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The matches are all done and now the time has come for the final projections before the NCAA Tournament field is unveiled on Sunday.
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 NCAA Tournament will begin with the two play-in matches and the two-top seeds earning byes to the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Off the Block is in its seventh season of college men’s volleyball bracketology. It has in previous seasons accurately projected 93 percent of the teams in the NCAA Tournament field.
NCAA TOURNAMENT PROJECTIONS
FIRST FOUR OUT
UC Irvine (20-7)
UCLA (17-10)
Lewis (23-7)
Ball State (19-10)
Quick breakdown: Once again, forget about the coaches poll because it’s not part of the selection committee criteria. Despite not being atop the national coaches poll, Ohio State will earn the No. 1 overall seed instead of Long Beach State. The Buckeyes hold the edge in the majority of criteria categories, including head-to-head record and RPI ranking. The MPSF champion 49ers, though, have enough criteria in their favor to earn the No. 2 overall seed and a bye into the NCAA Tournament semifinals. BYU and Hawai’i will both earn the two at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. Even with a postseason loss to the Rainbow Warriors, the Cougars will still have the No. 3 overall seed. BYU because of its two regular season victories against Hawai’i owns the head-to-head advantage. It also has the edge in several other criteria categories such as RPI ranking, strength of schedule and record against teams under NCAA Tournament consideration. Both BYU and Hawai’i hold the edge in the majority of criteria categories against the first-team out UC Irvine.