VBelo Scouting Report: May 1, 2022
VBelo Scouting Report: May 1, 2022
And so it begins
It is finally today. The NCAA Men’s Volleyball National Championship tournament gets underway with the play-in match between North Greenville and Princeton. In a great moment, these two teams ran into each other at In-N-Out Burger after getting to California.
I’m sure once they both get on the court, the focus will set in and the reality will hit them. Win or go home.
Tournament Projections
A few days ago, the VBelo Scouting Report touched on the impact this match could have. In short, it doesn’t have a big impact on any team’s chances of winning the tournament, except the team that wins the play-in. Both Princeton and North Greenville are big underdogs to make it into the semifinals, but there is always a chance. (And we have seen that repeatedly this season.)
As a reminder, here are the round-by-round projections for the tournament according to VBelo.
One thing that we have not touched on much yet is the fact that Long Beach actually comes in as the 4th most likely to win the tournament, even though they are the 1 seed. Where you are seeded and who your opponent is are huge factors when it comes to projecting outcomes. Even though Long Beach gets the bye into the semifinals, there is a good chance they will have to face UCLA, at home. This definitely hurts their chances in the overall projections.
It is also worth mentioning that the three teams with less than 10% chance of winning (Pepperdine, North Greenville, and Princeton) could dramatically disrupt the odds. If one of them makes it to the semifinals, these numbers will shift in huge ways.
Tomorrow, when we know the winner of the play-in match, we will look into what could happen with the two first round matches and how that could affect all of the teams.
Match Projection
North Greenville (60%) vs Princeton (40%)
5:00 pm (PDT) at UCLA
