2023 NCAA Volleyball Tournament

[flyingMoose]

SMU heads to Austin where they play Texas State in their opening match. The Mustangs are the #7 seed in their pod.

The top four National Seeds are Nebraska #1, Stanford #2, Wisconsin #3, and Pitt #4.


The Bracketology geek missed only one team in the tournament. He had Kansas State in, and they had Stephen F Austin in. He missed one of the sixteen National Seeds and had the top four National Seeds in order.

EDIT: He could see the handwriting on the wall and argued against SFA when making his bracket. They played the RPI game well, but they did not play anybody either. K-State had some losses, but they were playing people.

[1972Shocker]

SMU is the only AAC team to make the NCAA Tournament. The Sunbelt Conference has 4 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Coastal Carolina, James Madison, South Alabama and Texas State.

Lambo thinks the AAC teams are every bit as good as the Sunbelt teams but they don't attack their scheduling in a way that gives them the best shot at building resumes to get into the NCAA Tournament.

[flyingMoose]

SMU 3-0 Texas State
20 19 16

Texas is next.

[1972Shocker]

SMU 3-0 Texas State
20 19 16

Texas is next.

Of course they are.

Western Michigan sweeps 7 seed Auburn in their quarter of the bracket 18, 17, 19.

MIami over 8 seed UNI in 4 sets, 23, 19, (20), 20.

Hawaii over 7 seed Iowa State in 4 sets, (16), 24, 18, 23

Baylor sweeps 7 seed James Madison 15, 19, 19

[Critter's Pa]

Of course they are.

Western Michigan sweeps 7 seed Auburn in their quarter of the bracket 18, 17, 19.

MIami over 8 seed UNI in 4 sets, 23, 19, (20), 20.

Hawaii over 7 seed Iowa State in 4 sets, (16), 24, 18, 23

Baylor sweeps 7 seed James Madison 15, 19, 19

I knew I shouldn't have picked Auburn. I had Iowa beating Hawaii. I did have Miami over UNI.

I have SMU beating Texas. I have SMU losing to Stanford in the Elite Eight.

[flyingMoose]

Texas 3-0 SMU
16 14 17

[1972Shocker]

In first round matches on Friday lower seed wins inlcuded:

Minnesota swept 6 seed Utah 17, 14, 23.
TCU over 6 seed Florida State in 4 sets 24, (16), 18, 24.

In second round matches on Friday lower seed wins included:

5 seed Georgia Tech knocked of 4 seed Florida in 5 sets (22), 28, 21, (18) and 14 (So overall Florida won 113 points to 111 but lost the war)
5 seed Penn State defeated 4 seed Kansas in 5 sets 20, (22), 21, (13)) and 13 (So overall Kansas won 104 points to 100 points but lost the war)

[WuDrWu]

Watched just a bit of PSU and KU and it was high quality volleyball, to say the least.

[1972Shocker]

The Final 4 is set for this coming Thursday with 3 regional #1 seeds plus #2 seeded Texas who beat #3 seed Tennessee in a 5-set battle royale this past Thursday then knocked of the #1 seed in their regional, Stanford 3-1 on Saturday.

Pitt (AAC) vs Nebraska (Big 10)
Wisconsin (Big 10) vs Texas (Big 12 for now)

Looks like the West Coast teams no longer have a stranglehold on College Volleyball. West Coast teams (including Hawaii) won 21 of 25 (84%) of the NCAA Championships from1981-2005. Nebraska won in 1995 and 2000, Penn State won in 1999 and Texas won in 1998.

However, in the last 18 years from 2006-2023 West Coach Teams will have won only 4 NCAA Championships (22.2%), 3 of those by Stanford. So Volleyball has clearly grown in to a national volleyball sport. The other 13 champions crowned since 2005 include Penn State 6, Nebraska 3, Texas 2 and Wisconsin and Kentucky 1 each. So still a pretty exclusive club.

I guess I would like to see Pitt become a 1st time winner just to add another name to the list.

There may not be all that many super elite volleyball players yet, although that pool is probably growing, but there does seem to be an awful lot of really good volleyball players with that pool also getting deeper and of better quality.

I think you could make an argument that Volleyball has now surpassed women's basketball in popularity among both female athletes and fans. Seems like a sport that the ladies can play, on average, at a much higher level than basketball. Softball as well maybe hot on the heels of women's basketball on that list as well, if not having surpassed it already. However, softball doesn't cannibalize the talent pool of women's basketball anywhere near to the extent that volleyball does. This is just an observation and opinion. I can't back this up with any empirical facts.

[Critter's Pa]

I guess I would like to see Pitt become a 1st time winner just to add another name to the list.

That would be great to see, but in my final four I have Nebraska beating Pitt in the semis. On the other side of the bracket, I have Stanford beating Wisconsin. I have Stanford losing to Nebraska in the Championship match, but since Texas beat Stanford neither of those matchups are going to happen. I think Wisconsin will beat Texas to advance to the finals. I would love to see Pitt beat Nebraska, but I don't think that is going to happen.

[1972Shocker]

I would love to see Pitt beat Nebraska, but I don't think that is going to happen.

Nor do I.

[flyingMoose]

Semifinals

Nebraska 3-0 Pitt
20 23 17

Wisconsin 1-3 Texas
22 (20) 13 16
Texas service game was terrific in the last two sets

[Critter's Pa]

Texas service game was terrific in the last two sets

I don't think it's going to be that good against Nebraska. Nebraska has two of the best DS/liberoes in D1 volleyball. Don't like either team very much, but I'm pulling for Nebraska to win because that's what I have on my bracket.

I wonder how well they will do in the SEC with the likes of Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Auburn, Texas A&M, and Georgia who all made the NCAA tournament this year. Yes, the SEC got 8 teams into the tournament. I think many teams like (Texas A&M 16-13, 8-10 in conference) got in because of their high RPI from to their conference schedules, adding Texas might make this worse.

[flyingMoose]

Texas have a history that nobody in the SEC has. We shall see.

[flyingMoose]

Finals

Nebraska 0-3 Texas
22 14 11