V-ball - bracketology

[PittMBA]

Figured I’d start a new thread on the V-ball - NCAA tournament.

This site does a weekly bracketology

https://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/84078/bracketology-3-28

Has PItt pretty comfortably in - although was among last 4 in the week previous.

Wins in these last two matches against teams in the bottom 1/2 of the ACC and I think we’re a lock-

Really like the way they are playing — feel like they could be a dangerous team in the tournament— might benefit them to be bit under the radar as opposed to the last two seasons.

 

[levance2]

I think it is too hard to predict how much respect the ACC will get this season with so few OOC games. If Pitt is able to finish 16-4, that is arguably the best resume of the ACC. Villanova and WVU aren't tournament teams, but they also aren't buy games. Louisville at #13 seems wrong to me, but they did progress farther than Pitt last year so that probably sways the selection a bit.

Based on the single neutral site and lack of OOC results to compare between conferences, I don't know that it really matters much what seed Pitt gets. I think they are peaking at the right time. This is a great year to go in and just roll the dice without the usual expectations.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

His Georgia Tech seeding doesn't make any sense. He has the last four teams in seeded 25, 23, 27 and 24. I am assuming that they aren't in order to miss playing a conference team, so OK. But then Georgia Tech is not one of the last four in, and they are 26. How does not in the last four Georgia Tech get seeded two spots below the last team in, Florida State, since there is no conflict with playing a team from the same conference or that you have played before? Why wouldn't those two teams simply be swapped?

I also have a hard time believing given the lack of non-conference games and the general perception of ACC volleyball that there are going to be 18 at large teams and that four of them are going to be from the ACC. I obviously haven't studied it, especially like this guy has, but I think that right now Pitt and Louisville are in barring disaster this weekend, that Florida State needs two wins this weekend, and that the Georgia Tech - Notre Dame game is a play in game, assuming that whomever wins that one also wins their game against Duke. And if they don't then neither of them will get in.

 

[levance2]

I think that right now Pitt and Louisville are in barring disaster this weekend, that Florida State needs two wins this weekend, and that the Georgia Tech - Notre Dame game is a play in game, assuming that whomever wins that one also wins their game against Duke. And if they don't then neither of them will get in.

ND sweeps GT

In sets between the top 4 teams:
UL 6-7
ND 10-5
Pitt 12-7
GT 0-9

 

[levance2]

Mock bracket but I think Fish would be ecstatic with that draw

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

The volleytalk person's final bracket has us:

Region 4

(4) Washington vs. (Winner of Dayton vs. High Point)
(13) Purdue* vs. (Winner of Pepperdine* vs. Jackson State)

(5) Minnesota* vs. (Winner of Texas State vs. Utah Valley)
(12) Washington State* vs. (Winner of Pittsburgh* vs. North Carolina A&T)

That would make us the 21 seed. He has Louisville the 11 seed, Notre Dame 24, Florida State 26 and one of the last four in, and Georgia Tech the first team out.

 

[levance2]

The volleytalk person's final bracket has us:

Region 4

(4) Washington vs. (Winner of Dayton vs. High Point)
(13) Purdue* vs. (Winner of Pepperdine* vs. Jackson State)

(5) Minnesota* vs. (Winner of Texas State vs. Utah Valley)
(12) Washington State* vs. (Winner of Pittsburgh* vs. North Carolina A&T)

That would make us the 21 seed. He has Louisville the 11 seed, Notre Dame 24, Florida State 26 and one of the last four in, and Georgia Tech the first team out.

The committee has stated that even with the neutral site, they will only be numerically seeding 16 teams. I would hope that the quality of resumes effectively seeds the rest, but they also move things around for conference affiliation, etc. I think their defense of that practice is there is no objective way to seed with so few OOC matches regardless. Even within the ACC, there's no way to objectively rank GT, ND, and FSU by resume.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

The committee has stated that even with the neutral site, they will only be numerically seeding 16 teams. I would hope that the quality of resumes effectively seeds the rest, but they also move things around for conference affiliation, etc.

Yeah, but they simply have to fill out the rest of the bracket based on an approximate seeding, or it isn't going to make any sense and it isn't going to be fair. And with the whole tournament being played at one site it will be much, much easier to do that this year than in a normal year.

They aren't going to have the 47th and 48th teams in the field playing in the first round, and they aren't going to have the 17th and 18th play either. And they aren't going to have the number one seed play the best non-seeded team in the second round, and so on. Because if they set a bracket up like that people all across the sport are going to kill them for it.

 

[levance2]

They aren't going to have the 47th and 48th teams in the field playing in the first round, and they aren't going to have the 17th and 18th play either. And they aren't going to have the number one seed play the best non-seeded team in the second round, and so on. Because if they set a bracket up like that people all across the sport are going to kill them for it.

Yes, of course. But there's some discussion on that VT forum about what sort of objective criteria they can evaluate without just defaulting to "The Big Ten is better than everyone else". If they actually held themselves to the published criteria, they'd basically have to slot everyone based purely on win-loss percentage because they are ignoring RPI.

I think the smaller field is actually a good thing for Pitt. Their first round game will be easier and unless they play a top-4 seed in the second round, those other 5-16 seeds are going to be a crapshoot based on how little evidence we have across conferences. A bunch of those mock brackets have Louisville up to like 12 or 13 and I wouldn't be at all intimidated by that matchup.

 

[levance2]

Pitt gets LIU then Utah. Pretty good draw for a surging Pitt team.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

That show was as if ESPN said "what can we do to make this show as dumb and excruciating as possible? Is there anything we can do to make it take longer to get the actual information that people want out there? There is? Oh, good, let's do that."

 

[PittMBA]

That show was as if ESPN said "what can we do to make this show as dumb and excruciating as possible? Is there anything we can do to make it take longer to get the actual information that people want out there? There is? Oh, good, let's do that."

I love how the chair of the selection committee didn’t know the first four in and first four out.

Looks like a pretty good draw for PItt. Excited to watch them in the tournament. Are all matches televised?

 

[levance2]

Pitt beat Utah 3-1 last season (fall 2019)

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I love how the chair of the selection committee didn’t know the first four in and first four out.

It was so bad that as soon as they showed where Pitt was I turned it off. I also switched over to the Pirate game in the commercial breaks, knowing that there was no chance I was going to miss anything when they came back.

I don't understand how anyone thinks that that format is better than telling us the full draw and THEN going to interviews with random players and coaches, rather than be doing interviews with people when you still have more than half the bracket to show.

I admit though, I don't know who the woman is who was on the set there, I think they said she played at Miami, but if you watched her while the host dude was talking she sure did make a lot of funny faces. So that was at least something to keep you entertained.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Looks like a pretty good draw for PItt. Excited to watch them in the tournament. Are all matches televised?

The first and second round games are streaming only, on ESPN3.

It looks like the Pitt - LIU game doesn't start until 10:30 PM on the 14th.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

And if Pitt beats LIU the game against Utah on the 15th also will not start until 10:30 PM.

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[HOF Coach]

I love how the chair of the selection committee didn’t know the first four in and first four out.

Looks like a pretty good draw for PItt. Excited to watch them in the tournament. Are all matches televised?

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[Chaos]

Figured I’d start a new thread on the V-ball - NCAA tournament.

This site does a weekly bracketology

https://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/84078/bracketology-3-28

Has PItt pretty comfortably in - although was among last 4 in the week previous.

Wins in these last two matches against teams in the bottom 1/2 of the ACC and I think we’re a lock-

Really like the way they are playing — feel like they could be a dangerous team in the tournament— might benefit them to be bit under the radar as opposed to the last two seasons.

There's a lot of good volleyball info on that site. I just can't seem to get registered to be able to post. I registered but my account has been pending for a week. If anyone has managed to get approved, please let me know how you did it. I even emailed support, but no luck. Thanks.

 

[PittMBA]

There's a lot of good volleyball info on that site. I just can't seem to get registered to be able to post. I registered but my account has been pending for a week. If anyone has managed to get approved, please let me know how you did it. I even emailed support, but no luck. Thanks.

I’m not registered on the site - I just read it. Sorry - can’t help on that front .

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

The first and second round games are streaming only, on ESPN3.

It looks like the Pitt - LIU game doesn't start until 10:30 PM on the 14th.

I did not know this, but the original plan was that the first and second round games would just be streamed with NO announcers at all. In a typical year they allow the host schools to control the television rights, for instance when Pitt played at home the games could be shown on the ACC Network, so normally ESPN doesn't show any of those games. But yesterday, after a lot of complaining from a lot of people, ESPN announced that they would have game announcers for all the first and second round games.

 

[levance2]

Several schools and venues in Nebraska also offered to host games so that teams could play on real courts and floors and have normal infrastructure, but the NCAA didn't want to pay and test the extra staff, so they are doing simultaneous games inside a convention center.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Several schools and venues in Nebraska also offered to host games so that teams could play on real courts and floors and have normal infrastructure, but the NCAA didn't want to pay and test the extra staff, so they are doing simultaneous games inside a convention center.

The odd thing is that when they decided to play all of the men's and women's soccer tournaments in North Carolina that was exactly what they did. They are playing at five different colleges (including Wake Forest) and four different non-college venues (including WakeMed in Cary where the semis and finals are).

So what is the difference between the volleyball and the soccer tournaments that they aren't playing the first rounds of the soccer tournaments at one of those big soccer facilities that has a dozen fields all in the same place? It's not like they make any money off of either tournament.

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[HOF Coach]

 

[HailToPitt725]

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Going to make sure to tune in. Hope they get it done tonight. H2P!