Well, so much for not having to go back to State College for a second year in a row. We play VCU in the first round at Penn State.
Volleyball in the NCAA tournament
- Thread starter Joe the Panther Fan
- Start date
The ACC got 6 teams in. That's the third most among all conferences. Not a bad showing, and a conference record, although none were seeded.
Pitt, Louisville, NC State, Notre Dame, Florida State, and Miami.
Pitt, Louisville, NC State, Notre Dame, Florida State, and Miami.
Can anyone estimate how much better PSU is than Pitt? I know very little about volleyball and it seems hard to understand how PSU could be so much better than the ACC champion.
PSU is a 7X national champion (6 in the last decade), is 29-1 (19-1), and is #1 in the RPI and the #1 overall seed in the tournament. That leads six additional Big Ten teams that are rated in the RPI ahead of Pitt which is currently at #27. Louisville is the highest rated ACC team in the RPI at #21. 3 Big Ten teams are seeded in the tournament (top 15). No ACC teams are.
No ACC teams are ranked in the top 25 of the last AVCA Coaches poll. The Big Ten has 6 in the top 16 of the last poll and two in ORV. Louisville has 9 votes which is last in the ORV category, the only ACC team getting any votes.
The ACC simply is not a traditionally top volleyball conference. The Pac and Big Ten are. Pitt getting to the Sweet 16 would be a major, major, upset...bigger than Pitt over Miami IMHO.
I get all that. My question is about how much better is PSU quantitatively. Are we likely to get swept? I don't have any concept of how a talent disparity in VB translates into scoring. Pitt hosted #1 UVa in baseball a few years ago and won a game, because talent disparity in baseball is almost meaningless in small sample size.
vs Ped.St.,right? VCU you would think would be a win.Maybe even a sweep,but maybe they're a Volleyball powerhouse too.I don't know..I do know this, Pitt is very talented and well coached.
I have no idea really, but my guess is that in using women's college basketball as an analogy, PSU is a #1 overall like UConn while Pitt is an 8/9. Inotherwords, Pitt has no chance. I find it interesting that in women's sports, there seems to be less parity.
Its pretty awesome though that Pitt is offering a fan bus. Heather has preached a commitment to olympic sports. For many years, I wondered why the Pitt Program Council and/or Athletic Dept. did not sponsor road trips for football or men's basketball. Those "us against the world" events in hostile stadiums can serve as lasting memories that create lifelong fans.
They've actually done those for women's basketball several times over the years. They did one for the game at Penn State last year, and a couple years ago they did one for a game in Morgantown. I was wondering if they'd do one for the game in Morgantown next week, but my guess is with that game being on a Thursday night they figured there wouldn't be much interest.
They had a fan bus for the volleyball games last year at State College. There also have been at least 2 student fans busses to Syracuse for basketball in the last 3 years.
I think last year we took the first set from them. Maybe we can do the same this year.
They’re not that invincible. Still, there is a big gap between them and where Pitt is currently.
We won one set against PSU last year. We are closing the gap, but it would still be a major upset and I agree with Paco that it would be a bigger upset than the Miami game. Maybe more like 13-9.
Strong first set by Pitt! VCU really struggled to get in system - props to the coaching staff for a good scouting report & good execution on the players parts! I'd expect a little more from VCU in set 2.
I used to think that. But Womens Soccer has a ton of parity. UNC used to be the Uconn of Womens Soccer, but more dominant. They won like 17 of 18 national titles. But over the past 5 years, it's been all different teams in the final four and winning titles. Last night I watched ucla (4 seed) vs Duke (3 seed) in the NCAA semi. The 4 seed advanced. Traditional programs like UNC and PSU lost early this year. Last year, the national title game was WVU vs USC. USC was like a 6 seed and won the title.
No ACC teams made it out of the second round. UL lost 0-3 to UNI and ND lost 0-3 to WKU in the first round. FSU lost 1-3 to Washington St in the first. NCSU lost 0-3 to Texas and Miami lost 1-3 to UF in the 2nd round. That's a paltry 3-6 record. Pitt actually had the best showing of ACC teams.
Comparatively, the Big Ten has a 13-2 record including placing 6 of 8 teams in the Sweet 16. The ACC has a long way to go in this sport.
The ACC has a long way to go in this sport.
Perfect scenario for Pitt right now.
Perfect scenario for Pitt right now.
Similar threads
