Possible bracket expansion from four teams to eight was the main agenda item during the NCAA Men's Volleyball Committee meeting July 18-20 in Indianapolis.

The championship bracket has been at four teams since the tournament's inception in 1970. Most recently, three teams have automatically qualified from the sport's regions. A fourth team is selected at large.

The Championships/Competition Cabinet asked the volleyball committee to submit a plan for expansion. The committee is strongly leaning toward having all eight teams compete at one site as opposed to four quarterfinals.

Committee members believe if all eight teams are invited to the finals site, the committee could seed all of them without regard to geographic proximity.

Members reasoned that a regional format wouldn't allow a true seeding process because the match-ups would depend too much on the geography, thus making it difficult to balance the bracket.

The cabinet will evaluate the committee's proposal in September. If approved, the earliest the eight-team bracket would be implemented would be 2007.

With bracket expansion a possibility, the committee is going to begin using regional advisory committees, a practice that hasn't been conducted in many years.

Each region will have a committee composed primarily of coaches who then provide feedback directly to national committee members.

The committee believes the regional advisory panels will improve that way teams are evaluated throughout the year. That process also lends itself to a rankings procedure throughout the regular season.

In other items, the committee discussed but did not take action on possible modifications to selection criteria. Committee members instead agreed to maintain a list of possible modifications to discuss if changes are warranted.