Texas Win in NCAA Championship — More Evidence for Parity?

NCAA Championship - Finals

Congratulations to the University of Texas Longhorns on winning the 2012 NCAA Women’s Volleyball National Championship. It was an impressive win in an impressive season for Texas. We can’t wait for the 2013 season and the great matches in the Nike Big Four that, providentially (for Texas) will be held in Austin.

Which brings us to the question we raised in an earlier post: Is there greater “parity” in NCAA Division 1 volleyball? We think this year’s tournament is further evidence that the answer is yes.

As shown in the table below, Texas’s 29-4 season record ranks 12th out of 15 champions during the period from 1998 to 2012. Prior to 2011, five of the 13 Champions were undefeated, and four others lost only one match all season. If Penn State had won the 2012 Championship, its record would have ranked 11th among the 15 champions. If Oregon had won the title, its record would have ranked 12th out of 15.  And if Michigan had won, its record would have been the worst of any NCAA Womens Volleyball Champion in the past 15 years.

To us, that spells “parity.” As we wrote in our earlier post, this is obviously a small sample, but we think these are more than statistical outliers. Rather, we think there are more good teams, and more good coaches out there, and conferences like the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the Pac 12 are competitive on a week-in week-out basis.

That translates into more lost matches and more lost sets. In other words, more parity.

W-L Records (Matches and Sets): NCAA Champions 1998 to 2012

YearTeamConferenceNCAA FinishWins (Matches)Losses (Matches)Wins (Sets)Losses (Sets)
2008Penn StateBig TenFirst3801142
2009Penn StateBig TenFirst3801148
1998Long Beach Big WestFirst3601088
2003USC Pac 10First3501058
2000NebraskaBig 12First34010213
1999Penn State Big TenFirst36111015
2006Nebraska Big 12First33110114
2005WashingtonPac 10First3219810
2002USC Pac 10First3119512
2007Penn State Big TenFirst34210418
2001Stanford Pac 10First33210121
2012TexasBig 12First2949223
2010Penn StateBig TenFirst32510320
2011UCLA Pac 12First3069731
2004Stanford Pac 10First3069835

Won-Lost Records (Matches and Sets): Final Four Teams from 1998 to 2012

YearTeamConferenceNCAA FinishWins (Matches)Losses (Matches)Wins (Sets)Losses (Sets)
2008Penn StateBig TenFirst3801142
2009Penn StateBig TenFirst3801148
1998Long Beach Big WestFirst3601088
2003USC Pac 10First3501058
2000NebraskaBig 12First34010213
1999Penn State Big TenFirst36111015
2006Nebraska Big 12First33110114
2005WashingtonPac 10First3219810
2002USC Pac 10First3119512
2007Penn State Big TenFirst34210418
2001Stanford Pac 10First33210121
2012TexasBig 12First2949223
2010Penn StateBig TenFirst32510320
2011UCLA Pac 12First3069731
2004Stanford Pac 10First3069835
2001Long Beach Big WestSecond331NANA
1998Penn StateBig TenSecond3411046
2003FloridaSECSecond3621098
2005Nebraska Big 12Second33210115
2009TexasBig 12Second2929113
2007Stanford Pac 10Second32310124
1999Stanford Pac 10Second3139518
2000WisconsinBig TenSecond334NANA
2008Stanford Pac 10Second3149523
2006Stanford Pac 10Second3049219
2010CaliforniaPac 10Second3049523
2004MinnesotaBig TenSecond33510534
2002Stanford Pac 10Second32510227
2011IllinoisBig TenSecond32510043
2012OregonPac 12Second3059627
2003HawaiiWACSemifinals36210916
2002HawaiiWACSemifinals34210212
1998Nebraska Big 12Semifinals3229916
2000HawaiiWACSemifinals3129516
2001Nebraska Big 12Semifinals3129414
1998FloridaSECSemifinals35310724
2002FloridaSECSemifinals34310517
2012Penn StateBig TenSemifinals33310421
2009HawaiiWACSemifinals32310017
1999PacificBig WestSemifinals323NANA
2008Nebraska Big 12Semifinals3139721
2000USCPac 10Semifinals2938720
2004WashingtonPac 10Semifinals2838923
2006UCLAPac 10Semifinals33410424
1999Long Beach Big WestSemifinals3149523
2008TexasBig 12Semifinals2949424
2011USCPac 12Semifinals2959125
2006WashingtonPac 10Semifinals2959226
2007USC Pac 10Semifinals2959135
2005Santa ClaraWCCSemifinals2758830
2001ArizonaPac 10Semifinals2557925
2010USCPac 10Semifinals2969136
2010TexasBig 12Semifinals2768434
2004USC Pac 10Semifinals2367632
2011Florida StateACCSemifinals2879039
2007CaliforniaPac 10Semifinals2688736
2009MinnesotaBig TenSemifinals2898841
2003MinnesotaBig TenSemifinals26118549
2005TennesseeSECSemifinals2598038
2012MichiganBig TenSemifinals27129452