2024 Pre-Championship Manual

The NCAA Volleyball Pre-Championship Manual has been released. You can find in that link but I have also linked it within the FAQ Page, which needs some updating. This manual covers everything you need to know about our NCAA Tournament and the people and processes behind it. I like to compare the manuals from year-to-year to see what has changed. This is probably the biggest change that has occurred to the manual since I’ve started doing this. Here are the high-level changes:

• We have a new cover!

• The Region IX Chair is now Matt Hill of Northwestern.

• The section that contained the Regional Advisory Committees (RAC) has been deleted. The manual no longer lists the RAC members. (More below.)

• The published rankings, which will be based on the NCAA Power Index (NPI), will be on October 30^th, November 6^th and November 13^th.

• The deadline for submitting hosting materials is November 8^th.

• Selection day is November 17^th.

• Online selection show with the entire bracket will be November 18^th at 11:30 am Central.

• The final published NPI rankings will be November 18^th.

• Regionals will be November 21^st through the 23^rd.

• Elite 8 (championship) will be December 4^th through the 7^th. Once again, Thanksgiving week and weekend will be skipped.

• The manual has an incorrect time for the first practice session. It’s listed as 11:30 pm and should be am.

• There is another error (I believe) in section 2-2 where the manual covers Regional Rankings. The wording didn’t change so it still says the rankings will be recommended by the RACs and those recommendations could be changed by the Volleyball Committee. I believe this is incorrect. The rankings are based on NPI and NO ONE can change the rankings.

• Michelle Watsky is given a mention in this section. She’s awesome!

• Section 2-3 no longer talks about Pool B and Pool C bids. Pool B bids have been eliminated. Pool C is now only referred to as at-large bids.

• Collegiate Conference of the South has been added to the Automatic Qualifier (AQ) or Pool A list.

• Conference of New England has been added to the AQ or Pool A list.

• Commonwealth Coast Conference has been removed from the AQ or Pool A list.

• Section 2-4 (Selection Procedures) has been rewritten. (More below.)

• Appendix B covers the teams in each conference. This has been updated.

• Appendix C now lists the NPI parameters and weights. Previously it was used to explain the Strength of Schedule calculation.

The two areas I wanted to pontificate more on are the removal of the RAC information and the Selection Procedures (Section 2-4).

First off, what gives with the removal of the RAC information? Last year, the RAC for each region was detailed in Section 1-3. We knew the RAC Chairs and each member. Prior to this year, this was one of the most important committees because they dealt with the at-large bids. With NPI, that responsibility goes away but they are still important to ensure the regionals run correctly. I have to wonder if the RACs will be going away or not be staffed in the same way as they were in the past.

The big change was the move from selection criteria to NPI. Here is the exact wording from Section 2-4:

At-large teams will be selected using the NCAA Power Index (NPI), the system that houses the division’s statistical data and objectively applies the selection criteria to the data based on the sport committee’s established weighted criteria. NPI is a combination of the following: winning percentage; strength of schedule; home-away multiplier; quality win bonus; and overtime results (when applicable). Teams will be selected not later than Sunday, Nov. 17.

NPI will determine the at-large teams selected to the championship after the Automatic Qualifiers (AQ) have been designated. See Appendix C for the NPI weights and data procedures.

ALLOCATION OF BERTHS

The 64-team field will consist of two selection pools: AQs and at-large berths. AQ berths will be allocated to automatic qualifying conferences. The criteria for receiving automatic qualification are outlined in Bylaw 31.3.4 of the 2024-25 NCAA Division III Manual. At-large berths will be reserved for all remaining institutions not receiving an AQ.

DIVISION III SITE-SELECTION CRITERIA

The Division III Championships Committee has prioritized the site-selection criteria in the following order for Division III championships:

1. Protection of the top eight ranked teams in the bracket.2. Quality and availability of the facility and other necessary accommodations.3. Geographical location (including such factors as rotation of sites, weather conditions, accessibility and transportation costs).4. Attendance history and revenue potential, which shall be considered necessary to assure fiscal responsibility

Stepping through this, here is where I think there is an error.

• The NPI as implemented for volleyball does not use a home-away multiplier.

• I think it’s misleading to say that NPI uses strength of schedule. What we knew as SOS is not what this formula does.

You’ll notice that this section contains wording to protect the top 8 seeds. It’s also interesting to note that travel costs are the third priority when selecting a regional host.

Overall, a big cut/paste job with this manual but it’s still been changed the most I’ve seen since doing this exercise. It would be good to get clarification on the selection process being determined by NPI only.

Update – The NCAA updated the manual overnight to correct the errors I pointed out and correct one I didn’t – the number of at-large teams.