Off the Block throughout 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, NEC 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 27.
Off the Block is in its 14th season of providing college men’s volleyball bracketology.
NCAA Tournament projections (April 20)
NCAA Tournament play-in match (for No. 7 seed)
Princeton vs. Saint Francis
NCAA Tournament quarterfinals
No. 1 seed Long Beach State vs. No. 8 seed Fort Valley State
No. 2 seed UCLA vs. No. 7 seed Princeton/Saint Francis
No. 3 seed Hawai’i vs. No. 6 seed Mount Olive
No. 4 seed UC Irvine vs. No. 5 seed Loyola
Last four out
USC (20-6)
McKendree (20-7)
BYU (19-9)
Lincoln Memorial (24-1)
Quick breakdown: A week away from Selection Sunday and there is still a ton of murkiness around the projections. The only thing set right now is Fort Valley State as the SIAC champions is in the tournament field, and Long Beach State will be in the tournament regardless of what happens in the conference tournament. The Beach holds an overwhelming advantage in every major selection criteria category and will be the first at-large bid selected if they lose in the Big West Tournament. The Big West also is in prime position to become the first three-bid conference since 2017 with both Hawai’i and UC Irvine making the NCAA Tournament. The Rainbow Warriors and Anteaters compared to the other projected at-large teams have a better KPI, RPI, strength of schedule, and record versus teams under NCAA Tournament consideration. The only two likely scenarios that would prevent the Big West getting both at-large bids is UCLA losing in the MPSF Tournament or Loyola losing in the MIVA Tournament. The Bruins hold the advantage over the Anteaters in nearly every category, including head-to-head. Loyola’s case for an at-large bid is not as likely but the team would merit consideration if it can surpass UC Irvine in the RPI or KPI. The biggest change to the NCAA Tournament this season is the addition of the NEC champion as an auto-bid and the field expanding to nine teams with an on-campus play-in match. The play-in will be a regional match-up and not a true No. 8 seed versus No. 9 seed match. In addition, the committee has the option to put the play-in match on any line of the bracket from the No. 5 seed to the No. 8 seed. The play-in match will likely be either Fort Valley State versus the ConfCarolinas champion or the EIVA champion versus the NEC champion. If Mount Olive wins the ConfCarolinas, it has better bracketology data than any EIVA or NEC team and could help trigger an EIVA versus NEC play-in match.