Yes, BigEast does not do any of the teams any favors for preparing for the big tournament. I sometimes wonder if volleyball would ever become or do what the football teams do in changing conferences. I feel Creighton and Marquette should move to a more competitive conference. They’re in a group of not so good D1 teams.
Blackcat’s post reminded me that I once did this for baseball as an interesting thought exercise, but since this is a volleyball thread, why not consider Big East Expansion from a volleyball perspective? That is, what if volleyball was the 2nd consideration after money (I know Big East expansion will be driven by basketball, so please just have fun with this idea and don’t take it too seriously). I’m a Creighton fan and have zero connections to the Big East office. Conference realignment is fascinating to me.
Without further ado, here are the teams mentioned by the following outlet in the past couple months. I thought there would be more “sources”/conjecture, but lots of it is from last year, so I limited it to a “recent” post:
247sports.com/college/depaul/Article/Expansion-possibilities-for-the-Big-East-190081699/RPI is from ncaastats.figstats.net (There is only one 2021 (I assume Fall of 2021), and no 2020 RPI, duh). 2022 RPI is as of the AM of 9/15/22.
Dayton (A10)
Current 2022 RPI Rank: 111
2016 to 2021 year average; RPIs from each year: 39.2; 37 (‘21), 42 (‘19), 29 (‘18), 55 (‘17), 33 (‘16)
Most Recent Conference Championship (Regular Season): 2021
Number of Conference Championship (Regular or Tournament): 30
NCAA Bids: 16
Saint Louis (A10)
Current 2022 RPI Rank: 217
2016 to 2021 year average; RPIs from each year: 147.0; 188 (‘21), 118 (‘19), 192 (‘18), 157 (‘17), 80 (‘16)
Most Recent Conference Championship (Regular Season): 2008
Number of Conference Championships (Regular or Tournament): 6?
Record Book mentions 6, not all in the A10NCAA Bids: 3
Virginia Commonwealth/VCU (A10)
Current 2022 RPI Rank: 164
2016 to 2021 year average; RPIs from each year: 82.4; 109 (‘21), 50 (‘19), 71 (‘18), 35 (‘17), 147 (‘16)
Most Recent Conference Championship (Regular Season): 2017
Number of Conference Championships (Regular or Tournament): 4
NCAA Bids: 5
Loyola-Chicago (A10)Current 2022 RPI Rank: 41
2016 to 2021 year average; RPIs from each year: 149.0; 65 (‘21), 114 (‘19), 143 (‘18), 261 (‘17), 162 (‘16)
Most Recent Conference Championship (Regular Season): Unclear
Number of Conference Championships (Regular or Tournament): Unclear
NCAA Bids: 5
Loyola Marymount (WCC)Current 2022 RPI Rank: 38
2016 to 2021 year average; RPIs from each year: 87.8; 121 (‘21), 105 (‘19), 51 (‘18), 96 (‘17), 66 (‘16)
Most Recent Conference Championship (Regular Season): Unclear (quick facts is from 2018)
Number of Conference Championships (Regular or Tournament): Unclear (quick facts is from 2018)
NCAA Bids: 14
San Diego (WCC)Current 2022 RPI Rank: 4
2016 to 2021 year average; RPIs from each year: 28.4; 40 (‘21), 25 (‘19), 39 (‘18), 21 (‘17), 17 (‘16)
Most Recent Conference Championship (Regular Season): 2019
Number of Conference Championships (Regular or Tournament): 12 regular (11 WCC/1 SDWIAC), unclear on conference tournaments
NCAA Bids: 25
Gonzaga (WCC) Current 2022 RPI Rank: 245
2016 to 2021 year average; RPIs from each year: 165.8; 237 (‘21), 211 (‘19), 149 (‘18), 151 (‘17), 81 (‘16)
Most Recent Conference Championship (Regular Season): Unclear/0?
Number of Conference Championships (Regular or Tournament): Unclear/0?
NCAA Bids: At least 1?, maybe 3 (unclear from record book on gozags.com)
St Mary’s (WCC)Current 2022 RPI Rank: 186
2016 to 2021 year average; RPIs from each year: 129.2; 143 (‘21), 140 (‘19), 45 (‘18), 152 (‘17), 166 (‘16)
Most Recent Conference Championship (Regular Season): Unclear
Number of Conference Championships (Regular or Tournament): Unclear
NCAA Bids: 5 (?/manually counted)
Other teams thought about (let me know if I should add one or more of these): Davidson, St. Bonaventure, Northern Iowa, Drake, Temple, San Francisco, Wichita State (only because this option really intrigues me as a Creighton fan), and St. Thomas (MN) (local media guy thinks the Tommies will be in the Big East within the decade due large endowment, private, and in a metropolitan area). I'd throw Omaha into the mix too simply because volleyball, but it also needs more time as of this post (would like the current success to be sustained for a few years).
So, let's say Gonzaga takes the leap everyone thinks they will from a basketball perspective. This stinks for volleyball, but brining one or two teams in either Loyola Marymount or San Diego makes this a wash (only one) or a win (if both come as travel partners with the Zags).
From a purely volleyball perspective, San Diego, LMU, along with Dayton all make sense, this would bring volleyball to 14 teams. Beyond that, I'm not sure who else makes sense at this moment in time. Feels like we should keep an eye out on Loyola Chicago (again, want them to sustain the recent success for a couple more years).
Links I used for this:
ncaastats.figstats.net/archive.phtml?arcYear=2021ncaastats.figstats.net/archive.phtml?arcYear=2019ncaastats.figstats.net/archive.phtml?arcYear=2018ncaastats.figstats.net/archive.phtml?arcYear=2017ncaastats.figstats.net/archive.phtml?arcYear=2016Edit 1.0: Formatting (I'm new to the board!!!)
