By Josh Lipka

Anyone who watches NCAA Division I competition on ESPN has more than likely seen the commercial for a new award in college sports: the Capital One Cup. The commercial is shown frequently throughout NCAA competition. Since the award is in its first years, there have been a few questions left on the table. What exactly is the Capital One Cup? How is it scored? What are the benefits of winning this so-called coveted award? But one thing is certain: This award is a much more extraordinary honor than you might think.

The traditional awards in NCAA Division I competition have been individual and team honors, such as All-American, Player of the Year and, of course, the title of National Champion. The Capital One Cup works much differently. This title is not awarded to an individual or a team. Instead, it is given to one men’s program and one women’s program. Points that are earned toward the Capital One Cup are tracked throughout the year based on final standings of NCAA Division I Championships and final official coaches’ polls. Schools also earn points for a Top 10 finish in the NCAA Championships. With 13 men’s and 13 women’s teams represented, the Capital One Cup is considered to be the highest level a program can reach.

The benefit of winning the Capital One Cup is more than just the honor of having the most successful sports program in the country. The program that earns the large, shiny, silver cup will be announced at the ESPYs after all NCAA competition has been played for the year. The winners will receive $200,000 to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships. This chunk of change would most definitely please any athletic director in the country and gives incentive to continue a winning tradition.

The University of Louisville has been on the radar on the men’s side of this year’s competition, even reaching the No. 2 spot after the soccer team fell to the University of Akron in the finals of the NCAA Championship in Santa Barbara, Calif. last December.

The fact of the matter is that the school with the most successful sports teams will be awarded the silver cup. With spring competition underway, the final points earned in these final months will determine the school with the best of the best – the school who will lift the 2010-2011 Capital One Cup into the air at the ESPYs.