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| In what round does that potential Stagg Bowl rematch take place? North Central athletics file photo |
The bracket has been released! That's the last bit of drama left on Selection Sunday, since we already knew the at-large teams.
- Printable bracket file (updated!)
- NCAA flips bracket
- First-round schedule
- d3challenge.com: Take the Bracket Challenge
- Final NPI numbers
- Final regular-season Top 25
This bracket has the standard matchups: Trinity vs. UMHB, the SCIAC vs. the NWC. And it sets up Mount Union to potentially face John Carroll once again? It has a potential third game between Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor as potential in the second round, because only the first round is guaranteed to not have a conference rematch. Even though that would be HSU's first game, it is not guaranteed a different opponent.
And yes, as the NPI national seedings projected, Cortland and North Central could face off again in the national quarterfinals.
Endicott's NPI is high enough that they shouldn't have to play in the first round. But as compensation for having to play in that first round, they get to host the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, Alfred State, 5-5, the No. 40 seed and the 167th best team in NPI. Of course, in the second round, the winner goes to Cortland. The team that got a first-round game which NPI thinks it should not have, is Centre. Centre is the 31st seed, but got a bye while 21st-seeded Endicott did not, and this is because of geography. Similarly, TLU, the 26th seed, should not have a first-round bye, while Ursinus, the 24th seed, should have a bye but does not.
As we mentioned last night, Texas Lutheran did not file to host, but in addition, Lake Forest did not file either, feeling its facility did not live up to the requirements. The winner of the first-round game between Coe and Bethel will then host the second round game as well and Lake Forest will travel. And on Monday, the NCAA changed the hosting of the Bethel-Coe game. Since Bethel was the higher seed, it should have been the host all along, but the bracket was not corrected until Monday.
Here are the teams, ordered by their NPI and then listed with their overall seed. At-large teams are in bold.
| NPI | Team | Overall Seed |
| 1 | St. John's | 1 |
| 2 | Hardin-Simmons | 2 |
| 3 | Salisbury | 3 |
| 4 | Cortland | 4 |
| 5 | North Central | 5 |
| 6 | Mount Union | 6 |
| 7 | DePauw | 7 |
| 8 | Lake Forest | 8 |
| 9 | Hope | 9 |
| 10 | Springfield | 10 |
| 11 | Johns Hopkins | 11 |
| 12 | Wartburg | 12 |
| 13 | UW-Platteville | 13 |
| 14 | Mass-Dartmouth | 14 |
| 15 | Randolph Macon | 15 |
| 16 | Susquehanna | 16 |
| 17 | Carnegie Mellon | 17 |
| 18 | Linfield | 18 |
| 19 | Grove City | 19 |
| 20 | Hobart | 20 |
| 21 | Endicott | 21 |
| 22 | Aurora | 22 |
| 23 | Washington & Jefferson | 23 |
| 24 | Ursinus | 24 |
| 25 | Whitworth | 25 |
| 26 | Texas Lutheran | 26 |
| 27 | Berry | 27 |
| 28 | Bethel | 28 |
| 29 | King's | 29 |
| 30 | Coe | 30 |
| 32 | Centre | 31 |
| 33 | UW-La Crosse | 32 |
| 34 | Trinity | 33 |
| 35 | Mary Hardin-Baylor | 34 |
| 36 | John Carroll | 35 |
| 39 | Maryville | 36 |
| 54 | Pomona-Pitzer | 37 |
| 62 | Mt. St. Joseph | 38 |
| 81 | Northwestern (Minn.) | 39 |
| 167 | Alfred State | 40 |