2021 NCAA Championship Bracket Breakdown

The 2021 NCAA Championship bracket was set this past Sunday with 32 automatic qualifiers and 32 at-large bids. Here’s your primer on the selection process and a highlight on the 8 teams featuring some of your favourite Canadian student-athletes.

To grab the highly desired AQ bid, teams must either win their conference outright or win their conference tournament, if applicable. All of the Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, ACC and SEC) do not host a conference tournament so teams must win outright or rely on the selection committee to call their name on Selection Sunday. To get one of the 32 at-large bids, a committee looks at each team’s RPI ranking, win-loss records, strength of schedule, significant wins and losses, along with some considerations for student-athlete availability. In order to qualify for an at-large bid, teams must finish their overall season at 0.500 win percentage or higher. Teams are often placed in regions that would minimize the amount of travel they must do to go to their first and second round locations. 

This year, 8 teams are featuring Canadian student-athletes who get their shot at an NCAA National Championship title. With no surprises, the Wisconsin Badgers and Anna Smrek take the highest ranked seed amongst the Canucks at #4. Wisconsin will take on Colgate at home in the UW Field House. Also in their regional is Texas Tech, at-large bid selections from the Big 12, and Florida Gulf Coast University, the tournament champions of the ASUN conference. 

The only other team receiving a coveted top 16 ranking is the Washington Huskies, featuring Emoni Bush. The Huskies were dubbed champions of the Pac-12 with a 17-3 conference record. As a result, they will host Brown University for their first trip to the big dance since 1998. Also in the Washington Regional will be Hawaii, winners of the Big West Conference and home to fellow Canadian Tiffany Westerberg, and at-large bid selection out of the SEC, Mississippi State, who are going dancing for the first time in program history. 

Two other Canadians and their teams picked up automatic qualifier bids this season. The Fairfield Stags and Nya Jones won the MAAC to take their 5th trip to the NCAA in 7 years. They will take on the at-large UCLA Bruins in the first round in California, along with West Coast Conference at-large bid Pepperdine and the American Conference Champions from the University of Central Florida. 

The University of Northern Colorado, featuring Grad Transfer Mimi Dunda, shocked the Big Sky by winning their conference tournament and booking their ticket to the NCAA First Round. The Bears from Greeley, CO will travel to take on the at-large Cougars of Washington State from the Pac-12 in Waco, TX. Host team, Baylor, will take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi in their first round match. 

3 more Canadian studded teams picked up at-large bids from this year’s selection committee. Runners up in the West Coast Conference, San Diego will make their 12th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Toreros, featuring Senior Laura Madill, will take on the Rice Owls in the first round at the home of the Texas Longhorns in Austin, TX. Texas will host Sacred Heart, champions from the Northeast Conference, in their first round matchup and should San Diego win their first round, will likely take on the #2 seeded Longhorns in the tournament for their second round game. 

Also locking down an at-large bid at the Tar Heels of North Carolina, out of the ACC. Parker Austin and her team will travel to Ohio State to take on the Volunteers of Tennessee, fellow at-large selection from the SEC, in their first found match. Ohio State will take on the Howard Bison, tournament champions from the MEAC, in their first round matchup. If the Tar Heels can make it through the Vols, they will likely take on the #9 Buckeyes in a second round competition. 

Last but not least, the Iowa State Cyclones managed to pick up an at-large bid this season out of the Big 12. Defensive Specialist Julia Capone and her teammates will travel to Minnesota to take on at-large bid winners from the Pac-12, Stanford, in a tough first round matchup in Minneapolis. Should they make it through the Cardinal, the Cyclones will play the winner of South Dakota, winners of the Summit League, or #12 Minnesota from the Big 10 in the second round of the tournament. 

The NCAA Tournament is an exciting time for volleyball fans around the world, so stay tuned for an NCAA year-end wrap up to check in on all of our Canadian student-athletes in the South and tournament updates as we get closer to the National Championship match on December 18, 2021.