And so another year is just about over, other than baseball. Good time to grade W&M's athletic teams...at least one man's opinion:

BASEBALL: This final grade still to come as team prepares for the upcoming CAA Playoffs. Team's pitching has markedly improved as year has developed, going from horrendous to decent as starters have jave gotten much better. The hitting has been ok and we have a couple of young hiutters, but recently the guys look tired. There is almost no quality pitching if starters out early unless we get to the ninth inning. Doubtful we can knock off UNCW in tourney...
Right now I grade the season as "C-" at best. Supossedly we have outstanding freshmen coming in...lets hope several are pitchers.

FOOTBALL: B+...Very good team to watch...this might have been a
great season if the team could have defeated Richmond. Prospects are excellent for 2016. Team should score lots of points and ultimate level of success next fall depends on replacing several defensive stalwarts.

X-COUNTRY (both men & women): A-...again the best by far in the CAA
but now up to past seasons where teams finished in top fifteen nationally.
Not as much depth.

SOCCER-MEN: C...no consistency despite several solid wins as team had trouble scoring. No dominant players this year although a couple of the freshmen had good seasons look like future big-time players. Word is we have another great group of freshmen coming in.

SOCCER-WOMEN: C...not up to the great W&M women's tradition.
Problems all year scoring and lost ground in CAA. Need an influx of outstnding frosh to get team back towards past national stature.

FIELD HOCKEY: D...poor season, but we had a new coach and she has recruited an outstanding group of frosh coming in next fall, including three All-American high school players.

BASKETBALL-MEN: B+...very exciting team to watch with some very talented players that competed well at all levels. Third consecutive
20 win season a real achievement. Some inconsistency in a few games cost this team the NCAA bid. Team has solid chance to again win 20 next year despite losses of Tarpey and Sheldon with outstanding nucleus pf players back and addition of two outstanding frosh.

BAKETBALL-WOMENS: B+...team continued major upward growth in quality...key injury cost team 4-5 games. Very entertaining to watch and some very good talent on the team. Before injury this team beat ODU and JMU and would have had a solid winning season instead of a .500 one had fate not stepped in.

Men's Gymnastics: B... Another good year in this sport although no eastern championship. One NCC national competitor but no national top-level gymnasts as in past seasons.

Women's Gymnastics: C..Decent success but no championship nor any top performers.

Men & Women's Swimming: A+...Both teams, with little scholarship assistance and no divers won CAA championships, a remarkable achievement. We have an outstanding coach who recruits top talent despite lack of money and scholarships. Many of the swimmers return next season and he has some very goood frosh coming in.

Volleyball: F...Despite nine (yes, NINE) scholarships, many expensive ones to athletes outside the state, this team continued to perform poorly and beat nobody of any note and were last in CAA again. New coach hired after season to get this program going.

Men's Track:C+...This usually top-notch program slipped, with little depth
and lack of usual outstanding middle and long distance runners. Strong in some field events, but no CAA Championships and no runnng stars. Needs a strong recruiting class to get back to our history of excellence
and national championship runners.

WOMEN's TRACK: B-...Injuries hurt the team and, despite one great 5000/10000 meter runner and several other decent runners this year's team had little depth and gaps in several events and failed to win CAA crown. LIke the men, we need strong recruiting class.

LACROSSE: F..Team was among worst in CAA and had no depth and few strong players. Will take a couple of strong freshman classes to get the team competitive again.