The NCAA Tournament is here and there was plenty of discussion about some of the decisions for the tournament. The most notable was for the second at-large bid, as Hawaii and UC Irvine appeared to be the top two teams competing for that lone berth. Sure enough, UC Irvine snagged the bid even though Hawaii defeated them just last week.
VolleyMob attempted to explain the reasoning, but now another data point comes out in Hawaii’s way as they sit at #4 in the latest RPI. UC Irvine meanwhile is #6. Of course, the RPI poll is not the be-all-end-all, but it’s something the committee uses and as an added detail can be beneficial as opposed to the most important factor. Interestingly enough, even Loyola Chicago at #5 ranks ahead of UC Irvine this week.
The other question among the NCAA Tournament was the Ohio State-Harvard debate for the play-in-game. The Buckeyes come in at #7 while Harvard is at #20. Even King, who is also in the game with Harvard not is at #13. However, the NCAA Tournament committee cited using geography to save money on travel expenses as a reason for pushing Ohio State behind Harvard to play an extra match on their championship run.
The full RPI Poll in its entirety can be seen here via NCAA.com. It can also be below:
| RANK | SCHOOL | CONFERENCE | RECORD | ROAD | NEUTRAL | HOME | NON DIV I |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Long Beach St. | Big West | 26-1 | 11-1 | 3-0 | 12-0 | 0-0 |
| 2 | BYU | MPSF | 22-6 | 9-3 | 2-0 | 11-3 | 0-0 |
| 3 | UCLA | MPSF | 24-7 | 6-6 | 1-0 | 17-1 | 0-0 |
| 4 | Hawaii | Big West | 19-8 | 2-4 | 4-0 | 11-4 | 2-0 |
| 5 | Loyola Chicago | MIVA | 23-7 | 6-5 | 0-1 | 16-1 | 1-0 |
| 6 | UC Irvine | Big West | 21-9 | 8-4 | 4-1 | 9-4 | 0-0 |
| 7 | Ohio St. | MIVA | 23-5 | 9-4 | 1-0 | 13-1 | 0-0 |
| 8 | Lewis | MIVA | 19-11 | 3-7 | 1-2 | 14-2 | 1-0 |
| 9 | Pepperdine | MPSF | 15-8 | 6-3 | 1-0 | 7-5 | 1-0 |
| 10 | CSUN | Big West | 16-11 | 2-8 | 4-0 | 7-3 | 3-0 |
| 11 | George Mason | EIVA | 17-12 | 8-5 | 0-0 | 9-7 | 0-0 |
| 12 | UC Santa Barbara | Big West | 11-13 | 4-7 | 0-1 | 7-5 | 0-0 |
| 13 | King (TN) | Conference Carolinas | 23-5 | 8-4 | 1-1 | 13-0 | 1-0 |
| 14 | Barton | Conference Carolinas | 21-8 | 9-5 | 1-2 | 11-1 | 0-0 |
| 15 | Ball St. | MIVA | 18-12 | 6-9 | 0-1 | 12-2 | 0-0 |
| 16 | Grand Canyon | MPSF | 18-11 | 6-6 | 2-1 | 7-4 | 3-0 |
| 17 | Penn St. | EIVA | 15-11 | 5-5 | 1-3 | 9-3 | 0-0 |
| 18 | Concordia (CA) | MPSF | 15-15 | 3-8 | 0-1 | 8-6 | 4-0 |
| 19 | Fort Wayne | MIVA | 18-11 | 8-7 | 0-0 | 8-4 | 2-0 |
| 20 | Harvard | Ivy League | 13-13 | 3-9 | 2-0 | 8-1 | 0-3 |
| 21 | McKendree | MIVA | 11-15 | 2-7 | 2-2 | 7-6 | 0-0 |
| 22 | Southern California | MPSF | 8-20 | 2-12 | 0-2 | 4-6 | 2-0 |
| 23 | Mount Olive | Conference Carolinas | 16-13 | 6-9 | 0-1 | 9-2 | 1-1 |
| 24 | Stanford | MPSF | 6-20 | 3-11 | 0-2 | 3-7 | 0-0 |
| 25 | UC San Diego | Big West | 9-19 | 1-10 | 2-1 | 3-8 | 3-0 |
| 26 | Charleston (WV) | EIVA | 16-10 | 6-5 | 2-0 | 8-5 | 0-0 |
| 27 | Princeton | EIVA | 12-16 | 6-10 | 1-3 | 5-3 | 0-0 |
| 28 | Lindenwood (MO) | MIVA | 9-16 | 2-8 | 3-0 | 4-8 | 0-0 |
| 29 | NJIT | EIVA | 9-17 | 2-7 | 0-3 | 6-6 | 1-1 |
| 30 | Saint Francis (PA) | EIVA | 9-20 | 2-11 | 1-2 | 6-7 | 0-0 |
| 31 | Lincoln Memorial | DI Independent | 14-13 | 3-10 | 2-2 | 7-1 | 2-0 |
| 32 | North Greenville | Conference Carolinas | 12-16 | 3-10 | 0-2 | 9-4 | 0-0 |
| 33 | Quincy | MIVA | 12-19 | 0-8 | 0-0 | 1-7 | 11-4 |
| 34 | Belmont Abbey | Conference Carolinas | 13-16 | 3-11 | 0-0 | 9-4 | 1-1 |
| 35 | Coker | DI Independent | 13-10 | 6-5 | 0-1 | 3-3 | 4-1 |
| 36 | Sacred Heart | EIVA | 7-15 | 2-8 | 0-0 | 4-7 | 1-0 |
| 37 | Limestone | Conference Carolinas | 8-20 | 3-9 | 0-3 | 5-7 | 0-1 |
| 38 | Emmanuel (GA) | Conference Carolinas | 9-16 | 1-10 | 0-0 | 6-6 | 2-0 |
| 39 | Erskine | Conference Carolinas | 7-21 | 1-12 | 0-2 | 5-7 | 1-0 |
| 40 | Lees-McRae | Conference Carolinas | 4-22 | 0-14 | 0-0 | 3-8 | 1-0 |
| 41 | Queens (NC) | DI Independent | 8-21 | 2-12 | 0-1 | 5-6 | 1-2 |
| 42 | Alderson Broaddus | DI Independent | 4-20 | 2-14 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 0-1 |
Committee was so wrong in selecting Irvine over Hawaii,reeks
Reeks of favoritism or prejudice. They have been doing this for years even with our women’s team either putting us in the
Toughest bracket or sending us to a region far away.