Selection Day Musing

I have updated the Projected Field Post with the correct teams. I also added some thoughts there.

Here are some thoughts about the selection. I will do some Case Studies after the championship but I’ll have to think about what to focus on after seeing the final regional rankings. WIAC and UW-Platteville will surely merit a look.

Thoughts as the stream was going on:

• Region of Death right off the bat? It has to come down to Hope, Cornell or Oshkosh. All are tough. Berry not far behind.

• I don’t hate Carnegie Mellon for Pacific Lutheran in the first-round matchup. They will be a heavy dog but a team they can beat if they put it together.

• Fascinating how many #1 seeds didn’t host. It was 4 and 4 (4 #1 seeds hosted and 4 didn’t).

• I hated that New England got 5 teams in but LOVE that they don’t have a free pass in a regional. This may be the first year ever that has not happened.

• Wesleyan gets the #1 seed having played one team (and losing). I’m quite certain Johns Hopkins doesn’t mind being the #2 seed and hosting. Both teams should cruise to that regional final.

• Staying in that regional, if Chris Newport beats Wesleyan (assuming they get by Ramapo) then what will that say? Of course, the flip side is what if Middlebury beats Johns Hopkins?

• Manhattanville a 6 seed? An indication of how weak this regional is.

• I would have bet money on Emory getting to host a regional. Was there a conflict there?

• Four strong teams in that Berry Regional. One being Trinity. You also have some wildcards there. This one is wide open.

• Holly hell. CMS sent to Boston. The 3-time zone rule is gone. Thank you, NCAA. Thank you, Selection Committee. This regionally would typically have Stevens or Middlebury instead of CMS. I will say each regional at least has two teams that are really good. I, tongue in cheek, wrote yesterday that this should happen. Maybe I just fooled the NCAA into making it happen?

• OMG! CMS was sent to Boston.

• Did you see that CMS was sent to Boston?!?

• That MIT Regionally isn’t the strongest although Gettysburg is interesting.

• Covenant was the Pool B bid winner. The announcer said they got an automatic qualifier for winning their conference.

• The Ithaca Regional is also an easy one. Two good teams depending on what you think of Babson. Eastern as a 4 seed is a weak.

• The Juniata Regional is also weak but they have Juniata in it so what can you say? Mary Washington will put up a fight.

• The Cornell Regional is a hard one. Behind Northwestern and UW-Whitewater you have some intriguing teams in St Olaf, WashU, Millikin and Cornell. These teams have all shown a high ceiling this year.

• The last region is another tough one. La Verne as a 6^th seed is tough. Calvin has been down and may not make it past Gustavus Adolphus.

• Can you imagine if ETBU needed an at-large as the last team called out? Congrats to them.

I was happy Mount Union made it. They really deserved it. They were so unsure about it that they didn’t hold a watching party. That would have been epic!

The final regional ranking (the one used for selection) should drop later today. Expect another article when that comes out.

New England ended up getting 5 at-large bids, which is just silly for a region that consists of one conference per region and never plays anyone outside of their area. Tufts did and although they had some interesting losses, I respected their schedule. The only way to fix this is to impose some rules to get them to cross-pollinate with other regions. Whenever it’s brought up, someone will say why don’t you come out here (meaning New England). Well, we do! We always seem to have teams head out there. Our unranked UC Santa Cruz went out there and beat Tufts, for instance. (Lost to Springfield and MIT.)

What was awesome, however, was that there wasn’t a free pass for any New England team to the Elite 8. First time, ever? With the increase to 10 regions, we’ve been having 2 free pass regionals recently. Wesleyan has Johns Hopkins. MIT has CMS. Springfield has Juniata. None of the other lower New England teams are getting 2 seeds, which would happen.

No New York at-large teams. Stockton was their best chance. Good to see. Honestly, if you want to be selected, stop playing New England teams. Only play teams in your region. Playing New England teams only hurts you and helps them because you are top to bottom the worst two regions in volleyball. (Sorry, tough love.)

No Colorado College. I just didn’t see a path forward. They had the criteria over Tufts so that would have been an interesting conversation in the selection meeting. They just couldn’t fight off anyone else.

Anyone else sweating La Verne as the last at-large team to be announced? I wonder if they have a team watching video?

To Trinity: You are in a regional you can win. All tough matches but you’ve played tough matches all year. You are playing as well as you have all year. You have players that have been here. Get it done, I’m rooting for you.

To CMS: You’ve been given a gift but you must not go into this regional as if you have it won. You are starting to play at a 2022 level and that must continue. You are going to return to the championship venue but you need to decide if it will be as a participate or a spectator. You will regret it your entire existence if you are in the stands.

To La Verne: You got a tough draw but you can play with every team here except Oshkosh (just being true). Play to your strengths and I guarantee you’ll be surprising teams. Make it to the regional final and all of the pressure is on the host. Surprise the world.

To ETBU: You’ve accomplished something so many in front of you haven’t. Relish in that but prepare for what’s in front of you. You played at Emory so you know the level that you will be facing. It won’t surprise you. You have the firepower that will play at this level and your defense can tip matches in your favor. Can’t wait to see you against La Verne.

To Pacific Lutheran: You also got a tough draw but you can play at this level. I like your first-round matchup. Be smart on offense and dominate on defense and you’ll get results. You’ve got senior leaders who came back just for this moment. Now what do you want? Be greedy!

I wish there were more than just 5 teams from our region in this tournament. We need to be better as a collective. I love you all and to everyone who didn’t make it, let’s pull for those that did.