Kyle Walton is the head coach at Division III Transylvania in Lexington, Ky., but his Division I roots run deep. Not only is his wife, Lindsey, an assistant coach at Kentucky, but Walton has worked in Division I as an assistant at Kentucky, Louisville, Saint Louis and Southern Illinois.
Walton loves to follow Division I volleyball around the nation and enjoys being our sports bracketologist. He offers the following as we head into the home stretch of the NCAA season.
He picked the top 16 seeds, which will be the hosts for first- and second-round matches. Then he lists what he thinks are currently the No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in what will be 16 pools of four teams each.
He’ll give us another bracket just before the actual NCAA field is announced on Sunday, November 27. And, as they say, this is for entertainment only for those of us who enjoy forecasting the field. A conference breakdown is included at the end. Of course, with conferences getting automatic bids and many conferences having league tournaments to decide the winners, Walton is projecting who he thinks will win those leagues.
No. 1 Seeds
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Texas
San Diego
Kansas
Stanford
Florida
North Carolina
Washington
UCLA
Michigan State
BYU
Michigan
Missouri
Penn State
No. 2 Seeds
Oregon
Kentucky
Purdue
Creighton
Kansas State
Utah
Arizona
Western Kentucky
Ohio State
Florida State
USC
Pittsburgh
Texas A&M
Marquette
UNLV
TCU
No. 3 Seeds
Baylor
Dayton
Hawaii
Iowa State
Boise State
Coastal Carolina
Wichita State
Cincinnati
Miami (OH)
Washington State
Cleveland State
SMU
Northern Iowa
Georgia Tech
Missouri State
Colorado
No. 4 Seeds
Lipscomb
North Dakota
Denver
New Mexico State
Albany
Murray State
American
ETSU
Princeton
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Sacred Heart
Northeastern
Fairfield
Radford
Alabama State
Howard
Last 4 in of the 32 at-large bids
29. Northern Iowa
30. Georgia Tech
31. Missouri State
32. Colorado
Last 4 out
33. Notre Dame
34. Illinois
35. Colorado State
36. Indiana
Next 4
37. Temple
38. Iowa
39. Loyola Marymount
40. Southern Illinois
Conference breakdown
Big Ten (8)
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Michigan
Michigan St.
Purdue
Penn State
Ohio State
PAC-12 (9)
Stanford
UCLA
Washington
Oregon
Utah
Arizona
USC
Washington State
Colorado
ACC (4)
North Carolina
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Pittsburgh
BIG 12 (6)
Texas
Kansas
Kansas State
Baylor
TCU
Iowa State
SEC (4)
Florida
Kentucky
Missouri
Texas A&M
WCC (2)
San Diego
BYU
Mountain West (2)
UNLV
Boise State
Missouri Valley (3)
Wichita State
Missouri State
Northern Iowa
Big East (2)
Creighton
Marquette
AAC (2)
Cincinnati
SMU
American East
Albany
Atlantic 10
Dayton
A-Sun
Lipscomb
Big Sky
North Dakota
Big South
Radford
Big West
Hawaii
CAA
Northeastern
Conf. USA
Western Kentucky
Horizon
Cleveland State
IVY
Princeton
MAAC
Fairfield
MAC
Miami (OH)
MEAC
Howard
Northeast
Sacred Heart
OVC
Murray State
Patriot
American
SoCon
ETSU
Southland
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
SWAC
Alabama State
Summit
Denver
Sun Belt
Coastal Carolina
WAC
New Mexico State
