NCAA releases documents on 2014 tournament selection process

Pepperdine may have been ahead of Lewis in the national coaches poll last season, but not in any of the key data given to the NCAA Tournament selection committee to determine the final at-large bid.

The NCAA recently released on its website the end of season rankings in statistical categories used by the 2014 men’s volleyball selection committee to award the two at-large bids and seed the six-team NCAA Tournament.


Among the rankings released in the documents included team RPI, conference RPI, team strength of schedule and non-conference strength of schedule.

Lewis last season became the second non-West Coast team in the history of the NCAA Tournament to earn an at-large bid. However, that decision became controversial within the volleyball community because Pepperdine had a higher ranking in the national coaches poll, a metric not used by the selection committee.

The Flyers finished ahead of the Waves almost all nine of the selection committee criteria, including strength of schedule where it finished at No. 3 and 12 spots ahead of Pepperdine. Selection committee chairman Ron Shayka also said in April that Lewis’ strength of schedule rating was a key reason it received the at-large bid.

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This is the first time the NCAA has unveiled any statistical documents regarding the men’s volleyball selection committee’s process.

Shayka following the recent NCAA Tournament selection process requested that all the data his committee receives be made available to the public in an effort to promote transparency.

The NCAA along with providing the data from last season released all the data from the 2013 season. In addition, the NCAA provided team RPI rankings from both years at the request of Shayka because RPI will be a new approved metric used by the select committee in 2015.

Check out the final season rankings various statistic categories that were included in the recently released NCAA documents.


2014 RPI rankings
1. Loyola — .6789
2. Lewis — .6161
3. Penn State — .6002
4. Stanford — .5963
5. BYU — .5901
6. IPFW — .5841
7. Ball State — .5806
8. Pepperdine — .5749
9. UC Irvine — .5585
10. Long Beach State — .5543
11. UCLA — .5514
12. UC Santa Barbara — .5509
13. USC — .5419
14. Ohio State — .5412
15. Harvard — .5371
16. Hawai’i — .5299
17. Erskine — .5283
18. Princeton — .5234
19. Lindenwood — .5074
20. Mount Olive — .5068
21. George Mason — .4854
22. Grand Canyon — .4841
23. St. Francis — .4824
24. Cal State Northridge — .4737
25. Pfeiffer — .4605
26. Sacred Heart — .4582
27. Quincy — .4552
28. Limestone — .4353
29. Cal Baptist — .4285
30. Barton — .4281
31. NJIT — .4206
32. Lees-McRae — .4200
33. UC San Diego — .4137
34. Pacific — .4123
35. King — .3997
36. Coker — .3620
37. Rutgers-Newark — .3600
38. McKendree — .3575
39. Belmont Abbey — .3371
40. Alderson Broaddus — .1694

2014 Conference RPI rankings
1. MIVA — .5559
2. MPSF — .5213
3. EIVA — .4834
4. Conference Carolinas — .4395
5. Independents — .2963


2014 Strength of schedule rankings
1. Ohio State
2. Loyola
3. Lewis
4. BYU
5. Stanford
6. Penn State
7. UC Irvine
8. Ball State
9. IPFW
10. USC
11. Grand Canyon
12. UCLA
13. Cal Baptist
14. Long Beach State
15. Pepperdine
16. Sacred Heart
17. Harvard
18. Mount Olive
19. Hawai’i
20. UC San Diego
21. Pacific
22. UC Santa Barbara
23. George Mason
24. Cal State Northridge
25. St. Francis
26. Quincy
27. Princeton
28. Lindenwood
29. Erskine
30. NJIT
31. Barton
32. McKendree
33. King
34. Pfeiffer
35. Rutgers-Newark
36. Belmont Abbey
37. Lees-McRae
38. Limestone
39. Coker
40. Alderson Broaddus

2014 Non-conference strength of schedule rankings
1. USC
2. BYU
3. UC Irvine
4. Stanford
5. Harvard
6. Penn State
7. Cal Baptist
8. Sacred Heart
9. Mount Olive
10. Long Beach State
T-11. Hawai’i
T-11. UCLA
13. Cal State Northridge
14. Loyola
15. Ohio State
16. St. Francis
17. George Mason
18. Lewis
19. Pacific
20. Erskine
21. Princeton
22. NJIT
23. McKendree
24. King
25. Ball State
26. Pfeiffer
27. Barton
28. IPFW
29. Lees-McRae
30. Coker
31. UC San Diego
32. Grand Canyon
33. Belmont Abbey
34. Limestone
35. Lindenwood
36. Rutgers-Newark
37. Quincy
38. Alderson Broaddus
T-39. Pepperdine
T-39. UC Santa Barbara