The brackets are all locked and secured for the 2024 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship and we are gearing up for an incredible edition this year.

The table setup can lead to some enticing future clashes between some of the top teams, there are some serious dark horses sprinkled in to try to spoil the party and the two-time defending champion is not among the top eight teams in the tournament.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the key storylines to watch ahead of December Madness.

The story of two conferences

Throughout the season, the four top-ranked teams in the country consisted of programs from the ACC or Big Ten.

Although the teams have sometimes swapped places, it is the Pitt Panthers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Penn State Nittany Lions And Louisville Cardinals who made it into the top four. The Huskers and Nittany Lions shared the Big Ten title after PSU defeated the Huskers in its final game of the season. Meanwhile, Pitt’s only loss was to the SMU Mustangs who beat the Cardinals twice to win the ACC.

These four teams earned first place, meaning they will have home-court advantage throughout the tournament until the Final Four. But the other teams in the conference were also very good.

The ACC, Big Ten and SEC each had nine teams selected from their conferences to compete in the championship tournament.

In fact, three of the No. 2 seeds come from the ACC or Big Ten, and they’ve been paired with a conference partner for potential grudge matches. Pitt is on the same side of the bracket as SMU, Louisville is on the same side as Stanford – both have split wins this year – while Nebraska and Wisconsin are also in the same corner of the bracket.

All of this is to say that it’s likely these top teams will be able to see some familiar faces in key tournament matches.

A Texas Three Peat?

Despite the understandable looks at the top seeds, the reigning national champion goes unnoticed.

THE Texas Longhorns and Madi Skinner are No. 3 seeds, sitting in the same corner of the bracket as No. 1 seed Penn State and No. 2 seed Creighton. They have also won the last two national championships in dominant fashion.

The lack of focus could be because the Longhorns went 18-6 this year, with non-conference losses to Minnesota, Miami and Stanford and three straight losses to the SEC. Texas A&MMissouri and Oklahoma. In fact, Kentucky pipped Texas to the SEC title in the Horns’ first year in the conference.

Texas finished the season on a six-game winning streak and Madi Skinner remains one of the most dangerous players in the country. But perhaps the relative calm surrounding the Horns will help motivate them for the tournament. They’re still a tough customer in December and have a chance to pull off some upsets as defending champions. What a fun place for them.

The deeper field

While the tournament is still much tougher than the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, the field distribution is improving where teams not among the top seeds can hope to make a deep run.

Take for example number 7 Georgia Tech. It’s a growing program and they have real talent. They face Tennessee in the first round in Madison, before a possible matchup with the No. 2 seed. Wisconsin Badgers. This is a much closer competition in terms of talent than previous 2v7 matchups in the tournament.

THE Minnesota Golden Gophers are only a six seed. They proved they could compete with the best programs in the country, beating the Badgers and Longhorns early in the season and were pesky in Big Ten play.

Among the Big 12, Kansas and Utah are three and four seeds, respectively, and have a history of strong programs capable of making deep runs. On the other hand, number 3 Arizona State made just its second straight tournament appearance after going 13-19 in 2022. No. 7 Missouri is in a similar boat, reaching its second straight tournament appearance after going 9-19 there barely two seasons ago.

While they may not be favorites to reach the Final Four, all of these teams are getting better and better, making this a less burdensome tournament. I don’t think the tournament will have the equivalent of a 1 seed being upset by a 16 seed like the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments have seen, but the matchups are getting closer and closer each time. year.

It’s an exciting time to be a volleyball fan, both for fans of traditional powers and for fans of teams looking to get back on their feet. Now let’s sit back and enjoy volleyball.