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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 nine 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.
Off the Block is in its 14th season of providing college men’s volleyball bracketology.
NCAA Tournament projections (April 26)
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 Hawai’i vs. No. 7 seed Princeton/Saint Francis
No. 3 seed UCLA vs. No. 6 seed Mount Olive
No. 4 seed Loyola vs. No. 5 seed USC
Last four out
UC Irvine (21-7)
McKendree (20-8)
Lincoln Memorial (24-1)
BYU (19-10)
Quick breakdown: UCLA losing in the MPSF Tournament has completely altered the bracketology and significantly dashed the Big West hopes of getting both at-large bids. Those hopes were then further dashed with UC Irvine losing in the Big West Tournament semifinals. UCLA holds the advantage over UC Irvine for the final at-large bid in almost every significant bracketology criteria category – head-to-head, KPI, RPI and record versus teams under NCAA Tournament consideration. The Anteaters continue to hold the No. 1 strength of schedule in the nation, but that likely will not be enough to surpass the Bruins and their advantage in all the other significant categories. One of the largest uncertainties entering championship Saturday remains what teams will be played in the play-in match. The play-in match will likely be the NEC champion versus the EIVA champion or the ConfCarolinas champion versus SIAC champion Fort Valley State. The finals that will have the biggest sway on play-in matchup will be the ConfCarolinas Tournament finals between Mount Olive and Belmont Abbey. Mount Olive has the best RPI and KPI rankings of any team in the NEC, EIVA, ConfCarolinas and SIAC. A Trojans win could help the SIAC and ConfCarolinas avoid the play-in match.