Juco Hoop Scoop Projected At-Large Recipients

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The NJCAA will be announcing the seeds and pairings as well as the 8 at-large teams added to this years championship in their live selection show scheduled for tonight (Sunday) at 6:00 PM CDT, online at NJCAATV. Which is about 35 minutes following this post.

The selection process was more difficult than in any of the previous years since the at-large format was introduce (2013). Mostly due to the covid concerns. Many regions/conferences imposed travel and opponents restrictions, while the NJCAA reduced number of game from 30 to 22. Several schools opted out of competition in 2021, and many schools had numerous games cancelled because of virus protocols. With so many teams not allowed to compete outside of their regions, it became more difficult to compare teams to those in other regions. And, beating the same 5-15 team three or four times isn’t really measurable regarding a team’s true worth.

Also, with only 7 ranked teams winning their districts and receiving automatic berths, that meant the other 9 districts had unexpected or truly upset winners. This makes the number of teams qualified to receive at-large bids a larger pool. There is probably 13-15 teams chasing 8 spots. Juco Hoop Scoop is projecting the following At-large selections for the 2021 tournament:

#1 South Plains College (17-2) – Region 5 – Southwest District

#3 Odessa College (20-2) – Region 5 – Southwest District

#5 Coffeyville CC (22-3) – Region 6 – Plains District

#17 Indian River SC (18-3) – Region 8 – South Atlantic District

#6 Indian Hills CC (21-3) – Region 11 – North Central District

#8 Trinity Valley CC (22-2) – Region 14 – Mid-South District

#13 Salt Lake CC (20-4) – Region 18 – Rocky Mountain District

#11 Pearl River CC (12-2) – Region 23 – Gulf District

There were several teams JHS felt like were duly qualified to receive invites. It might have been just as valid to have flipped a coin. Those teams included, Georgia HIghlands, Grayson College (TX), Hutchinson CC, Columbia State CC (TN), Florida SouthWestern State, Vincennes University (IN), Eastern Florida State, and possible even a couple others.

One thing that possiby clouded the at-large situation a little, is that #14 Tallahassee CC (FL) and #21 Harcum College (PA), were both unable to play in their respective region/district tournaments. This, according to NJCAA guidelines, makes them ineligible for National Tournament consideration. Both teams were strong candidates to have won their District Championships.

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