Eyes don’t lie.

In a departure from the data-driven selection process that has prevailed since the adoption of the ratings percentage index, the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse committee leaned more heavily on what college coaches saw between the lines.

They looked at Rutgers and Loyola and saw two teams that deserved to keep playing in May.

The NCAA tournament bracket (below) was unveiled Sunday night on ESPNU. ACC co-champions North Carolina and Duke earned the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, while undefeated Big Ten champion Maryland got the No. 3 seed.

Virginia, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Denver and Lehigh also were seeded.

“The coaches took care of the eye test for us,” committee chair Tim Leonard said on the selection show.

THE BRACKET #NCAAMLAX https://t.co/lPLnlPzxaB pic.twitter.com/3ihp7zM6os

— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) May 10, 2021

Given the unreliability of the RPI this season due to schedules restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Leonard relied more heavily on the input of the regional advisory committee as well as feedback from the two coaches (North Carolina’s Joe Breschi and Hobart’s Greg Raymond) on the selection committee.

“A lot more subjectivity than ever before,” Leonard said. “We knew going in that it was going to be that way. It’s not something we liked, to be in that position. You would like to have as much objective data as possible. … What we looked at was trying to determine what were quality wins and who really tested themselves.”

Eight teams in the 16-team bracket qualified automatically as conference champions. The ACC, including unseeded Syracuse, soaked up five of the eight at-large berths. Denver, the Big East runner-up to Georgetown, took another bid off the board.

According to the calculus of US Lacrosse Magazine’s Patrick Stevens, that left three teams —Army, Loyola and Rutgers — for two spots.

Rutgers received its first NCAA tournament invitation since 2004 despite a relatively weak RPI, a loss to Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten semifinals and the fact that none of its eight wins came against a team with a winning record. Maryland and Rutgers were the only Big Ten teams with winning records, minimizing opportunities to bolster their RPI in a conference-only season.

Loyola bowed out from the Patriot League championship game Sunday due to a positive COVID-19 test among its Tier 1 personnel — a group that includes players, coaches and medical and equipment staff — but received an at-large bid on the strength of its late-season performance that included wins over Georgetown, Navy and Army.

Their selections came at the expense of Army, which lost to Loyola in the Patriot League semifinals but will no doubt generate snub talk given their top-10 RPI and wins over two teams (Syracuse and Loyola) in the field.

“That Army one was so, so tough,” Leonard lamented.

Leonard also acknowledged that seeding Maryland at No. 3 could raise eyebrows considering its undefeated record.

“Here’s an undefeated Maryland team with one of the best players in the country (Jared Bernhardt), yet we’re going to say they’re No. 3,” Leonard said. “But when you look at what North Carolina and Duke did, they really went out there and had some tests and did a tremendous job with it. … Maryland is a great team. It’s just hard to tell how great they were based on the schedule they played.”

NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S LACROSSE TOURNAMENT

HEMPSTEAD (N.Y.) QUARTERFINAL BRACKET

Chapel Hill, N.C.
(1) North Carolina (11-2) vs. Monmouth (8-2)
Saturday 12 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Charlottesville, Va.
(8) Lehigh (10-1) vs. Rutgers (8-3)
Saturday 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

College Park, Md.
(5) Georgetown (12-2) vs. Syracuse (7-5)
Saturday 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Charlottesville, Va.
(4) Virginia (10-4) vs. Bryant (9-3)
Sunday 12 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

SOUTH BEND (IND.) QUARTERFINAL BRACKET

College Park, Md.
(3) Maryland (12-0) vs. Vermont (9-4)
Sunday 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Denver, Colo.
(6) Notre Dame (7-3) vs. Drexel (10-2)
Saturday 5 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Denver, Colo.
(7) Denver (12-4) vs. Loyola (9-5)
Sunday 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Chapel Hill, N.C.
(2) Duke (12-2) vs. High Point (8-5)
Sunday 5 p.m. ET (ESPNU)