Thursday scores up at
http://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=34090

UH
N 126.0, 40, 3.15
C 127.5, 34, 3.75
A 253.5, 74, 3.43

PSU
N 113.0, 33, 3.39
C 139.0, 46, 3.02
A 252.0, 79, 3.19

At the conclusion of the non-conference season, PSU has more blocks/set than UH. UH played a tougher non-conf schedule, evidenced in part by its 75th ranked non-conf SOS versus PSU’s 146th ranked non-conf SOS. Also, UH played more sets non-conf than PSU (who swept all their non-con matches while UH played 5 four-set matches and one five-setter), indicating relatively more difficult schedule of opponents (you can also review PSU’s non-con opponents to see the only good team they played was Stanford). I believe UH was ranked in the top 10 of blocking teams by the end of the non-con schedule, but PSU was higher.

However, once the conference season began, PSU’s opponents were more difficult and UH’s were less difficult. This is shown by the dramatic rise in UH’s blk/set and the decrease in PSU’s (and the eye test of opponents in the respective conferences). Clearly, UH was playing shorter, less challenging teams than in the preseason, and PSU was playing taller, better teams. Now UH is the leading blocking team but PSU is still #3.

So the stats support what I believe Doug was trying to say, but also tango’s view that UH is a strong blocking team despite playing Big West opponents.

The more interesting debate is what does it mean to be the “best blocking team”? Not necessarily the team that has the most blocks/set, because competition plays a big part in that statistic. For example, if 20-1 Arkansas State had the highest blk/set stat, many people would challenge the idea that ARSt. is the best blocking team based on who they played (you’d see a lot of, “wait until they play a Pac12/Big10 opponent”). I don’t have a good answer for who is the “best” blocking team is (I guess it would help if all teams played each other, but that is impractical), but maybe another blog poster does.