MVC Tournament and NCAA At-Large Possibilities

[1972Shocker]

UNI is just tough as nails on defense. The just kind of wear you down.

[RoyalShock]

Shocks fighting back, down 1. Timeout UNI.

[1972Shocker]

16-20. That is probably too much to overcome.

[1972Shocker]

Good effort by the Shocks. UNI is simply the better team.

I think UNI and the Shocks will be representing the MVC in the NCAA Tournament, but the Shocks do have some baggage to overcome so we will have to wait until tomorrow to know for sure.

[WuDrWu]

Chance to win game 1, blew (at least) 1 set point in game 2, leads in all 3 sets. UNI is better no doubt, but it's amazing how much trouble this Shocker team has in tight situations.

Still a good season, and hopefully not over. This team is very capable of advancing in the tournament. I dearly hope they get a chance.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks are 2-6 in 8 sets at Cedar Falls this year with an average score of 23.5 to 22.5. In 11 sets this year vs UNI they a 2-9 with an average score of 24.2 to 22.4. So, at least head-to-head there doesn't seem to be a huge gap between the two teams. As @WuDrWu points out part of the gap is attributable to UNI being able to deliver in clutch situations more consistently than the Shocks. A big reason for that IMHO is Bre Payton.

Also, UNI simply doesn't lose to teams like Evansville and Northern Colorado. Heck they simply do not lose to MVC teams period. They now have a 60 match win streak in MVC competition. Again, Bre Payton is the straw the stirs the UNI drink.

Congratulations to the Shocks on another good season and as Doc said let's hope it is not over. I'm fairly optimistic that we are not done yet.

Shocks gave it a great effort tonight and seem to be playing some of the best volleyball of the season right now.

[The Mad Hatter]

Potentially fortunately, this team is the exact opposite of the 2005 snubbed team. In 2005 we had tremendous consistency and 0 bad losses, but apparently not enough top 50 wins. This year we have been inconsistent with multiple bad losses, but we also have 4 top 50 rpi wins, including 2 in the non-con. I think it is silly that selection committees tend to prefer the latter to the former so strongly, but it may serve us well.

[JayJ79]

Rich Kern posted an updated RKPI ranking that encompasses this weekend's matches, on volleytalk:

http://volleytalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=41667

Keep in mind that RKPI doesn't always exactly match the official RPI, but it's generally quite close.
And as he noted in the thread, the selection committee might not even update the RPI before making the bracket, who knows...

UNI comes in at #5 (they've been bouncing back and forth with Purdue between 5 and 6 for weeks now)
Shockers come in at #41
Missouri State sit at #42
Creighton at 66
Illinois State at 103

Oklahoma 27
Colorado State 28
San Fran 87
Ole Miss 102

and WSU's bad OOC loss:
Northern Colorado 106 (and they won the Big Sky tourney to claim the autobid)
still no excuse for Evansville though (180)

[1972Shocker]

still no excuse for Evansville though (180)

That one is the one that has me worried and is the reason I won't be overly surprised or upset if the Shocks are excluded.

This loss is this year's Volleyball team's equivalent to our Men's Basketball team losing to SIU last year. At least the VB team's loss was on the road, although the RPI doesn't take that into account apparently. How the committee will view that is hard to say.

[1972Shocker]

Potentially fortunately, this team is the exact opposite of the 2005 snubbed team. In 2005 we had tremendous consistency and 0 bad losses, but apparently not enough top 50 wins. This year we have been inconsistent with multiple bad losses, but we also have 4 top 50 rpi wins, including 2 in the non-con. I think it is silly that selection committees tend to prefer the latter to the former so strongly, but it may serve us well.

Also, I think the 2005 snub was so egregious it raised the bar for the committee to do a better job in their selection process going forward.

Missouri State is a little like the 2005 Shocker team in that I think their only "good" win is over the Shocks. However, the Bears do have a bad loss to Stephen F. Austin (which is probably on par with our loss to Evansville).

What gives me hopes for the Shocks is that I think the MVC as a conference is looked at in a fairly good light which would lend support that they will get a 2nd bid. I really don't see anyway Missouri State would be selected ahead of the Shocks primarily because of the head-to-head results between the two teams.

[1972Shocker]

Not official, I don't have access to ESPN3, but based on VolleyTalk.net it looks like the Shocks are in. If I'm interpreting the info posted we will be playing Kansas State in Lincoln.

It also appears Missouri State made the field and will be playing Pepperdine (at Pepperdine).

If this is correct the MVC should be very pleased with that outcome.

Standby for confirmation.

[WuDrWu]

Confirmed. 6 years in the tourney, 4 trips to Nebraska or Texas. At least we're playing a match that should have been played in the first place.

Hope the Shocks can properly dispose of the Cats as they should. I wonder if Nebraska fans will care, or will take the side of a former rival, or against?

[WuDrWu]

Missouri State might have been the last team in as Pepperdine is the national 15 or 16 seed (I forgot which one), making them a # 4 seed in that sub regional.

VolleyTalk is going to totally blowup with Nebraska, USC (top 3 in the coaches poll) having to go to Hawaii for the regional. That's not going to go over well at all.

[shoxlax]

Confirmed. 6 years in the tourney, 4 trips to Nebraska or Texas. At least we're playing a match that should have been played in the first place.

Hope the Shocks can properly dispose of the Cats as they should. I wonder if Nebraska fans will care, or will take the side of a former rival, or against?

Against, I can almost guarantee it . It will be a pro Shocker crowd, at least for that game, especially if the football Nub fans show up.

[1stThings1st]

Congrats to the ladies, coaches, and staff. Another trip to the NCAA is very impressive, We have played well in Nebraska's historic gym before and now is the time to show the Big 10 and Big 12 what the Valley has. GO SHOX