they competed. However, the weighting of postseason play means that another slow start from the baseball team or a couple losses from the tennis team could be erased with strong tournaments.  The program looks to be on track for another finish of tenth place or better.

Looking around the ACC, 4 programs rank in the top ten: UNC, Syracuse, Virginia, and Notre Dame. And all 15 schools are in the top 100 except for Georgia Tech, at #148.

Here are full standings to date. And here's the same thing, sorted by conference.