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The postseason is about to get underway and the NCAA Tournament bracketology projections are starting to become more solidified.
Off the Block each week during the rest of the regular season and throughout each round of the postseason will unveil its latest projections to the NCAA Tournament.
The men’s volleyball Division I-II NCAA Tournament is comprised of six teams. Automatic bids are awarded to the winners of the Conference Carolinas, EIVA, MIVA and MPSF conference tournaments, and the NCAA men’s volleyball committee selects two teams for at-large bids.
The three-person selection committee meets following all of the conference tournaments to decide the at-large teams and the tournament seeding. For an in-depth look at the criteria used by the selection committee and the Off the Block bracketology projections, check out this breakdown.
The field for the NCAA Tournament is scheduled to be released during Selection Sunday on April 24.
The NCAA Tournament will begin with the two play-in matches and the two-top seeds earning byes to the NCAA Tournament semifinals that will played Thursday, May 5 in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Off the Block is in its sixth season of college men’s volleyball bracketology. It has in previous seasons accurately projected 96 percent of the teams in the NCAA Tournament field.
PROJECTED NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD
LAST FOUR OUT
Long Beach State (23-6)
Loyola (19-7)
Ball State (20-8)
UC Santa Barbara (21-9)
Quick breakdown: Stanford despite a two-match losing streak to end the regular season is projected to earn an at-large bid. The Cardinal dropped one spot to the No. 4 seed compared to the previous bracketology last week. However, Stanford continues to hold an advantage against Long Beach State, the first team out, in the majority of selection committee criteria categories. The Cardinal entering the postseason remain ahead of the 49ers in the RPI ranking and has a better record against projected teams under NCAA Tournament consideration. BYU and Ohio State continue to be the two top seeds earning a bye to the NCAA Tournament semifinals. In addition, both teams have such strong numbers in the selection committee criteria that they are projected to have secured NCAA Tournament berths, even if they lose in the conference tournament quarterfinals.