Bracketologist Predicts NCAA Volleyball Bracket

Miami toplay Notre Dame, Bracketologist Projects

Resident bracketologist Taylor Lynn (@tylnnmiami) predicts No. 23 Miami will renewrivalry with Fighting Irish in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

FULL PROJECTED BRACKET

After one of its best seasons in program history, the Miami volleyball team is predicted to go toGainesville, Fla., to face Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAATournament, according to the nation’s only volleyball bracketologist, Taylor Lynn. The predictedbracket has Miami playing the winner of host 11-seed Florida and New MexicoState in the second round if they get past ND.The Canes are in the upper right corner of the bracket, where the top seed is third-seeded Texas. The NCAA VolleyballSelection Committee seeds the top 16 teams in the nation, which host the firsttwo rounds of the tournament.

UM (26-4, 17-3 ACC)dropped its final match to Florida State 3-1 in Tallahassee, Fla. TheSeminoles (27-3, 18-2 ACC) will be the automatic bid for the Atlantic CoastConference. Miami is predicted join North Carolina and NC State as at-largerepresentatives from the ACC.

The ACC’s projected four bids is the sixth-most behindthe PAC-12 (eight), Big Ten (seven), Big 12 (five), SEC (five) and West Coast(five). The PAC-12’s leading eight bids includes a best four national seeds:Stanford, UCLA, USC and Oregon. The nation’s projected top four teams are, inorder, Penn State, Stanford, Texas and defending national champion UCLA.

The bracketology process involves an in-depthanalysis of each team’s RPI, strength of schedule, signature wins and qualitylosses to figure out at-large contenders. The AVCA Coaches Poll is considered,but is a minor factor in determining at-large bids. According to Lynn, the the poll is oftenbiased towards strictly win-loss percentage (ignoring quality of opponent) andtowards “dynasty” or traditionally well-performing teams.

Forall the latest bracket predictions go to Taylor Lynn’s website vbbracketology.blogspot.com. The NCAA will release the official bracket Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.