Pac-12 | Pac-12 Power Rankings: Week Nine

Fab Five and the Seven Dwarfs

At the halfway mark, the Pac-12’s top five teams remain undefeated against the bottom seven.

That fact explains why the Fab Five remain among the top seven in the national polls (if not the head-scratching RPI).

It also may explain why the Pac-12 might pack no more than five entries into the 2012 Tournament. The team with the next-best overall record at this point is Arizona State (14-9), a team that has dropped six of its past seven matches.

Washington ascends to #2 in coaches' weekly poll

60 Division 1 coaches cast their ballots, and Washington moves up one more step to #2 in the weekly AVCA Division 1 Coaches Top 25 Poll.

This is the third time the Huskies have reached #2; the first two were toward the end of the 2006 season, when they trailed only Nebraska. In 2004, the Huskies were ranked #1 for seven weeks; in 2005 they ascended to #1 the final week of the season when they swept the Cornhuskers for the national title.

Voters are finally giving USC some overdue respect: they’ve won eight Pac-12 matches in a row, a conference with five teams in the top seven. Washington has won seven Pac-12 matches in a row, all by 3-0 sweeps.

Two more weeks until Illinois finally travels to Nebraska, in their only Big-10 meeting of the season (Why do the 12 members of the Pac-12 play every other team home and away, but the 12 members of the Big-10 play some fellow conference members only once?)

Both Northern Iowa and San Diego have just one loss each, but it looks to me that San Diego has the tougher schedule. Midwest bias?

Finally, who’s the coach who voted UCLA #1 after suffering its second Pac-12 loss, this time to Arizona?

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2011 Record	Last Week
1	Illinois (58)	1495	17-0	1
2	Washington	1369	15-1	3
3	Southern California (1)	1304	13-3	5
4	California	1295	17-2	4
5	Nebraska	1278	13-1	6
6	UCLA (1)	1209	14-3	2
7	Stanford	1146	12-3	7
8	Hawai'i	1062	15-1	9
9	Penn State	1020	11-5	8
10	Texas	933	10-4	10
11	Purdue	887	15-2	11
12	Northern Iowa	830	17-1	12
13	Florida	788	13-3	13
14	Minnesota	702	10-5	14
15	Iowa State	642	14-3	16
16	Oregon	577	12-4	15
17	San Diego	537	18-1	17
18	Tennessee	483	15-2	19
19	Pepperdine	414	11-5	20
20	Michigan	310	14-4	18
21	Florida State	285	13-4	24
22	Oklahoma	261	17-4	22
23	Miami (FL)	192	14-2	21
24	Ohio State	87	13-6	25
25	Kentucky	66	16-3	NR

Washington remains at #4 in coaches' poll

Little change in this week’s AVCA coaches’ poll:

·         Oregon and USC moved up a spot; UCLA dropped one place.

·         #12 USC seems under-ranked: They beat #9 Minnesota and #4 Washington, and barely lost to #5 Penn State.

·         #3 Illinois seems overrated: They once again needed five sets to beat a lesser team (Louisville) at home.

·         Seven of the Big-10’s twelve schools are in the top 24.

·         Six Pac-12 teams in the top 15 … all six were members of the old Pac-8!

·         If #8 Texas and #25 Oklahoma join a Pac-16, as rumored …

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2011 Record	Last Week
1	California (58)	1498	13-0	1
2	Stanford (1)	1424	8-1	2
3	Illinois (1)	1378	11-0	3
4	Washington	1226	9-1	4
5	Penn State	1160	7-3	5
6	Florida	1127	8-2	7
7	UCLA	1114	9-2	6
8	Texas	1032	6-3	8
9	Minnesota	1014	5-2	9
10	Nebraska	993	7-1	10
11	Hawai'i	932	10-1	11
12	Southern California	877	7-3	13
13	Purdue	799	11-0	14
14	Northern Iowa	708	12-1	15
15	Oregon	640	9-1	16