2017 Rankings

[JayPak]

This week's mid-major poll is up.

The Shockers remain at #6.

Others are:

Cal Poly 3 (from 4)
Creighton 4 (2)

Northern Iowa T7 (7)
Missouri State 9 (9)
Marquette 10 (11)

SMU 16 (17)
Lipscomb 20 (18)
Miami (OH) 21 (23)

The coaches from UConn and Houston are among the pollsters.

The poll is meaningless in the big picture but, as a Creighton fan, I think it's silly that WSU is behind CU. While the Jays have some tremendous wins on their resume', the Shockers won convincingly head to head and have been the more consistent team all season. In the head to head matchup, Civita and Raudsepp were phenomenal, Creighton had four starters go out at some point in the match due to injury, and Coach Booth admitted to being outcoached by Lamb and it's very rare when she's outcoached.

On the AAC vs MVC topic, the leagues are comparable at the top but the middle and bottom of the AAC is always going to be stronger than the MVC going forward. UNI has three great non-con wins this year but can't make any RPI headway due to the crap that is the middle and bottom of the MVC.

Given current trends, chances are good that Wichita will match up with Missouri State or UNI in a 2-3 seed matchup in a subregional in Lincoln, Lawrence, or (just maybe) Omaha.

[flyingMoose]

a dude on VT starts giving his thoughts on who is in and who is out. I think in the (five or six?) years he has been doing this, he has only missed one team.

Two missed at-large bids in five years, he says.

[JayJ79]

as a vb fan, I miss having WSU in the Valley. Primarily b/c that has been a good rivalry, and because of the RPI boost. UNI and MSU can't prop up all the dead weight from the other schools, even despite some big wins against very challenging nonconference schedules.

And also because there doesn't seem to be anyone else left in the MVC with any sort of online vb fanbase.

[WuDrWu]

The poll is meaningless in the big picture but, as a Creighton fan, I think it's silly that WSU is behind CU. While the Jays have some tremendous wins on their resume', the Shockers won convincingly head to head and have been the more consistent team all season. In the head to head matchup, Civita and Raudsepp were phenomenal, Creighton had four starters go out at some point in the match due to injury, and Coach Booth admitted to being outcoached by Lamb and it's very rare when she's outcoached.

On the AAC vs MVC topic, the leagues are comparable at the top but the middle and bottom of the AAC is always going to be stronger than the MVC going forward. UNI has three great non-con wins this year but can't make any RPI headway due to the crap that is the middle and bottom of the MVC.

Given current trends, chances are good that Wichita will match up with Missouri State or UNI in a 2-3 seed matchup in a subregional in Lincoln, Lawrence, or (just maybe) Omaha.

Our PBP guy mentioned today that CU did NOT submit a bid to host. I have a hard time believing that. What have you heard?

[shocks02]

Up to #18 (from #20) in the RPI this week. http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1

[shocks02]

Remained at #21 in this week's AVCA coaches poll. https://www.avca.org/polls/di-women/10-23-2017.html

[wheathead]

I just looked at that poll. The ENTIRE poll was unchanged! That's got to be rare.

[flyingMoose]

The Projected RPI for the Shockers is now 19.

The Projected RPIs of interest in the Valley are Northern Iowa at 40 and Missouri State at 42.

The projected end-of-season record of our opponents remains at 203-106 for .657. Some teams picked up a projected win, some lost a projected win, but the total wins remained the same.

[flyingMoose]

1972Shocker (or is just 1972Shocker now?), your mailbox is full.

[1972Shocker]

1972Shocker (or is just 1972Shocker now?), your mailbox is full.

I think I have it cleaned out but wouldn't guarantee it.

[WSUwatcher]

Not being a big student of the sport, I just learned that the American doesn't hold a volleyball tournament and gives its auto-bid to the regular season champ.

How remarkably sensible! Especially considering that, attendance being what it is, a VB tournament can't possibly be an economic bonanza. Now if some of the lesser basketball conferences would just do the same thing and start rewarding their regular season champs... (Actually, I'd like to see all basketball conferences do it that way, but the top tier probably do make some money on their tournaments, and as long as a buck is to be made, mere form and good sense will never hold sway -- but in volleyball, why not?)

[flyingMoose]

This week's mid-major poll is up - and has no changes in the Top 10.

Cal Poly 3
Creighton 4
Shockers 6

Missouri State 8
Northern Iowa 9

Marquette 13

SMU 18
Miami (OH) 20

Lipscomb 24

https://volleyballmag.com/mid-major-poll-102417/

[flyingMoose]

Hmm. https issues? Cannot provide the link.

Cal Poly 3
Creighton 4
Shockers 6

Missouri State 8
Northern Iowa 9

Marquette 13

SMU 18
Miami (OH) 20

Lipscomb 24

[flyingMoose]

Let's try providing the link this way.

[flyingMoose]

This week's comments pilfered from VT on who is in and who is out.

His thoughts on the American

AAC - Wichita State runs the AAC (10-0). They might enjoy playing in this conference better, even in a bad year for the AAC they are more fortunate to be here RPI-wise than to be in the MVC. But anyways, Temple just knocked off SMU - giving Wichita State a 2 game lead over both Temple and SMU. Cincinnati is at 7-3 along with a very surprising 7-3 East Carolina squad. I don't see anyone catching Wichita State. They already survived SMU and the tougher match in Philadelphia. Even if SMU pulls the upset, I don't see Wichita State losing again. SMU and Temple have to win out to have an at-large hope. Either of them won't have more than 2 top 50 wins, so that isn't a good look. Pretty sure this is going to be a one-bid conference. But if SMU or Temple somehow ends up 18-2, they just might get a look from the NCAA.

and on the Valley

Missouri Valley - Can't imagine the nerves of the Missouri State and Northern Iowa fans the rest of this season. The Valley RPI is really hurting, and it's making Missouri State and UNI suffer. They are 18-0 against the rest of the MVC, but they both had major scares this weekend. Missouri State somehow found a way to escape Bradley in the 5th set, 19-17. Bradley is a 200+ RPI team, and the match was played at Missouri State! Then, Northern Iowa went 5 (at HOME) against Valparaiso! Valpo just moved to the Valley from the Horizon. Valpo mid-season played without a setter and was having their libero set if she didn't take the pass in serve receive! Well, UNI has showed weakness. Not sure how they beat Nebraska, but lost to Missouri-Kansas City. Strange. Anyways, Mo State and UNI are practically in must win games every week. Right now I have both of them in, but easily we could see one of them falter.

[flyingMoose]

More Pablo-driven, probability-based possibilities-

These relate to the outside chance that the Shockers might host the first weekend of the Tournament.

If the Shocks run out in the AAC (41% chance), they have a 66% chance of having an RPI in the top 16. With one loss in conference (38% chance), that chance of being in the top 16 drops to 27%.

Obviously, having an RPI in the Top Sixteen is no guarantee of hosting.