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View Full Version : Duke Volleyball to NCAA Tourney



burnspbesq
11-29-2009, 07:11 PM
Congrats to the team and staff on reaching the NCAA tournament for the fifth year in a row. They play Tennessee in Knoxville on Friday night. If they advance, they will play either Louisville or Minnesota in the second round.

On paper, this is the easiest draw Duke has had in several years. This may be the year they reach the second weekend.

The ACC got a record five bids, with FSU as the overall number three seed. Pretty amazing.

JaMarcus Russell
11-29-2009, 08:02 PM
Thanks for the update. Are there 64 teams in the volleyball tournament as well, just like in basketball and soccer?

hughgs
11-29-2009, 08:26 PM
Congrats to the team and staff on reaching the NCAA tournament for the fifth year in a row. They play Tennessee in Knoxville on Friday night. If they advance, they will play either Louisville or Minnesota in the second round.

On paper, this is the easiest draw Duke has had in several years. This may be the year they reach the second weekend.

The ACC got a record five bids, with FSU as the overall number three seed. Pretty amazing.

I'm not sure that facing Minnesota will be easier than previous second round opponents. Minnesota's only losses during the year have been to teams that have made the tournament this year. Minnesota finished third in the Big 10, which is nothing to sneeze at.

DukeBlueNikeShox
11-29-2009, 09:21 PM
This seriously has to be one of the most effed up brackets I have ever seen. F$U as the #3 overall seed?! You gotta be effin kiddin me! How can the #14 ranked team in the country get the #3 overall seed?! Their signature win is one against Illinois, and they lost to Florida and Georgia Tech. F$U needed 5 sets to beat Duke twice, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Wake Forest. Definitely no quality wins, and they didn't even go undefeated in the ACC (which had no other teams ranked in the top 25).

Hawaii, Iowa State, or Washington should have had FSU's #3 overall seed. Speaking of Hawaii, how can they be ranked #3 in the country, but get the #12 overall seed?! Their only losses are to #2 ranked Texas and top 10 Cal (in 5). They also have wins over Stanford and UCLA. Iowa State managed to beat both Texas and Nebraska. Washington has wins over: Minnesota, Florida, Cal, UCLA (2), U$C, Stanford, Middle Tennessee, Oregon, and Arizona (2).

Only two teams from the ACC (F$U and Duke) should have been invited. However, if they invited Michigan State, they should have invited every team in the country...

Minnesota has wins over: Iowa State, Michigan, and Illinois. They also have Taylor Carico as their setter. Taylor played at U$C, but transferred to Minny for her senior year. At U$C, she earned All-American honors and finished 2nd in career assists.

burnspbesq
12-01-2009, 07:40 PM
I'm not sure that facing Minnesota will be easier than previous second round opponents. Minnesota's only losses during the year have been to teams that have made the tournament this year. Minnesota finished third in the Big 10, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Last year, Duke had to play UCLA in the second round at Pauley. In both 2006 and 2007, they were fed to then-number-one Nebraska in Lincoln.

On balance, I'll take Minnesota on a neutral floor.

hughgs
12-01-2009, 11:23 PM
Last year, Duke had to play UCLA in the second round at Pauley. In both 2006 and 2007, they were fed to then-number-one Nebraska in Lincoln.

On balance, I'll take Minnesota on a neutral floor.

Here's how Duke did in the tournament over the past few years. I listed the opponents rank, our rank, and the location.

2009 - hopefully MN
2008 - UCLA (9) at Pauley (unranked)
2007 - UCal (7) at Durham (22)
2006 - SD (17) at Tenn (25)
2005 - Neb (1) at Neb (unranked)

Not, sure where you got your info from, but the above is from goduke.com. Assuming that we face Minnesota and they hold their #12 ranking then that doesn't seem much different than UCLA and UCal in 2008 and 2009. I stand by my opinion that this draw isn't that much different than recent years.