Women's volleyball - NCAA tournament selection show (Sun., 11/25, 6:30 PM MT)

[AztecBuff]

Best wishes that the volleyball team gets to extend their season!

NCAA article on the selection show and tournament in general: https://www.ncaa.com/championships/volleyball-women/d1/road-to-the-championship

"
...
Selection Show | Sunday, November 25, 2018
The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship bracket will be announced the Sunday before the first round of competition at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
...
"

Twitter accounts for updates -
Buffs' - https://mobile.twitter.com/cubuffsvb?lang=en
NCAA volleyball- https://mobile.twitter.com/NCAAVolleyball

Bracket - https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/volleyball-women/d1/2018

 

[AztecBuff]

I'm cautiously optimistic for the Buffs going into tomorrow:

• As I type this, the Buffs are showing at #51 RPI per the UNOFFICIAL constantly updating figstats RPI calculation (http://ncaastats.figstats.net/volleyball-rpi.cgi ; the "RPI with bonuses" tab is the one that equals official RPI the committee looks at). (They are a minute .0001 RPI factor behind #50 KSU.) This is very close to the magic ~#49 number that an analysis by a Jacob Meyers (for the NCAA website) said is typically the "sweet spot" (at least for the last 3 seasons) for getting selected (https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleybal...nking-make-ncaa-volleyball-tournament-more-50). Note- one team that won't be a factor is #45 RPI UCLA, which lost to USC yesterday and so ended up below the necessary .500+ overall winning % needed to be considered for an at-large bill.

• The big thing I hope will help the Buffs is their 1-2 wins** over top 25 RPI teams and ~5 wins over top 50 teams. Few if any of their "bubble team competition" have that many quality wins. They also aren't showing any losses to teams outside the top 100 RPI, so nothing glaring there. (**Washington is JUST holding on with the #25 RPI (#26 un-adjusted), and hopefully will stay there; the other top 25 win was Oregon, and they're safely in the top 25 at #17.) Note- 4 of the 5 Top 50 wins were also against teams that will definitely be in the tournament (Oregon, Washington, Utah and MWC champ CSU).

• Just in case he/ she ends up more accurate, wanted to mention great Volleytalk poster Bluepenguin also tries and calculates out RPI, and has the Buffs one spot higher in RPI at #49 (per http://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/75652/rpi-futures-week-13-11?page=15). (Assume it could have to do with which if any of the matches, I believe almost if not all completed at this point, may be or not be in their calculations.?.)

• As I always like to note, Buff volleyball (like soccer was) is considered much higher rated/ ranked in any of the (considered more accurate) calculated ratings / rankings (compared to VERY flawed RPI calculation):
  • The main (found to be more accurate) ratings used in Volleytalk to predict future results are called the "Pablo ratings". The full Pablo rating list is proprietary (believe calculated and kept at the great richkern.com site), so I can't see what it is right now for the Buffs. However, going into this past weekend's matches, the Buffs were the #21 rated Pablo team (per http://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/75635/pac-12-week-10-2018?page=1 ). Based on their performance in the 2 matches this week, can't imagine they would have fallen more than a spot or two from #21.
  • In the Massey ratings (https://www.masseyratings.com/cvol/11590/ratings), the Buffs are at #25 as I write this.
  • Hadn't found them until this season, and don't know what use in their evaluation, but as of last week a ranking in herosports.com (https://herosports.com/rankings/college-d1-womens-volleyball) had the Buffs at #27.
  • And, finally, the last Coaches (AVCA) poll had the Buffs with the 26th most votes in the country. (Since Utah was behind the Buffs, assume CU may (???) fall a little in the next poll, but wouldn't think much given the quality of the Utah match, and that they swept UCLA (who was receiving the 27th most votes) on the road.)
• Of local interest, wanted to note many of the bracketology people have DU, who was upset in their conference championship match, NOT being selected (albeit as one of "the 1st 1st teams out") into the tournament, even though they are being calculated ending up at either #39 (Bluepenguin) or #40 (Figstats) RPI. (They have no top 25 wins, and only had 2 (going 1-1) matches against top 50 RPI teams.) Now that Coach Mahoney has been with the Buffs for a few years, hopefully his prior (coaching job) DU team will be added to the schedule within the next year or two. They might be a great early season RPI boost opportunity for the Buffs (the Pioneers went 27-2 this season), and it would give the Pioneers a nice pre-season challenge, and a chance for a "big" win against a local (also ='s cheap road match!) team.

 

[AztecBuff]

It probably won't / shouldn't matter much, but wanted to mention re my post above that if I had to bet, I would say the Buffs will probably end up with the #49 RPI as opposed to #51. (As pointed out by Bluepenguin (BP, who calculated the Buffs at #49), there is at least one match missing in Figstats calculation, namely Illiinois (who the Buffs played) winning its final match. Because of how close the RPI "scores" are around where the Buffs are rated, BP said that match alone (one of many HUNDREDS played by Buff opponents) could be the reason for the 2 spot RPI discrepancy between the 2 sources.)

 

[Buffnik]

Fingers crossed.

Worried that this is going to break like Soccer did for us.

 

[buffgal]

I refuse to believe the team doesn't make it to the tournament until I am proven wrong.

 

[INTHABUFF]

 

[AztecBuff]

The Buffs are IN!!!!!

1st round against South Carolina. (Know nothing about them.)

For the 2nd time at least (their 1st trip to the tournament under Kritza was there), the Buffs are going to (this year overall #2 seed) Minnesota's place.

 

[AztecBuff]

Congrats Buffs'!

 

[Buffnik]

So excited for this team. Overcame so much this year.

 

[INTHABUFF]

Have to like our chances against South Carolina. Not a traditional power from the SEC which doesn’t play particularly high level volleyball. We have beaten better teams regularly this year.

That second round game however...

One game at a time!!

 

[AztecBuff]

Note- If I'm reading the printable bracket (https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/print/volleyball-women/d1/2018) right, the Buffs 1st round match will start at 3:30 PM MT this coming Friday. (I HOPE (???) the matches are televised on one of the ESPN channels or ESPN 3, and not one of the Big10+ or one of their other premium streaming outlets that most Buffs fans wouldn't have access to. Also, it will be nice (in future years if it's not set up for this year) if the team had a radio broadcast for tournament matches.)

 

[AztecBuff]

Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2018/11/25/volleyball-buffs-headed-back-to-ncaa-tournament.aspx

Full article quoted-
"
BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's volleyball team is heading back to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year, the NCAA Selection Committee announced Sunday evening.

The Buffaloes (18-13, 10-10 Pac-12) will head to Minneapolis, Minn., and will kick off the first round against South Carolina (19-9, 10-8 SEC). The second-ranked team in the tournament, Minnesota (25-3, 19-1 BIG TEN), will host the first and second rounds, beginning with a match against Bryant (22-12, 10-4 NEC) out of the Northeast Conference.

"This team played great down the stretch," said Head Coach Jesse Mahoney to the team after the announcement. "We had six matches on the road in our last eight and we had to win five of them to do this. Pretty special and good job by you guys. Really good teams (coming up), obviously. South Carolina in the first round is another very good team. We will get to work watching film and in practice. Congrats, you all played great down the stretch to put us in this situation."

Colorado finished the regular season with an 18-13 record overall after finishing .500 in the Pac-12 Championship with a 10-10 record. CU was on the bubble but finished 3-1 in the final stretch of the season to push themselves into the tournament. All four matches were on the road and featured wins at Oregon, UCLA and Oregon State.

The Gamecocks went 19-9 overall and finished 10-8 in the SEC. South Carolina is coming off of three straight-losses to LSU, Kentucky and Florida. They have one common opponent with CU this season, Georgia, in which the Gamecocks won both matchups, one by four sets and one by five. Their best win according to the AVCA was a five-set victory over then-No.20 Missouri at home.

This is the first NCAA Tournament appearance for South Carolina since 2002. Last season Colorado went to Baylor for the first and second rounds of the tournament, sweeping both James Madison and host Baylor before falling to Nebraska, the eventual national champions, in the Sweet Sixteen.

The Pac-12 was the most represented conference with eight selected to the tournament, led by No.1-ranked Stanford. The BIG TEN was second with seven teams.

The two teams will meet Friday evening in Maturi Pavilion. The winner will take on the winner of Minnesota and Bryant Saturday evening.
"

 

[prime teets]

May have to put on the old volleyball uniform and go cheer on the ladies. Go buffs!

 

[buffgal]

it will be nice (in future years if it's not set up for this year) if the team had a radio broadcast for tournament matches.)

I wish CU had a radio broadcast for all matches, even the ones televised by the Pac-12. I prefer listening to "homer" announcers if I can. Most of the upper tier Big 10 schools do have radio broadcasts. Some are student run, but they are very knowledgeable about volleyball. Of course, they have large student followings for their volleyball teams.

I think we can beat South Carolina. Minnesota will be difficult. Of course, this year's tournament favors Minnesota as the Final Four is being played there. Minnesota will not have to travel for the rest of their season.

Last time we went to Minnesota, we beat Iowa State in 5 sets. Iowa State did a bus trip for their fans. We were the only team there without a band. Not sure if other schools used rent a bands, like CU used to do for the women's basketball tournaments in Salina, Kansas. We had a tape recording of the fight song. We then took Minnesota to 5 sets.

 

[Bmixer]

I would be nice if they had more broadcast for olympic sports. IMO for that to happen Larry Scott will have to get a tv deal with direct tv for the network and the Pac 12 will have jump up to the same ball park as the big 10 and sec when it comes to conference distributions. I also think more fan attendance is needed for them to consider it. Need to get more then 2000 in Coors on average imo. I have a hunch Minnesota will have the only band there this year unless the team their playing is local.

 

[Buffnik]

I would be nice if they had more broadcast for olympic sports. IMO for that to happen Larry Scott will have to get a tv deal with direct tv for the network and the Pac 12 will have jump up to the same ball park as the big 10 and sec when it comes to conference distributions. I also think more fan attendance is needed for them to consider it. Need to get more then 2000 in Coors on average imo. I have a hunch Minnesota will have the only band there this year unless the team their playing is local.

We just need to have 2 apps to subscribe to like the Big Ten has. The networks don't want more Olympic content from the Pac-12 -- they want less. And the production costs for the Pac-12 by trying to support so many broadcasts of non-revenue sports is a financial albatross. Estimates are that many of the Olympic broadcasts on PACN attract less than 1,000 viewers.

 

[Bmixer]

We just need to have 2 apps to subscribe to like the Big Ten has. The networks don't want more Olympic content from the Pac-12 -- they want less. And the production costs for the Pac-12 by trying to support so many broadcasts of non-revenue sports is a financial albatross. Estimates are that many of the Olympic broadcasts on PACN attract less than 1,000 viewers.

yeah that sounds reasonable. Make the pac 12 olympic a streaming only service and have a broadcast version that has basketball and football and the news programs. I would be for that.