New Rankings after 4 of top 5 lose?

[Barefoot In Kailua]

bearwatch said:

The Big 12 will get 6 and they deserve it. And those weeds you talked about just picked off the #1 team in the country.

The Big 12 deserves no more than 4. I've seen Colorado, and no offense to Pi'i Aiu and his Buffs but they aren't an elite team.

bearwatch said:

Volleyball in the top conferences is amazingly competiive from top to bottom. That's whats making our sport better. Every match anyone can win and the quality of play has improved. Get off the high horse and show respect to these players and coaches who are pushing everyone, every night.

I've been a volleyball fan for a long time so I've earned my right to sit on my "high horse" and call a spade a spade.

[IdahoBoy]

barefootinkailua said:

The Big 12 deserves no more than 4. I've seen Colorado, and no offense to Pi'i Aiu and his Buffs but they aren't an elite team.

This is still hard to believe... how poorly did Nebraska play and what were these Buffs "on" to make this happen? The Colorado team I saw wasn't capable of this if Nebraska is playing like I saw on streaming vid.

[Barefoot In Kailua]

idahoboy said:

This is still hard to believe... how poorly did Nebraska play and what were these Buffs "on" to make this happen? The Colorado team I saw wasn't capable of this if Nebraska is playing like I saw on streaming vid.

Agred. This probably says more about Nebraska than it does Colorado. I'm smitten that a team led by a Hawai'i boy (Pi'i Aiu) was able to strike down "Big Red." ;D

[2c]

barefootinkailua said:

I've been a volleyball fan for a long time so I've earned my right to sit on my "high horse" and call a spade a spade.

Nobody claimed Colorado was an elite team, just a capable team. You saw CU play 9-10 weeks ago against 2 very good teams and another capable team. Although they may not have taken a game from them, playing UCLA 25,25,25 and Florida 30-32 and UH 29-31 would indicate they do have some capability of being pretty good. Maybe a ShetlandPony?

[Ye Olde Dawg]

Colorado would be in even if the Big 12 only sent 4 teams to the tourney. They have the fourth-best conference record and by RKPI they're #23 in the country.

64 teams is about right for the playoffs. Go to 32 and you'd either have some conference champions that don't get to dance or some teams from strong conferences left out even if they're Final Four material.

If you go by RKPI (because an up-to-date RPI isn't available), 6 teams is about right from the Big 12. 8 teams (!) is about right from the Big 10, and 7 is about right from the Pac-10. (Winning record required. Totals do not take into account Pablo rankings or any other ranking system, and your mileage may vary.)

[OverAndUnder]

sankyu said:

Colorado would be in even if the Big 12 only sent 4 teams to the tourney. They have the fourth-best conference record and by RKPI they're #23 in the country.

64 teams is about right for the playoffs. Go to 32 and you'd either have some conference champions that don't get to dance or some teams from strong conferences left out even if they're Final Four material.

If you go by RKPI (because an up-to-date RPI isn't available), 6 teams is about right from the Big 10. 8 teams (!) is about right from the Big 10, and 7 is about right from the Pac-10. (Winning record required. Totals do not take into account Pablo rankings or any other ranking system, and your mileage may vary.)

YOD, one of your 10s should be a 12. Which?

[Barefoot In Kailua]

sankyu said:

64 teams is about right for the playoffs. Go to 32 and you'd either have some conference champions that don't get to dance or some teams from strong conferences left out even if they're Final Four material.

There are only about 20 teams, sometimes less depending on the year, who are "final four" material. The expanded field is a joke.

[Deleted]

The 1st/2nd rounds are many teams "Final 4s". Don't be such a Grinch, BiK. Mary Lou Who's going to start sobbing.

[Deleted]

On second thought, I think #1 this week may remain Nebraska. It will be Nebraska or UW. I just don't know if voters will give UW the big jump from 4 to 1. And Nebraska had ALL 60 first place votes last week. They will have some credit to spend.

Personally, I'm going with UW -- although I'd like to leave #1 blank.

At the other end, poor Oregon is gone and Missouri should be saying "Show Me the Door". St Johns and Pep enter the top 25 or does Colorado zoom in from the ether?

[The Bofa on the Sofa]

barefootinkailua said:

sankyu said:

64 teams is about right for the playoffs. Go to 32 and you'd either have some conference champions that don't get to dance or some teams from strong conferences left out even if they're Final Four material.

There are only about 20 teams, sometimes less depending on the year, who are "final four" material. The expanded field is a joke.

Yeah, but of those 20 teams, probably 16 of them are only in the tournament because of the at-large berths. Given the number of automatic bids, you can't cut the tournament below about 48 without cutting out teams that are final four material. Moreover, given the uncertainty in what constitutes final four material (and the inability of the committee to recognize it ), it's best to have a significant buffer zone.

[Ye Olde Dawg]

overandunder said:

YOD, one of your 10s should be a 12. Which?

Doh! I was actually trying NOT to do that.

As of today, by RKPI (RichKern subscribers, check it out here):

• The 6th highest Big 12 team, Iowa State, is ranked 34th in RKPI.
  
• The 9th highest Big 10 team, Michigan State, is ranked 38th in RKPI. (That's another mistake I made in the original post.)
  
• The 7th highest Pac 10 team, Arizona State, is 41st overall.
  

Pablo is pretty similar. The actual rankings and the nth-highest teams are different, but it's the same number of teams that look like they'd belong in a field of 64. The Pac 10 may have the most top-10 teams, but this year it's the Big Ten that's looking the strongest top-to-bottom.