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Off the Block crunched the numbers again and went deep inside the bracketology in an attempt to provide insight into the NCAA men’s volleyball committee’s decision to award the final at-large bid to UC Irvine instead of Hawai’i.
There are 10 criteria categories the selection committee uses to determine the seven-team NCAA Tournament field, including the two at-large bids.
— RPI ranking
— Strength of schedule
— Won-lost results
— Head-to-head competition
— Results versus non-conference opponents
— Home and away results
— Results against common opponents
— Results against teams already qualified and other teams under consideration
— Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for NCAA championships.
The committee also receives on Selection Sunday data that provides a deeper breakdown into each criteria categories.
Below is a comparison between UC Irvine and Hawai’i using every datapoint that was provided to the selection committee on Sunday. In addition, Off the Block has included every Selection Sunday data document comparing the Anteaters and Rainbow Warriors that the NCAA made public Monday on its website.
RPI ranking
RPI ranking: UC Irvine No. 6 (.5983); Hawai’i No. 4 (.6089). Edge: Hawai’i
Road RPI: UC Irvine No. 6 (.6028); Hawai’i No. 7 (.5982). Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference RPI: UC Irvine No. 5 (.6142); Hawai’i No. 6 (.6095) Edge: UC Irvine
Average RPI win UC Irvine 15; Hawai’i 16. Edge: UC Irvine
Average RPI loss UC Irvine 6; Hawai’i 5. Edge: Hawai’i
UC Irvine beat Hawai’i 3-2 in this selection committee criteria category.
Strength of schedule
Strength of schedule: UC Irvine No. 10 (.5668); Hawai’i No. 1 (.6041). Edge: Hawai’i
Opponent strength of schedule: UC Irvine No. 2 (.5595); Hawai’i No. 12 (.5475). Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference strength of schedule UC Irvine No. 13 (.5628); Hawai’i No. 12 (.5660). Edge: Hawai’i
Non-conference opponents’ strength of schedule: UC Irvine No. 2 (.5534); Hawai’i No. 13 (.5367). Edge: UC Irvine
UC Irvine and Hawai’i tied 2-2 in this selection committee criteria category.
Won-lost results
Record vs. Division I-II opponents: UC Irvine 21-9; Hawai’i 17-8. Edge: UC Irvine
Winning percentage vs. Division I-II opponents: UC Irvine .700; Hawai’i .680. Edge: UC Irvine
Record vs. non-Division I-II opponents: UC Irvine 0-0; Hawai’i 2-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Conference record: UC Irvine 7-5; Hawai’i 7-5. Edge: Push
Record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 4-6; Hawai’i 2-4. Edge: UC Irvine
Record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 4-1; Hawai’i 3-4. Edge: UC Irvine
Record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 3-1; Hawai’i 3-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 10-1; Hawai’i 8-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Record vs. top 10 teams in RPI: UC Irvine 8-7; Hawai’i 5-8. Edge: UC Irvine
Record vs. top 20 teams in RPI: UC Irvine 13-9; Hawai’i 12-8. Edge: Hawai’i
Record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 8-0; Hawai’i 5-0. Edge: Push
UC Irvine beats Hawai’i 6-3-2 in this selection committee criteria category.
Head-to-head competition
Head-to-head competition: Hawai’i won season series 2-1. Edge: Hawai’i
Hawai’i beat UC Irvine 1-0 in this selection committee criteria category.
Non-conference record
Non-conference record vs. Division I-II opponents: UC Irvine 14-4; Hawai’i 10-3. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference winning percentage vs. Division I-II opponents: UC Irvine No. 8 (.7778); Hawai’i No. 9 (.7692) Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference record vs. non-Division I-II opponents: UC Irvine 0-0; Hawai’i 2-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 2-1; Hawai’i 1-2. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 0-1; Hawai’i 1-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 2-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 2-1; Hawai’i 4-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 2-0. Hawai’i 2-0. Edge: Push
Non-conference road record: UC Irvine 5-1; Hawai’i 0-1. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 0-1; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: Push
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 1-0; Hawai’i 0-1 Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 0-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: Push
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 4-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 2-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
UC Irvine beat Hawai’i 8-3-3 in this selection committee criteria category.
Home record
Home record: UC Irvine 9-4; Hawai’i 11-4. Edge: Hawai’i
Home record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 2-2; Hawai’i 2-3. Edge: UC Irvine
Home record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 1-1; Hawai’i 2-1. Edge: Hawai’i
Home record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 3-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Home record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 3-1; Hawai’i 6-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Home record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 3-0; Hawai’i 4-0. Edge: Push
Non-conference home record UC Irvine 6-3; Hawai’i 7-2. Edge: Hawai’i
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 2-1; Hawai’i 1-2. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 0-1; Hawai’i 1-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 2-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 2-1; Hawai’i 4-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Non-conference home record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 2-0. Hawai’i 2-0. Edge: Push
Conference home record: UC Irvine 3-1; Hawai’i 4-2. Edge: UC Irvine
Conference home record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 0-1; Hawai’i 1-1. Edge: Hawai’i
Conference home record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 1-0; Hawai’i 1-1. Edge: UC Irvine
Conference home record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 1-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Conference home record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 1-0; Hawai’i 2-0. Edge: Push
Conference home record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 1-0; Hawai’i 2-0. Edge: Push
Hawai’i tied UC Irvine 7-7-4 in this selection committee criteria category.
Road record
Road record: UC Irvine 8-4; Hawai’i 2-4. Edge: UC Irvine
Road winning percentage: UC Irvine No. 4 (.6079); Hawai’i No. 14 (.4683). Edge: UC Irvine
Road record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 1-3; Hawai’i 0-1. Edge: UC Irvine
Road record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 2-0; Hawai’i 0-3. Edge: UC Irvine
Road record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 0-1. Hawai’i 2-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Road record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 5-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Road record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 2-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference road record: UC Irvine 5-1; Hawai’i 0-1. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 0-1; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: Push
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 1-0; Hawai’i 0-1 Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 0-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: Push
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 4-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Non-conference road record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 2-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Conference road record UC Irvine 3-3; Hawai’i 2-3. Edge: UC Irvine
Conference road record vs. teams No. 1-5 in RPI UC Irvine 1-2; Hawai’i 0-1. Edge: UC Irvine
Conference road record vs. teams No. 6-10 in RPI UC Irvine 1-0. Hawai’i 0-2. Edge: UC Irvine
Conference road record vs. teams No. 11-15 in RPI UC Irvine 0-1; Hawai’i 2-0. Edge: Hawai’i
Conference road record vs. teams No. 16-31 in RPI UC Irvine 1-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
Conference road record vs. teams No. 21 or worse in RPI: UC Irvine 1-0; Hawai’i 0-0. Edge: UC Irvine
UC Irvine beat Hawai’i 15-3-1 in this selection committee criteria category.
Record against common opponents
Record vs. common opponents: Hawai’i 11-7; UC Irvine 14-6. Edge: UC Irvine
UC Irvine beats Hawai’i 1-0 in this selection committee criteria category.
Record against teams qualified or under NCAA Tournament consideration
[Editor’s note: The selection committee did not release an official list of teams under NCAA Tournament consideration. Teams projected to qualify or be under consideration are BYU, Harvard, Hawai’i, King Long Beach State, Loyola, Ohio State, Pepperdine and UC Irvine and UCLA.]
Record vs. teams qualified or under consideration: Hawai’i 4-6; UC Irvine 5-7. Edge: UC Irvine
UC Irvine beats Hawai’i 1-0 in this selection committee criteria category.
Eligibility and availability of athletes
Eligibility and availability of athletes: Neither teams with serious injuries. Edge: Push
UC Irvine and Hawai’i tie 0-0-1 in this selection committee criteria category.
Overall edge
[Editor’s note: For the overall edge, categories and components are weighed equally. Conference RPI data was also omitted from these comparisons because Hawai’i and UC Irvine are both members of the Big West conference.]
Selection committee categories: UC Irvine beats Hawai’i 6-1-3
Selection committee components: UC Irvine beats Hawai’i 37-21-9
Documents NCAA provided to committee on Selection Sunday
I can understand the statistical analysis and justification of UC Irvine’s selection over Hawaii. Those road losses in the middle of the season did factor negatively, and ultimately costed us in the end.
The fact of the matter is that Hawaii is just the better team than Irvine, and should’ve been selected over them. We can nitpick the stats to death, but most Hawaii fans see it for what it is, a snub to a team that is ranked higher than Irvine in the final RPI, and better head to head.
Having to go to such lengths to justify the selection, acknowledges the controversy but does very little to address the injustice dealt to UH. Hopefully it leads to some discussion in the committee, but I don’t expect much else to change.
Just win Bows, that 4 game losing streak costed us this season.
VERY true Hawaii ranked higher in the end and should’ve gotten the bid and going to great lengths to explain only makes it worse. Fuel to the fire for next year as it hurt the boys and the fans.