PNW Volleyblog

Notes: Only teams that have played at least one match already will be listed here. That means a couple of things: top teams in conferences not playing fall seasons at all won't be listed; it doesn't mean I think they're worse than teams listed here (think Pac-12 & Big Ten at least for now, plus teams like Hawaii, Creighton, Marquette and Colorado State). On a similar note, teams playing a fall schedule that starts late won't be ranked until they play their first game (mostly referring to SEC; also applies to the Big 12, ACC and about half of Sun Belt to a lesser extent). A side effect of doing the rankings this way is that teams playing early will later drop significantly (if not out of rankings entirely) through no fault of their own, simply because more poerful teams open their seasons. While less than ideal, I feel this is better than the alternative (attempting to rank every team that will play in fall at some point) for a few reasons: 1) It focuses the attentio

Wisconsin or Pitt for the #4 seed? I probably should have seen this coming a bit more than I actually did, but about one-third of all responses boiled down to essentially this question. Last year, with a weak ACC and only one loss, Pitt was the #11 seed. But that should only be a minor indicator rather than direct evidence, because 2019 Pitt is a lot better than 2018 Pitt, both in terms of skill and resume. 2 018 Pitt beat Cal Poly (home), Washington (home), Pepperdine (home), and VCU (home). Cal Poly was nearly a host. Washington was extremely young and still working things out – especially in week 3 – and went on to the program’s worst year in a long time (but put things together late and made the Sweet 16 anyway). Pepperdine and VCU were both tourney teams. Pitt’s only loss came in a pretty tight 3-1 loss at a mediocre Duke team that went 16-12 and did not sniff the NCAA tournament. 2019 Pitt beat Penn State (road), Utah (neutral), Cal Poly (neutral), Cincinnati (hom

With just a week and a half until Selection Sunday, a overview of where teams are relative to the cut line for NCAA at-large bids. Records and ( unofficial ) RPI current through Wednesday, 11/20. Questions/Comments? Tweet me @NCAAVBscores. Lock: I feel 100% confident this team will make the NCAA tournament even if they were to lose every remaining match. Just avoid disaster: Pretty self-explanatory, I think. It varies what exactly that means, though. For teams in power conference, this means just don't lose out, but for a few teams that are large favorites multiple times (such as Cal Poly and UCSB), it means just don't suffer a major upset. Right side of the bubble: If the season ended now, I would have this team in, but they're far from safe. Wrong side of the bubble: If the season ended now, I would have this team out, but getting there is quite reasonable. Need wins: An uphill climb to a bid. Primarily used for teams with a tough schedule remaining -w

If you have lots of time on your hands and don't mind hearing me ramble for well over an hour, I invite you to listen to me explain all my choices for this list in my first-ever podcast . I dive into every conference and explain which choices were easy and which ones were...not. Without further ado, from conference #32 to #1 (based on MasseyRatings ): SWAC: Alabama State, Alabama A&M, Southern MEAC: Howard, Bethune-Cookman, Morgan State NEC: Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, Bryant MAAC: Fairfield, Canisius, Marist Big South: High Point, Winthrop, Radford America East: New Hampshire, Stony Brook, Albany Ohio Valley: Murray State, Morehead State, Austin Peay Southern: ETSU, Samford, Wofford Southland: Stephen F. Austin, Houston Baptist, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Atlantic Sun: Florida Gulf Coast, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb Patriot: American, Navy, Army Summit: South Dakota, Denver, Omaha Atlantic 10: Dayton, VCU, La Salle Sun Belt: Texas State, Coastal Carolina, Arka

A Q&A collaboration between three volleyball addicts: Myself, @DawgoneCrazy (primary interest: Washington and the Pac-12) @cheesetrader1 (Wisconsin and the Big Ten) @vballfreak808 (Hawaii and the West Coast in general: Pac-12, WCC, Big West) Toughest pod? Cheese: Orlando is clearly brutal. Pullman isn't easy either, particularly if you're a hitter: Washington State, Tennessee, and Colorado State all have really good blocking. 808: The Stanford subregional is tougher than people may expect, with LMU and Duke each taking down a top 10 opponent this season. Stanford is the top seed but scrappy teams have caused trouble for the Cardinal before. Dawg: Besides Orlando, Lexington really stands out to me. Kentucky has lost just once since opening weekend, and had a really long stretch without dropping a set in SEC play. Purdue hasn't lost a single match to a team outside of the top 20 all year, but that will be put to the test right off the bat with ETSU, who holds

Final 2018 Bracketology By Ed Strong Automatic bids are italicized. Top team in each group is host; bottom team is the 2-seed and wears home jerseys in first round. Palo Alto, CA #1 Stanford (28-1, 20-0 Pac-12) Alabama State (23-17, 16-2 SWAC) Denver (27-2, 15-0 Summit) Pepperdine (21-8, 14-4 WCC) Milwaukee, WI #16 Marquette (26-6, 15-2 Big East) Eastern Michigan (21-13, 9-7 MAC) Yale (19-4, 13-1 Ivy) Purdue (23-8, 12-8 Big Ten) State College, PA #9 Penn State (23-7, 14-6 Big Ten) Navy (23-8, 13-3 Patriot) Syracuse (18-8, 14-4 ACC) Washington (18-12, 10-10 Pac-12) Lexington, KY #8 Kentucky (24-4, 18-0 SEC) Murray State (22-9, 13-3 OVC) East Tennessee State (28-6, 15-1 SoCon) Florida State (19-9, 15-3 ACC) Madison, WI #5 Wisconsin (22-6, 15-5 Big Ten) Green Bay (20-10, 13-3 Horizon) Louisville (21-8, 14-4 ACC) Illinois State 25-7, 16-2 MVC) Los Angeles, CA #12 USC (21-10, 13-7 Pac-12) Northern Arizona (26-8, 15-3 Big Sky) Stephen F. Austin (32-2, 16-0 So