Welcome to the VBelo Preseason Report for the Conference Carolinas (CC)! In this 8-part series, we will look at the state of Men’s Volleyball as we begin the 2023 NCAA season. Each conference profile will give a quick overview of how those teams look as they head into their 2023 campaign.
If you want to see the other conference profiles, I will update links as they are released:
Preseason Ranking
Disclaimer
VBelo only knows the information that is fed into it. Since there have been zero matches in 2023 so far, it doesn’t have a complete picture of teams yet. The best it can do is see where a team finished last season and adjust for players lost in the offseason. The model will learn more about these teams the same way we all will: seeing who wins matches. While these preseasons rankings don’t foretell where the teams will end the season (it can’t predict the future), it shows us where VBelo thinks they are starting from relative to the rest of the nation.
So let’s get to it! Here is how the ConfCarolinas teams stack up to begin the season.1
One of the highlights of the 2022 national tournament was a Conference Carolinas team (North Greenville) defeating an EIVA team (Princeton) in the opening round. While the conference is still looking for its first championship (and it is unlikely to come this season), there are some great things happening in the south. North Greenville comes out as the clear favorite, but there is plenty of room for that to change. The entire top half of the conference is pretty tightly grouped so there should be some nice parity.
In the lower half of the conference, there are some great stories to follow. Barton will be looking at its new leadership to work up from the bottom. Although their schedule has not been officially released, the big question is really how this team will look with the last minute coaching change. Winless in 2022, will a new coach provide some new life for the Bulldogs?
Mount Olive is an interesting story, particularly because of the amount of talent they lose coming into this season. They have been an incredibly strong program in the CC, but we will be seeing a very different team. This doesn’t mean that they will be terrible, but it does mean we don’t really know what to except. But that is what makes sports so exciting!
Roster Retention
To help make sense of the Roster Retention scores above, here is a deep dive into how this metric is calculated.
ConfCarolinas is so interesting because it has both extremes for the retention metric. On the one side there is Erskine who is the only non-sophomore program to return every player who saw the court in 2022. This is super impressive. After going 13-18 last season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team finish over .500 because of the experience and chemistry they will likely have. Then there is Mount Olive who has the third highest loss metric of any team (0.94). They are losing 6 players who earned all-conference honors last season, three of which were first-team All-Conference Carolinas. This will be a very different team this season.
The rise of North Greenville last season will likely continue as they have a below average roster loss going into the 2023 season. This, paired with Mount Olive’s exodus of experience, puts the Crusaders in a great position to return to the national championship again. Going just off of VBelo ratings and roster loss, King might also be able to work their way into the number 2 spot in the conference. We might be in the midst of a reorganization of teams in the Conference Carolinas.
Watchlist
Here are some interesting story lines and things to watch for this season:
Michael Marsans - Last season, he averaged 5.23 kill per set! This is not a typo. If he averages more than 5 again, I will be amazed and you will hear about it constantly in these reports.
North Greenville - They showed everyone last year that they can hold their own. While it may have been an emotional underdog story, VBelo actually had them as a favorite against Princeton and I think they have a good future in store for this season.
Emmanuel - In addition to Erskine, the Lions return a huge amount of experience. They are right on the cusp of moving up the conference standings and this could be their year to establish their presence.
All-Americans - Last year, there was only 1 CC player represented in the AVCA All-Americans (Joshua Kim, King). There’s tons of talent across the country, but there is room to have multiple honors coming out of the CC.
Conclusion
Conference Carolinas used to be the new kids on the block, but now they are out here advancing in the national tournament. When the tournament field gets expanded (hopefully in 2024), we should all thank the CC for helping pave the way for these new conferences. For this season, North Greenville is looking to build a dynasty while the other programs try to throw them off of their newly acquired throne. The middle of the conference has a lot of excitement and I hope (for fans) that we get to see a lot of matches go the distance with 5 sets.
I could not find a preseason poll for the CC. If anyone out there has it, please let me know.