The Collegiate Cup Selection Show will use the same format for each bracket, beginning with the 125-pound weight class. Using polling data and consultation from NCWA conference chairmen and coaches, the association’s staffers will first place the top 16 seeded wrestles into their standard positions in the 64-man brackets in each weight class.
The remaining field will then be drawn at random, as NCWA staffers draw names from envelopes in each class, and then draw the bracket position in a process similar to a televised lottery draw. The wrestlers will be placed into the field from top to bottom. Any pairings that result in first-round match-ups from the same conference will be re-drawn. Also, teammates will be required to be in separate quadrants of the brackets.
The first-round byes will then be slotted into the remaining spaces. Seeded wrestlers are not guaranteed first-round byes, and there will be no double-byes in the first round.
The NCWA coaches approved this format for bracketing the national tournament at last year’s Vision Forum. This the first time the NCWA has used this process for building its tournament field.
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