We will obviously have our deep dive coming out this weekend. However, we wanted to put this out today with our initial thoughts and reactions! It is important to emphasize that there will always be teams who get left out, who are really good teams. There are also always going to be teams who don’t agree with their seeding. At the end of the day, it is still going to be a GREAT tournament and no matter what you think of your draw, or your seeding, you get the chance to prove it on the court. No more analytics, no more “we play in the best league in the NAIA”, no more rankings and no more “we will bounce back from that loss”! March cares nothing about any of that. All that matters is the next game, because if you lose you go home. That is also what makes these games so great! For the most part, teams are playing teams they haven’t ever faced before. Assistants are frantically trying to get scouting reports on their matchup and those with deeper staffs are also working on advance scouts on the teams in their Pods. Everyone in the Championships is here for a reason. You overlook a team, and you go home! As we said, throw out the rankings and throw out your records and let’s settle it on the court!

The Bracket

Final Coaches Poll Breakdown

The seedings are always interesting to look at. Here is a breakdown of the final Coaches Top 25 Poll. We have added in the RPI Rankings, ARC Rankings and seeding for comparison.

Top 25 RankRPI RankARC RankTeamRecordSEED
13W1College of Idaho 30-11-seed Naismith
21W2Arizona Christian24-51-seed Liston
332SE3Union (Ky.)27-26-seed Cramer
42GL1Grace (Ind.)25-31-seed Duer
523SW1Langston (Okla.)29-22-seed Duer
69GL2Indiana Tech27-32-seed Liston
76MW2Oklahoma Wesleyan26-42-seed Cramer
84M21William Penn (Iowa)28-31-seed Cramer
813GL3Georgetown (Ky.)26-43-seed Duer
1016W3Montana Tech26-44-seed Cramer
1114NC1Jamestown (N.D.)25-63-seed Liston
1226MW3Kansas Wesleyan25-45-seed Liston
135SE2Faulkner (Ala.)26-53-seed Cramer
148SW2Florida College26-52-seed Naismith
1520GL4Huntington (Ind.)24-74-seed Naismith
1615GL6Indiana Wesleyan20-96-seed Duer
1722SW3LSU Shreveport (La.)24-75-seed Naismith
187NC2Morningside (Iowa)21-64-seed Liston
1912SE1Loyola (La.)24-63-seed Naismith
2043W5Antelope Valley (Calif.)25-28-seed Duer
2118GL5Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)23-85-seed Duer
2228MW4Southwestern (Kan.)25-67-seed Duer
2324SW4Iowa Wesleyan27-27-seed Liston
2421GL7Thomas More (Ky.)22-85-seed Cramer
2511W4The Master’s (Calif.)21-87-seed Naismith

The Field

ARC Breakdown

Great Lakes

Grace | 1-seed Duer

Indiana Tech | 2-seed Liston

Georgetown | 3-seed Duer

Huntington | 4-seed Naismith

Freed-Hardeman | 5-seed Duer

Indiana Wesleyan | 6-seed Duer

Thomas More | 5-seed Cramer

Rio Grande | 8-seed Cramer

Madonna | 9-seed Duer

Marian | 9-seed Cramer

IU Southeast | 12-seed Duer

IU Kokomo | 12-seed Liston

Shawnee State | 14-seed Cramer

Pikeville | 13-seed Naismith

Lourdes | 14-seed Duer

Bethel IN | 13-seed Duer

West

College of Idaho | 1-Seed Naismith

Arizona Christian | 1-seed Liston

Montana Tech | 4-seed Cramer

The Master’s | 7-seed Naismith

Antelope Valley | 8-seed Liston

Ottawa AZ | 7-seed Cramer

Hope International | 9-seed Naismith

Eastern Oregon | 12-seed Cramer

Southern Oregon | 15-seed Duer

Westmont | 13-seed Cramer

Corban | 16-seed Liston

Westcliff |16-seed Naismith

North-Central

Jamestown | 3-seed Liston

Morningside | 4-seed Liston

Dordt | 4-seed Duer

Olivet Nazarene 8-seed Duer

Mayville State | 11-seed Liston

Northwestern IA | 1-seed Duer

IU South Bend | 15-seed Liston

Saint Xavier | 16-seed Cramer

Concordia NE | 15-seed Cramer

Midwest

William Penn | 1-seed Cramer

Oklahoma Wesleyan | 2-seed Cramer

Kansas Wesleyan | 5-seed Liston

Southwestern KS | 7-seed Duer

Peru State | 6-seed Liston

Baker | 10-seed Cramer

Evangel | 10-seed Liston

MidAmerica Nazarene |

Columbia MO | 13-seeed Liston

Bethel KS | 14-seed Liston

Southwest

Langston | 2-seed Duer

Florida College | 2-seed Naismith

LSU Shreveport | 5-seed Naismith

Iowa Wesleyan | 7-seed Liston

Xavier | 8-seed Naismith

Texarkana | 11-seed Naismith

Wayland Baptist | 9-seed Liston

SAGU | 14-seed Naismith

Southeast

Loyola | 3-seed Naismith

Faulkner | 3-seed Cramer

Union | 6-seed Cramer

Tougaloo | 6-seed Naismith

Southeastern FL | 11-seed Cramer

St Thomas | 1-seed Naismith

Thomas | 12-seed Naismith

Life | 15-seed Naismith

Columbia International | 16-seed Duer

State Breakdown


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