2016 NCAA Volleyball Tournament

[ShockerFever]

So UNI, who is geographically closer to Nebraska, has a substantially lower RPI, finished 3rd in the conference, didn't even make it out of the semifinals of their own conference tournament on their home floor goes to lower rated KU, while WSU, with a near Top 20 RPI, who are the conference champions, gets sent further away to the most dominant team in volleyball in years.

Makes total sense. Just as much sense as how women's basketball does it. Will never be taken seriously.

[shocks771]

How do you make sense of this??

WSU finishes 2nd regular season, 1st post season
MSU finishes 1st regular season, 2nd post season
UNI finishes 3rd regular season, loses in semis at home postseason

We have four close choices: Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas Star and Missouri

Let's send the team with the best RPI to the toughest of those places and then send the other two to regionals that are in that team's state?? Makes sense to me.

[shocks771]

Lol, beat me to it my a minute Fever.

[Play Angry]

Ugh.

[The Mad Hatter]

UNI is clearly the regional 3 seed, while both WSU and MSU are 2 seeds. So those two have easier first round matches, but harder second round.

[flyingMoose]

UNI is clearly the regional 3 seed, while both WSU and MSU are 2 seeds. So those two have easier first round matches, but harder second round.

Possibly. The 2 seeds and the 3 seeds play each other in the first round in each pod. There is no seeding beyond the sixteen National Seeds. After that, there is an attempt to minimize the number of fly-ins, so you get thrown in a pod, and then someone figures out whether you are the 2 or 3 seed in that pod. And the Shockers get no special consideration because they have a better RPI than Northern Iowa or Missouri State or that they won the Conference Tournament.

When the Pablo numbers are published tomorrow, I hope to be able to calculate the chances for each of the Valley teams in their particular pod. I think Missouri State has the best chance to get out of their pod, but I don't know how good that chance might be. However, it is very clear that the Shockers have the strongest pod (sub-regional? maybe they even call the first weekend a regional), Nebraska being the #1 National Seed.

[flyingMoose]

It appears that trojansc, the Bracketologist over on VT, got all 64 teams correct!

[1972Shocker]

How do you make sense of this??

WSU finishes 2nd regular season, 1st post season
MSU finishes 1st regular season, 2nd post season
UNI finishes 3rd regular season, loses in semis at home postseason

We have four close choices: Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas Star and Missouri

Let's send the team with the best RPI to the toughest of those places and then send the other two to regionals that are in that team's state?? Makes sense to me.

You don't make sense of it. There is no sense to be made nor is fairness a factor. There are only 16 teams that are seeded. Your resume is valuable for getting into the tournament if you don't get an auto-bid. After that if you are not one of those 16 national seeds your resume is relatively insignificant. Whether they will ever go to a fully seeded tournament is hard to say but if it does that will probably be driven by Television considerations. Bottom line the fan interest simply is not there for volleyball to think much is going to change.

This is nothing new for the Shocks. Lambo has long said that with the NCAA Tournament it isn't how far you get but who you get to. IF the Shocks can win their 1st round game they have a national championship type matchup with Nebraska. No doubt the Shocks chances of knocking of Nebraska are extremely slim. But whether or not that makes sense or is fair is of little to no concern to the selection committee.

All we can do is wish the Shocks well and hope they play up to their full capabilities and see where that gets them.

Loved the toughness and grit the Shocks brought with them to the Valley Tournament. Hope that carries over to Lincoln.

[shockerfanmas]

I was also ticked that the Shox got sent to Nebraska but it is what it is. Still gotta beat who is put in front of you, no excuses. Champions don't make excuses, they just go out and do what they have to do to win.

Btw, KU is damn good, I'm not surprised at all they are a top 16 seed and hosting. I'm mildly surprised KSU is but they are solid too. I'm just beyond giddy that all 3 Kansas teams are extending their season. If that could happen consistently in basketball, I'd be one happy dude

[DwShock]

I looked for tickets and it looks like they are already sold out. I'm not much of a volleyball guy but figured since they are so close and at a time I could make I'd look for tickets but no luck.

Good luck lady's.

[flyingMoose]

I looked for tickets and it looks like they are already sold out.

I don't know this, but I assume Wichita State has a ticket allotment so that parents and members of the Volleyball Support Group (I forget its name at the moment) do not have to go through the Nebraska ticket office. I don't know that people outside those mentioned can get tickets through the Shocker ticket office, but it might be worth a shot to ask.

[1972Shocker]

I looked for tickets and it looks like they are already sold out. I'm not much of a volleyball guy but figured since they are so close and at a time I could make I'd look for tickets but no luck.

Good luck lady's.

Prior to the 2013 season Hawaii was the perennial leader in women's volleyball attendance by a fairly wide margin typically averaging 6,500 to 7,500 in average home attendance in a 10,300 seat arena. Also prior to the 2013 season Nebraska was playing in an arena with a capacity in the 4,000's. In 2013 Nebraska Volleyball moved into the Devaney Center previously home of Nebraska basketball with a listed capacity of 7,907. Over the past 4 years Nebraska has had average attendance of 8,172 (103.4% of listed capacity). This past year Nebraska drew an average of 8,224 per match. Hard to say what Nebraska could draw for Volleyball if they played in a larger arena. In any case, Nebraska Volleyball tickets are not easy to come by.

Wisconsin (5,977), Minnesota (4,688) and Penn State (3,608) followed the Big 2 in average attendance. On the other end of the spectrum Delaware State drew a total of 956 fans for 11 home matches to average 87 per match.

The Shockers were 12th in the nation at 2,264 in average attendance and 20th in total attendance only playing 12 home matches. Hawaii lead in total attendance because they played 19 matches at home in 2016. Seems like teams don't mind traveling to Hawaii for non-conference games. The Shocker's home attendance has fallen off the last couple of years since the ESPN3 coverage started in 2015.

Among other Valley teams UNI draws pretty well averaging 2,086 (17th nationally) in 15 home matches in 2016. Then it drops of to Illinois State at 997 (48th in average attendance) and Missouri State at 851 (62nd in average attendance). The remaining 6 Valley teams average around 335 per match raning from 205 at Evansville to 418 at Bradley.

Only 6 programs average more than 3,000 per game and only another 12 average between 2,000 and 3,000 per game. So perhaps it is not that surprising that the women's volleyball tournament is seeded and team's assigned the way they are. And with College Basketball, NFL Football and NBA Basketball now in full swing good luck in attracting interest from the TV networks for any substantial package outside of the final four.

[1972Shocker]

I don't know this, but I assume Wichita State has a ticket allotment so that parents and members of the Volleyball Support Group (I forget its name at the moment) do not have to go through the Nebraska ticket office. I don't know that people outside those mentioned can get tickets through the Shocker ticket office, but it might be worth a shot to ask.

The WSU Ticket Office will be taking ticket requests until 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Seating will be based on priority points.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2016/11/27/volleyball-shockers-to-face-tcu-in-ncaa-tournament.aspx

[WSUwatcher]

You don't make sense of it. There is no sense to be made nor is fairness a factor.

I don't pretend to be knowledgeable about volleyball, but if that's true -- and to this layman's eye it certainly appears to be, else how to explain the much gentler treatment given to MoState vs. the Shocks, despite the RPI discrepancy -- it's just one more reason not to take seriously the NCAA and its management of much of anything.

I guess it does give value to the regular season conference championship, and that would be a good thing in my view, regardless of the sport, but I suspect that those who follow volleyball more closely than I do could probably find examples in this year's field where a regular season championship wasn't so highly rewarded, so maybe it's just coincidence.

[flyingMoose]

... so maybe it's just coincidence.

Believe me, it's coincidence.