Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: Skyler Coblentz
NCAA considers expanding tourney field
7/27/2022 9:13:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Committee agrees to 12 bids for 2024, goes to vote in spring
The NCAA men's volleyball tournament field could be expanded from seven teams to 12 teams for 2024 if the Division I Competition Oversight Committee's recent recommendation is voted into existence next spring.
A 12-team field could have changed the Grand Canyon program's fortunes in recent seasons. GCU finished last season ranked 11th in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, where head coach Matt Werle's Lopes also ended the season 10th in 2021 and 11th in 2020. The proposed 12-team field would include six automatic bids and six at-large selections.
The move requires a NCAA Division I budget process and vote, but the committee wrote that it "supported the expansion in concept – given the growth in sponsorship and how the increase to 12 teams would keep the sport in line with the bracket access percentages that have been central to the review of recent bracket considerations."
The number of participating NCAA programs, which combines Division I and II, has grown from 48 teams in 2018 to 62 teams for the coming season. Volleyball is growing at the high school boys level with Utah, Ohio, South Carolina and Indiana adding the sport at the high school level next year.
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A 12-team field could have changed the Grand Canyon program's fortunes in recent seasons. GCU finished last season ranked 11th in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, where head coach Matt Werle's Lopes also ended the season 10th in 2021 and 11th in 2020. The proposed 12-team field would include six automatic bids and six at-large selections.
The move requires a NCAA Division I budget process and vote, but the committee wrote that it "supported the expansion in concept – given the growth in sponsorship and how the increase to 12 teams would keep the sport in line with the bracket access percentages that have been central to the review of recent bracket considerations."
The number of participating NCAA programs, which combines Division I and II, has grown from 48 teams in 2018 to 62 teams for the coming season. Volleyball is growing at the high school boys level with Utah, Ohio, South Carolina and Indiana adding the sport at the high school level next year.
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