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Off the Block each week throughout the rest of the regular season and during the postseason will unveil its latest detailed projections to the NCAA Tournament.
The men’s volleyball Division I-II NCAA Tournament is comprised of eight teams. Automatic bids are awarded to the winners of the Big West, ConfCarolinas, EIVA, MIVA, MPSF and SIAC conference tournaments, and the NCAA men’s volleyball committee selects two teams for at-large bids.
The five-person selection committee meets following all of the conference tournaments to decide the at-large teams and the tournament seeding. The field for the NCAA Tournament is scheduled to be released during Selection Sunday on April 21.
The NCAA Tournament will begin with all four quarterfinal matches on Tuesday, April 30 at Long Beach State.
Off the Block is in its 13th season of providing college men’s volleyball bracketology. To learn more about the NCAA Tournament selection criteria categories and to view the latest in-depth breakdown of how each team fares in the bracketology, click here.
NCAA Tournament projections
Last-four teams out
Hawai’i
BYU
Stanford
Loyola
Quick breakdown: No upsets in the MPSF Tournament semifinals have made the bracketology much less complex. UCLA and Grand Canyon removing the chance of any dark horse winning the MPSF automatic bid are now locks to make the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins will be the No. 1 overall seed regardless of the result of the MPSF Tournament finals, and Grand Canyon is projected to be the No. 3 seed based on its No. 2 ranking in the KPI and RPI. Long Beach State also is projected to make the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed regardless of how it fares in the Big West Tournament. The race for the final at-large bid remains tight between UC Irvine and Hawai’i with the two teams playing in the Big West Tournament semifinals tonight. UC Irvine continues to hold the advantage in the majority of criteria categories, including KPI ranking, RPI ranking and strength of schedule. Hawai’i, though, is 2-1 in the head-to-head category and can improve to 3-1 if it beats UC Irvine again tonight.