Texas A&M vs. Texas
Nebraska vs. Iowa State

Pathetic bracket by the NCAA. This would never happen to the Pac-10.

Agreed, pretty ridiculous. But happy to be there.

That's seriously a joke. And call it what, probably the top 4, or 4 out of the top 5 seeds from the conference? They effectively made it impossible for 2 Big 12 teams to make the Final 4.

is that a joke? Oh wait, it's the NCAA

Wait, gobluwolverine!!! They guaranteed the Big 12 one final four, plus maybe BU. I just wish the Bears would kick the crap out of glamour PSU.

The ncaa had to help Stanford, Michigan, California, Colo State, Washington, Minnesota and Oregon. How do we say it: the little 11, Pac 10 and the entire east was never very good in VB anyways. Don't see too many SEC teams left, either.

One thing, if the 'sips can win an all big 12 Regional in Omaha, they will know they have been in a dogfight. Put three of those teams in other regions and we might have an ALL BIG 12 FINAL FOUR.

And one other thing: the ncaa thought they could pull UCLA through, too. BU took care of that farce.

quote:

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This would never happen to the Pac-10.

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I know this doesn't neccasarily refute your point, but in 2007 they had three Pac-10 teams in the same regional. The year before they had 3 Big 10 teams in the same regional.

I'm not sure if the Pac-10 has been set up where they could possibly have 4 in the same regional, but I have found a couple of times when the Big 10 was.

Well, I guess the Big 12 exposed those NCAA elitists for what they are: elitists from the NCAA.

TXAggie2011, in 2007 it was not the TOP THREE teams from the Pac 10. (Plus a team tied for fourth.)

Two of these teams were in the FF last year and one was in the Elite Eight. Texas, Nebraska, and Iowa State are all legitimate Final Four candidates (no offense to the Aggies intended but that would be a longshot) and yet they place all three in the same regional. Ridiculous.

The Pac 10 has NEVER had even their top two teams placed in the same regional let alone the top three. They split them apart and give the conference the opportunity to have multiple FF teams.





[This message has been edited by Husker (edited 12/6/2009 1:01a).]

You should never say never, Husker...if one digs a little further into the archives...

The 1986 West Regional was setup for a possible UCLA, Stanford (who played Oregon in the first round), Arizona State, Washington matchup.

The 1988 West Region was comprised of 8 teams and BYU was the only one not from the Pac-10.

The 1989 West Region had 6 of its 8 teams from the Pac-10.

The 1991 West regional was setup for a second round of two Pac-10 v Pac-10 matchups.

They were putting every Pac-10 team in the same regional for the most part. This continued in 1992, 1993, etc...


Looks like we are actually just getting the treatment that the Pac-10 used to get yearly. A lot of powerhouses left to battle it out for a spot in the Final Four.

(I know the state of the sport was different back then...but just throwing this out there).

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 12/6/2009 1:06a).]

OK, I will amend my point to say "since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams". The top Pac 10 teams are always split up (as they should be).

The sport was so much different in the 80's that it was unavoidable back then. Now there is no excuse for it. The Big 12 rep on the committee should not have allowed this to happen.





[This message has been edited by Husker (edited 12/6/2009 1:18a).]

And actually, solely looking at it from my perspective as a Nebraska fan, it's not really so bad for us. Better to face these teams again in Omaha than anywhere else.

It sucks more for the conference in general.

quote:

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OK, I will amend my point to say "since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams". The top Pac 10 teams are always split up as they should be.

The sport was so much different in the 80's that it was unavoidable back then. Now there is no excuse for it. The Big 12 rep on the committee should not have allowed this to happen.

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Well, it continued well into the 90s and the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams...since it went to 64 in what? 1999? they have had years where they put #2 and #3 or what not from the Pac-10 in the same region.

I agree that this was a bad deal and shouldn't have happened. Just pointing out that the Pac-10 doesn't always have their way in the brackets.

#2 and #3 in the same region with #1 elsewhere would have been fine and I doubt many people would be griping about that.

It is what it is, though, so I just hope the Aggies can find a way to beat Texas. There will be a huge number of Husker fans in Omaha rooting for Texas A&M.

Don't we have three Top10 schools all in same regional?


That's just ridiculous./

Hustker what do you think of the committ you just got in Lara Dykstra ???

Seen her play and she will be great for program even if she is a bit shorter than normal. Multiple position player who would be great as setter IMO unless you have a major setter coming in later

The question is begging to be asked: any relation?

nakedcrayon, I *believe* Lara was recruited primarily as a libero/DS although I'm sure she'll get a look at setter. I think Coach Cook likes her versatility even though she might be on the short side to be a premier OH at the next level.

Nebraska signed a setter (Kristen Kelsay) in this year's class that was a little under the radar, but Cook thinks she is going to be very good and he's got a pretty keen eye. We also have Morgan Broekhuis coming in and although she is listed at RS, she had playing time at setter in a 6-2 offense in high school and it'd be awesome to see Nebraska run a 6-2 with Broekhuis setting from the back row.

I have only seen a few video clips of Lara but she looks very, very good. With her background in beach volleyball she will probably also play sand volleyball at NU once it is up and running.

I expect Lara Dykstra and Megan Pendergast to compete at L and depending on what happens there may determine how much Cook looks at her at S. With Kayla Banwarth graduating next season someone is going to have to fill her shoes. We'll miss Kayla. (I'll always remember her for a play in the fifth set of the NU-Washington regional final last year. With the score tied at 13, on a line shot by Washington, Kayla had her foot on the left line just like it's taught and she made the quick decision that the hit was going out. It just barely did for a Nebraska point. Most players would have played that ball. Small thing, I guess, but that was a huge point in an epic match.)

Of course the controversial twins are coming in 2013...but looking at the recent Texas commits it is going to be a challenge to keep up on the recruiting front. Losing Haley Eckerman for 2011 to Texas was about the worst possible scenario. She was Cook's top target and now she is going to a conference rival. Texas is going to be our conference nemesis for the next several years. The Aggies and really all of the conference are going to have to raise the bar to keep up.

"She went to Jerritt" will be the new recruiting slogan. LOL.







[This message has been edited by Husker (edited 12/9/2009 12:10p).]

Haha She Went to Jerritt is awesome.

Husker....What do you think Allison McNeal will be doing in the next couple of years? Role player? Move into starting rotation?

I coached her a bit in club although I was never the head coach of her teams. I thought the lack of big school vb at HS level would keep her as a project for the first couple of years. She had a strong upside if she could get the strength to compete...She and Amanda Dowdy played on same club teams as juniors and I had the class below them.

nakedcrayon...Texstar?

Allison McNeal will have trouble making it as a starter. I know after the red/white game there was some surprise she was not stronger after redshirting last season, and she hasn't gotten a ton of playing time this season. Kori Cooper graduates this year but Brooke Delano, Jordan Wilberger, and Hayley Thramer will all probably be ahead of her at MB. Coach Cook has really been impressed with Thramer, apparently there have been a few times this season when he was tempted to burn her redshirt and put her in. He didn't, but I expect her to get a significant amount of playing time next season.

An Allison McNeal anecdote: at a match earlier this season, she jumped so high on a block that the hitter drilled the ball right into her face and gave her a bloody nose. Cook said something like she "learned her lesson" and she doesn't realize yet that she doesn't always need to jump so high to block. :-)

[This message has been edited by Husker (edited 12/10/2009 5:33p).]

Yes, coached for TexStar for two years and then started my own small school club team.

This is why we need a playoff system in NCAA football.