A Mixture of Team Origins in May Madness Men's 7s Bracket
A Mixture of Team Origins in May Madness Men's 7s Bracket
NCR announced the 32-team bracket for the May Madness 7s Men's competition.
A graphic representation of the bracket can be seen above, or in a larger form here>>
The bracket is a big mixture of teams with success throughout the college landscape, as well as some newer programs trying to make an impact. Indiana comes in as one of the top seeds after winning pretty much everything they've entered. Mount St. Mary's, after winning the Chesapeake series, is another team with big plans.
Lindenwood, which won this tournament last year, is back for another go, while Kutztown is the top seed in their portion of the bracket after winning the NCR qualifier in Massachusetts in April.
There are some dark horses, too. Notre Dame College came up with some good showings and if they start well their Round of 16 meeting with (probably) Dartmouth could be a good one. Iowa State vs Louisville is a first-round of conference champions and one of those will be targeting Kutztown. Army vs Air Force in the first round is another worth looking at. Notre Dame could surprise and so could Wheeling.
The tournament itself will be a straight bracket format, with the winners moving on in the Cup Competition and the losing teams being funneled to the consolation brackets. For the bracket of first-round losing teams, the teams on the short end of Louisville vs Iowa State, Notre Dame vs Clemson, and Army vs Air Force could be ones to watch.
This is a bit of a catch-all bracket. Of the 32 teams, nine played in DIA 15s conferences, while eight played either in independent conferences or just on their own in an independent schedule. Seven played D1AA under NCR and five played in NCR's D1 competition. Two are DIAA under American College Rugby, and one is a D2 team.
The May Madness 7s kicks off in New Orleans May 28 and finishes off May 30.
