This year's tournament will be a little different; kind of a blend between the normal tournament and the one in 2013. That year, the Cardinals made it to Salem, but got to play twice there with the Elite Eight and Final Four being played there before going onto Atlanta, where all three divisions played for their respective national titles on the same weekend. We have a similar situation this year, with the Elite Eight and Final Four being played in Fort Wayne, Indiana (where the Final Four and title game were hosted last year) before again going on to Atlanta. But instead of one game a week for three weeks, we're keeping the usual first and second round pods, then staggering the eight third round games between Friday and Saturday next weekend.
With North Central's loss, they were waiting with bated breath for their tournament fate... and that may be a little dramatic, because most of the experts had the Cardinals fairly safely into the field of 64. As far as I can tell, they were in fact safely in. But I think just about everyone within the program was shocked at this announcement around noon today.
