Two weeks from today we'll be plotting paths to the Target Center in Minneapolis with the NCAA volleyball bracket in hand. Here are four questions to ponder before then.
Will a woman finally coach the NCAA champion?
No team coached by a woman has won a Division I volleyball national championship, although Mary Wise came achingly close a year ago when Florida reached the national championship game before falling to Nebraska.
The Gators (21-5) lost the core of that team to graduation, but you can never count them out under Wise, the winningest female coach in Division I history with 926 victories.
Creighton (24-4), coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth, clinched at least a share of the Big East title with its defeat of Villanova on Sunday. It has a win over Kentucky but fell to USC and Nebraska.
Under Jen Greeny, Washington State (19-7) is creating its usual havoc in the Pac-12 but would be an outside contender to reach its first final four.
Of course, the obvious candidate is BYU, the nation's lone unbeaten team that handed Stanford its only loss when the teams met in Provo at the end of August. All signs have Heather Olmstead's senior-laden group primed to return to the final four for the first time since 2014, when the Cougars lost the title game to Penn State.
Olmstead, an assistant to her brother, Shawn that year, took over the following season and has compiled a 112-11 record. Shawn was national coach of the year in 2014, and Heather could pick up that honor this year. Volleyball success is in the Olmstead bloodlines -- dad Rick Olmstead coached Olympic legend Karch Kiraly in high school.
There's no reason to believe Olmstead's Cougars can't win it all, but they suffered a huge blow last week, losing outside hitter McKenna Miller, who tore her ACL in Thursday's victory over Santa Clara. It didn't hurt the Cougars on Saturday against San Francisco; in fact they hit .537, the program's second-best percentage in the rally-scoring era.
But there's no question that losing Miller, dubbed MC Hammer, will hurt. Her 250 kills are second to only senior All-American Roni Jones-Perry.
Still, BYU has plenty of firepower in Kennedy Eschenberg, Lacy Haddock and Madi Robinson; freshman Heather Gneiting is excellent in the middle. Setter Lyndie Haddock-Eppich is among the best in the game.
BYU (25-0) remains a good bet to finish the regular season unscathed, host a regional and reach a final four. It's hard to see any team upsetting the Cougars in Smith Fieldhouse. But knocking off a heavy in the final four without Miller is a daunting challenge.
Olmstead's ability to manipulate the pieces in an attempt to make BYU and volleyball history will be a fun storyline to follow this postseason.
Will Texas host a regional?
Probably not. The top four seeds get hosting honors. BYU, Stanford, Minnesota and Illinois came out 1-2-3-4 when the NCAA volleyball committee revealed its top 10 last week. Wisconsin was 5, but has since lost, and Texas was ranked 6.
The top four haven't lost since and look like safe picks to win out. The Cardinal won their 18th Pac-12 championship by sweeping Oregon State on Friday (Stanford won minus reigning national and espnW player of the year Kathryn Plummer, who wasn't feeling well).
Illinois topped Penn State for the first time since 2014 on Saturday. The Illini finish the season against Rutgers, Northwestern, Michigan State and Purdue. Illinois has already dispatched each of those teams this season, dropping just one set along the way to the Boilermakers.
Minnesota continues to put together an impressive run in the Big Ten, not dropping a match in the nation's premier conference. Even if the Gophers were to stumble once, it's hard to see them not hosting a regional.
Texas, meanwhile, beefed up its nonconference schedule from a year ago after they were passed over for hosting duties. The Longhorns (17-4, 12-1) earned a share of the Big 12 title over the weekend and tout impressive wins over Oregon, Florida and Kentucky, but it's probably not enough to overcome one of the big four.
Who is the player of the year?
When the reigning national player of the year is Plummer and she's outdone herself from a year ago, she's an obvious favorite. Stanford's 6-foot-6 terminator is the best among the team's star-studded cast, leading the Cardinal with 4.85 kills per set to go with 27 aces and an average of 2.24 digs per set. She's hitting .298.
In 2017, Plummer averaged 4.66 kills per set and 1.92 digs per set, hitting .319.
BYU's engine, Jones-Perry, is surely a candidate, averaging 4.46 kills per set and 1.96 digs per set with 35 aces. She's hitting .349.
When the teams went head-to-head, the Cougars senior had the better night -- 20 kills and 10 digs, hitting .341 for 25 points. Plummer's line: 21 kills and four digs, hitting. .176 for 24 points. BYU is the lone team to beat Stanford this year.
While Plummer and Jones-Perry are the first names that jump to mind, don't overlook setters Samantha Seliger-Swenson from Minnesota and Jenna Gray from Stanford. Both rank in the top five nationally in assists and make their stable of hitters shine. Plummer would likely get the nod over Gray, but Seliger-Swenson is definitely in the mix.
Is there any way the defending national champs repeat?
Are you gonna bet against Nebraska? It doesn't look like the Huskers are primed for a sixth NCAA title, but the Huskers are a team nobody wants to face in the postseason. They aren't as far away as their record (20-6, 11-5) indicates.
Coach John Cook has lamented his team's execution when the score gets in the 20s, and indeed Nebraska has faltered in some tight matches. In falling to Illinois 3-1 on Oct. 27, the Huskers dropped the final two sets 27-25 and 25-22. They were close to upsetting Minnesota in Minneapolis -- becoming the first team to take a set off the Gophers on their home court this season. Two of the next three sets were decided by two points.
Nebraska's losses to Penn State and Wisconsin came in five.
Perhaps the biggest reason it's hard to dismiss the Huskers? Senior outside hitter Mikaela Foecke, who knows a thing or two about turning up her game in the postseason. She's been named the final four's most outstanding player twice.