NCAA Volleyball Bracket Analysis - Initial Reaction

64 teams are in, 267 are out. 32 teams qualified as a result of winning their conference, and the remainder earned an at-large berth. Each conference determines its champion differently, some have year-end tournaments, others, like the Big Ten, determine the champion through regular season play.

The Number of teams by Conference:
Big10 - 8
Big 12 - 7
Pac 12 - 6
SEC - 6
ACC - 6
MEAC (Mid Eastern Athletic Conference)- 2
Mountain West - 2
West Coast Conference- 2
Big East- 2
All others -1 team

The breakdown by state:
Texas - 6
Florida - 5
California - 4
Utah - 4
Kentucky - 4
Illinois - 3
South Carolina - 3
Nebraska - 2

Louisville is the #1 seed with Coach Dani Busboom Kelly at the helm. This is the first time in school history that they have earned the #1 seed. Texas is the #2 seed, followed by #3 Pittsburgh and #4 Wisconsin.

The amount of talent in college volleyball this year is evident in the variety of conferences and states represented in the bracket. Not only were seniors able to play a 5th year but it also appears that talent is diffused across the country and more teams are highly talented making this a wide open tournament, which is not always the case.

That said, there is some geographic concentration, as 11 of the 64 teams are from Texas or Florida which is 17% of the teams.

Campbell, The Citadel, University of Illinois-Chicago, Mississippi State, South Alabama and West Virginia are all making their first appearance in the tournament. Penn State remains the only team that has earned a berth to all 41 championship tournaments.

More to follow to include match up analysis in the coming days. First round play begins December 2nd.