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There is a VB season still going on...
Posted on: April 2, 2021 at 14:47:22 CT
bluetiger_ MU
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even though it doesn’t seem like it. If Mizzou gets an NCAA at large bid, and that’s a big if, there would be a 3 week gap between their last regular season match and the first round on April 14.
Right now Mizzou seems to be on the bubble, and probably on the wrong side of it. At 15-7, we have nothing remotely close to a signature win, having gone 0-6 in our toughest matches against Kentucky, Florida, and Tennessee. Not a single win against any team that is going to be playing in the tournament, or is even close to playing. It could have been worse, with 5 narrow 3-2 set wins over teams like TAMU, LSU (twice), Ole Miss, and Arky.
One thing to our advantage, and it is the only thing, is this year is going to be chaos for the selection committee to choose the last 7-8 at large teams, due to Covid. Most top teams didn’t play a single non conference match, and many matches were cancelled. Because of that, RPI rankings mean nothing this year, lots of top 25 teams with RPI ranks 50+. Missouri’s RPI rank, FWIW, is 87. Lucky it means nothing this year and won’t be used by the selection committee. All they will look at is good wins and bad losses, mostly within incomplete conference schedules, some split between last fall and this spring, some all this spring.
There is a really good VB bracketologist at Volleytalk, and he has Mizzou in the first 4 teams out right now. Even if we end up sneaking in as one of the last 4 bids, we are considered low enough that we would have a tough first round match in Omaha, and then likely face one of the top 6 seeds in the country, which for this team would mean a quick exit.
One of the other first 4 teams out is Tennessee, which is not good for us since they swept us this year winning both matches. If it comes down to us or them being the third SEC team in, how much weight they give that head to head sweep may make the difference.
We will know one way or another this Sunday afternoon with the tournament selection show on ESPNU.
Edited by bluetiger_ at 14:50:56 on 04/02/21
Right now Mizzou seems to be on the bubble, and probably on the wrong side of it. At 15-7, we have nothing remotely close to a signature win, having gone 0-6 in our toughest matches against Kentucky, Florida, and Tennessee. Not a single win against any team that is going to be playing in the tournament, or is even close to playing. It could have been worse, with 5 narrow 3-2 set wins over teams like TAMU, LSU (twice), Ole Miss, and Arky.
One thing to our advantage, and it is the only thing, is this year is going to be chaos for the selection committee to choose the last 7-8 at large teams, due to Covid. Most top teams didn’t play a single non conference match, and many matches were cancelled. Because of that, RPI rankings mean nothing this year, lots of top 25 teams with RPI ranks 50+. Missouri’s RPI rank, FWIW, is 87. Lucky it means nothing this year and won’t be used by the selection committee. All they will look at is good wins and bad losses, mostly within incomplete conference schedules, some split between last fall and this spring, some all this spring.
There is a really good VB bracketologist at Volleytalk, and he has Mizzou in the first 4 teams out right now. Even if we end up sneaking in as one of the last 4 bids, we are considered low enough that we would have a tough first round match in Omaha, and then likely face one of the top 6 seeds in the country, which for this team would mean a quick exit.
One of the other first 4 teams out is Tennessee, which is not good for us since they swept us this year winning both matches. If it comes down to us or them being the third SEC team in, how much weight they give that head to head sweep may make the difference.
We will know one way or another this Sunday afternoon with the tournament selection show on ESPNU.
Edited by bluetiger_ at 14:50:56 on 04/02/21
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There is a VB season still going on... - bluetiger_ MU - 4/2 14:47:22