VBelo Scouting Report: March 25, 2023
VBelo Scouting Report: March 25, 2023
March Madness: The gift that keeps on giving
It is an amazing time to be a Golden Eagle. They may be the 56th most popular mascot, but last night they were the #1 upset. With just a 9% chance of winning, Concordia defeated Grand Canyon in a thrilling 5-set match. This is now the biggest VBelo upset of the season. GCU was the last 1-loss team in the country, but now they join Charleston, Hawaiʻi, and UCLA with just 2 losses. Freshman OH Gage Doble, in just his 5th match, set a career high with 22 kills and just 1 attack error. I would imagine that the Lopes will come out swinging for the rematch tonight.
Yesterday there were 7 total matches that went to 5 sets. It was an action packed day from beginning to end. And we have another great day lined up today. Tons of matches (and rematches) to watch. The only conference not in action today is the EIVA, which means the other 7 conferences will all be battling it out. What a time to be a volleyball fan.
RPI: Rating Percentage Index
I am planning on writing more in the near future about why I dislike RPI and why Men’s Volleyball needs to move on from this outdated metric. But today, I am thrilled to share some exciting news. The formula for RPI is no secret, and yet Men’s Volleyball fans are at the mercy of the NCAA’s weekly release of this (frustratingly) important number. Well, it took me a little bit but I was able to code the RPI calculation to work with my match data and now…I can get the latest and greatest RPI numbers whenever I want. And I want to share that with the world.
There are three parts to RPI:
Winning percentage
Opponents’ winning percentage
Opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage
When calculating RPI for a team, when you are looking at their opponents, you can’t count matches against the initial team you are calculating RPI for. This means that an opponents’ winning percentage isn’t negatively affected by a team beating their opponents. A similar thing is done for the opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. For Men’s Volleyball, any match against a D-III or NAIA team also doesn’t count towards RPI (win or lose). Apart from that, every match counts (sometimes more than once).
I checked my numbers against what the NCAA has released (and one of us starts to round differently starting around the 4th digit after the decimal point), but we are clearly doing the same calculations. Yes, it felt very good when it finally worked.
I am a firm believer that knowledge should be open and shared, as much as possible. The fact that the NCAA has complete control over when this number comes out is frustrating and disappointing. I don’t think RPI is worth obsessing over and checking daily. But since it is used for the tournament selection, I do think we deserve to see it updated more than once per week, particularly at this point in the season. I don’t think I’m alone in this either…
So without further ado, I present RPI for matches through March 23, 2023. And yes, we are seeing some movement!
Match Recaps
Big West
Hawai'i (86%) def. CSU Northridge (14%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-18)
ConfCarolinas
Erskine (53%) def. King (47%)
3-2 (25-23, 29-31, 25-20, 23-25, 16-14)
Emmanuel (64%) def. Lees-McRae (36%)
3-2 (16-25, 25-16, 28-30, 25-22, 15-13)
Belmont Abbey (69%) def. Barton (31%)
3-2 (25-21, 25-16, 15-25, 19-25, 15-13)
Mount Olive (38%) def. North Greenville (62%)
3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 27-29, 25-18)
EIVA
Princeton (52%) def. George Mason (48%)
3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-20, 25-17)
IVA
Lincoln Memorial (60%) def. Queens (40%)
3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20)
Limestone (70%) def. Tusculum (30%)
3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 15-25, 25-22)
MIVA
Ohio State (70%) def. Lindenwood (30%)
3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 25-13)
Ball State (91%) def. Quincy (9%)
3-1 (25-13, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21)
MPSF
Concordia-Irvine (9%) def. Grand Canyon (91%)
3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 25-27, 12-25, 15-9)
BYU (52%) def. Pepperdine (48%)
3-2 (21-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-20, 15-11)
NEC
Long Island (65%) def. Merrimack (35%)
3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 25-18)
Saint Francis (62%) def. D'Youville (38%)
3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-21)
Sacred Heart (50%) def. St. Francis-Brooklyn (50%)
3-0 (33-31, 25-13, 25-19)
Daemen (89%) def. Fairleigh Dickinson (11%)
3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-22)
SIAC
Benedict (62%) def. Fort Valley State (38%)
3-2 (25-22, 25-22, 24-26, 14-25, 21-19)
Non-conference
Webber International (34%) def. Edward Waters (66%)
3-2 (11-25, 26-24, 27-29, 29-27, 15-12)
Missouri S&T (72%) def. Judson (28%)
3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-13)
Long Beach (85%) def. Southern California (15%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-23)
Harvard (87%) def. American International (13%)
3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-16)
Maryville (71%) def. Thomas More (29%)
3-1 (27-29, 25-17, 25-22, 25-19)
Alderson Broaddus (42%) def. Carlow (58%)
3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-16)
Alderson Broaddus (45%) def. Carlow (55%)
3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 26-24)
Match Projections
Big West
Hawai'i (87%) vs CSU Northridge (13%)
ConfCarolinas
Lees-McRae (23%) vs Erskine (77%)
King (55%) vs Emmanuel (45%)
Belmont Abbey (39%) vs Mount Olive (61%)
North Greenville (84%) vs Barton (16%)
IVA
Tusculum (25%) vs Queens (75%)
Lincoln Memorial (66%) vs Limestone (34%)
MIVA
Quincy (12%) vs Ohio State (88%)
Purdue Fort Wayne (42%) vs Lewis (58%)
Lindenwood (22%) vs Ball State (78%)
MPSF
Concordia-Irvine (12%) vs Grand Canyon (88%)
Pepperdine (44%) vs BYU (56%)
NEC
Long Island (63%) vs Sacred Heart (37%)
Fairleigh Dickinson (41%) vs D'Youville (59%)
St. Francis-Brooklyn (52%) vs Merrimack (48%)
Saint Francis (26%) vs Daemen (74%)
SIAC
Kentucky State (9%) vs Central State (91%)
Benedict (34%) vs Edward Waters (66%)
Non-conference
Thomas More (27%) vs Missouri S&T (73%)
Long Beach (77%) vs Southern California (23%)
Loyola Chicago (68%) vs Princeton (32%)
Judson (27%) vs Maryville (73%)
Alderson Broaddus (48%) vs Thiel (52%)
Alderson Broaddus (41%) vs Geneva (59%)
