Off the Block

Category: Rankings

  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    Sometimes change is not needed.

    With no upsets and all the top 10 ranked teams winning matches, it made my job as a voter easy this week. For the first time in my three years of voting in the men’s volleyball media poll, I have submitted identical top 10 ballot on back-to-back weeks.
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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    What a difference a year makes deciding who is No. 1 in the rankings.

    For most of last season there was a revolving door at the No. 1 spot with three teams having the top ranking by late February. However, this season USC has maintained the No. 1 spot since the preseason and is receiving all but one first-place vote in the coaches and media poll for the second consecutive week.
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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    Everyone in the top five of the national rankings picked a good week to lose.

    For the first time in NCAA men’s volleyball history, all five of the top ranked teams Friday lost on a single night. It was one of the biggest oddities in my time covering men’s volleyball and created an interesting situation for this week’s poll.
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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    There isn’t a whole lot of question about who are the top four teams. USC, Stanford, BYU and Long Beach State have clearly established themselves as the four best teams in the nation during the first month of the season.

    However, the question who are the other six teams remains unsettled.

    Some teams such as a Ohio State have shown significant improvement since the start of the season, while teams like UCLA have struggled in recent weeks. These streaks continue to create a fluid voting ballot with the final few slots every week in the ballot feeling like a revolving door of teams.

    Check out this week’s top 10 men’s volleyball media poll and my ballot with explanations on why ranked each team where I did.
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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    There are some weeks when you wish your ballot was larger to include more teams, and than there are some weeks like this one when you just can’t seem to find 10 teams who deserve to be in the top 10.

    The top teams in the nation have quickly emerged. USC is unanimously the best team in the country both on the court and in the media and coaches polls. In addition, Long Beach State, Stanford, BYU and UCLA have separated themselves as top tier teams in the MPSF, while Penn State remains the best team east of the Mississippi River.

    Everyone else still has a lot left to prove to be considered an elite team this season.
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  • Final 2 spots on my media poll ballot this week leaves room for debate

    It’s about 1 a.m. Sunday and I’m sitting at my computer desk, shaking my head with all the match results now in for the weekend.

    The top eight spots are set for my voting ballot this week in the ASICS/Volleyball Magazine Men’s Division I-II Media Poll. It’s the final two spots that have me pondering late into the night as I get ready to go to sleep.

    Parity doesn’t make it easy for a poll voter and I have about five teams who could move into my top 10 ballot this week.
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  • My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

    Well it took a bunch of hours going over box scores, game articles and videos, but I finally have my first ballot of the year for the ASICS/Volleyball Magazine Men’s Division I-II Media Poll.

    The first few weeks are always a little bit difficult to rank because you are still balancing preseason expectations with how the team is actually playing and who it has beat. Some teams like USC and Stanford have lived up to the preseason hype setting themselves above everyone else. While other teams like UC Irvine and Hawai’i are beginning to play well after horrific starts.

    Check out this week’s top 10 men’s volleyball media poll and my ballot with explanations on why ranked each team where I did.
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  • My media poll voting philosophy

    I received an e-mail earlier this week inviting me to vote this season’s ASICS/VBM Men’s Division I-II Media Poll.

    The weekly poll is comprised of 11 voters, and this is my third season to get the opportunity to vote in this national poll. The men’s volleyball media poll is also a little more exclusive than other polls because it’s only a top 10. In comparison, the American Volleyball Coaches Association coaches poll is a top 15.

    The top 10 media poll is released every Tuesday evening during the regular season. Once the media poll is made public, I plan every week to release how I voted on this blog.

    As I am currently going over stat sheets and match results to create my first media poll ballot of the year, I thought I would explain my voting philosophy.

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