They’re usually a solid Regional team who occasionally has a really good team. This year, they’re definitely down and aren’t even a lock to take the Summit League, which they usually dominate. We’re coming off of Finals week though so no midweek games and minimal practice could make things tougher. We’ve got to show up ready to go.

I think we’ve moved up the most since the preseason rankings came out so I guess that would make us the biggest surprise team? As a collective, the Pac-10 is the biggest surprise. Arizona St. was a preseason top 10, but had to deal with the Pat Murphy drama and haven’t had their ace all season. They’re still undefeated. We’ve played very well, Oregon St. is a good top 20 team as expected and Stanford, who was expected to struggle early has swept Rice and is a top 25 team. Washington St. is 10-3 on the year and their first series loss came in a tough, close one down at Texas A&M where they impressed those in attendance even losing 2 of 3. Oregon has shocked everyone in going 12-6 versus a really tough schedule in just their second season and both Cal and Arizona have done some good things. The Pac-10 may be the best conference in the country this year.

I think the biggest disappointment can be leveled at Cal St. Fullerton, but really the entire Big West is shockingly underachieving. Fullerton was a preseason top five team, aren’t even ranked now and needed a 3-1 week last week to get back to .500. Their two midweek games against Arizona St. this week will be very telling for them. On top of Fullerton, UC Irvine went from top five to losing three of four in their only tough weekend series of the year and not impressing against the rest of a weak schedule. Long Beach St. was supposed to be a Regional team, but they’re only .500, although they picked up a good series win over Wichita St. last weekend. Toss is Cal Poly, who some thought was a top 25 team and is awful and you get a conference in disarray.