Monday, November 11, 2013

NCAA | With two more victories Washington volleyball continues RPI climb

A week without upsets leaves coaches’ poll largely unchanged, but UW opponents boost Huskies’ RPI

The Washington Huskies, now 21-1, continue their slow climb up the NCAA’s RPI rankings. This week, UW is ranked #3, the same position they’re given by voters in the AVCA Coaches’ Poll.

Washington players celebrate against Colorado
-photo by Shutter Geeks Photography
The past week saw few upsets: #24 BYU lost to Santa Clara and #22 Florida State lost to Virginia Tech. Wisconsin somehow climbed two spots despite losing to #9 Nebraska. Purdue sticks around despite losing to reeling Ohio State. And both Michigan and Michigan State stay in the Top 25 despite being beaten by #25 Illinois (12-12.) Ah, that Big Ten magic.

For Washington fans, wins by Illinois and #21 Cal State Northridge actually help the Huskies’ RPI, which depends heavily on opponents’ win/loss records. Washington’s 21 victories this season include 8 wins against teams in the RPI’s Top 25.

Creighton and Marquette remain RPI enigmas, both playing in the lightly-regarded Big East Conference. Creighton took on a lot of nonconference powers, but lost to most of them. Impressive, but oddly still in the RPI Top 10. And Big Ten fans can’t be pleased that there are more SEC teams (3) than Big Ten teams (2) in that elite ten.

Finally, if the RPI is as predictable an indicator as it has been in previous seasons of which 16 teams will be seeded (and thus host the first two rounds,) then there is a growing crowd on the west coast: #3 Washington, #5 USC, #7 Stanford, #12 Hawai’i and #14 San Diego, with Cal close at #20. Hawai’i fans are probably already waiting for the bad news that they once again won’t be hosting …

This week’s AVCA poll and RPI, with Volleyblog Seattle’s ballot in the Volleyball Magazine media poll:

WEEK TWELVE
AVCA Coaches
RPI
School
(First Place AVCA votes)
Volleyblog
Seattle
This Week
Last Week
1
1
1
Texas (42)
3
2
2
2
Penn St (14)
2
3
3
3
Washington (4)
1
4
4
5
Southern Cal
4
5
5
4
Florida
7
6
6
7
Stanford
5
7
7
6
Missouri
6
8
8
14
San Diego
10
9
11
8
Nebraska
8
10
10
19
Colorado St
11
11
9
15
Minnesota
9
12
12
12
Hawai’i
12
13
15
17
Duke
13
14
16
16
Wisconsin
17
15
19
26
North Carolina
15
16
13
28
Michigan St
NR
17
20
9
Kentucky
17
18
14
32
Purdue
NR
19
17
29
Michigan
NR
20
22
20
California
20
21
23
37
Cal St Northridge
19
22
18
24
Florida St
16
23
24
13
Kansas
NR
24
21
30
BYU
14
25
NR
18
Illinois
NR
NR
25
23
Iowa St
NR
NR
NR
33
Oregon
NR
NR
NR
21
Oklahoma
NR
NR
NR
52
Central Arkansas
18
NR
NR
27
LSU
NR
NR
NR
25
Arizona
NR
NR
NR
10
Creighton
NR
NR
NR
11
Marquette
NR
NR
NR
22
Utah
NR

Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more AVCA ballots: Iowa State; Oregon; Marquette; Western Kentucky; Ohio; St. Mary's (CA); Arizona State; Arizona




Photos courtesy Shutter Geeks Photography


6 comments:

  1. I didn't realize until now that #1 Texas lost to ASU back in September in a SWEEP. Yet the Huskies have handled ASU twice now. Looks similar to the bias seen in football poles for East and South teams. Just keep winning all the way to the Key!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Incredible run for the Dawgs. Can't wait for the tournament. - Haven't see Kylin Munoz name for a few weeks, is she injured?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kylin is still rotating on and off the court, not starting much but still a great contributor with blocking and kills... no more serving unfortunately. Can't argue with the recipe they have though.

      Delete
  3. Is anyone aware of any braketology posts for the 2013 tournament? I can't find any.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. They are pretty generous to the Pac-12 with 10 teams making the tournament. UCLA has their work cut out for them to just finish above .500

      Delete

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