The NCAA volleyball championship will be decided in Big Ten territory -- in Columbus, Ohio. And it might be like a mini-Big Ten tournament.
Of course, we'll have to see how it all plays out, but the NCAA's top-10 reveal on Wednesday night was -- no surprise -- a strong showing for the conference that has produced eight of the past 10 NCAA champions.
Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin were the top three teams in the NCAA's rankings, just as they are in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The Huskers won the national championship last year, and the Gophers also made the final four.
The NCAA list diverges just a bit from the AVCA poll after those three. But there is only one team -- seven-time champ Penn State -- that is ranked in the top 10 of the AVCA poll but was not on the NCAA's list.
Here is how the rest of that shaped up: 4. Texas, 5. San Diego, 6. Kansas, 7. Stanford, 8. North Carolina, 9. Florida, 10. Washington. The NCAA opted to release the current top 10 this week to build excitement for the upcoming NCAA tournament, but a lot could still change between now and then.
The NCAA will reveal the 64-team bracket at 9 p.m. ET on Nov. 27 (ESPNU). Early rounds (Dec. 1-3) and the regional semis and final (Dec. 10-11) will be played at campus sites.
The national semifinals are at 7 and 9:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 15, and the final is at 9 p.m. Dec. 17 at Nationwide Arena. All three matches are scheduled to be aired on ESPN2.