2017 Women's Vball (B1G enough for its own thread)

[Brutus Buckeye]

Wilmington?  They lost to Earlham for God's sakes, in a Quaker battle.  (My in-laws alma mater).  I just peeked at their team website.  One of the pics is of an attempted block,  and one of the MBs barely has her hands over the net.  That's not a good sign.

Re: Rutgers,  the only P5 program that might be as poor at vball right now as Rutgers would be Clemson.  UVA is also in a very low spot lately.   Collectively the three of those are likely RPI 200+ easily.   As a general matter, and this really isn't news.  The eastern part of the U.S. (I don't include Ohio or Michigan in the 'east') is very weak at volleyball.   The only schools to make a FF would be Penn St., Florida and FSU (once).  

Yeah, the talent gap between D1 and D3 is actually pretty amazing. 
I live around the corner from Otterbein, who has a Wright St transfer that really drives home that point.
After spending her first two years as a bench warmer for Ohio's most inept D1 team, she transferred to her sister's D3 school and is just killing it. If I didn't know better, I'd've thought that they had spent their off season building some sort of Volleyball cyborg with which to take over the OAC. 

[MarqHusker]

I'm sure there's a big gap between I and III.  I would posit that there's still a pretty big gap between high I-A and lower I-A.   If you went back twenty years ago, it would be a rare season to not see the entire Top 10 in the AVCA in the Sweet 16 of the Tournament, and likely all 8 of the Elite 8.    It was such a top heavy game, but at least it has smoothed out a bit, where there are absolutely a lot more than 30 competitive programs and the tournament isn't always 'chalk.'

[Brutus Buckeye]

Yeah, it kind of makes me wonder how my HS would fair in the OAC, as they routinely harbor a handful of D1 prospects.

Not always the caliber of Hunter Atherton, of course, but the mid majors are obviously light years ahead of D3 in terms of talent.

[PSUinNC]

I'm sure there's a big gap between I and III.  I would posit that there's still a pretty big gap between high I-A and lower I-A.   If you went back twenty years ago, it would be a rare season to not see the entire Top 10 in the AVCA in the Sweet 16 of the Tournament, and likely all 8 of the Elite 8.    It was such a top heavy game, but at least it has smoothed out a bit, where there are absolutely a lot more than 30 competitive programs and the tournament isn't always 'chalk.'

The 1A and III gap is large in any sport.  Perhaps the only one that intermingles talent to some extent is baseball.  I played D3 baseball and played in a summer league with D1 players.  I also know a few D3 guys who got drafted.  
I would tell you some of the better D3 teams would take lower D1 teams in a 3 game series from more than you'd think (no, not the SEC schools, but the low major northern ones for sure).  

[FearlessF]

good match in Madison tonight

[MarqHusker]

Through 10/15
UW beat Nebraska last Wed
Neb rebounded winning at Purdue
PSU beat Mich/MSU
Ill swept tOSU/Iowa
Minn had to easy wins 
Rutgers watch:  they won a set vs Mich.
#8 Kentucky swept the #1 Gators @ Gainesville yesterday.  No more undefeated teams. I expect PSU to be #1 today.

STANDINGS	CONF.	OVERALL
Penn State	7-1	17-1
Nebraska	7-1	14-4
Minnesota	6-2	17-2
Illinois	6-2	15-4
Michigan State	6-2	13-4
Purdue	5-3	15-4
Wisconsin	4-4	13-4
Ohio State	4-4	11-8
Maryland	3-5	14-6
Iowa	3-5	14-7
Michigan	3-5	13-7
Northwestern	2-6	12-8
Indiana	0-8	11-9
Rutgers	0-8	5-15

[MarqHusker]

AVCA rankings.  B1G plays 20 conference matches, so we are about 1/2 way through.

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points Adjusted	2017 Record	Previous Week
1	Penn State (48)	1582	17-1	2
2	Stanford (12)	1536	15-2	3
3	Texas (1)	1428	14-2	5
4	Florida (2)	1395	14-1	1
5	Minnesota	1337	17-2	6
6	Kentucky (1)	1267	16-2	8
7	Nebraska	1240	14-4	4
8	BYU	1155	19-1	7
9	Wisconsin	1069	13-4	11
10	Michigan State	974	13-4	10
11	Kansas	963	16-3	9
12	Utah	895	16-3	13
13	UCLA	860	12-5	12
14	Washington	685	15-4	14
15	Oregon	639	11-5	15
16	Creighton	616	14-5	17
17	Purdue	598	15-4	16
18	San Diego	551	14-4	18
19	Southern California	491	14-5	19
20	Colorado State	366	18-2	21
21	Wichita State	283	16-3	22
22	Iowa State	209	12-4	23
23	Cal Poly	177	17-2	24
24	Baylor	151	16-4	25
25	Northern Iowa	105	17-5	20

If you prefer RPI

RANK	SCHOOL	CONFERENCE	RECORD
1	Penn St.	Big Ten	17-1
2	Minnesota	Big Ten	17-2
3	Florida	Southeastern	14-1
4	Texas	Big 12	14-2
5	Kentucky	Southeastern	16-2
6	Nebraska	Big Ten	14-4
7	Stanford	Pac-12	15-2
8	Wisconsin	Big Ten	13-4
9	Oregon	Pac-12	11-5
10	Utah	Pac-12	16-3
11	Washington	Pac-12	15-4
12	Kansas	Big 12	16-3
13	Creighton	Big East	14-5
14	Purdue	Big Ten	15-4
15	UCLA	Pac-12	12-5
16	Southern California	Pac-12	14-5
17	BYU	West Coast	19-1
18	Michigan St.	Big Ten	13-4
19	Illinois	Big Ten	15-4
20	Wichita St.	AAC	16-3
21	Iowa St.	Big 12	12-4
22	Baylor	Big 12	16-4
23	Colorado	Pac-12	14-5
24	San Diego	West Coast	14-4
25	Louisville	Atlantic Coast	13-5

[Brutus Buckeye]

I go to VB games all the time. Never in my life have I seen a VB player take a knee for the National Anthem.

Well that all changed tonight, when the Oberlin Yeo Women came to town. I've never rooted for Denison so hard in my GD life. 

I heckled every mistake that Oberlin made. And I dished out more crotch chops than I can count. 

Big Red wiped the floor with their unpatriotic arse. 

[MarqHusker]

Oberlin.  Are you really surprised?

[Brutus Buckeye]

Oberlin.  Are you really surprised?

No, I was sort of expecting it. 
I mean, they did protest their own cafeteria for "cultural appropriation" because they were selling egg rolls. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Dag, the Buckeyes are getting smoked by Minnesota. 

This is just sad. 

[MarqHusker]

Watching MSU finish off Michigan on espnu.

[ELA]

MSU finishes a pesky UM in 4 sets on ESPNU

[MarqHusker]

Penn st. defeats Purdue in 4 @ WL.
Nebraska sweeps Northwestern.
Rutgers takes a 2 set to 1 lead at IU and promptly gets rolled in sets 4 and 5.  IU wins in 5.  Rutgers still winless on the road all-time in the BIG .