Historical stats and tidbits to know from Selection Sunday

Photo courtesy of Long Beach State athletics

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.

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– 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.