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The regular season is coming to a close and there continues to be chaos in the bracketology as Selection Saturday gets closer.
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 Saturday on May 2.
The NCAA Tournament will begin with the two play-in matches on May 5 in Palo Alto, California. In addition, the NCAA Tournament semifinals and finals will take place May 7-9 in Palo Alto.
PROJECTED NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD
LAST FOUR OUT
Pepperdine (22-4)
Ohio State (21-6)
USC (16-8)
UC Santa Barbara (16-9)
Quick breakdown: UC Irvine had the biggest movement in the latest projections as it jumped ahead of Loyola for the No. 3 seed. The Anteaters after moving ahead the Ramblers in RPI earlier this week now hold the advantage in the majority of selection criteria categories. However, the race between these two teams remains close for a possible at-large bid, and the lead could change again before the start of the postseason. Pepperdine remains the first team out of the NCAA Tournament. The Waves to get an at-large bid will likely need to win their regular season finale and reach the MPSF Tournament championship match, unless a team ahead of them loses in the final weekend of the regular season or in the conference tournament quarterfinals. In addition, no team entering the final week of the regular season can be assured of an at-large bid if it loses any of its remaining matches.