DI Quarterfinals

The DI tournament has reached the quarterfinals and play has moved to the four regional sites of Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Texas, which corresponds to the top four seeds in the tournament. Here’s the 16 teams left, by region.

1. Nebraska Regional – #1 Nebraska, #8 Washington, #16 Penn State, and unseeded Arizona.

2. Minnesota Regional – #2 Minnesota, #7 North Carolina, #10 UCLA, and #15 Missouri.

3. Wisconsin Regional – #3 Wisconsin, #6 Stanford, unseeded Florida State, and unseeded Ohio State

4. Texas Regional – #4 Texas, #12 Michigan, #13 BYU, and unseeded Creighton

Quarterfinal Matches (12/9/2016)

Nebraska Regional – at Lincoln, Nebraska
No. 1 Nebraska (29-2) vs. No. 16 Penn State (24-9) at noon on ESPNU
No. 8 Washington (28-4) vs. Arizona (20-14) at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN3
Lincoln Regional Final: 4 p.m. on ESPNU

Minnesota Regional – at Minneapolis, Minnesota
No. 2 Minnesota (27-4) vs. No. 15 Missouri (27-5) at 8:15 p.m. on ESPN3
No. 7 North Carolina (29-3) vs. No. 10 UCLA (26-6) at 10:45 p.m. on ESPNU
Minneapolis Regional Final: 10 p.m. on ESPNU

Wisconsin Regional – at Madison, Wisconsin
No. 3 Wisconsin (27-4) vs. Ohio State (22-12) at 2 p.m. on ESPNU
No. 6 Stanford (23-7) vs. Florida State (26-5) at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN3
Madison Regional Final: 6 p.m. on ESPNU

Texas Regional – at Austin, Texas
No. 4 Texas (27-4) vs. No. 13 BYU (29-3) at 4 p.m. on ESPNU
No. 12 Michigan (24-10) vs. Creighton (28-6) at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN3
Austin Regional Final: 8 p.m. on ESPNU

Additional information about all 16 teams is provided below.

In the Net Set Index, a team’s position in each of the four polls is summed and then averaged to create a Net Set Index. This Net Set Index is then arranged, or ranked, in ascending order, with the lowest Net Set Index determining the number 1 team in the Net Set Ranking, and so forth. By combining polls and rankings into a single index number, we obtain both the mathematical benefits of the rankings and the human performance insights of the coaches from the polls.

Net Set Rankings and the Net Set Index are an average from these four polls or rankings.

1. The AVCA Coaches Poll, 11/28/16 (https://www.avca.org/polls/di-women/index.html).

AVCA, or the American Volleyball Coaches Association, publishes an outstanding weekly poll for each volleyball division from its member coaches in that division. Thus, DI coaches are voting on the teams in the DI poll.

2. The Rich Kern Poll, 11/28/16 (http://www.richkern.com/vb/FreePage.asp).

Richkern.com has a free portion and a much larger premium service. The premium service is well worth the modest subscription fee of $25.00 annually. This poll has been around for a long time and the pollsters are journalists and volleyball fans who really know their stuff. To see the Rich Kern Poll intact, and lots of other neat volleyball stuff, go to: (http://www.richkern.com/vb/rankings/FreePageRankings.asp).

3. The Pablo Rankings, 11/28/16 (http://www.richkern.com/vb/FreePage.asp).

The Pablo Rankings are an incredibly ingenious ranking system that operates on a probabilistic, algorithmic approach and analyzes and measures the difference in abilities between two teams overall and in a match. In terms of accuracy and predictive analytics, the Pablo Rankings are the most accurate mathematical model available today. You can find a detailed explanation of the Pablo Rankings at this web location.

http://www.richkern.com/vb/rankings/PabloFAQ.asp . View the Pablo Rankings, the best pure statistical ranking available, at RichKern.com:

(http://www.richkern.com/vb/rankings/FreePageRankings.asp).

4. The NCAA RPI Index, 11/28/16 (http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1/).

The RPI ranking is one of the discriminators for determining the at-large bids to the National Championship Tournament. Here is the basic formula for the RPI rankings currently used by the NCAA. Please note that several variations of this formula exist, but the one below is the basic formula.

RPI = (Winning %*.25) + (Opponent’s Winning %*.50) + (Opponent’s Opponents Winning *.25)

(Winning % is calculated by dividing team’s wins by the number of games played.)

As you can see from this formula above, 75% of the RPI comes from how a team’s opponents performed (aka Strength of Schedule), while only 25% of the RPI is based on the team’s actual performance. Nonetheless, it is used by the NCAA for seeding and at-large bids. To see all NCAA Division I RPI Index rankings, go to this web location: (http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1/ncaa-womens-volleyball-rpi).

LET’S GROW VOLLEYBALL !