IRVINE, Calif. — The Hawaii men’s volleyball team in the Big West Conference tournament final.
The lone question remaining after to Long Beach State at Bren Events Center is where will the Rainbow Warriors play next?
That will be answered at 10 a.m. when the NCAA Selection Show is broadcast on NCAA.com.
The NCAA Tournament format is different this year, with a record 12 teams making an appearance.
Seven league champions and five at-large berths will make up the tournament, which will begin with four three-team regionals.
The NCAA has not disclosed a lot of information on how the regional seeding will go. Hawaii (27-5), which began the week ranked No. 2 in the AVCA poll and KPI rankings, and No. 1 in the RPI rankings, will finish in the top four of every ranking out there despite losing to the Beach in five sets.
Hawaii will receive an at-large berth. The only question is where it will play.
“Stan Sheriff Center,” was the simple reply from Hawaii coach Charlie Wade when asked where he expects to be playing next week.
No. 1 UCLA won its ninth Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship on Saturday, beating No. 6 Southern California in four sets.
Long Beach State, ranked No. 3 in the AVCA poll, defeated No. 2 Hawaii in five sets but had already lost twice to the Rainbow Warriors during the regular season.
No. 4 Pepperdine and No. 5 UC Irvine lost in the semifinals of their conference tournaments.
No. 7 Ball State swept No. 10 Loyola Chicago to win the MIVA championship and No. 16 Penn State won the EIVA championship with a sweep of unranked Princeton.
The top six teams in the country in the AVCA poll, and nine of the top 11, are teams that play in the West Region.
The question is how the NCAA will seed its 12-team bracket.
“I think we’re all interested to see what the committee is going to do with the bracket,” Wade said Saturday. “I think that we’re in a strong position to not only get an at-large bid but host, but we’re all going to be waiting to see what the committee does. Our guys know we have a chance to win a national championship and I think we’re going to stay focused to show up next week ready to compete.”
The four regionals will consist of three teams. Two teams will play, with the winner facing the seeded team in the regional for a berth in the NCAA Final Four.
It is not a given that the regional host is also the seeded team.
The Final Four will take place May 9 and 11 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Hawaii won the national title in 2021 and ’22, followed by the Bruins in ’23 and ’24. The Beach are looking to become the seventh consecutive team to repeat as national champion going back to UC Irvine’s consecutive titles in 2012 and ’13.
“Hopefully we have three teams, if not four teams, going to the NCAA Tournament,” Long Beach State coach Nick MacRae said about the Big West after Friday’s semifinal win over UC Irvine.