The U of M submitted a bid this year to host first- and second-round matches in the NCAA volleyball tournament. The Gophers (18-11 overall, 11-9 Big Ten) were not chosen but Michigan (22-10, 10-10) was.

“How come Michigan gets to host and we get send to play the No. 1 — play Sac State and then if we win, the No. 1 seed?” Mike Hebert said,askinga question many of the 70 or so Minnesota fans had Sunday night when the NCAA pairings were announced.

“I think folks, it is simply a matter of geography,” Hebert said. “Minnesota is not located geographically in a place where we can get breaks from the NCAA committee. As you know, in the last couple of years, we were sent to New York … It’s a lot easier — here is what I think is happening. There is a calculus that takes place in the minds of the NCAA committee members.

“They take a look at your bid. And we didenter a very satisfactory, attractive bid. They take the bid and then they take the travel costs to put on that event. They do a subtraction, and the team that comes closest to paying — the site that comes closest to paying for itself, usually gets awarded the bit.

“That’s why last year, for example, we were the only team that was flown into Albany (N.Y.). The other two teams were bused in. So the NCAA had only one flight to pay for. The same is true with Michigan situation this year.”

Miami (Ohio) and Illinois State are two of the teams playing at Michigan and they can get there by bus, Hebert said. Only Colorado State would have to fly to Ann Arbor.

“Not only do they think that way, that’s actually in the manual,” Hebert said. “That they will use that [cost] as a very serious and reliable criterium for [site] selection.”

Hebert said his staff will start assembling as much information as possible about Sacramento State starting Sunday night. He called the chance to play Sacramento State and, if they win,probably Stanford the next night a tremendous opportunity to do something extraordinary.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 1:34 am and is filed under Gophers volleyball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.