The Men’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show will be live-streamed on Sunday on NCAA.com. The show will begin at 1PM Eastern Time, and will include the announcement of the two at-large selections for the tournament as well as the seeding for the whole tournament.
The top two seeds receive automatic places in the NCAA semi-finals, while the other four teams compete in play-in matches.
The four automatic bids go to the winners of the Conference Carolinas, EIVA, MIVA, and MPSF post-season tournaments. Conference Carolinas and the EIVA are likely to be one-bid leagues this season, which leaves the MIVA and the MPSF to fight for the two at-large spots.
Ohio State’s advancing to the MIVA title game, which will be played Saturday against Grand Canyon, should assure their spot in the tournament as the defending champions and #1 team in the country for much of the sseason.
If Ohio State wins, the selection is pretty clean: the 4 conference champions will go, as will 3 teams out of the MPSF: BYU, and whichever team among Hawaii and Long Beach State loses that conference’s title game.
If the Buckeyes lose on Saturday, however, that pushes them to an at-large spot (that Grand Canyon won’t receive if they lose), and puts a big monkey wrench into the works.
The committee will then have a decision to make as to whether RPI #1 BYU gets an at-large spot, or if Hawaii, who swept them 3-0 in the MPSF semi-finals, gets that spot. If Ohio State were to lose in the MIVA title game, and coaches’ poll #1 Long Beach State were to lose in the MPSF title game (meaning Hawaii gets an automatic bid), then the committee has still a tougher decision: to choose BYU for an at-large bid, or Ohio State, with Long Beach State presumed to be selected as the MPSF regular season champions.
This article will be updated with a link to the live-stream when it becomes available.
Scenarios Summary, with predicted outcomes:
- If Ohio State Wins the MIVA Title Game, then Ohio State goes as an automatic bid, and Long Beach State, BYU, and Hawaii go regardless of who wins the MPSF title game.
- If Ohio State Loses the MIVA Title Game, and Long Beach State wins the MPSF title game, then the committee is choosing among Ohio State, Hawaii, and BYU for 2 spots. We predict they would select Ohio State and BYU.
- If Ohio State Loses the MIVA Title Game, and Hawaii wins the MPSF title game, then the committee is choosing among Ohio State, Long Beach State, and BYU for 2 spots. We predict they would select Ohio State and Long Beach State.
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