AVCA Final 2018 Poll - Huskers are #2

[knapplc]

There wasn't much of an argument for any other team to claim the #2 spot, so I'm glad they got this right. We don't need any other controversies after the White Board kerfluffle.


AVCA Division I Coaches 
Final Poll: December 17, 2018






Rank


School (First-Place Votes)


Total Points Adjusted


2018 Record


Previous Week






1


Stanford (64)


1600


34-1


1




2


Nebraska


1533


29-7


6




3


Illinois


1463


32-4


3




4


BYU


1408


31-2


4




5


Texas


1285


23-5


5




6


Penn State


1253


26-8


7




7


Minnesota


1187


27-4


2




8


Wisconsin


1162


25-7


8




9


Oregon


1095


23-11


14




10


Kentucky


1026


26-5


10




11


Florida


821


26-7


16




12


Michigan


799


24-10


18




13


Creighton


770


29-5


9




14


Pittsburgh


709


30-2


11




15


Marquette


689


28-7


15




16


Washington State


668


23-10


19




17


Purdue


645


24-9


12




18


Washington


625


20-13


22




19


Tennessee


398


26-6


19




20


San Diego


364


18-13


NR




21


Southern California


335


22-11


17




22


Cal Poly


287


25-3


13




23


Missouri


228


24-8


24




24


Baylor


197


20-9


25




T-25


Arizona


81


22-11


23




T-25


UCF


81


27-4


21





Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Louisville 35; Utah 31; Pepperdine 15; South Carolina 12; Northern Iowa 5; Florida Gulf Coast 2; Loyola Marymount 2

 

[knapplc]

Nebraska's 2018 record against the final Top 25 was 11-7. All seven losses were to teams who finished in the top 11 in the final poll, and we had six wins against teams in the Top 10.

In a three-week stretch from 10/6/18 - 10/27/18 Nebraska went 2-5, all losses to top-ten teams. Aside from that weird period, we only lost the first match of the season (Nicklin Hames' first collegiate match), and the last match of the season, by three points in the Fifth, against the #1 team in the country.

The Huskers won 97 games and lost 34. Outside the weird three weeks from the paragraph above, they lost 18 games in 29 matches.

And we did all that with two contributing Seniors, no contributing Juniors, and a bevy of Sophomores & Freshmen. 

 

[knapplc]

The Big Ten conference led all other conferences with seven Top 25 teams. All seven rank 17th or higher, with five teams in the Top 10.

The Pac-12 placed five teams, including #1 Stanford. Oregon, whom the Huskers swept twice this year, was the only other Top 10 Pac-12 team.

The SEC placed four teams in the final poll, only one of whom, Kentucky, was in the Top 10. Nebraska swept Kentucky in the Regional round, knocking them out of the tournament for the second straight year. Nebraska went 2-0 against the SEC in the tournament, sweeping both opponents.

The Big East, West Coast Conference and Big XII all placed two teams in the final poll.  Rivals Creighton & Marquette finished 13th & 15th, respectively. BYU was the highest-ranked non-P5 conference team, finishing 4th after starting the season 28-0, a run that included a win over eventual national champion Stanford. The Cardinal avenged that loss by knocking BYU out of the tournament in the Final Four.

 

[Mavric]

There wasn't much of an argument for any other team to claim the #2 spot, so I'm glad they got this right. We don't need any other controversies after the White Board kerfluffle.

Three people didn't vote us #2 - or 1-2 people voted us lower than third.