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One of the toughest schedules in the nation is benefitting UC Irvine in the college men’s volleyball bracketology.
The Anteaters at No. 3 had the highest strength of schedule ranking among teams projected by Off the Block to be under NCAA Tournament consideration.
UC San Diego and USC were the only teams to have a better strength of schedule ranking than UC Irvine in the latest rankings that the NCAA released earlier this week.
Among the strength of schedule rankings for projected teams under NCAA consideration is UCLA at No. 4, Ohio State at No. 5, Hawai’i at No. 8 and BYU at No. 9. In addition, the EIVA first-place team Penn State has the 15th best strength of schedule, while the Conference Carolinas first-place team Mount Olive is 41 out of 43 teams.
Strength of schedule is part of the mathematical formula used to determine a team’s RPI. The other RPI components include a team’s winning percentage and a team’s opponent strength of schedule.
BYU and Long Beach State have the two best opponent strength of schedule rankings.
The strength of schedule rankings will continue to be updated throughout the postseason and through Selection Sunday on April 23.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE RANKINGS (March 20)
1. UC San Diego
2. USC
3. UC Irvine
4. UCLA
5. Ohio State
6. Stanford
7. Pepperdine
8. Hawai’i
9. BYU
10. St. Francis
11. Fort Wayne
12. Lindenwood
13. Lewis
14. Loyola
15. Penn State
16. UC Santa Barbara
17. Quincy
18. George Mason
19. Cal Baptist
20. Long Beach State
21. McKendree
22. Harvard
23. Grand Canyon
24. Ball State
25. CSUN
26. Erskine
27. Princeton
28. NJIT
29. Belmont Abbey
30. Charleston
31. Sacred Heart
32. Alderson Broaddus
33. Pfeiffer
34. North Greenville
35. Concordia-Irvine
36. Barton
37. Lincoln Memorial
38. Emmanuel
39. Limestone
40. Coker
41. Mount Olive
42. Lees-McRae
43. King
OPPONENTS’ STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE RANKINGS (March 20)
1. BYU
2. Long Beach State
3. Pepperdine
4. Concordia-Irvine
5. CSUN
6. Hawai’i
7. UCLA
8. UC Irvine
9. USC
10. Ohio State
11. UC Santa Barbara
12. Cal Baptist
13. Stanford
14. Grand Canyon
15. UC San Diego
16. Loyola
17. Lewis
18. Ball State
19. Fort Wayne
20. McKendree
21. Penn State
22. Harvard
23. St. Francis
24. Lindenwood
25. Quincy
26. Princeton
27. George Mason
28. Sacred Heart
29. NJIT
30. Coker
31. Charleston
32. Mount Olive
33. King
34. Lees-McRae
35. Barton
36. Alderson Broaddus
37. North Greenville
38. Limestone
39. Erskine
40. Emmnauel
41. Belmont Abbey
42. Lincoln Memorial
43. Pfeiffer