Big West 2023

[SmokeDogg]

What is the first day of practice?

[justaUHfan]

I really hope the big west teams dominate in their non conference games. That will help boost the Big west tremendously! It’s wishful thinking but let’s see if we can get 2-3 teams in the NCAA tournament this season!

[trojansc]

Jul 22, 2023 14:04:56 GMT -5 justaUHfan said:

I really hope the big west teams dominate in their non conference games. That will help boost the Big west tremendously! It’s wishful thinking but let’s see if we can get 2-3 teams in the NCAA tournament this season!

Looking at the bottom 5 teams in the Big West (using 2022 RPI), they have 57 non-conference matches. Only 2 are scheduled against P5 competition (Oregon State + Kansas State). That's definitely a good sign. They have winnable matches -- but how many will they actually win?

Hawaii, UCSB, and Long Beach State all have schedules that can get them into the at-large conversation. They'll have to win enough though and not lose to lowly teams in conference, and hope the bottom of the conference wins enough to at least be decent in RPI. I'm not considering Cal Poly as an at-large contender.

[vbdork]

UCSB committed one 2023 setter and now three 2024 setters! I don't think I've ever seen three setters commit in the same grad class.

[noblesol]

2023 Non-Conf schedule strength mashup comps of PAC-4 and BW-Top 6. Benchmarked to 2022 Selection Nitty Gritty Adjusted RPI values.

Teams	2022 Sel. Adj. RPI	2022 Sel. Adj. RPI Value	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Median of Opponents 2022 Sel. Adj. RPIs	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Median of Opponents 2022 Sel. Adj. RPI Values	2022 Conf. RPI	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Median of Opponents 2022 Conf. RPIs
Stanford	5	0.69829	9.0	0.67432	4	3.0
Hawai'i	36	0.60246	39.0	0.59821	14	4.0
Wash. St.	34	0.60303	47.0	0.58868	4	8.0
Beach	82	0.56135	63.0	0.57833	14	4.0
UCSB	92	0.54647	100.5	0.54076	14	10.0
UCD	140	0.51581	114.5	0.53281	14	6.0
UCI	103	0.54070	142.0	0.51673	14	8.5
Cal Poly	106	0.53701	154.0	0.50761	14	13.0
Ore. St.	187	0.48796	186.0	0.48823	4	14.0
Cal	222	0.46916	187.0	0.48784	4	16.0

2023 Non-Conf scheduled up/down/even from 2022 selection night finish?

- Stanford: Down. When you finish at #5, it's tough to schedule a non-conf higher than that the next season. Only slightly down.
- Hawai'i: Even. Slightly off the pace of the 2022 finish, but close enough to call it even.
- Wash. St.: Down. Small, but down.
- Beach: Up. Looking to make a big move up. Lots of unknowns in the lineup though.
- UCSB: Down. Small, but down.
- UCD: Up. Looking to make a big move up. Is this the year UCD gets non-conf traction and keeps it through the regular season?
- UCI: Down. Some holes to fill in the lineup, erring to the weak side on the 2023 non-conf sched.
- Cal Poly: Down. More holes to fill, some uncertainty in the lineup, erring down in the scheduling.
- Ore. St.: Even. Looks like 2nd to last in the old PAC-12 one more time.
- Cal: Up. Going to try and catch Ore. St.

[noblesol]

2023 Non-Conf schedule strength mashup comps of PAC-4 and BW-Top 6:
 
Table of Percentage of Non-Conf 2023 opponents with 2022 NCAA / NIVC tournament participation

Teams	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 NCAA Tourn. Participants%	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 NIVC Tourn. Participants%	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 Tourn. Participants% Total
Stanford	89%	0%	89%
Hawai'i	64%	18%	82%
Wash. St.	55%	18%	73%
Beach	40%	20%	60%
UCSB	33%	17%	50%
Cal Poly	33%	8%	42%
UCD	30%	10%	40%
UCI	25%	17%	42%
Cal	8%	8%	17%
Ore. St.	0%	11%	11%

Sorted on NCAA Tourn. Participants%

[beachgrad]

Aug 9, 2023 19:47:06 GMT -5 noblesol said:

2023 Non-Conf schedule strength mashup comps of PAC-4 and BW-Top 6:
 
Table of Percentage of Non-Conf 2023 opponents with 2022 NCAA / NIVC tournament participation

Teams	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 NCAA Tourn. Participants%	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 NIVC Tourn. Participants%	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 Tourn. Participants% Total
Stanford	89%	0%	89%
Hawai'i	64%	18%	82%
Wash. St.	55%	18%	73%
Beach	40%	20%	60%
UCSB	33%	17%	50%
Cal Poly	33%	8%	42%
UCD	30%	10%	40%
UCI	25%	17%	42%
Cal	8%	8%	17%
Ore. St.	0%	11%	11%

Sorted on NCAA Tourn. Participants%

Thanks for all your work on this as its very interesting to see the data going into the season.

I think it's a given that Hawaii will be a strong team this year and I believe they will win some big matches against quality teams.  For the conference the big question mark will be if last season's top half can get better and provide some pre-conference upsets.  I do see UCI as taking a step backwards this season and that might go for Cal Poly too but I believe they will be better than expected and win a fair amount of preseason matches because they did not schedule very tough.  The conference really needs UCSB and LBSU to take a big step forward but both programs lost some key players.  Both have brought in some new talent and have returning players that have upside.  Will be a very interesting season outside of Hawaii.

[jake]

Aug 9, 2023 21:45:45 GMT -5 beachgrad said:

Aug 9, 2023 19:47:06 GMT -5 noblesol said:

2023 Non-Conf schedule strength mashup comps of PAC-4 and BW-Top 6:
 
Table of Percentage of Non-Conf 2023 opponents with 2022 NCAA / NIVC tournament participation

Teams	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 NCAA Tourn. Participants%	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 NIVC Tourn. Participants%	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponent 2022 Tourn. Participants% Total
Stanford	89%	0%	89%
Hawai'i	64%	18%	82%
Wash. St.	55%	18%	73%
Beach	40%	20%	60%
UCSB	33%	17%	50%
Cal Poly	33%	8%	42%
UCD	30%	10%	40%
UCI	25%	17%	42%
Cal	8%	8%	17%
Ore. St.	0%	11%	11%

Sorted on NCAA Tourn. Participants%

Thanks for all your work on this as its very interesting to see the data going into the season.

I think it's a given that Hawaii will be a strong team this year and I believe they will win some big matches against quality teams.  For the conference the big question mark will be if last season's top half can get better and provide some pre-conference upsets.  I do see UCI as taking a step backwards this season and that might go for Cal Poly too but I believe they will be better than expected and win a fair amount of preseason matches because they did not schedule very tough.  The conference really needs UCSB and LBSU to take a big step forward but both programs lost some key players.  Both have brought in some new talent and have returning players that have upside.  Will be a very interesting season outside of Hawaii.

     "Ditto" that!

[noblesol]

One more...

2023 Non-Conf schedule strength mashup comps of PAC-4 and BW-Top 6:

Table of 2023 Non-Conf Opponents with 2022 Selection Adjusted RPI Rank of 1-25, 26-50, and <= 75.

Teams	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponents w/2022 Sel. Adj. RPIs 1-25	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponents w/2022 Sel. Adj. RPIs 26-50	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponents w/2022 Sel. Adj. RPIs <=75
Stanford	8	0	89%
Hawai'i	4	3	91%
Wash. St.	3	3	73%
Beach	2	2	60%
UCD	2	1	40%
UCSB	1	2	42%
Cal Poly	1	2	33%
UCI	0	3	25%
Cal	0	1	11%
Ore. St.	0	0	9%

Sorted: col. 1, then col. 2, then col. 3. 

RPI bonus awards:
- top 25 wins (~2 RPI positions/win);
- wins in range 26-50 (~1 RPI position/win);
- at least 50% of non-conf sched. with RPI <= 75 (~2 RPI positions).

2023 Non-Conf Sched. potential RPI bonus positions available:
    - Stanford:       18
    - Hawai'i:         13
    - Wash. St.:     11
    - Beach:            8
    - UCD:              5
    - UCSB:            4
    - Cal Poly:         4
    - UCI:               3
    - Cal:                1
    - Ore. St.:         0

[noblesol]

2023 Non-Conf schedule strength mashup comps of VT Top 25 and Big West Top 2:

Table 1: 2023 Non-Conf Opponents with 2022 Selection Adjusted RPI Rank of 1-25, 26-50, and <= 75.

Teams	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponents w/2022 Sel. Adj. RPIs 1-25	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponents w/2022 Sel. Adj. RPIs 26-50	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Opponents w/2022 Sel. Adj. RPIs <= 75	Non-Conf RPI bonus positions available	VT Top 25
Stanford	8	0	89%	18	1
Ohio St.	7	1	80%	17	19
Oregon	6	2	82%	16	8
Minnesota	6	1	100%	15	7
Wisconsin	5	2	89%	14	3
Purdue	5	1	89%	13	12
Kentucky	5	1	88%	13	10
Pittsburgh	5	0	90%	12	6
Penn St.	5	0	78%	12	9
Hawai'i	4	3	91%	13	Next Five
Baylor	4	2	90%	12	16
Texas	4	2	88%	12	2
Marquette	4	2	73%	12	11
Florida	4	1	56%	11	15
Rice	4	1	50%	11	24
Wash. St.	3	3	73%	11	13
Louisville	3	3	60%	11	5
Southern Cal.	3	3	60%	11	21
San Diego	3	2	70%	10	20
Arkansas	3	2	42%	8	22
Nebraska	3	1	78%	9	4
Tennessee	3	1	50%	9	23
Creighton	2	4	91%	10	18
Houston	2	2	67%	8	17
Long Beach St.	2	2	60%	8	NR
Kansas	1	4	70%	8	25
BYU	1	4	58%	8	14

Sorted: column 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5.

RPI bonus awards:
- top 25 wins (~2 RPI positions/win);
- wins in range 26-50 (~1 RPI position/win);
- at least 50% of non-conf sched. with RPI <= 75 (~2 RPI positions).

[noblesol]

2023 Non-Conf schedule strength mashup comps of VT Top 25 and Big West Top 2:

Table 2: Medians of 2023 Non-Conf Opponents 2022 Selection Adjusted RPI Rank and Conference Rank

Teams	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Median of Opponents 2022 Sel. Adj. RPIs	2023 Non-Conf Sched. Median of Opponents 2022 Conf. RPIs	VT Top 25
Stanford	9.0	3.0	1
Minnesota	12.5	3.5	7
Kentucky	13.5	5.0	10
Ohio St.	18.0	4.5	19
Oregon	21.0	6.0	8
Penn St.	22.0	8.0	9
Wisconsin	23.0	3.0	3
Texas	24.0	5.0	2
Purdue	25.0	7.0	12
Marquette	28.0	5.0	11
Florida	30.0	5.0	15
Southern Cal.	36.0	11.5	21
Pittsburgh	36.5	14.0	6
Baylor	38.0	7.0	16
Hawai'i	39.0	4.0	Next Five
Louisville	43.0	8.5	5
San Diego	47.0	4.5	20
Wash. St.	47.0	8.0	13
Creighton	48.0	5.0	18
Kansas	52.5	9.5	25
Rice	56.0	7.5	24
Nebraska	59.0	8.0	4
Long Beach St.	63.0	4.0	NR
BYU	63.0	14.0	14
Houston	70.0	10.0	17
Tennessee	83.5	15.5	23
Arkansas	96.0	8.5	22

Sorted: Column 1, then Col. 2, then Col. 3

[bigwestfan]

Any updates on today's scrimmages greatly appreciated. Who will start out strong? Who has the most upside potential? Who will surprise the BWC?

[noblesol]

Aug 18, 2023 11:27:23 GMT -5 bigwestfan said:

Any updates on today's scrimmages greatly appreciated. Who will start out strong? Who has the most upside potential? Who will surprise the BWC?

UC Davis expects to be good this year... they scheduled up in non-conf. Staying healthy and consistent have been issues for them in recent hx. So we'll see.

[vballfreak808]

Hawai'i Picked to Repeat in 2023 Big West Women's Volleyball Preseason Poll

2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll
Rank Institution Points
1. Hawai’i 100 (10)
2. UC Santa Barbara 83
3. Long Beach State 82 (1)
4. Cal Poly 81
5. UC Davis 61
6. UC Irvine 54
7. UC San Diego 42
8. Cal State Bakersfield 33
9. Cal State Fullerton 32
10. CSUN 27
11. UC Riverside 10

Student-Athlete	Year	Position	Institute
Caylen Alexander	So.	Outside Hitter	Hawai'i
Amber Igiede	Sr.	Middle Blocker	Hawai'i
Kate Lang	Jr.	Setter	Hawai'i
Zayna Meyer	R-So.	Setter	Long Beach State
Michelle Ohbowete	Sr.	Outside Hitter	UC Santa Barbara
Macall Peed	Sr.	Libero	UC Santa Barbara
Tommi Stockham	R-Jr.	Outside Hitter	Cal Poly
Olivia Utterback	Jr.	Opposite	UC Davis

[beachgrad]

Hard to argue with the coaches poll because it seems pretty reasonable, actually spot on from my perspective.

Of course the players poll is based on the known returning players so I expect there will be some changes made in the ending poll. If I had to guess I would expect Hawaii's Guersching and LBSU's Karich to be among the end of season nominees.

Season right around the corner and cannot wait for the start.