West Region Top 10 (3/9/21)

Some big changes in the West Region Top 10. Going to hurt some feelings here but it is what it is. You’ve got to win and you’ve got to play well because we don’t have cross play between our conferences. Here is the ranking:

My Rank, (my rank last week), record, key results last week

1 (4) Colorado College 6-0 W: Trinity (2); L: None. 2 (3) UT-Dallas 6-0 W: ETBU (2), LETU (2); L: None. 3 (1) Trinity 4-2 W: None; L: Colorado College (2). 4 (2) Whitworth 6-1 W: PLU; L: PLU. 5 (6) Mary Hardin-Baylor 6-0 W: McMurry (2); L: None. 6 (8) McMurry 4-2 W: None; L: UMHB (2). 7 (NR) Pacific 2-0 W: Willamette (2); L: None. 8 (7) Pacific Lutheran 4-4 W: Whitworth; L: Whitworth. 9 (9) LeTourneau 7-2 W: Belhaven (2); L: UTD (2). 10 (NR) St. Thomas 4-0 W: None; L: None. Dropped Out: Southwestern & George Fox

We’ve got two teams that have dropped from my rankings and one of them are my Pirates. Although their Points/Set was actually pretty good, they can’t start off with a loss against a team outside of rankings. I’m also bouncing George Fox and really, it’s just because they haven’t played and I wanted to reward a couple of teams that had. If I’m right about GFU then they will be in the rankings next week.

A point about my non-existent process in all of this. I like to cross reference Points/Set and Win/Loss but then factor in head-to-head when I can. Colorado College really doesn’t have a great P/S number right now. It’s good but not #1 overall in the West Region good. But their record is perfect and they beat a team I thought wouldn’t lose this season. UT-Dallas was my other option as they are playing really well and handled LeTourneau playing outstanding ball. Their issue is that they probably aren’t going to get a win as good as Trinity in my mind. I still believe in Trinity. They have a top 3 P/S number and it’s tough to win at Colorado College. Rounding out the Top 4 is Whitworth as they drop 2 spots. The loss to PLU didn’t help but really it was more about the other three teams than what they did this week. So, a totally different Top 4 but the same four teams from last week.

Two teams come into the rankings in Pacific and St. Thomas. Pacific had a decent P/S number (slightly better than Lewis & Clark) and won both matches. Recent history also says that they are typically in the top 3 or 4 in the NWC. St. Thomas didn’t play this week but they are the only undefeated team in the SCAC so there you go. Maybe this should have gone to Lewis & Clark but 4 matches played is better than 2 matches. UMHB has the second-best P/S number so maybe they should be higher in this ranking but I like the Top 4 right now. McMurry lost two to UMHB and still jumped two spots. Problem here for me is that I really see a separation between teams after UMHB. As far as PLU and LeTourneau it was just finding a spot for them that felt right.

Nine of my top 10 P/S teams are in the rankings. The team I’m missing is Southwestern. Teams with the best records not in the rankings are ETBU (5-2), Concordia (3-1), Lewis & Clark (2-0) and Austin College (4-2). Of those teams, the highest P/S belongs to Lewis & Clark.

More changes coming next week, I believe!