Yet again, the D1 Volleyball polls are predictable … and
sometimes spectacularly wrong.
In this week’s AVCA Coaches Poll, released a few minutes
ago, voters got it mostly right with USC (#1), UCLA (#4), Illinois (#7),
California (#10) and Northern Iowa (#13.)
But collectively, the voters grossly underestimated Purdue
(#8), Penn State (#9) and Oregon (#13).
In doing so, they overestimated Nebraska (#2), Texas (#5),
and Stanford (#6). And they really, really missed the boat on Hawai’i (#3)
Volleyblog Seattle rated its top 12 teams (plus Northern
Iowa) by comparing the top teams’ records—and quality of competition—for each
team’s last eight matches. Here’s how we see it:
team
(poll rank) |
previous eight
|
previous 8 vs.
ranked teams |
|
1. USC (1)
|
7-1
|
3-1
|
|
Winners of 7 in a row in nation’s
best conference, including wins against Oregon, Washington & Cal
|
|||
2. Purdue (8)
|
7-1
|
4-1
|
|
Impressive 10-match win streak finally
snapped Saturday by Penn State
|
|||
3. UCLA (4)
|
6-2
|
3-1
|
|
Ugly loss to unranked Arizona and
narrow loss to ranked Oregon, but quality wins over Cal, Stanford and
Washington
|
|||
4. Penn State (9)
|
6-2
|
3-1
|
|
Narrow loss to unranked Wisconsin
and to highly-ranked Illinois; big wins against Purdue & Nebraska
|
|||
5. Nebraska (2)
|
6-2
|
3-2
|
|
Lost to highly-ranked Penn State
& Purdue, but beat lower-ranked Ohio State, Michigan & Minnesota
|
|||
6. Oregon (13)
|
6-2
|
3-1
|
|
Collapsed against Utah and lost
to USC, but impressive recent wins against UCLA, Stanford & Cal
|
|||
7. Texas (5)
|
8-0
|
1-0
|
|
Big fish in a small pond; beat
only one ranked opponent this month, Iowa State
|
|||
8. Illinois (7)
|
5-3
|
3-2
|
|
An ugly loss to unranked Michigan
St sandwiched between decent wins against Penn St, and lower-ranked Ohio St
and Michigan
|
|||
9. Washington (11)
|
5-3
|
1-3
|
|
Losses to USC, UCLA and Cal;
decisive win against Stanford
|
|||
10. Stanford (6)
|
5-3
|
1-3
|
|
Losses to UCLA, Washington and
Oregon; impressive—but long-ago—win against USC
|
|||
11. California (10)
|
4-4
|
1-3
|
|
Losses to USC, UCLA and Oregon,
plus stinker against Oregon State; a win against Washington
|
|||
12. Hawai’I (3)
|
8-0
|
0-0
|
|
Big fish in an empty pond;
Rainbow Wahine play weakest schedule this side of Northern Iowa
|
|||
13. No Iowa (12)
|
8-0
|
0-0
|
|
Big fish in an empty pond; Panthers
play weakest schedule this side of Hawai’i
|
|||
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