I’m not the biggest fan of the way NCAA does business, but I’ll admit — they generally do a pretty good job selecting the fields for their postseason tournaments.
There’s always a team or two that feels slighted after the brackets for tournaments are announced, but from what I’ve seen, the selection committees get it right more often than not.
That was until I came across the curious case of the Oregon volleyball team, which was left out of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament when the brackets were announced Sunday.
The Ducks went 19-11 this year overall, and 7-11 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Although 7-11 might not seem like an exemplary mark, it’s worth noting that the West Coast, and the Pac-10 in particular, are universally considered to host the highest level of collegiate volleyball play in the country.
That claim is supported by the fact that 20 of the 28 NCAA Champions in Women’s Division I College Volleyball have been won by schools located west of the Rockies, and 64 teams West of the Rockies have reached the Final Four, compared to only 20 from the East.
Yet, this year, more than 75 percent of the teams in the NCAA tournament field are located east of the Rockies.
I suppose the argument could be made that this year is simply an aberration, that West Coast volleyball is down this season. But the stats don’t back up that claim.
In the non-conference portion of the schedule, five Pac-10 teams were undefeated. Taken as a whole, the Pac-10 went 93-21 against its non-league foes.
And it’s not like all those wins were compiled against so-called “patsies.” The Pac-10 schools faced — and defeated — rigorous non-conference competition, including NCAA tournament teams like Texas, New Mexico, Cal State Fullerton, Portland State and American.
Coaches across the country rewarded the Pac-10 teams by rating them highly all year in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. In the latest rankings, the Pac-10 had five of the top 12 teams, and seven of the top 26.
Oregon registered in that poll at No. 26 nationally — a fair ranking considering its 12-0 non-conference record and strong showing in league play.
Yet the NCAA selection committee ignored the consensus of those coaches and recent history. Apparently, the committee relied almost solely on the Ratings Percentage Index to select the 33 at-large qualifiers to the tournament (31 teams earned automatic bids to the field of 64 by winning their conference).
This season, for the first time ever, every school that was in the top 46 in RPI made the tournament, either as an at-large team or through an automatic bid, but no schools below 46 made the tournament as an at-large team.
Essentially there was an arbitrary cutoff — if a team was above 46 it was in, below 46 and it was out (unless it earned an automatic bid).
That would be understandable if RPI were an accurate ranking system, but, by all indications, it’s not. As the stats I outlined earlier about the West Coast’s volleyball dominance demonstrate, there is a clear and distinct discrepancy in talent between regions. However, the RPI formula assumes the level of volleyball played in every region is essentially equal.
The fact is, that’s just not the case.
And in years past, the tournament selection committee has looked at other factors besides RPI. Before 2010, at least one team rated 62 or below in the RPI standings had been selected for an at-large (non-automatic) bid.
Further, according to a recent interview on the NCAA’s official website with Kristin Fasbender, an assistant director of championships for the NCAA and the liaison to the women’s volleyball selection committee, the selection committee evaluates several factors when considering a team.
“When bracketing the teams, the committee is looking at how to have the most integrity in the bracket while staying within the bracketing policies,” she said. “Other criteria include: teams must have an overall won-lost record above .500; eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the championships; and results against common opponents.”
Fasbender admitted that the committee does pay attention to the RPI, calling those rankings “a useful tool”, but it’s clear that other tools are supposed to be used in the evaluation process.
But something changed this year, and I’m not sure why — maybe everybody was too busy trying to find a way to keep Cam Newton eligible — who knows?
But keeping a deserving Oregon team out of the tournament is a grave injustice. Sure, the Ducks didn’t notch many huge upset wins, though they did top No. 11 Washington (which is ranked 37th in RPI), but they didn’t have any losses to teams ranked below them in the RPI, or coaches’ poll. All 11 of Oregon’s defeats this year came to teams ranked in the top-20 in the country (according to the coaches poll). That makes the Ducks’ tournament resume appear even stronger, considering significant losses are part of the equation for a team’s evaluation.
It’s even more surprising when you consider the fact that Oregon became the first Pac-10 school with at least 17 wins during the regular season to miss the tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1998.
Frankly, there’s no justification for the Ducks being slighted.
The good news for most of the team is that they can funnel the disappointment of being left out of the tournament into motivation to prepare for next season.
Senior Heather Meyers, on the other hand, cannot. She’s set to graduate from the University in the spring, at which point she hopes to begin a career in pro volleyball. Meyers carried the Ducks on her shoulders at times this year, and delivered some unbelievable performances.
It’s too bad that she won’t have a chance to show the collegiate world what she, and her Oregon teammates, could have accomplished in the postseason.
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