Post by Mac on May 9, 2006 1:08:36 GMT -5
www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/sports/14526217.htm
Four-team format limits potential of tournament
By Guy Cipriano
gciprian@centredaily.com
The legendary coach knew the tape recorders were running and people with significant titles were listening.
"It's ridiculous," UCLA men's volleyball coach Al Scates said before the Bruins faced Penn State in the final of the National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship.
When somebody who has won 19 national titles and 1,135 matches in 44 years uses this word, it's time to sit back and listen. Scates won his most recent title when the Bruins defeated the Nittany Lions, 3-0, this past Saturday at Rec Hall.
"We are the most underrepresented sport in NCAA sports," he said. "We have over 80 teams playing and there are only four teams that get to participate in this tournament. If we had eight teams playing, we would be underrepresented. If we had 12 teams in the tournament, we would be underrepresented."
Right now, men's volleyball has a four-team national tournament. This year's field included UCLA, Penn State, California-Irvine and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.
Don't expect the field to reach 16 teams during Scates' lifetime.
But the tournament could be larger the next time it returns to Rec Hall. Besides last Thursday's partial blackout, the venerable gym proved worthy of hosting the event again. Rec Hall also hosted the event in 1982, 1986 and 2002, so a return trip by 2010 seems possible.
Penn State officials are interested in bringing the event to campus again. Saturday's raucous crowd of 5,453 certainly helped the university's cause.
Chris Schneider, an assistant director of championships for the NCAA, said the field could be expanded to eight teams by 2009. The move must be approved through a two-year budget cycle.
A larger national tournament could help the sport grow in the east. Penn State has hogged the eastern spotlight by qualifying for 15 of the past 16 tournaments.
Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said some university presidents and athletic directors might be reluctant to dump money into men's volleyball because national tournament spots are scarce.
"Speaking selfishly for the east, you could have a young up-and-coming coach with a young up-and-coming program, who walks into his AD and says, 'For x-amount of dollars I can get here and here,'" Pavlik said. "And the AD looks at him and says, 'When are you going to be the dominant team. You haven't beaten them for 12 years. Why should I pour x-amount of dollars into it?'
"If we go to eight teams and get an at-large berth for a region, now you don't have to beat a dominant team in your region. Athletics directors can make some very comfortable incremental increases in their programs over the course of a couple of years, and see some immediate benefits."
Pavlik used Saint Francis as an example of how a team can benefit from a tournament presence. The Red Flash advanced to the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association final. They were swept by Penn State, but the university made a rare national television appearance.
"You saw what it did for St. Francis," Pavlik said. "If we can keep that going on a national scale, I think you're going to see some significant growth and the pool of better players being spread out to different schools. All of the sudden the parity is going to grow deeper than even 17, 18, 19 teams."
For a sport that has a four-team national tournament, men's volleyball has developed some intriguing parity. Five different programs have won the past five title matches. Hawaii and Lewis, which won in 2002 and 2003, lost their titles after using ineligible players.
This year's UCLA team lost 12 times. Seven teams that didn't qualify for the national tournament combined to defeat the Bruins 10 times.
Ohio State defeated UCLA and Penn State. Hawaii defeated UCLA and Penn State. Southern California defeated UCLA and Penn State.
Name another a sport where three teams can defeat both finals participants, but miss the national tournament.
Four-team format limits potential of tournament
By Guy Cipriano
gciprian@centredaily.com
The legendary coach knew the tape recorders were running and people with significant titles were listening.
"It's ridiculous," UCLA men's volleyball coach Al Scates said before the Bruins faced Penn State in the final of the National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship.
When somebody who has won 19 national titles and 1,135 matches in 44 years uses this word, it's time to sit back and listen. Scates won his most recent title when the Bruins defeated the Nittany Lions, 3-0, this past Saturday at Rec Hall.
"We are the most underrepresented sport in NCAA sports," he said. "We have over 80 teams playing and there are only four teams that get to participate in this tournament. If we had eight teams playing, we would be underrepresented. If we had 12 teams in the tournament, we would be underrepresented."
Right now, men's volleyball has a four-team national tournament. This year's field included UCLA, Penn State, California-Irvine and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.
Don't expect the field to reach 16 teams during Scates' lifetime.
But the tournament could be larger the next time it returns to Rec Hall. Besides last Thursday's partial blackout, the venerable gym proved worthy of hosting the event again. Rec Hall also hosted the event in 1982, 1986 and 2002, so a return trip by 2010 seems possible.
Penn State officials are interested in bringing the event to campus again. Saturday's raucous crowd of 5,453 certainly helped the university's cause.
Chris Schneider, an assistant director of championships for the NCAA, said the field could be expanded to eight teams by 2009. The move must be approved through a two-year budget cycle.
A larger national tournament could help the sport grow in the east. Penn State has hogged the eastern spotlight by qualifying for 15 of the past 16 tournaments.
Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said some university presidents and athletic directors might be reluctant to dump money into men's volleyball because national tournament spots are scarce.
"Speaking selfishly for the east, you could have a young up-and-coming coach with a young up-and-coming program, who walks into his AD and says, 'For x-amount of dollars I can get here and here,'" Pavlik said. "And the AD looks at him and says, 'When are you going to be the dominant team. You haven't beaten them for 12 years. Why should I pour x-amount of dollars into it?'
"If we go to eight teams and get an at-large berth for a region, now you don't have to beat a dominant team in your region. Athletics directors can make some very comfortable incremental increases in their programs over the course of a couple of years, and see some immediate benefits."
Pavlik used Saint Francis as an example of how a team can benefit from a tournament presence. The Red Flash advanced to the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association final. They were swept by Penn State, but the university made a rare national television appearance.
"You saw what it did for St. Francis," Pavlik said. "If we can keep that going on a national scale, I think you're going to see some significant growth and the pool of better players being spread out to different schools. All of the sudden the parity is going to grow deeper than even 17, 18, 19 teams."
For a sport that has a four-team national tournament, men's volleyball has developed some intriguing parity. Five different programs have won the past five title matches. Hawaii and Lewis, which won in 2002 and 2003, lost their titles after using ineligible players.
This year's UCLA team lost 12 times. Seven teams that didn't qualify for the national tournament combined to defeat the Bruins 10 times.
Ohio State defeated UCLA and Penn State. Hawaii defeated UCLA and Penn State. Southern California defeated UCLA and Penn State.
Name another a sport where three teams can defeat both finals participants, but miss the national tournament.
