The DI volleyball selection committee unveiled its top 16 rankings. These would be the top 16 seeds if the season had ended today, before Sunday's Pitt vs. Louisville matchup.
CHECK OUT: The full top 16 rankings here
Here are my thoughts on the top 16 and the biggest takeaways, as well as notes from the committee on the biggest decision makers.
The committee looks at the win/loss record, RPI and KPI, common opponents, head-to-head, significant wins and the regional advisory committees, which takes into account the eye test.
First and foremost, the committee put Nebraska over Texas. I was very interested in this, considering Texas does have more ranked wins this season, and I think you very well could justify them at No. 1.
But after talking to committee chair Jennifer Saxon this morning, they cited Nebraska has a better overall record with two extra matches, and more top 10 RPI wins than Texas, not AVCA. Then, when it came to splitting hairs, the regional advisory committee came in with the eye test, as well as the fact that Texas has had to go to five a lot more this season.
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Pittsburgh got the nod over Kentucky, in which their head-to-head win was a really big factor. Plus, the committee cited Pitt is 4-1 against top 10 teams, whereas Kentucky sits at 2-2. The Panthers do have more losses, so some may argue that direction, but the direct win over Kentucky early in the season gave them the edge here.
SMU at No. 5 was really solidified by its win over Louisville on Friday night. So it makes sense to put the Mustangs just ahead of the No. 6 Cards. Arizona State comes in just after them at No. 7, and I agree that those are the top 7 teams in the country right now.
Purdue felt a little high to me at No. 8, but its win over SMU now looks a lot better, now standing as a top 5 win according to the committee’s rankings.
TCU at No. 9 felt right.
Then there is Creighton at No. 10, and Stanford at No. 11. This was perhaps one of the biggest surprises to me when I first looked at the rankings. I expected Creighton to be a lot lower and Stanford to be a lot higher, at least in the top 10, where I have them in my own rankings.
The committee cited that they spent a lot of time on Creighton’s placement, and ultimately found that they are 2-2 against RPI top 25 teams, 7-0 vs. RPI 25-50 ranked teams, whereas Stanford is 0-3 in the RPI top 10, and has no matches outside of that in the top 25. However, Stanford has a lot of youth and definitely the ability to move up as the season progresses in the ACC.
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Wisconsin, Indiana, Texas A&M at No.12, 13 and 14.
Then I think the second head turner here was a seven-loss Penn State team and Minnesota to close out the top 16. Committee chair Jennifer Saxon said these last two teams in consideration were probably one of the toughest decisions made.
Ultimately, they found Penn State had four RPI top 25 wins, a top 10 win over Creighton and their metrics helped them out. Same thing with an injury-ridden Minnesota team, the committee looked at what they have, compared it to teams below, and ultimately went with the Gophers.
Other teams in discussion were BYU, Colorado, Miami and Illinois. So after today's release, we have a good idea of how the committee is valuing it all; of course, these will continue to change.
