I would be dumbfounded if somehow A&M managed its first ever top-4 or top-8 national seeding next year, after having graduated 9 seniors. They would need to make a new "Coach of the Decade" award for Jamie.

I'm fairly grounded most of the time. It would seem like this next year is a rebuilding year. Too many unseasoned players along with good but fresh faces.

It took Jamie 2 years to train the team to high potential including adding transfers. In his 3rd year, a lot of the players didn't really get too much better other than ICO but with the addition of Stowers, it became a championship team.

We added a lot of key pieces for this coming year but it'll be hard to match or beat last year ranking-wise. Floor should be to make the tournament which means we are one of the handful of good SEC teams. Success would be Sweet 16. Final Four again and Morrison will need to be paid as much as the top dogs immediately.

I don't believe we are in the upper echelon of programs yet. We have to have an established train of very good players year in and year out. I'd say if we keep the momentum, we can get there in 2 years. Losing almost your entire front row due to graduation has to be considered a setback.

I would expect this year to see massive growth from every player (even Stowers!). Then come the following year when the #1 player is on board (she literally wins everywhere she plays), I think we are serious contenders for another NT.

Also wanted to add that I hope I'm wrong and that we make huge waves next season.

If Magic Morrison can do his thing, this team could be running at a very high level by the end of the season to challenge any team. The talent is there.

IMHO, there's really only 4-5 or so 'elite' programs. Huskers, Louisville, Pitt, tu (though they've struggled to rebuild these last few years), Wisconsin, maybe Penn St but they fell off the map after winning it all.

I thought going into this past season we were right there on the cusp of becoming in that elite class. We were at the doorstep but hadn't broken the ceiling yet. This season we broke the doors open and proved we had arrived.

All that to say, with the talent we have on the court and system Jamie has set up, I belive the step back we take will be very small. Maybe it shows early like it did this last season, losing to SMU and TCU back to back, but once they gel I believe this team will be strong. Jamie like to use multiple weapons. As we saw in our tournament run, our opponents were too depended on one player or a one-two punch and once we adjusted to shut that down they had no answers, while we were able to come from multiple attack points, making defending us a challenge.

It's harder to pick up in volleyball, but its similar to what Buckyball is doing for our men's BB team. we play a more uptempo offense and we can come from anywhere and be affective. Yes that was in large part because of the talent we had, but it was also the system Jamie pushed us to run. The key will be to find a setter who can do what Maddie did. She was the secret sauce to our success in my opinion.

Long story short, I've been around Jamie and his staff and heard them discuss how their program works from the inside, and its set up and designed to help the athletes get stronger as the season goes on and peak come tournament time. During his time here he's proven its a system that gets results. He's an Olympian, they can't risk NOT peaking at the right time cause you're waiting another 4 years if you miss. Yes next year will be different but I just don't see us taking too many steps back. This was a springboard forward to me.

ETA: Sorry if this was off topic, just addressing the discussion on how far back we think we'd fall seeding wise lol.

To address the OP, if we are both highly seeded, I would guess they wait in hopes of a highly marketable final or at least final 4, so I lean towards at least different regionals if not completely different sides of the bracket.