Watch NCAA Selections Live at Noon Chicago time

[JCT]

Here's the link to the NCAA selection video stream:

http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2015/05/02

[JCT]

Well... we got screwed. A three seed and a play-in, with only two losses? Terrible.

We had a win over BYU-- who beat Hawaii twice (one of two at larges), we beat Lewis one out of three matches, and we had a 4-0 record against the two other teams that beat Lewis. Plus, Lewis beat the #2 seed UC Irvine head to head.

[swellafelon]

The selection committee consists of three members, one of whom is a UC Irvine administrator.

[swellafelon]

I think Loyola should have been a 1 or 2 seed too, but I think the way it worked out is not disadvantageous. We should beat Pfeiffer with no problem (their tallest guys are 6'5" while we have 3 players 6'10" or taller), and I prefer playing Irvine in the semis over Lewis.

What I'm really surprised about is that the selection committee didn't jigger the seedings so that there would be no possibility for an all-Midwest final at Stanford. That is a distinct possibility now.

[JCT]

The things that bother me about getting the 3 seed (and thus not getting one of two first round byes):

The win on Friday made no difference-- we would have had the three seed without the big win on the road against the only team that beat us.
We won the MIVA auto bid.
We had a win against every team we played-- something no other team in the tournament was able to do.
We had the fewest losses of any team in men's volleyball.
Statistically, the MIVA is the strongest it has ever been, especially in the RPI.
We were #2 in the RPI going into the final week, and we beat #5 Ohio State and #1 Lewis (on the road), so it's conceivable that we may have passed Lewis for #1.
Although Lewis had a big head-to-head win over UC Irvine on the road, we had a combined 4-0 record against the two teams besides us that beat Lewis (Ohio State and BYU).

The idea that you could win the MIVA auto bid in a very strong year, have the best won-loss record in volleyball, and (perhaps) rank #1 in RPI and come away with a play-in game just bothers me. You can pinpoint that regular season loss at home to Lewis as the big killer-- that loss cost the regular season conference title, which obviously weighed big. Still, it feels like the selection committee closed the books on their work before the MIVA final.

[vuster4]

It makes me think that if Loyola had lost, there was a higher chance that Pepperdine could have received the at-large over Loyola. The NCAA Committee' decision was very different than what Vinnie Lopes predicted so they must have weighed the factors differently. Lopes did have Loyola over Pepperdine for an at-large but who knows? Some of those criteria would have been closer with the extra loss.

[swellafelon]

Imagine how bothered JCT would have been if Loyola had lost to Lewis in the MIVA final and not gotten an at-large bid!

[JCT]

There was no way Pepperdine was going to get the at large over Loyola if the Ramblers lost the MIVA final to the only team that beat them in the regular season. With both Lewis and Loyola at #1 and #2 in the RPI and the MIVA standings, they weren't going to give the last at large to the third place MPSF team with their only out of conference wins over North Greenville and George Mason. Loyola's worst loss still would have been to the #1 RPI team and #1 seed in the tournament, while Pepperdine lost to UCSB, USC, UCI, and Hawaii. Even if Pepperdine beat UCI in the MPSF final and Loyola lost to Lewis for the third time, the Ramblers would have had the nod (more narrowly) over Hawaii for the at large. The big factor, it seems to me, was the regular season conference titles.

[vuster4]

I wasn't necessarily saying that Pepp would have gotten it, just a higher chance. I was telling myself after the MIVA Final that there is no way that Loyola is lower than a #2 seed. Even Vinnie Lopes had them at #1.