The final regular-season AVCA Division I Coaches Poll and the latest NCAA RPI ranking came out Monday and there is a lot to digest, especially when you consider those two lists and the NCAA Tournament bracket.
The AVCA coaches voted Minnesota No. 1 with 36 first-place votes. Nebraska is second with 27 votes and Wisconsin third with one first-place vote.
Kansas is No. 4, a notch ahead of No. 5 Texas.
In the RPI, Wisconsin is No. 1, followed by Minnesota, Nebraska and Texas, and Kansas is No. 5.
Regardless of the AVCA and RPI, in the NCAA Tournament bracket, Nebraska got the top seed, Minnesota is No. 2 and Wisconsin No. 3, and Texas got the all-important No. 4. That’s because the top four remaining seeds after the first weekend of first- and second-round matches get to be the hosts for the regional semifinals and finals.
It’s worth noting for those upset that San Diego got left out as a top-16 host and Penn State got in at No. 16 in the NCAA bracket that San Diego is No. 14 in the AVCA and No. 16 in the RPI. And Penn State is 13th in the AVCA but fell to No. 26 in the RPI.
Other disparities of note including Hawai’i ranked 12th in the AVCA but 23rd in the RPI and almost just the opposite with Western Kentucky, which is 20th in the AVCA but No. 14 in the RPI.
Also, Kansas State, which got the No. 14 host spot in the NCAA Tournament, is not ranked in the AVCA and stands at No. 18 in the RPI.
TCU remains unranked in the AVCA and is up to 20 in the RPI. Wichita State, also unranked, is a spot back at 21.
Also, Utah is 22nd in the AVCA and 31 in the RPI, and the last team in the AVCA poll, Washington State at No. 25, dropped all the way to No. 43 in the RPI.
Click here for the AVCA poll.
Click here for the NCAA RPI.
