First rankings reveal why Wisconsin volleyball deserves a No. 1 seed: It's justified

The NCAA Selection Committee for the volleyball tournament released its top 16 seeds just now. If the NCAA Tournament were starting today, this is how it would look. There's obviously still a lot of volleyball to be played between now and the tournament, but it gives a window into how the selection committee is thinking. And let's just say, RPI (rating percentage index) and SOS (strength of schedule) matter a ton.

Wisconsin find themselves sitting at No. 4 in the rankings, which means, as of today, the Badgers would be a 1-seed and a hosting site. It's a big deal, but there are naysayers out there claiming that Wisconsin shouldn't be this high and should be closer to their AVCA ranking, which is No. 6 behind Louisville and SMU.

Wisconsin's ranking is justified in two major ways and the Badgers currently deserve a No. 1 seed

Let's start with the obvious: who deserves to be the top four seeds? Well, Nebraska is clearly No. 1 overall. A team that hasn't lost all, has barely lost a set, and has played plenty of top competition. Pitt is right behind them with only one loss on their record, to a really good SMU team. The Panthers then turned around and beat SMU a few days later. So those two are completely understandable. It gets a little dicey after that. Which is where the argument starts.

The committee clearly elevated RPI and SOS above any other metric to determine what they want to see in their top seeds. The teams that played the hardest schedule were therefore rewarded the most. Pitt and Nebraska currently lead the RPI, followed by Florida, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and then Louisville.

Those are all the teams that have a case for those final two No. 1 seed spots. So, if it comes down to Florida, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Louisville. The committee next seemed to look closely at Head-to-Head results. Wisconsin has played or will play 11 of the top 16 teams. This is higher than any other team on that list. It has only lost to Nebraska, Kentucky, Texas, and Pitt. With wins over Louisville, Florida, Oregon, and Purdue.

Kentucky won the head-to-head over Wisconsin and Louisville but has lost to Florida and SMU. Wisconsin has won the head-to-head over Florida and Louisville. SMU has won the head-to-head over Kentucky. Louisville has won the head-to-head over none of them.

So, when the committee is trying to sort through this chaos. It's easy to slide Louisville to No. 7 because they literally haven't beaten any of the teams ahead of them. SMU being at No. 6 feels like it was due to the split with Pitt. Florida at No. 4 feels weird, and maybe they should be higher, but once again, Wisconsin beat Florida head-to-head. Even though Florida beat Kentucky head-to-head. Yet, Kentucky beat Wisconsin.

It's a bit of a mess. But you can see that the committee really cared about the RPI, SOS, and head-to-head matchups, which is the best way to do it. Fans are always shouting in a very tongue-in-cheek manner, "Well, if ONLY there were a way these two teams could play each other to figure out who is better?!" Talking about two teams that have played each other, but the team that won is ranked lower.

The committee worked really hard to make sure that wasn't the case (too much). It's impossible at a certain point, but Wisconsin's ranking feels justified. Now the Badgers need to keep proving it.

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