AVCA- Top 25 Pre-Season Poll

[vbtown]

Cougarize lost all credibility with the Lexi Brown analysis. Goodman will take over the team.

[SaltNPepper]

Barefoot said:

I'd like to hear what everybody else has to say about the AVCA preseason coaches poll.

As a whole, I thought it was pretty good. Here's the teams I thought might have been higher/lower.

Nebraska at #2. I knew they'd move NU up quite a bit from the end of last year, but #2 did surprise me some. I really was expecting somewhere in the 5 to 8 range.

Arizona at #17. Picked sixth in the Pac 10 yet a #17 ranking? That's even a little more respect than I think the Pac 10 deserves. So how many conference losses does Arizona have to have to end up 6th?

Stanford at #6. I'm not real sure they are a top 10 team or 3rd in the Pac-10. But this is one of those teams that could finished just about anyplace from 1 to 20.

Florida A&M, Cal State Irvine & Maryland. Three teams that finished at or near #25 last year that I thought would get more votes because of all the starters they are returning. Not really your "name" schools which probably hurts them. If they do well, they'll climb later, so guess it's not really too big a deal.

But overall, I thought the poll wasn't too bad.

[Deleted]

SaltNPepper said:

Florida A&M, Cal State Irvine & Maryland. Three teams that finished at or near #25 last year that I thought would get more votes because of all the starters they are returning. Not really your "name" schools which probably hurts them. If they do well, they'll climb later, so guess it's not really too big a deal.

I only saw Maryland 2-3 times last year, but it sure seemed like Lynnsy Jones made them go--and she be gone. But I think they are top 40, so they could make a move.

I think FAMU deserves no ranking just because they do such a poor job of putting out info about their school. I do realize they don't have that much $$, but they could at least TRY.

UCI was hurt by all the Idaho votes.

[IdahoBoy]

SaltNPepper said:

Arizona at #17. Picked sixth in the Pac 10 yet a #17 ranking? That's even a little more respect than I think the Pac 10 deserves. So how many conference losses does Arizona have to have to end up 6th?

It's a difficult task to rank the Pac-10 teams against the rest of the nation. They USUALLY perform very well against other conferences, from top-to-bottom. It's when you have 5 schools in the top 10 nationally, that rating the remaining schools becomes difficult, especially the case when those schools tend not to lose too many non-conference matches.

Arizona could finish anywhere from 3rd to 7th in conference, depending on how they hold up. I think we'll be able to expect quite a few upsets within the Pac-10 season.

However, they only have 10 non-conference matches scheduled this year, against some decent competition:

• San Diego State
  
• Eastern Washington
  
• San Diego
  
• Hawaii
  
• Pepperdine
  
• Louisville
  

And, the not-so-decent competition:

• Nicholls State
  
• American U
  
• Temple
  
• Albany
  

Couple that with the Pac-10 Schedule, 2-each of:

• #1 USC
  
• #3 UCLA
  
• #6 Stanford
  
• #7 Washington
  
• #10 California
  
• Arizona State
  
• Washington State
  
• Oregon State and
  
• Oregon
  

The criteria is be OVER 50% to be in NCAA's, right?

Soooo with 28 matches played, they need to win 15 on the season (unless they add Northern Arizona again).

10 losses would be acceptable losses in conference. I don't think they can afford to lose to non-ranked conference opponents, though, leaving them 8-10 in Pac-10 play.

They cannot lose the 4 gimmees. (12)

Then, they'd have to win 3 of the 6 not-so-easy non-conference matches to reach 15 wins. I think they can beat 4 of those, to put them at 16-12 and 8-10 to make the NCAA's as a top 16 seed.

[Deleted]

If this schedule is correct (final), how stupid of a man is Dave Rubio? Why in the bleep would he schedule an even number of matches after last year's fiasco?

And don't tell me he doesn't put the schedule together. He has to have some input.

Shirley, they'll add another match?! Right, Shirley?

(I should add that Minnesota appears to have scheduled 32 matches. I don't understand that either, but I don't see 16-16 for the Gophers.)

[Barefoot In Kailua]

(R)uffda! said:

(I should add that Minnesota appears to have scheduled 32 matches. I don't understand that either, but I don't see 16-16 for the Gophers.)

How's about 15-17?

[Deleted]

Barefoot said:

How's about 15-17?

If they are 15-17, then the 33rd match won't matter, will it?

Now leave me alone or I'm calling Animal Control!

[Barefoot In Kailua]

(R)uffda! said:

If they are 15-17, then the 33rd match won't matter, will it?

Now leave me alone or I'm calling Animal Control!

Already dispatched!

[GatorVball]

IdahoBoy® said:

One more season like 2003 for USC and Haley will top that list. I like the percentage (with criteria for amounts of matches coached) as it seems to be a better indicator of overall success.

Well, it would also depend on the competition. Would Shoji be #1 pct. wise if Hawaii was in the Pac-10? That's why I don't put too much stock in the fact that Florida has been the winningest team in the country, both wins and pct. wise, since Mary took over. If they were in the Pac-10, they'd still be good, but they'd def. have more losses.

[IdahoBoy]

(R)uffda! said:

(I should add that Minnesota appears to have scheduled 32 matches. I don't understand that either, but I don't see 16-16 for the Gophers.)

I'll break down the Golden Goopher's schedule too:
Sigh, anyone else notice that the online site doesn't have opponents listed for tournament? What's the point?

Non-Conference Opponents:
The Good (tough competition, hard wins)

• Georgia Tech
  
• Northern Iowa
  
• Kansas State
  
• Rice (yes, a surprise team this year)
  
• Loyola Marymount
  
• North Carolina
  
• Cincinnatti
  

The Bad

• Wyoming
  
• Idaho State
  
• Texas San Antonio
  

The Ugly (as in Goophers will get their greasy-grimey-goopher-guts stomped from them).

• Colorado State
  
• Florida
  

Big Eleven Opponents:
Ranked:

• #8 Penn State
  
• #19 Illinois
  
• #23 Wisconsin
  
• #33 Michigan
  
• #36 Michigan State
  
• #46 Ohio State
  

Non-Ranked:

• Northwestern
  
• Purdue
  
• Indiana
  
• Iowa
  

I see Minnesota as 3-2 against the bad and ugly. Against the non-ranked Big 11, they should be 8-0 bringing them to 11-2. That means, of the remaining ranked opponents, they should go at least 6-6 to make them 17-8 on the season. That'll let them fester at the beginning of the season on the remaining "good" teams, like last season and end up 17-15.

[IdahoBoy]

GatorVball said:

Well, it would also depend on the competition. Would Shoji be #1 pct. wise if Hawaii was in the Pac-10? That's why I don't put too much stock in the fact that Florida has been the winningest team in the country, both wins and pct. wise, since Mary took over. If they were in the Pac-10, they'd still be good, but they'd def. have more losses.

Hawaii was in the Big West, when the Big West was the premier volleyball conference, for a great many years.

[Deleted]

IdahoBoy® said:

I'll break down the Golden Goopher's schedule too:

Uh, did anyone request this?

I didn't think so.

Bye now.

[GatorVball]

IdahoBoy® said:

Hawaii was in the Big West, when the Big West was the premier volleyball conference, for a great many years.

Premier? By whose standards?

[BearClause]

SaltNPepper said:

Florida A&M, Cal State Irvine & Maryland.

I'm sure the fine folks at Irvine Ranch will appreciate being reduced to a Cal State school.

[Barefoot In Kailua]

GatorVball said:

Premier? By whose standards?

Those responsible for the AVCA poll (look at the final poll results for yourself), but the Big West didn't hold the title by itself. The Big West, its predecessor (the Pacific Coast Athletic Association), and the PAC 10 were the 2 premier conferences in the Country from 1982- 1995 before the Big West lost steam. I don't expect a "Johnny come lately" Volleyball fan from Florida to have this information so you Gator, are excused. ;D