Stanford takes it in four sets!

I think that makes 6 NCAA team titles this fall for the Conference of Champions.

Congrats Stanford!

Minny's only two 1-3 losses this year were to the National Champions. And our beast outside hitter was the selected the player of the year.

(11-27-2016 10:44 PM)NoDak Wrote:  The NCAA women's volleyball bracket was announced tonight.

http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/...l-women/d1

Midwestern teams dominate the seedings:
1. Nebraska
2. Minnesota
3. Wisconsin
5. Kansas
9. Michigan St
12. Michigan
14. Kansas St
15. Mizzou
16. Penn St

The PAC12 and Big West and WCC used to dominate, plus a few outsiders like Florida, Texas, and North Carolina, the BIG and to a lesser extent the Big12 dominate now.

Attendance is dominated too by Midwest schools. Granted, Hawaii leads the nation, followed by almost exclusively Midwest achools.

Why have the PAC schools fallen in the sport? Beach volleyball is a Culprit? The high schools in the Midwest support volleyball BETTER? The Midwest just produces more tall Girls? Even non P5 programs in the Midwest like Creighton, UNI, and Wichita St are powers in the sport. Just have to give a plug for UND, as they have a young team but crushed their Big Sky opponents in the 2nd half of the season to gain their first autobid.

Tall white women who can jump, but can't dribble.

Some can jump ... but some are just plain tall.

Yes, volleyball requires a lower level of raw human performance. Perhaps why it's so popular!

In the western Midwest, there's a higher % of young women that are 6' 2" or taller. The east doesn't have good volleyball in great part because that type height is rare there. In addition to the HS and club programs in the Midwest that weren't there before, think there are more height genes in certain areas, which are now reflected by the vball rankings.

Helps to look at the high school culture.

Arkansas has 7 classifications. Three of the seven volleyball championships this year were won by schools that are completely or partially within the city limits of Jonesboro, the state's fifth largest city. Basically every classification represented by Jonesboro are high schools was won by a Jonesboro school. The teams that won were in the stands cheering for the other local schools because there is so much overlap in playing together on AAU teams.

For whatever reason, volleyball is just big in the community. Now they don't turn out many Division I players but that is because the high school and AAU coaches don't coach specialization. They just crank out teams with good all around players but playing Division I means focusing on one spot and excelling.

AState is 31-1 in Sun Belt play over the past two years and of 17 on roster only two are from the community and only six even from Arkansas, the two locals one is a fairly regularly used sub the other hasn't seen the court in two years.

(12-18-2016 10:32 PM)JRsec Wrote:  Tall white women who can jump, but can't dribble.

Hey now, some folks prefer tall women

(11-28-2016 09:02 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  It's an interesting question. My theory is that the Midwest has a *comparative* advantage (applying the economic definition, which is different from an *absolute* advantage) in volleyball compared to other regions. Indoor volleyball is a weather-neutral sport, which helps out the Midwest since virtually all of the sports that are played outdoors (e.g. baseball, softball, track and field, etc.) provide a natural advantage to the warmer weather climate regions. As a result, when a Midwest school is allocating a finite amount of resources (whether at the high school or college level), it makes sense to prioritize an indoor sport like volleyball (where the warm weather advantage of the Sun Belt is irrelevant with respect to the sport itself) compared outdoor sports (besides football). You could apply the same rationale to basketball, too, although the effect is a bit more muted simply because of the widespread popularity of that sport.

This theory would also apply in the reverse - if you're an elite athlete in the Midwest, you're going to naturally gravitate toward the sports where the weather isn't as much of a factor in order to put yourself in the best position compared to athletes from the South or West Coast. A great female athlete from the Midwest is going to be at a disadvantage competing for college scholarships as a softball player compared to an athlete from the South, but that disadvantage doesn't exist in volleyball. (Hence, the Midwest has a *comparative* advantage in volleyball over the South.) As a result, you might be seeing more elite female athletes from the Midwest choose volleyball over softball, whereas there might be more of an even split in the South. That creates a disproportionately greater concentration of top high school athletes playing volleyball in the Midwest, which creates a greater recruiting pool for Midwestern schools, which creates much stronger college volleyball programs in the Midwest, which then creates a recruiting circle since success begets success in college sports.

That is a good theory but a more important one is money and exposure. The Big 10 schools have largely taken the place of WCC teams and Big West teams that used to compete favorably in the sport.

First is exposure. The Big 10 teams are on the Big 10 network or ESPNU. The WCC teams have a lower quality web stream if they have anything at all. For girls and their parents who want to see them play, the major schools have a distinct advantage. The exception is BYU with BYU TV. That helps BYU stay competitive.

The second is pampering. True example, UOP has one of the best men's Water Polo teams in the country. That team takes Van's from Stockton to Southern California to travel to league games. Cal and Stanford fly and at times Charter. UOP gets taken to Subway to eat. Cal and Stanford have extensive per diums that either allow the athletes to eat what the want or pocket the difference. My daughter played Big East women's basketball and saved 4K just off per dium money. Same for P5 volleyball players versus WCC and Big West teams.

All women's sports have skewed heavily towards the P5 and their is one primary reason for it... cash and exposure.

(11-29-2016 01:37 AM)Sultan of Euphonistan Wrote:  

(11-28-2016 07:20 PM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  Don't forget the MVC - Missouri State, Wichita State and UNI all made the field.

Actually this is where teh actual argument will be made. How do the MVC or the MAC compare to the similar in nature conferences located outside the midwest? If the trend holds true there then we know it isn't just something about the two most powerful conferences in the area and is actually a regional thing.

In general the WCC and Big West is stronger than the MVC or the MAC.

(12-19-2016 01:42 PM)Sactowndog Wrote:  All women's sports have skewed heavily towards the P5 and their is one primary reason for it... cash and exposure.

BYU and Hawaii I think are still pretty powerful programs in women's volleyball.

(12-19-2016 09:19 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(12-19-2016 01:42 PM)Sactowndog Wrote:  All women's sports have skewed heavily towards the P5 and their is one primary reason for it... cash and exposure.

BYU and Hawaii I think are still pretty powerful programs in women's volleyball.

Hawaii? Maybe the beach culture. B.Y.U. definitely! Sister wives have to work together. Menage a spike anyone?

Volleyball at the public HS level here in South Carolina is not a popular sport. Except for a few schools, it is a diversion between football games. Most schools draw maybe a couple hundred, except for a couple private schools. Except for Wando, the largest school in the state (4K students), all the good volleyball teams in our area are private.

The private school championship has been won by the same school for seven straight years. Their championship is held at CofC and gets four figures attendance, while the public state championships are held at a random HS in Columbia on a Saturday in November.

Bishop England (the Catholic HS in Charleston), plays in 3A (moved up from 2A this year), and has gone 5 years without losing a SET in the playoffs.

This is even with the only sports being played in high schools in SC in the fall being football, volleyball, swimming, girls golf/tennis and cross country. College of Charleston probably has the best volleyball program in the state, and until last year, had won a regular season or postseason title for something like 14 or 15 years in a row.

South Carolina hasn't made the NCAAs since 2002, while Clemson volleyball went 6-26 this year.

(12-19-2016 09:19 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(12-19-2016 01:42 PM)Sactowndog Wrote:  All women's sports have skewed heavily towards the P5 and their is one primary reason for it... cash and exposure.

BYU and Hawaii I think are still pretty powerful programs in women's volleyball.

They are and they represent the WCC and the Big West.

(12-19-2016 11:54 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Volleyball at the public HS level here in South Carolina is not a popular sport. Except for a few schools, it is a diversion between football games. Most schools draw maybe a couple hundred, except for a couple private schools. Except for Wando, the largest school in the state (4K students), all the good volleyball teams in our area are private.

The private school championship has been won by the same school for seven straight years. Their championship is held at CofC and gets four figures attendance, while the public state championships are held at a random HS in Columbia on a Saturday in November.

Bishop England (the Catholic HS in Charleston), plays in 3A (moved up from 2A this year), and has gone 5 years without losing a SET in the playoffs.

This is even with the only sports being played in high schools in SC in the fall being football, volleyball, swimming, girls golf/tennis and cross country. College of Charleston probably has the best volleyball program in the state, and until last year, had won a regular season or postseason title for something like 14 or 15 years in a row.

South Carolina hasn't made the NCAAs since 2002, while Clemson volleyball went 6-26 this year.

Coastal went 15-1 in the Sun Belt this year and won the Sun Belt auto bid.

(12-20-2016 10:50 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  Coastal went 15-1 in the Sun Belt this year and won the Sun Belt auto bid.

I realize you were addressing his point about SC university teams ... but towards the overall gist of his post, you might want to check out Coastal's roster!

Do you think there are more Europeans on the roster, or more South Carolina high school players??


I'll give you a hint: there are zero South Carolina high school players on the roster.



Makes you wonder if it's really the best use of South Carolina taxpayers' money to be subsidizing several European college players?

Same with Clemson and CofC. Both schools only have two players from SC. Clemson has more players from TX (3) than SC. The Gamecocks have 3, but one was a transfer and one was a true freshman this year. Furman has 2; The Citadel has 3; Wofford and USC-Upstate have 5.

Presbyterian has 6; SC State has the most with 7, but since they are a HBCU with probably a few thousand dollar recruiting budget, they have to get folks from SC.

Softball is even more biased. It all depends on where the coaches recruit. A large percentage of D1 college players are from Southern California because there are so many folks who can play the sport basically year round there.

(12-21-2016 10:11 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

(12-20-2016 10:50 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  Coastal went 15-1 in the Sun Belt this year and won the Sun Belt auto bid.

I realize you were addressing his point about SC university teams ... but towards the overall gist of his post, you might want to check out Coastal's roster!

Do you think there are more Europeans on the roster, or more South Carolina high school players??


I'll give you a hint: there are zero South Carolina high school players on the roster.



Makes you wonder if it's really the best use of South Carolina taxpayers' money to be subsidizing several European college players?

Perhaps they see it as an investment. Get better teams and also make inroads in other countries that if it bears fruit brings in new students that pay out of state tution which is worth more money to the school.

Why does the Midwest dominate women's volleyball? I don't know? I've never given the issue much thought and I don't plan to start now.

This is definitely one of the strangest topics I've ever read here.