Tonight at 6:30, Mississippi State will receive its first ever bid to the NCAA Volleyball Championship. These girls are awesome and deserve your attention for the next couple of weeks. Coach Darty-Dennis was named SEC Coach of the Year today and will likely be up for National Coach of the Year honors.
As a reminder, the team won 1 SEC match the year before she got here. They went 5-20 last year and this year they are 25-5 (16-2 in the SEC). Its an amazing turnaround that has been fueled by coaching. State is on a 13-match winning streak headed into the NCAAs.
The Volleyball Tournament works similarly to the Women's Basketball Tournament. The top 16 seeds will host pods of 4 teams. Where Volleyball differs is that the top seed remaining in each quadrant will host the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds, so its important to be a top 4 seed.
State checks in with a No. 21 RPI. Its unlikely that the SEC will only have one host so I expect State to be in the discussion. Florida and Tennessee have been considered host teams for most of the year. Florida is 19th in the RPI and Tennessee is 29th. I expect Florida to get a host - volleyball is like baseball, the blue bloods get all the breaks.
The top 3 seeds are pretty much in stone.
Louisville, the ACC champ is the only unbeaten team in the country
Texas, the Big 12 champ is 24-1
Wisconsin, the B1G champ is 25-3
The fourth seed is up in the air. Pittsburgh, with a No. 2 RPI is the favorite, but defending national champion Kentucky is fourth in the RPI and just won their fifth consecutive SEC title. Thats where the drama is tonight.
Other teams that will definitely host include:
Baylor
Georgia Tech
Creighton
Ohio State
UCLA
BYU
Nebraska
Purdue
That leaves three host spots. The teams competing are
Miami
Washington
Marquette
Western Kentucky
Minnesota
Florida
Mississippi State
Utah
Oregon
Stanford
Tennessee
My prediction is that it will be Miami, Washington and Minnesota or Florida.
Where do we want to end up. Here are my top 3:
1. Miami
The Canes have had a similar season to State, but have had a better opportunity to boost their RPI playing in the ACC. Their best win is over No. 20 Florida State. Our best win is over No. 19 Florida.
2. Purdue
Purdue is 4-4 against the Top 25, but have shown that they can lose to bad teams. They dropped eight sets to teams ranked over 100+ including a match to a bad Michigan State squad.
3. BYU
BYU is good, but not as good as some other teams. They went 28-1 against the 90th ranked schedule. Only Western Kentucky has a worst SOS amongst ranked teams
Where do we want to avoid?
1. Louisville
Best team in the nation by a wide margin. The thought is that WKU will be the 2 seed here.
2. Georgia Tech
The only team to sweep State all season was Georgia Tech. We don't match up well with their size.
3. Any of the B1G Bluebloods
Nebraska, Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin - all will put up to 10k in the stands. That will be a tough environment.
As a reminder, the team won 1 SEC match the year before she got here. They went 5-20 last year and this year they are 25-5 (16-2 in the SEC). Its an amazing turnaround that has been fueled by coaching. State is on a 13-match winning streak headed into the NCAAs.
The Volleyball Tournament works similarly to the Women's Basketball Tournament. The top 16 seeds will host pods of 4 teams. Where Volleyball differs is that the top seed remaining in each quadrant will host the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds, so its important to be a top 4 seed.
State checks in with a No. 21 RPI. Its unlikely that the SEC will only have one host so I expect State to be in the discussion. Florida and Tennessee have been considered host teams for most of the year. Florida is 19th in the RPI and Tennessee is 29th. I expect Florida to get a host - volleyball is like baseball, the blue bloods get all the breaks.
The top 3 seeds are pretty much in stone.
Louisville, the ACC champ is the only unbeaten team in the country
Texas, the Big 12 champ is 24-1
Wisconsin, the B1G champ is 25-3
The fourth seed is up in the air. Pittsburgh, with a No. 2 RPI is the favorite, but defending national champion Kentucky is fourth in the RPI and just won their fifth consecutive SEC title. Thats where the drama is tonight.
Other teams that will definitely host include:
Baylor
Georgia Tech
Creighton
Ohio State
UCLA
BYU
Nebraska
Purdue
That leaves three host spots. The teams competing are
Miami
Washington
Marquette
Western Kentucky
Minnesota
Florida
Mississippi State
Utah
Oregon
Stanford
Tennessee
My prediction is that it will be Miami, Washington and Minnesota or Florida.
Where do we want to end up. Here are my top 3:
1. Miami
The Canes have had a similar season to State, but have had a better opportunity to boost their RPI playing in the ACC. Their best win is over No. 20 Florida State. Our best win is over No. 19 Florida.
2. Purdue
Purdue is 4-4 against the Top 25, but have shown that they can lose to bad teams. They dropped eight sets to teams ranked over 100+ including a match to a bad Michigan State squad.
3. BYU
BYU is good, but not as good as some other teams. They went 28-1 against the 90th ranked schedule. Only Western Kentucky has a worst SOS amongst ranked teams
Where do we want to avoid?
1. Louisville
Best team in the nation by a wide margin. The thought is that WKU will be the 2 seed here.
2. Georgia Tech
The only team to sweep State all season was Georgia Tech. We don't match up well with their size.
3. Any of the B1G Bluebloods
Nebraska, Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin - all will put up to 10k in the stands. That will be a tough environment.
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https://t.co/rV0aH1g6sn #NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/Ki3brrJBKu— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 29, 2021 [/FONT]