What group from Texas are you referring to?
18 of the first 42 players drafted were from ACC teams. That's nearly half--crazy. ACC fans are chortling about it on another soccer board. Certainly a lot of it is just recruiting--In FSU and UNC you certainly have two of the top 4 programs in the country, and one could argue that they are THE top 2 programs. Throw in Notre Dame (2 players picked in the first round), Clemson (same, I think), UVA, Duke, Pitt and all the rest. And now they're getting Stanford as well (which is a reflection of how stupid college athletics as become with every school chasing football TV rights money like grayhounds after a race-track rabbit.) And it's not just recruiting and players: The ACC easily has the strongest collection of coaches in the country, who know how to get the most out of their teams and their individual players, which helps their draft potential.
It's a powerhouse conference--and yet what's absolutely nuts is that the SEC had more teams in the NCAA than the ACC last year, thanks to the weirdness of RPI. We weren't very good---but we got in and both UVA and Duke didn't. And it wasn't like we had a bunch of strong teams---we didn't. And we've been right up there with the ACC with respect to most teams in the NCAA in several recent years. It's clear that the SEC has been gaining ground--SEC teams have beaten good ACC teams; we should have beaten Duke a couple of years ago. But in terms of overall quality--tradition of winning, coaching quality, academics, recruiting--the SEC is still noticeably behind, and may always be. We've got some good coaches in the conference---Hale has made Arkansas the best program in the conference even as he plays a schoolyard style of soccer, and the husband-wife team at SC consistently overachieve, though they don't seem to be great recruiters. Georgia made a home-run hire by getting the former Southern Cal coach, and that's the type of boldness required.
I'd like to think that the SEC could be the 2nd best conference in the country. The Big10 has added two powerhouses in USC and UCLA, and it's got Penn State. But after that it doesn't especially impress me. Nebraska was, what, Big10 co-champ last year, and they didn't wow me. Even with our issues, we could have won that match. But then we don't have any programs at the level of UCLA, Southern Cal and Pa. State. They've got better protrams at the top but I think the SEC might be a bit stronger overall, top to bottom. I think we need to raise the level of our soccer: You can put a bunch of good athletes on the field and make it difficult for your opponent, but ultimately you need athleticism mixed with skills and excellent soccer to be really good. Let's do it!
𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑻𝒐 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒚 𝑻𝒐𝒑! 
