If you are in need of a little Monday motivation after what I hope was a rockin' relaxing Thanksgiving, then look no further. In case you missed it, yesterday the bracket for the post-season tournaments were revealed and we've tracked down some of the amazing videos that show teams reactions as well as articles that explain how the committee made the decision on the last four teams into the NCAA Division I National Championship Tournament. And did you know there is a second post-season tournament?
Reactions
Kinda like Christmas morning, but for volleyball and in November.
That feeling when you find out you’re heading to the @NCAAVolleyball Tournament... pic.twitter.com/lqwF7Td5kU
— Wolfpack 🏐 (@PackVball) November 27, 2017
We're heading to the Bay this week to rematch with Michigan on Friday. #PointRams #NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/Q8BREv4ujU
— CSU Rams Volleyball (@CSUvolleyball) November 27, 2017
Pure joy.
— Go Beavs (@BeaverAthletics) November 27, 2017
That's the best way to describe the emotion for @BeaverVBall when they were selected to the NCAA Tournament field. #GoBeavs #NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/CJPT5cLqTI
We're in. We're hosting. We're ready. We're too excited to sleep.#GoJays #ContinueTheClimb #NCAAvb @NCAAvolleyball pic.twitter.com/UXl6ZE5hdn
— Creighton Volleyball (@CreightonVB) November 27, 2017
Let the party begin.#ILLINI #NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/SFPfD46D6q
— Illini Volleyball (@IlliniVBall) November 27, 2017
#NCAAVB vibes! Your Utes will host the first two rounds of the tournament! First round on Sunday at the Huntsman Center! pic.twitter.com/hlPaLYdIaP
— Utah Volleyball (@UtahVolleyball) November 27, 2017
Analysis
Chair Lisa Peterson explains some of the difficult decisions the NCAA selection committee had to make: https://t.co/cCJaYOK4SL #NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/AHVxByOhGB
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 27, 2017
SEC with two of the top four seeds in the #NCAAVB tournament. https://t.co/uEL4uO72nv
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 27, 2017
Let's break down the bracket! #NCAAVB https://t.co/aETeYFDnF6
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 27, 2017
Brackets
Let’s start with the automatic bids. Of the 64 bids to the NCAA tournament, 32 of them are handed out to the conference champions around the country. But, this means different things to different conferences because some have end-of-the-season-winner-take-all tournament and some don’t.
NCAA Tournament Automatic Bids
America East : Stony Brook
American Athletic : Wichita State
Atlantic 10 : VCU
Atlantic Coast : Louisville
Atlantic Sun : Kennesaw State
Big 12 : Texas
Big East : Creighton
Big Sky : North Dakota
Big South : Radford
Big Ten : Nebraska
Big West : Cal Poly
CAA : James Madison
Conference USA : Western Kentucky
Horizon : Cleveland State
Ivy League : Princeton
MAAC : Fairfield
MAC : Miami-OH
MEAC : Howard
MVC : Missouri State
Mountain West : Colorado State
Northeast : LIU Brooklyn
OVC : Austin Peay
Pac-12 : Stanford
Patriot : American
SEC : Florida
Southern : ETSU
Southland : Central Arkansas
SWAC : Alabama State
Sun Belt : Coastal Carolina
Summit : Denver
West Coast : San Diego
Western Athletic : CSU Bakersfield
Wait! What about that other post-season tournament?
The name of this tournament is the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) and while many people have probably never heard of this tournament (myself included), this tournament was originally played from 1989-1995. Similar to the WNIT and NIT events in college basketball, the NIVC will give many talented players and teams a chance to play for a postseason title.
All matches are hosted by participating schools and every round is single elimination. The field and bracket will be announced after the NCAA selections although more than 110 teams have already been contacted and many have shown interest.
The 2017 tournament will be a 32 team pool where a team is offered an automatic berth into the tourney when it is the highest-finishing team in its conference regular-season standings and is not selected for the NCAA tournament. And if a conference’s automatic qualifier team declines the invitation, the conferences bid is added to the at-large.
