PNW Volleyblog

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...