First of all, apologies for the posting lull last week. There were four broadcast matches last week and I intended to write reports for three of them (two were simultaneous), and you’ll notice I wrote reports for all none of them. I actually didn’t even watch any of them. It was a busy and trying week for me personally. And I’m not sure if it’s passed. But I’ve got some time now, so I’ll put up the bracketology for yesterday. Would’ve liked to get it up on Sunday, but….yeah, like I said.
It’s now just three weeks (well…two weeks and six days….again, sorry) until Selection Sunday, but the picture remains cloudy. Let’s see what the teams have to say for themselves.
Turns out this was a week pretty full of upsets at the top. The biggest is surely Cal’s five-set win over #2 Oregon, but I remain unconvinced that their body of work merits an at-large bid. Oregon also lost this week to Stanford, in the second #1 vs. #2 matchup the Pac-12 has had this season. Stanford are looking pretty scary at this point. Elsewhere in the Pac-12, UCLA fell in straight sets at Arizona, which is…kind of ugly. Not to be outdone, their crosstown rivals USC were swept by the other Arizona school the same night, giving the Sun Devils easily their biggest win of the season.
The Washington Huskies nearly joined their Pac-12 sisters in suffering a shocking setback, but managed to come back from down 0-2 to beat Utah in five sets at home.
Two surprising results as well out of the Big Ten as well, as both Michigan schools defeated Nebraska in five-setters at home. This makes the Huskers losers of three of their last four matches, but curiously the one win in that span was over Penn State. You really never do know sometimes. A couple of minor upsets in the ACC as well, with North Carolina (a team I quite like) defeating two ranked teams at home, first #23 Miami in a sweep and then #11 Florida State in four sets to really lock down their tournament bid.
The Tar Heels’ cross-state rivals NC State are playing themselves into a heap of trouble. After their five-set loss to Wake Forest in a match I covered, the Wolfpack have lost three more straight. The first of those was a five-setter to Duke, which is a loss a team looking for a tournament bid really can’t afford. Their losses this week were more forgivable (to Florida State and Miami), but that’s still four straight losses to put them squarely on the bubble. I’ve still got them in, but if they don’t get it together, and soon, they could be staying home come tournament time.
Another team taking a tumble is Missouri. In the so-so SEC, the Tigers have now lost two in a row, three of four, and four of seven, as well as six of ten overall. They’re not making the selectors’ jobs any easier, which is what teams need to be doing these days. In some better news for the big conferences, San Diego State’s four-set win over Fresno State gives them the outright lead in the Mountain West Conference. They would have gotten an at-large bid; previous conference leaders UNLV I’m not so sure. So that gives another bid to the big girls, and in this bracket, the recipient is Clemson. But there’s still quite a bit of volleyball left until Selection Sunday.
So here goes:
SEEDS
1. Stanford
2. Penn State
3. Texas
4. Louisville
5. Washington
6. UCLA
7. Nebraska
8. Oregon
9. USC
10. Minnesota
11. Florida
12. Hawaii
13. Purdue
14. Kansas State
15. Florida State
16. BYU
LAST FOUR TEAMS IN
1. Missouri
2. Wichita State
3. Clemson
4. Bowling Green
FIRST FOUR TEAMS OUT
1. Southern Illinois
2. UNLV
3. Northwestern
4. Cal
NEXT FOUR TEAMS OUT
1. Georgia Tech
2. Virginia Tech
3. Colorado
4. Georgia
CALIFORNIA REGIONAL
(1) Stanford vs. Jackson State
Arkansas vs. Northern Iowa
Miami vs. IPFW
(16) BYU vs. Idaho State
(9) USC vs. Utah State
Texas A&M vs. North Carolina State
North Carolina vs. Missouri
(8) Oregon vs. Albany
PURDUE REGIONAL
(5) Washington vs. Liberty
Kentucky vs. Michigan State
Western Kentucky vs. San Diego State
(12) Hawaii vs. Georgia Southern
(13) Purdue vs. Sam Houston State
Kansas vs. Clemson
Oklahoma vs. Marquette
(4) Louisville vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore
TEXAS REGIONAL
(3) Texas vs. Fairfield
Notre Dame vs. St. Mary’s
San Diego vs. Bowling Green
(14) Kansas State vs. Morehead State
(11) Florida vs. Cleveland State
Pepperdine vs. Wichita State
Tennessee vs. Colorado State
(6) UCLA vs. Florida-Gulf Coast
NEBRASKA REGIONAL
(7) Nebraska vs. LIU-Brooklyn
Dayton vs. Michigan
Iowa State vs. Ohio
(10) Minnesota vs. Yale
(15) Florida State vs. Towson
Ohio State vs. Tulsa
Creighton vs. Marquette
(2) Penn State vs. Colgate
CONFERENCES BY NUMBER OF BIDS
7 – Big Ten
6 – Southeastern
5 – West Coast, Pac 12, Big 12, Atlantic Coast
3 – Big East, Missouri Valley
2 – Mid-American, Mountain West
1 – Other 21 conferences
This is the part where I say what a great bracket this is, right? Hmm…I think it’s a good idea of what the field would look like if the tournament started today, but of course it doesn’t. I don’t think Penn State and Nebraska will be put into the same regional, but I couldn’t find a way around it for this bracket. I also don’t like how many bids the ACC gets — it feels like one too many, but I just couldn’t bring myself to include Southern Illinois or UNLV ahead of Clemson. Maybe I should have. I’ve had the WCC with five for a few weeks now, and while all five feel like tournament teams to me, it would be unprecedented for them to get five. I’ll be floored if they get less than four, though. The bubble is just not that strong. The teams at the end of the at-larges list and the teams at the top of the just-missing-out list are so weak that none of them could complain if the roles were reversed.
But there’s still time yet for all of this to change, and I hope I’ll be there to cover it. This week shouldn’t be as crazy for me, but never say never. New polls later today.
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