- The better-seeded team will be the home team during the first game each team plays in the tournament.
- If both teams that were the road team (or home team) in their first game face each other in their first winners bracket/losers bracket game, a tournament director or umpire will flip a coin with both teams present to determine who is the home team as soon as the matchup is finalized.
The rest of the “who’s home” rules are in full below, in order of priority.
1. The institution that has been the home team the fewer number of times in that particular tournament.
2. If the two teams are equal in this respect but unequal in the number of times they were the visitor, then the team that has been the visitor more often will be designated the home team.
3. If the two teams are equal in the number of times that they have been home and visitor, the games committee or the NCAA game representative shall observe the following procedures in the order stated:
a. If the two teams have met previously in that particular tournament, the visitor in the previous game shall be the home team in the game in question
(Exception: If two teams are left where both teams have been the home team twice, the fifth game will be determined by a coin flip);
b. The team that was visitor in its preceding game shall be the home team, unless both teams were visitors in their preceding games; or
c. If the above procedures do not resolve the matter, the home team shall be determined by coin flip. The higher seeded team can determine whether they will call the coin toss, or defer the call to their opponent.
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