Area Volleyball Ladies are Killing it on the NCAA Level
There are a lot of Kansas and Missouri high school graduates playing NCAA volleyball. And they are more likely to be on a highly ranked team than the rest of the country.
There are teams that are known to be good year after year. And others will rise up and be good in any given year. Here is a basic question. Are players good because they are on good teams? Or, are teams good because they have good players? We all know the answer. More times than not, the good teams have the better players. And that is worthy to note when we look at how many Kansas and Missouri high school graduates are on a Top 25 NCAA volleyball team.
Can we determine if Mo/Kan ladies perform at a higher level in NCAA competition than the rest of the country? I say, yes we can. There are three divisions in the NCAA, each with its own Top 25 list. That means there are 75 ranked teams out of the total of 1,065 schools that compete in the three divisions of the NCAA. I will make an assumption that the average roster has 15 athletes. I am sure I am pretty close. That means that I estimate there are 15,975 ladies (1,065 X 15) who compete in NCAA volleyball. The 544 Mo/Kan ladies who are on NCAA rosters make up 3.41% (544/15,975 X100) of the total number of volleyball players. This week, as you will see below, there are 60 Mo/Kan ladies whose team is ranked in the Top 25 of one of the three NCAA divisions. Those 60 ladies represent 5.33% of the total number of ladies on a Top 25 roster. That shows that Mo/Kan ladies are disproportionately likely to be on a Top 25 team. And remember, teams are good because they have good players. That tells you all you need to know about Mo/Kan ladies and their volleyball. And its not even close. The over-representation on the Top 25 teams is 56% more than it would be if the Mo/Kan ladies were merely “average” .
Here are the Mo/Kan ladies whose team is ranked in the Top 25 this week:
As you can see, there are a couple of local colleges who have quite a few local ladies. That is going to be true across the country, so I don’t think that skews these results. Yes, Washburn, Northwest Missouri State, and Creighton loaded up with local ladies. But, remember what we established above. Good teams are good because they have good players. Therefore, those local colleges are good because of the local talent they have on their rosters. And that makes my point about the high level of volleyball played in these two states.
It could also be possible that the over-representation occurrs because of a small concentration at the top. But, that isn’t true. The AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) also lists the colleges that get at least two votes. The rosters of those colleges that are knocking on the door of the Top 25 contain an additional 33 Mo/Kan volleyball ladies. As they say, Nuff Said.
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