College volleyball bracketology, 2nd version

Sunday night was….pretty eventful. There was little chance I was going to get this out then, at least in a form that even halfway made sense. Maybe I should have cracked the whip on myself a little more last night and got it mashed out then (as I said I would), but we had power rankings and polls and all kinds of stuff going on then.

So my apologies indeed for being a couple days late of schedule in getting this up. If that's the worst thing that happens to you this week, I think you're doing all right.

In bracket v2.0, several automatic bids have changed hands since the last time we looked at the field. There are some ties that seem impossible to separate, especially near the bottom of the S-curve. These changes in automatic bids provide for a few at-large changes, too, and there are more multi-bid conferences this time around. Here goes. Remember that teams in bold currently hold automatic bids.

SEEDS:

1. Texas
2. Penn State
3. USC
4. Washington
5. Florida
6. Stanford
7. Wisconsin
8. Nebraska
9. Hawaii
10. Colorado State
11. Minnesota
12. Michigan State
13. Kentucky
14. Missouri
15. Kansas
16. San Diego

Dollars to donuts, I don't think Missouri nor Kansas will in fact end up hosting (and I'm not entirely sold on Colorado State hosting, either, unless they do run the table). But if everything stopped right now, they'd have a very good chance.

NEBRASKA REGIONAL:

(1) Texas vs Alabama State/Texas Southern
Utah vs Tulsa

Oregon vs Cal State-Northridge
(16) San Diego vs South Dakota

(9) Hawaii vs LIU-Brooklyn
BYU vs UCLA

Oklahoma vs Louisville
(8) Nebraska vs Jacksonville

KENTUCKY REGIONAL:

(5) Florida vs Radford
Florida State vs Arizona State

Arkansas vs Wichita State
(12) Michigan State vs Army

(13) Kentucky vs Georgia Southern
Duke vs Western Kentucky

Purdue vs Georgia
(4) Washington vs Seattle

USC REGIONAL:

(3) USC vs Siena
LSU vs VCU

North Carolina vs Kansas State
(14) Missouri vs College of Charleston

(11) Minnesota vs Morehead State
Arizona vs Virginia Tech

Michigan vs Yale
(6) Stanford vs Hampton

ILLINOIS REGIONAL:

(7) Wisconsin vs Milwaukee
Marquette vs Iowa State

Ohio State vs NC State
(10) Colorado State vs. North Dakota

(15) Kansas vs Central Arkansas
Creighton vs Illinois State

Ohio vs California
(2) Penn State vs America East champion (there's currently a 4-way tie atop the Am-East)

LAST FOUR IN:

1. Virginia Tech
2. Wichita State
3. Kansas State
4. UCLA

FIRST FOUR OUT:

1. Miami
2. Colorado
3. St Mary's
4. Alabama

NEXT FOUR OUT:

1. New Mexico
2. Northwestern
3. West Virginia
4. TCU

CONFERENCES BY NUMBER OF BIDS:

9 – Pac-12

8 – Big Ten

6 – Southeastern

5 – Atlantic Coast, Big 12

2 – Big East, Big West, Missouri Valley, West Coast

1 – other 23 conferences

Arizona joining the party and UCLA hanging on by their fingernails give the Pac-12 nine at the party, with a tenth within shouting distance. I said in the version 1 post that would require potential second-round conference matchups; not sure where I got that, because (I think) I managed to avoid them here. I think this is a much better logistical bracket than last week's. I still feel like the WCC is bound to get more than I'm speculating, but I can't bring myself to do it.

And so, it's a win/win situation this coming week, as every week prior to Selection Sunday. Either this post will be easier to write next time around, or there'll be some exciting volleyball between now and then. Either outcome is fine by me.