Yeah, I got into it on a blog with some West Coasters who couldn't understand why this is a big deal for us, and some who didn't think we had any place above maybe third or fourth.

1. We have the fewest losses of any school in D-1/II.
2. Achieving a #1 ranking is important for recruiting.
3. A #1 ranking may affect an at large bid.
4. A #1 ranking helps protect good teams we beat from being wiped out of the rankings.
5. It affects attendance, which affects home court advantage.
6. Having a #1 team outside the West Coast shows that the sport has efficacy nationwide.

Even with getting #1 in our own right this week with 11 votes for the top spot, we just barely beat out UCLA (with 5 votes for the top) by four points. This means some voters had us at third or below, which is nuts. We beat Lewis last week on the road-- Lewis and Loyola are two of the three teams that have beaten #4 BYU. Lewis' only three losses have been to UC Irvine, Loyola, and on the road at Stanford, and yet they're only ranked #10. Stanford beat #2 UCLA on a neutral court, and unranked IPFW beat UCLA in a preseason qualifying match. UCLA struggled against Penn State earlier in the season, and lost in straight sets to Pepperdine last week.

So there's a real West Coast bias in the poll, which isn't all that surprising, but gets to be frustrating. Then you see things like Cal State Northridge at 3-6 ranking one spot behind 8-2 Penn State, and it gets absurd.

Having followed the AVCA polls and Volleytalk (one of the main volleyball messageboards) for years, the polls mean nothing and everything. In Loyola's case, it means everything as 63 points out. Due to the normal quirks of poll voting and scheduling, Loyola is absolutely the #1 team based on the total votes and what has already happened. Personally, do I think Loyola is better than UCLA or Pepperdine right now? I really don't know. But I don't get a vote. A lot of the west coast bias opinionators really take the polls seriously. The rest of us understand it's just a poll. If 16 people were to choose a new US President and it came down to total votes, we'd all be calling BS. It is subjectively valid if that makes any sense

To add on to what 63 has already mentioned, the formula that put Loyola at #1 also includes the way they finished the 2013 season.

1. A Final Four appearance for the 1st time ever landed Loyola at #9 in the final poll of the year (which was not the highest they have ever been, #8 a couple of times).
2. With 6 of 7 returning starters, Loyola started 2014 at #7 in the preseason poll (highest ever at that point in time).
3. With a 2-1 start against perennial and ranked West Coast teams, Loyola shot up to #2.
4. The #1 team in the poll has lost almost every week that team has been #1 so they didn't stay #1. Due to Loyola's somewhat easier schedule, they tied for #1 a few weeks ago and have now taken it over outright as they have kept winning.

In past seasons, the one non-west coast team that was usually in the top ten was Penn State. For many years, they have been the best team east of the Rocky Mountains. Right now, Loyola sits on top of that mountain at least for the time being.

Oh, and many times I've seen sub .500 teams above Loyola in the polls in previous seasons. West Coast Bias indeed. But most of the time, the Midwest and East Coast teams go west and usually lose which reinforces the bias.