Selection Sunday was certainly memorable.
Check out the top 10 historical stats and tidbits about the seeding and at-large bid selections for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
– Penn State at No. 2 had the highest RPI ranking of any team to not make the NCAA Tournament since men’s volleyball started using the RPI in 2015.
– While the national coaches poll is not part of the selection committee criteria, Penn State is the first team to be ranked No. 2 in the poll at the time of Section Sunday and not reach the NCAA Tournament since UC Irvine in 2011.
– This is the second consecutive year an at-large bid has received the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Before Long Beach State this season and Hawai’i last season, the last at-large bid to receive the top seed was Lewis in 2015.
– The last time Long Beach State earned the No. 1 seed also was the last time the NCAA Tournament was played at Pauley Pavilion. Long Beach won that NCAA Tournament – the first of its two consecutive national championships.
– The No. 2 seed is the highest seed Ball State has ever received in its 16 NCAA Tournament appearances.
– Ball State last reached the NCAA Tournament in 2002. This 20-year gap between NCAA Tournament appearances is the third longest gap for a program in the nation. George Mason holds the record with a 38-year gap with NCAA Tournaments in 1988 and 2016.
– The match between Pepperdine and UCLA marks the first time since 2011 that two conference opponents will play each other in a NCAA Tournament first-round match.
– Pepperdine is the lowest seeded MPSF champion in the NCAA Tournament since the event expanded from four teams in 2014.
– Princeton is the first school to make multiple appearances in the NCAA Tournament play-in match. The team defeated Barton in 2019, which was the second year the NCAA added the play-in match.
– North Greenville will be the fourth ConfCarolinas school to compete in the last four NCAA Tournament play-in matches.