All 32 conferences analyzed as NCAA volleyball tourney bracket to be announced

Here’s a look at all 32 NCAA Division I volleyball conferences and who is and who might make the 64-team NCAA Tournament field when it is announced Sunday night.

The RPI is not the be-all end-all criteria, but there’s no doubt the committee relies on it heavily, so that’s included with every record.

There are eight conferences that do not have tournaments, so the regular-season winner gets the automatic bid. It’s also from those eight where almost all the at-large bids will awarded. The Big West is the only regular-season conference that will get only one team.

For that matter, just three at-large bids will likely go to the 24 conferences that have tournaments in a year in which few mid-majors who were getting in anyway lost.

Most notably, UNLV will get one after being upset in the Mountain West tournament, Western Kentucky is a lock from Conference USA, and Texas State of the Sun Belt is in a strong position to hear its name called. It’s possible there could be a few others.

Regular-season bids

AMERICAN ATHLETIC: The AAC will get two teams in and they split their matches. UCF is 27-1 and hoping for a top-16 seed with an RPI of 17, and Houston is 28-3 with an RPI of 18.

ACC: It would be hard to imagine this not being a five-team conference with Louisville (26-2, 2 RPI) and Pittsburgh (27-3. 3 RPI), which shared the title, along with Georgia Tech (20-7, 20 RPI), Florida State (19-10, 30 RPI) and Miami (19-10, 34 RPI). Louisville seems like a top-four lock, but the question is where will Pittsburgh get seeded?

BIG 12: Texas (22-1) has been everyone’s favorites since the preseason and the No. 1 RPI team should be the top seed in the tournament. The Big 12 will also get in Baylor (23-6, 16 RPI), which hopes to get a top-16 seed; Kansas (18-10, 29 RPI); Iowa State (19-11, 31 RPI) , the only team to beat Texas; and surprising TCU (16-10, 39 RPI), in for the first time since 2016. TCU, 8-18, 2-14 in 2021, went 11-5 in the Big 12 season.

Of note in the Big 12, Kansas State announced Sunday that is has fired 22nd-year coach Susie Fritz.

BIG TEN: There’s a pretty strong line of demarcation where the top six ends and the rest begin. Wisconsin (25-3, 4 RPI) has won 18 in a row and almost assuredly is a top-four seed. Ohio State (19-9, 7 RPI) was on the path to a top-four seed but then lost its last four matches. Minnesota (20-8, 8 RPI) and Nebraska (24-5, 9 RPI) — which has lost three of five — will also be top-16 hosts….