In just a week, the NCAA will announce the 64 teams set to participate in the 2016 NCAA Volleyball Tournament in a selection show on ESPNU. Who’s in and who’s out? Here’s our best guesses at the national championship field if the season ended today.
Selection Procedures
The winner of each of the NCAA’s 32 Division I conferences is guaranteed a berth in the tournament. From there, 32 at-large teams are chosen to fill out the 64-team bracket. The top 16 schools overall are given seeds.
Conference Champs
Here are the current leaders of each conference. Those in bold have already won conference titles, while those not in bold are the current leaders. Below the table, we’ve got an explanation of how each of the 10 still-undecided conferences are shaping up.
| Conference | Champ |
| ACC | UNC (25-3) |
| Big Ten | Nebraska (26-1) |
| Big 12 | Kansas (24-2) |
| Pac-12 | Washington (24-4) / UCLA (23-5) |
| SEC | Kentucky (22-6) |
| America East | New Hampshire (20-10) |
| American | SMU (23-7) |
| Atlantic 10 | Dayton (30-1) |
| Atlantic Sun | Lipscomb (22-7) |
| Big East | Creighton (24-6) |
| Big Sky | North Dakota (26-9) |
| Big South | High Point (23-9) |
| Big West | Hawaii (22-5) |
| CAA | James Madison (20-10) |
| C-USA | Western Kentucky (30-2) |
| Horizon | Cleveland State (25-5) |
| Ivy League | Princeton (19-4) |
| MAAC | Fairfield (28-5) |
| MAC | Northern Illinois (25-5) |
| MEAC | Howard (25-5) |
| Missouri Valley | Missouri State (25-7) |
| Mountain West | Boise State (24-6) |
| NEC | LIU Brooklyn (15-14) |
| Ohio Valley | Murray State (23-8) |
| Patriot | American (26-7) |
| SoCon | Samford (21-13) |
| Southland | Corpus Christi (24-7) |
| Sun Belt | Coastal Carolina (27-4) |
| SWAC | Alabama State (24-8) |
| Summit League | Denver (23-7) |
| WAC | UT Rio Grande Valley (21-13) |
| West Coast | BYU (26-3)/San Diego (24-4) |
The five major conferences do not hold conference championship tournaments. Neither do the AAC, Big West, Ivy League, Mountain West or West Coast Conferences, though the Big West, Ivy League and Mountain West already have a conference champion clinched.
ACC: The UNC Tar Heels are currently leading by two games over Florida State and Duke. North Carolina would have to lose both of its games this week (Wednesday vs Duke, Saturday vs Wake Forest) and have either Duke or FSU win out for the conference champ to change.
Big Ten: #1 Nebraska leads, but all three top teams (Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota) will play each other this week. Minnesota is currently third, but plays Nebraska Wednesday and Wisconsin Saturday, both at home.
Big 12: Kansas only needs to beat Baylor on the road this week to clinch. Texas could force a tie with a win over West Virginia and a Kansas loss.
Pac-12: Washington and UCLA are currently tied for the conference lead and will play – likely for the Pac-12 title – in Seattle Wednesday. Both teams also have a Saturday match. Stanford is one game back and needs some help to win the conference, while Oregon is two games back and would need an even more unlikely scenario.
SEC: The SEC could come right down to the wire, with Kentucky just a half-game ahead of Florida and Mizzou. The Gators have winnable matches against Auburn and Arkansas this week, Missouri gets Georgia and Tennessee, and Kentucky has only one match left, on the road at Tennessee. Texas A&M isn’t technically eliminated either, but would need to win out against LSU and Auburn, plus get a lot of help to win the SEC.
AAC: SMU controls its own fate in the American, with a one-game lead over Cincinnati. Temple is two games back, but does have a chance to close that gap with a win over SMU on Wednesday.
Big East: The Big East tournament begins Friday, with semifinal matches between top-seeded Creighton and #4 Seton Hall, plus #2 Marquette taking on 3-seed Xavier. The final is on Saturday between the winners of those two matches.
Missouri Valley: The hunt for the MVC title begins on Thursday with two quarterfinal matchups: Illinois State vs Southern Illinois and Loyola vs UNI. Top seeds Missouri State and Wichita State have byes until Friday, and the winners of those two semifinals meet Saturday for the conference title and the NCAA bid.
West Coast: The WCC title is also down to the final game of the season. BYU and San Diego are tied for the lead at 15-2 in the conference. BYU heads to Loyola Marymount while San Diego plays Pepperdine, also on the road. Wins for both will force a tie, as will losses for both. If one team wins and the other loses, the winning team earns the conference title.
Projected 64-Team NCAA Tournament Bracket
| Bid | Team |
| ACC | UNC (25-3) |
| Big Ten | Nebraska (26-1) |
| Big 12 | Kansas (24-2) |
| Pac-12 | Washington (24-4) / UCLA (23-5) |
| SEC | Kentucky (22-6) |
| America East | New Hampshire (20-10) |
| American | SMU (23-7) |
| Atlantic 10 | Dayton (30-1) |
| Atlantic Sun | Lipscomb (22-7) |
| Big East | Creighton (24-6) |
| Big Sky | North Dakota (26-9) |
| Big South | High Point (23-9) |
| Big West | Hawaii (22-5) |
| CAA | James Madison (20-10) |
| C-USA | Western Kentucky (30-2) |
| Horizon | Cleveland State (25-5) |
| Ivy League | Princeton (19-4) |
| MAAC | Fairfield (28-5) |
| MAC | Northern Illinois (25-5) |
| MEAC | Howard (25-5) |
| Missouri Valley | Missouri State (25-7) |
| Mountain West | Boise State (24-6) |
| NEC | LIU Brooklyn (15-14) |
| Ohio Valley | Murray State (23-8) |
| Patriot | American (26-7) |
| SoCon | Chattanooga (19-12) |
| Southland | Corpus Christi (24-7) |
| Sun Belt | Coastal Carolina (27-4) |
| SWAC | Alabama State (24-8) |
| Summit League | Denver (23-7) |
| WAC | UT Rio Grande Valley (21-13) |
| West Coast | BYU (26-3) / San Diego (24-4) |
| At-Large | Wisconsin (24-3) |
| At-Large | Texas (21-4) |
| At-Large | Washington (24-4) / UCLA (23-5) |
| At-Large | Florida (24-3) |
| At-Large | Minnesota (23-4) |
| At-Large | Stanford (19-7) |
| At-Large | Missouri (23-5) |
| At-Large | Michigan State (23-7) |
| At-Large | Oregon (19-8) |
| At-Large | Penn State (20-9) |
| At-Large | Michigan (21-9) |
| At-Large | Utah (20-9) |
| At-Large | BYU (26-3) / San Diego (24-4) |
| At-Large | Florida State (22-5) |
| At-Large | Ohio State (18-12) |
| At-Large | Purdue (17-12) |
| At-Large | Texas A&M (19-8) |
| At-Large | Kansas State (19-9) |
| At-Large | TCU (13-12) |
| At-Large | Washington State (20-10) |
| At-Large | Iowa State (16-9) |
| At-Large | Duke (21-7) |
| At-Large | Arizona (17-13) |
| At-Large | USC (18-11) |
| At-Large | Pitt (22-8) |
| At-Large | Baylor (21-9) |
| At-Large | Illinois (16-13) |
| At-Large | Marquette (23-7) |
| At-Large | UNLV (22-7) |
| At-Large | Wichita State (22-7) |
| At-Large | Miami (24-6) |
| At-Large | UNI (23-8) |
Seeding
| Seed | Team |
| 1 | Nebraska (26-1) |
| 2 | Wisconsin (24-3) |
| 3 | Minnesota (23-4) |
| 4 | Kansas (24-2) |
| 5 | Texas (21-4) |
| 6 | Florida (24-3) |
| 7 | UNC (25-3) |
| 8 | Washington (24-4) |
| 9 | UCLA (23-5) |
| 10 | BYU (26-3) |
| 11 | Missouri (23-5) |
| 12 | Stanford (19-7) |
| 13 | San Diego (24-4) |
| 14 | Michigan State (23-7) |
| 15 | Kentucky (22-6) |
| 16 | Hawaii (22-5) |
Last 8 In, First 8 Out
Here are the 8 bubble teams that made our cut, plus the next 8 highest-ranking teams in the NCAA RPI who didn’t make our projected tournament:
Last 8 In:
- Pittsburgh: a big win over UNC should be enough to sneak a bid
- Baylor: Could lock in a tourney spot by playing Kansas tough on Friday
- Illinois: Lots of solid wins within the Big Ten, including Michigan State, Purdue and Michigan. The Illini also took two sets from Stanford.
- Marquette: Key wins over tourney participants USC, Iowa State. Still in the hunt for the Big East title.
- UNLV: Beat conference champs Boise State, Corpus Christi
- Wichita State: Could lock in a spot or improve standing in the Big 12 tournament this week.
- Miami (OH): Key win over Mizzou this year. Was one match away from the MAC title.
- UNI: Some big wins over NCAA invitees, most notably potential SEC champs Kentucky
First 8 Out:
- #40 Cincinnati
- #47 Georgia Tech
- #48 Colorado State
- #49 Temple
- #53 UCF
- #55 Indiana
- #56 Alabama
- #57 Arkansas State
The official NCAA Selection Show takes place on Sunday, November 27 at 9 PM Eastern. You can tune in on ESPNU, or stay tuned to Volleymob.com for updates on the tournament roster.
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