Bracketology: Off the Block’s latest NCAA Tournament projections

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 seven teams. Automatic bids are awarded to the winners of the Big West, ConfCarolinas, EIVA, MIVA and MPSF conference tournaments, and the NCAA men’s volleyball committee selects two teams for at-large bids.

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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 24.

The NCAA Tournament will begin with a play-in match and then two first-round matches. The top-two seeds will receive byes to the semifinals and will play the winners from the first round.

Off the Block is in its 11th season of providing college men’s volleyball bracketology.

PROJECTED NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD


FIRST-FOUR TEAMS OUT
UC Santa Barbara (15-6)
Loyola (15-7)
Grand Canyon (15-9)
Pepperdine (13-7)

Quick breakdown: Long Beach State continues to solidify the No. 1 overall seed following two victories against UC Santa Barbara during the weekend. It now has another chance to improve its bracketology as it plays host to a two-match series against Hawai’i starting Friday. Hawai’i is projected to earn the final at-large bid and has a large gap ahead of UC Santa Barbara, the first team out of the NCAA Tournament field. However, the Rainbow Warriors will need to at least split their road series against the Beach to maintain that gap. USC has plummeted three spots to the No. 5 seed after losing two of its last three matches. The Trojans continue to be in position for an at-large bid primarily because of their 4-2 record against teams under NCAA Tournament consideration. That winning record, though, hinges on UC Santa Barbara remaining in NCAA Tournament consideration. USC defeated UC Santa Barbara three times and its only other win versus a team under consideration was against Penn State.