Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America College Blog | Fitt: Field Has Too Many Head-Scratchers

Jim Foster couldn’t have put it any better.

When informed that Oklahoma State won just two of its nine conference series and finished in ninth place in a 10-team league, but still earned an at-large regional bid, Rhode Island’s coach had some choice words for the Division I baseball committee.

"They should be locked up for that one," Foster said. "That’s a crime."

Foster’s Rams actually went 1-1 against the Cowboys in Stillwater back in March. URI also notched wins over Miami and Ohio State, part of a very solid nonconference schedule that boosted the Rams to 57th in the Ratings Percentage Index, according to warrennolan.com. To put that into context, it’s just two places below Southern Mississippi, which gets an RPI boost just by rolling out of bed in the Southeast. It’s much, much more difficult to build that kind of RPI as a New England team in the Atlantic 10 Conference—especially with a program that isn’t fully funded, with just 2.6 scholarships spread over the entire roster. But the Rams fell to Xavier in the finals of the A-10 tournament, and the committee chose not to reward them for their 37-win season.

"I thought we did enough," Foster said. "When you’ve got three starters like we do, and the story that we are, it’s just the right thing to do. I feel bad for the kids, because they worked their tails off to get there. They had some big wins. I know we didn’t get it done in the conference tournament, but that happens. I thought if we won a couple of games in the conference tournament, which we did, I thought that’d be good enough.

"But when they chose Oklahoma State in the Clemson Regional as a No. 3 seed, I knew we were in trouble. I just thought that was going to be the spot, and I don’t think (the Cowboys) even made their conference tournament. I figured it was something like someone from one of these big conferences was on the committtee."

Indeed, the committee chairman is Big 12 deputy commissioner Tim Weiser, who struggled to explain the rationale for including Oklahoma State and Baylor in the field of 64.

"Oklahoma State, no doubt, had some losses there in conference play that was a factor," Weiser said in a conference call with media this afternoon. "But we looked at the RPI issue, we looked at strength of schedule. We were aware of their conference success or failures, and all of that was compared to information we still had available."

Weiser repeatedly cited nonconference strength of schedule as a key factor in the committee’s deliberations—he even used it to justify Cal State Fullerton as the No. 2 national seed, even though it finished five games behind UC Irvine in the Big West and lost the head-to-head series against the Anteaters, who earned the No. 6 national seed (more on Irvine shortly). But the committee apparently did not place the same weight on the challenging nonconference slates put together by Rhode Island or Missouri State (which won a series at Oregon State in Portland, won a home series against inexplicable No. 2 regional seed Oral Roberts, and opened the year with a quality series at Middle Tennessee State, though it was swept there). And the Rams and Bears actually finished at or near the top of their conferences. But bad losses cost those mid-majors.

"I think our committee certainly considered those teams," Weiser said. "Twelve of the losses Rhode Island had were to teams rated above 100 in the RPI. Those are significant issues. Talking about Rhode Island, Missouri State, Eastern Illinois or Duke, those are all things we consider."

Rhode Island, Missouri State and Eastern Illinois have no choice but to play teams with poor RPIs because of their conferences and their locations in cold-weather climes. Is Rhode Island supposed to travel to Texas to play midweek games all year long the way Baylor and Oklahoma State can? Of course not.

Eastern Illinois was left out largely because of its RPI (69th). But like Rhode Island and Missouri State, the Panthers went out and challenged themselves in nonconference play, winning an early series against fellow mid-major regional contender Southeastern Louisiana, plus individual games against Oklahoma, Indiana, South Florida, Illinois and Indiana State. Eastern Illinois can’t schedule much better than that, and the Panthers certainly took care of business in the Ohio Valley Conference, going 14-4 to win the league by 2 1/2 games, even with star center fielder Brett Nommensen injured for the second half of the season. But EIU went just 0-2 in the conference tournament.

"Two things: The selection committee is telling baseball programs that four days, the conference tournament, is more important than three months of baseball," Panthers coach Jim Schmitz said in an e-mail. "It is also telling programs not in the power conferences around the country, no matter what you do you won’t make the NCAAs unless you win your tournament. Conference championships don’t mean anything anymore so why play the conference schedule? We should all play who we want to play during the year to help our RPI and win-loss record and then meet in Paducah for the OVC Tournament. The NCAA really failed this really good baseball team."

There were other major flaws in this year’s field of 64, which is constructed much more poorly than last year’s field. Some other thoughts:

• I made the case for Tulane over Southern Miss already, but here’s a recap: Tulane won its last six conference series, while Southern Miss lost its last four. Tulane won the head-to-head series at USM, though the Golden Eagles beat Tulane twice in the CUSA tournament. Still, Southern Miss leads the season series just 3-2 and all five games were played in Hattiesburg—that’s a wash. But Tulane also has a great series win against East Carolina, while USM did not win a series all year against a team that was even close to contending for regionals. Yet the Golden Eagles got in, and the Green Wave did not. Weiser’s explanation was predictable, and it’s exactly why I speculated last night that USM was probably more likely to get in, despite my field of 64 projection.

"We did have some head-to-head competition we could use," Weiser said, citing USM’s 3-2 edge against Tulane this year but failing to mention that all five games were in Hattiesburg. "We also knew the RPI was the difference between the two."

Still, both teams have much stronger cases than Baylor or Oklahoma State. I would have been fine with Tulane and Southern Miss getting in if Baylor and Oklahoma State were omitted in favor of Missouri State or Rhode Island. But the inclusion of the two Big 12 teams over Tulane really galled Green Wave coach Rick Jones.

"When you’re in one of the top six leagues in the country (as Conference USA is in the RPI), and you finish third in that league (in the regular-season standings, as Tulane did), and you have a win over Irvine and a win over LSU, and you win two games in your tournament, and we have two host teams out of our league—and we get left out for a team that can’t make its own conference tournament out of eight teams? I think there’s an issue there," Jones said. "I don’t think that’s fair."

• Weiser failed to explain how the committee members paired UC Irvine and Virginia in the Irvine Regional. The Cavaliers looked great winning the ACC tournament this week, beating three ranked teams in the process, and if you count the tournament, only one ACC team (Florida State) has won more games against ACC teams this year than Virginia (which has won 20). I didn’t think Virginia was a slam dunk to host because of its awful nonconference schedule, but when I saw that East Carolina was hosting, I figured Virginia has to go there as a No. 1 seed, because the Cavaliers have a superior resume to the Pirates at every turn—except one, and that’s Weiser’s favorite fig leaf, nonconference strength of schedule.

But even if you accept ECU as a top seed and Virginia as a No. 2, the Cavaliers must be considered one of the strongest No. 2 seeds. So how do they get shipped across country to play in a regional hosted by a national seed? And not just any national seed, but the team that has been the nation’s best just about all season long. And if that weren’t enough, Virginia must face San Diego State ace Stephen Strasburg in its opener, and the No. 4 seed in the regional is defending national champion Fresno State. Even though it needs to play a stronger nonconference schedule—a fact no one outside of coach Brian O’Connor seems to dispute—Virginia deserved better, and so did Irvine.

"I can’t disagree with you about it being a strong regional—I think it is," Weiser said. "It’s important for us to recognize that Virginia was sixth in the ACC (in the regular season, though the top six were separated by just 2 1/2 games—or half of Irvine’s margin of victory over Fullerton in the Big West). They had a triple-digit (ranked) nonconference schedule . . . They are a strong team; that is a strong regional."

• Rice and Florida State should have been national seeds, though at least decent cases can be made for Oklahoma and Florida. Even with its two best pitchers hurt for most of the season, Rice was 21-9 against the top 100 teams in the RPI, and it finished strong by winning the CUSA tournament. And Florida State won the regular-season ACC title and reached the finals of the conference tournament. We didn’t have time to ask Weiser about the national seed deliberations, as the conference call was cut off a half-hour before its scheduled conclusion, evidently so Weiser could catch a flight to see his son play in the Division II World Series in Cary, N.C.

• Some of the super regional pairings were screwy. It’s hard to see how Florida and Florida State aren’t paired, given geographic proximity and the fact that both teams rank in the eight to 10 range among No. 1 seeds, so that would be an equitable matchup as well as a logical geographic matchup. Instead, Florida State is paired with Oklahoma, and Florida with Georgia Tech. Weiser admitted that a desire to avoid repeating the traditional Florida-FSU matchup did play a part in the discussion here.

Far worse, though, is the committee’s decision to pair the Baton Rouge Regional with the Houston Regional. Both LSU and Rice should be national seeds, but barring that, Rice must be considered one of the strongest top seeds. That’s a harsh way to reward Louisiana State for winning the SEC regular-season and tournament crowns, as well as being unfair to Rice.

• In the end, there are just too many head-scratchers to overlook with this field. The way the committee snubbed deserving mid-majors like Rhode Island and Missouri State in favor of unworthy Big 12 bottom feeders, you get the feeling Weiser would be just fine getting rid of automatic qualifiers. Then all 10 teams from the Big 12 could play in regionals with all 12 SEC teams. Who needs mid-majors like Fresno State?

"It’s hard for me to say with 100 percent certainty that we got it right," Weiser said. "There’s always going to be questions. There are always going to be disappointments, and there are going to be teams that are disappointed. But unless we want to do away with automatic qualifiers, we’re going to be faced with this issue."

weiser should resign his post.

Posted by Randy McClain | May 25, 2009 at 3:44 pm | Shortcut

They really should put some like Aaron, or these other writers on the commmties. Seriously. Eastern Illons and Rhode Island. Should be there. But the majors conferences is where the money is. And At the end of that day. Thats where the money is. oh and Aaron loved the earlier Podcast Its nice when you have the freedom to say what you really think. I wish there was more that in sports media. All dough with Contracts and the money involed i undersatnd why theres not.

Posted by Mike | May 25, 2009 at 4:06 pm | Shortcut

How do you hold the committee accountable? Irealize there is some subjectivity with it all but should the committee hear from guys like Aaron b4 they finalize. Are committee memebers aware of what is happening in the sport. 8 teams out of 10 in a conference is just wrong. Even if OSU were to win a game or two it doesn’t make it right.

Posted by Gary Williams | May 25, 2009 at 4:13 pm | Shortcut

The last thing we need is a bunch of writers on the selection committee. The committee is a long way from perfect, and tweaks can always be made.

Tulane may have a beef, but it isn’t with Southern Miss. Tulane had two chances to finish Southern Miss off and didn’t get it done losing 15-2 and 3-1.

If you want to make an argument that C-USA is better than a three bid league, I can go along with that, but if it was Southern Miss vs. Tulane for the last bid, the two wins in the last four days iced it for Southern Miss.

Posted by Stewie | May 25, 2009 at 4:14 pm | Shortcut

there’s been a lot of head-scratchers over the years by the selection committee, but this year takes the cake. they had big mistakes in all aspects, whether it was snubbing at-large teams for terrible choices, messing up the national seeding, or giving teams questionable #1/#2 seeding. the worst bracket I’ve ever seen for college baseball.

Posted by Arthur | May 25, 2009 at 4:21 pm | Shortcut

Good article Aaron. The only way to explain Oklahoma a national seed + Baylor & Oklahoma St in the field of 64 is favoritism. You (and the other college baseball writers) did a much better job lining out the brackets — much more objective and fair.

Posted by Guy | May 25, 2009 at 4:22 pm | Shortcut

Weiser will say what he thinks are all the right things, but the bottom line is that money and politics are a factor and until someone in ‘power’ admits that, the selection committees will never get it right (see NCAA hoops & BCS). If I’m a player at Ok State or Baylor I know I got lucky and I’m laughing all the way to Friday.

Posted by Tommy | May 25, 2009 at 4:24 pm | Shortcut

If they’re going to go this route, not requiring anyone recuse themselves when their team or conference is up for discussion, they need to replace the committee with one made up of a commissioner or deputy commissioner from EACH conference and chaired by someone without a conflict of interest (like an NCAA official, a MLB GM, or [gulp] a sportswriter.

I give Fitt a lot of grief but he knocked it out of the park with this one. The committee has clearly decided that RPI is broken and shouldn’t be used — except when it helps teams that have no business playing into June who the committee members want to help.

OU as a national seed? What a joke. Definitely should have been Florida State or Rice. Shoot, better cases could be made for 14 of the 15 other hosts over OU.

And I love ECU and I’m glad they got to host — they put on a great product with great atmosphere — but yeah, they should have been a #2 host.

Wow.

Posted by texd | May 25, 2009 at 4:35 pm | Shortcut

JUST DONT CONTRADICT YOURSELF. WHEN YOU USE A TEAM THAT PLAYED FIVE GAMES ALL AT HOME AND TOOK THE SERIES THREE TO TWO THAT IS ESSENTIALLY A WASH, YET WHEN YOU HAVE RHODE ISLAND SPLIT FOUR GAMES AT OKLAHOMA ST., and with URI winning against Miami, NCState, and others whereas OK ST didnt even qualify for their own conference tourney and only won two series on the entire conference season whereas URI went 25 and 6 in conference even though, yes, they lost their conference tourney. THE EDGE THEIR CLEARLY EVEN A MENTALLY CHALLENGED PERSON COULD PICK URI. And it is not as if The Big 12 was among the elite conferences in the country as SEC and ACC took the top RPIs for Cionferences and thus deserved muliple teams. But how you can justify putting OK ST in over Mizzou St. AND URI and, if you want a big school, even Duke with the run they went on late.

Almost a bigger crime was taking a Baylor squad that had I believe 25 losses including 12 of their last 14. PLEASE ADMIT YOU WERE AFRAID OF THE GRIPING YOU WOULD GET FROM SCHOOLS WHEN YOU RETURNED TO YOUR CAPACITY IN THE BIG 12, which is ludicrous because if a team cannot qualify for its own MULTI-TEAM conference tourney it certainly has no business in the NCAA tourney. If you were running this thing last season Fresno State would have been cleaning out their lockers and turning in their equipment the day that the field was announced. i have no ties to URI, i am generally not a fan of Northern baseball (although BC and URI proved their merit this year, and historically Maine has done so as wel – but not this seasonl) … the only thing worse would have been if ND had used their significant clout (They practically own their own TV Network) and gotten The Irish into the field. I would have lost all faith in the system and say that you would be best going to the NCAA Hockey PWR pairwise where there is NO HUMAN INPUT and some teams get left out despite deserving a slot (i,e, UMASS-Lowell this season), but at least there is transparency and no back room secret Greek handshakes AND IF THAT IS NOT THE CASE AND JUST A RUMOR, allow cameras and mics in the room for transparency in baseball as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read and please respond,
Scott Martineau

Posted by scott martineau | May 25, 2009 at 4:53 pm | Shortcut

Year after year I ask, “why is there a committee working behind closed doors?” Year after year nothing changes. Come up with a power ranking, automatic bids if you must, choose the top 64, and no more politics.

Posted by Richard | May 25, 2009 at 4:58 pm | Shortcut

One of the biggest snubs has to be the San Jose Spartans. Granted they didn’t play an extremely difficult schedule, but for goodness sakes they went 41-20. Forty-one wins is alot, I don’t care who you play. This is coming from a player from a rival team within the WAC. SJSU would have represented our conference alot better than Fresno, as defending champs, will. I know they won the conference tournament, but they are only 3 games above .500 and up until the last weekend they were in danger of being the only team from the WAC not to make the conference tourney.

Posted by Justin | May 25, 2009 at 4:58 pm | Shortcut

Weiser is so full of ****. Can someone please provide a legitimate explanation for why UVA is punished for their OOC schedule??? They obviously played proved themselves in the toughest conference in the country week in and week out and they swept through the conference tournament to take the championship.

Yes they had a weak OOC schedule, but they absolutely dominated the schedule in front of them losing only a single game (23-1). That is an absurb winning percentage even against a weak schedule. It is not their fault the game with Coastal Carolina was rained out. UVA probably had a top 5 conference schedule in terms of strength. UVA schedule strength finished the year at 30 out of 302 teams!!! Why aren’t the 272 teams behind them punished for having a weak schedule? FSU had a SOS ranked 31st in he country. Why is no one talking about their schedule?? What about regional hosts Louisville (67), ECU (53), Arizona State (32), Ole Miss (28), UC Irvine (77), Oklahoma (36)???

Everyone knows the RPI rewards teams that play tough schedules, and UVA finished the year ranked 6th because their excellent winning percentage.

This committee is an absolute joke and it is so blatantly obvious the teams/conference that had representation on the committee took care of their own. It made perfect sense to send UVA to ECU if since they didn’t get a regional, but ECU committee representative made sure that didn’t happen.

All we can do now is go and try to beat Strasburg on Friday and Irvine on the weekend.

Posted by Mike | May 25, 2009 at 5:12 pm | Shortcut

If someone is so ignorant that they can’t see missing YOUR OWN CONFERENCE TOURNEY is grounds to not make the NCAA one, then asking them a reason is just an exercise in futility.

What an idiot.

Posted by Baseball common sense | May 25, 2009 at 5:44 pm | Shortcut

Weiser should step down or be forced out. Conference officials should not be on the selection committees. That is an obvious conflict of interests. By the way UC-Irvine had a high strength of schedule as well, & they got screwed big time. Pairing LSU’s regional with the Rice Regional was also horrible.

Posted by Christian M | May 25, 2009 at 6:32 pm | Shortcut

Weiser needs to resign.

Posted by Rich | May 25, 2009 at 7:28 pm | Shortcut

No we do not need Aaron Fitt as one of the people on the NCAA selection committe, thats the dumest thing ive ever heard. He’s good at writing stories and receiving phone calls about games coming out of the major conferencess.

Posted by Clay Cantler | May 25, 2009 at 7:43 pm | Shortcut

The women’s CWS bracket seeds the top 16 teams. I thought I read a few yrs ago men’s would go the same route? You’d see fairer matchups. But naming the unanimous #1 UC Irvine a # six seed shows their ability to screw up seedings too.

UC Riverside finished 4th, 12-12 in Big West, had a # 26 ISR, #28 SoS, #30 Massey Rating, #23 Massey Power Index Rating, #14 Massey Defense Rating… better than many, many lesser teams to get bids. The RPI is a meaningless metric… ranking them 77th.

Posted by PhxTitan | May 25, 2009 at 7:58 pm | Shortcut

For what it’s worth, Clay, I urge you to go back and read any one of my Weekend Previews from the season — they’re all very easy to find by mousing over the “COLLEGE” heading on the home page and clicking on “WEEKEND PREVIEW” in the menu that appears. I call coaches from small and mid-major conferences every single week, and every week I write substantive stories on them in Weekend Preview, often in the “Under the Radar”, “Streakin’”, “Stat of the Week” or “Marquee Mound Matchup” sections. Just want to make sure people are aware of the depth of coverage they can find here at Baseball America! We don’t write just about the major conferences — far from it.

Posted by Aaron Fitt | May 25, 2009 at 8:10 pm | Shortcut

The committee’s work is an embarrassment with Weiser the ringleader. I echo what others say. He should resign as this field of 64 is disgraceful.

Posted by Midwest fan | May 25, 2009 at 8:18 pm | Shortcut

The Citadel was snubbed more than anyone. Check the record. There aren’t 34 better teams in the country – never mind 34 at large bids. What a disgrace.

Posted by John Lee | May 25, 2009 at 8:44 pm | Shortcut

Mr Weiser should never consider a career in politics. He isn’t a very good liar and his explanations are shallow in content. …corrupt men on this board.If not, then just plain ignorant concerning the task they were being paid to perform. Disgraceful. Coaches lose their jobs over decisions like the ones made by Mr Weiser’s committee. Or the ones they fail to make.

Posted by bgessler | May 25, 2009 at 8:54 pm | Shortcut

It is very hard for Virginia to schedule a tough non-conference schedule. Name 2-3 schools good at baseball (not in the ACC) that are within a 6 hour bus ride from Charlottesville, VA? You CAN NOT use RPI as the excuse for Oklahoma St, and Baylor getting in and then not use it for giving the #6 team a better seeding than going to the regional with the #1 team in the country, playing Strasburg in game 1 (which no other team in that regional will have to do) and with the defending national champions (I dont care if they aren’t good, it is the 2nd year in a row Virginia has been matched up with the defending champs). I hope Virginia goes out there and flat out dominates.

Posted by Ronald | May 25, 2009 at 9:15 pm | Shortcut

I’m a UNC-Wilmington fan. We certainly didn’t do enough to get in. But look at the resume: 59 rpi, 48 sos, played 9 teams that made regionals with wins over Clemson, ECU, Elon, Kent State, G. Mason, Wright State, C of C…. The Baylor and Okla. St. picks are a joke…but also enough whining about Tulane, Duke, E.Illinios, Rhode Island, and The Citadel not getting in. They’re resume’s are no better. It’s a fact of life that politics take over behind closed doors.

Posted by billy hawk | May 25, 2009 at 9:36 pm | Shortcut

Aaron, I’m not sure why you despise Southern Miss so much, but the Golden Eagles sent a clear message that they were superior to Tulane at the end of the season. USM didn’t just beat the Green Wave, they pounded them into the turf. They also took Rice (who you touted in your article) to the wire in the championship game. I don’t know why I’m wasting my time typing this, as you have a long history of trashing Southern Miss, and I’m quite sure that you’ll give me no answer….

Posted by Scott | May 25, 2009 at 9:37 pm | Shortcut

Each year, whatever the sport, there is a lot of second guessing of the Selection Committee. However, after I got over the shock of Virginia being sent out West to the Irvine regional as a reward for the running the table in the toughest conference tournament in the country, it became quite easy to pick apart the Weiser-developed NCAA bracket. So many errors, so much illogic. What an embarassment for the sport. The Road to Omaha should have a bit more credibility that this.

Posted by pgrone | May 25, 2009 at 9:43 pm | Shortcut

I thought the Committee’s purpose was to select and seed the best teams in the country, not to impose some arbitrary agenda that favors teams with stronger OOC schedules or some other factor that has nothing to do with whether or not a team is actually good.

If a school plays in a league that doesn’t have but one or two other good teams in it, so that it hasn’t established whether or not it is any good against NCAA caliber opponents, then that ought to affect a team’s seeding/selection, because you can’t tell how good that team actually is. But if a team has played a lot of quality opponents, what difference could it possibly make whether the opponents were OOC or not? That’s just plain silly.

IMO, the reality is that Weiser knows that and is just bobbing and weaving, using whichever argument sounds good at the moment. He and his committee had a weekend orgy of conflict of interest, rewarding Weiser’s league (The Big 12) and two teams with representatives on the Selection Committee (ECU and CS-F) beyond what the record indicated they deserved. This is Banana Republic politics come to the NCAA, and if anyone in the NCAA has any gonads, they’ll flush this bunch of stooges next year and start all over.

Posted by Leeotis | May 25, 2009 at 10:00 pm | Shortcut

This is ridiculous – the baseball committee uses the RPI to select their teams (which gets BCS schools in), but the basketball committee claims to not use the RPI and that keep mid majors out (see Creighton and St Marys).

Why don’t they just invite the BCS teams and end the charade?

Posted by Jay | May 25, 2009 at 10:09 pm | Shortcut

Mr Weiser, you and your selection committee is a joke. Don’t come to Omaha..Mr Weiser.. because half of your super regional hosts probably won’t make it out of regionals. You and your band of fools have probably set a record for the least amount of super 8 to make it to omaha. Congratulations!

Posted by scott | May 25, 2009 at 10:46 pm | Shortcut

I can’t believe that Weiser has not already stepped down. If the NCAA doesn’t fire him now, the entire system of selecting participants will be shamed forever. I can’t believe that he was so blatant in his pursuing tournament slots for as many Big 12 teams as possible. The selection of eight teams will be a huge recruiting tool for Oak State and Baylor even though neither team earned it. This will have better high school kids commit to the Big 12 because they know that mediocrity has it’s merits. As better kids committ to the Big 12 it will futher the RPI of the conference in future years, therefore having more unqualified teams make the tourament.The players at Oak State and Baylor should feel like they won the lottery because it should have been one in a million for them to get in the tourney. The difference is that the 64th team in the nation can compete with the number one team in baseball but not in foorball. The rpi is a joke for baseball much like the committee that uses it for selections. The ncaa needs to fire the entire committee now,not later. I wonder what favors Oak State and Bayor owe Weiser. It must be plenty. Weiser, how can you live with yourself after what you have done? You are an embaressment to all of the ncaa teams you allegedly represent on this committee. Quit now before you cause yourself more shame.

Posted by jack | May 25, 2009 at 11:57 pm | Shortcut

What a travesty that Fullerton is seeded ahead of Irvine, and does not have one legitimate team in their regional. Any discussion of RPI rankings when considering these two schools is ridiculous. They play over 30 common opponents during the season – does this not provide enough information to make an “objective” rather than “subjective” argument. The fact of the matter is that most of the OOC schedules are played at the beginning of the season when rankings are purely “subjective”. Are we calling Fullerton’s trip to Oklahoma State early in the year a “strong” test? Irvine was far superior to Fullerton in the meat of their respective schedules, and it is difficult to observe this field of 64 with anything but humor. Obviously we have too many good teams out there that certain teams must be protected to such a great degree.

Posted by Steve | May 26, 2009 at 12:03 am | Shortcut

Weiser. What an ironic sounding name for the man behind this 64 team field & these horrible pairings.

Posted by Christian | May 26, 2009 at 12:06 am | Shortcut

Just like when George Mason made the Final Four in basketball, the powers that be what to keep out the little guy.Fresno State wins a national title… cannot take a chance on Missouri State or Rhode Island doing the same. When are you people going to learn the NCAA is nothing but an organization of a few universities trying to protect their own $$$$ interests?

Posted by Andrew | May 26, 2009 at 2:14 am | Shortcut

The only thing that’s going to make these mistakes right are if the teams that shouldn’t be in the tournament make an early exit.

Posted by Dave Connor | May 26, 2009 at 8:25 am | Shortcut

Not to focus on the past, but for those complaining, welcome to Clemson’s world last year. The selection committee’s rationale this year completely goes 180 on their logic last year. If Baylor and OSU get in this year with incredibly weak in-conference numbers, Clemson surely would have made the tournament last year. Granted, itis an apples and oranges argument, but it shows the weakness and lack of consistency in the selection process. Bottom line: it’s just plain goofy.

Posted by Maddog | May 26, 2009 at 8:47 am | Shortcut

The committee becomes more and more of a joke each year. Mr. Weiser should be removed, and the folks who administer Powerball drawings should be authorized to randomly select regional hosts and pairings, as they would undoubtedly be more rational and fair.

Everything said about Virginia above is true. They schedule the strongest competition they can in their region — they quite simply can’t get Cal State-Fullerton or UC Irvine or Arizona State to come visit them, and they are being in effect punished for being in the ACC. And to not only not give them a regional host spot, then not give them the #1 seed in the ECU regional, then send them 3000 miles away, AND, if that is not enough, make them face Stephen Strasburg in the opener, is absolutely preposterous. If the committee were out to destroy UVA’s baseball program, one could scarcely think of a better plan.

It’s also very unfair to Irvine, which as the #1 team in the country in BA’s rankings, earned the right to have a somewhat weaker regional. Instead, they draw the #7 team in the nation, the best pitcher in college baseball in 20+ years, and the defending national champions. The ADs at UVA and UCI should be livid.

Meanwhile, the extreme emphasis on strength of schedule (ignoring WINS within the schedule) and the unpardonable snub of Rhode Island just goes to show how committed the NCAA is to reinforcing the status quo and screening out non-CA/FL/TX teams. The NCAA is committed to keeping schools outside of the “sun belt” from making the tournament, or advancing when they do. How else to explain how they reward schools that play “tougher” schedules solely by virtue of being located in California, and lose the games? Should Virginia be punished for playing the best teams they could schedule and beating them??? Absolutely unfathomable how they came up with their pairings, other than $$$ and blind reinforcement of the existing power structure of college baseball. Time for a change in composition of this corrupt committee.

Posted by Scott | May 26, 2009 at 9:09 am | Shortcut

What the NCAA did to UVA is unreal and to Irvine for that matter, you have the 7th ranked Hoos and the number 1 ranked Anteaters in the same regional, you have got to be kidding me, add Strasberg and SDSU and then FSU to boot, come on! Virginia won 20 ACC games and then won 4 in a row to win the ACC and you send them to Cali? They could have sent UVA to Louisville or to ECU so maybe they could have a few fans, but when you sent the numder 7 team in America to Cali to face three Cali teams, thats is just wrong. UVA would have been better off tanking in the ACC and staying closer to home, they should be the top number two seed at worst and you give them Irvine? As for Oklahoma St over RIU, that is a joke at it’s highest level!! What more did the Rams have to do? Man i feel bad for them, this might have been the worst seeding job I’ve ever seen, terrible.

Posted by fumahoops | May 26, 2009 at 9:37 am | Shortcut

As two other posts have noted the reward for Virginia and their winning the toughest conference in the nation is a west coast exile to play the best team in the nation. Who did Coach O’Connor piss off at the NCAA? They should be at ECU as the #1. The OOC is a lame excuse provided that that other hosts had weaker. Also, UVA’s entire team does not field a Senior. It is dominated by Freshman and Sophomores and I hope they wipe the diamond clean with Irvine. Charlottesville is a great town and the stadium is pratically new. Wud up NCAA?

Posted by Brian | May 26, 2009 at 9:47 am | Shortcut

I find it incredibly ironic that the committee reps did not have the “leave the room” while your team is being discussed this year. Must have made it a little easier for Fullerton and ECU.

Posted by Joe | May 26, 2009 at 9:49 am | Shortcut

“The only thing that’s going to make these mistakes right are if the teams that shouldn’t be in the tournament make an early exit.”

Quite the contrary, Dave. If these teams go 0-2 in the regionals, it will prove they didn’t belong there. But, if they win a game, even a loser’s bracket game against a #4 seed, it will prove that they DO belong in the tournament, because they are better than at least one other team in the tournament. When OSU and Baylor put the beat-down on Tennessee Tech and Southern, that will justify their inclusion.

I’m not saying OSU and Baylor “deserve” to be in the tournament, but they’re a lot more “deserving” than some p!ss-ant team from a p!ss-ant conference that just happened to be able to string together four victories against other p!ss-ant teams in its conference during the conference tournament. And their LIGHT YEARS more deserving than the second-place team in that p!ss-ant conference.

I’m kinda tired of all these references to single-game/single-series victories and losses. Most of these references are mid-week, non-conference games. Everyone knows that the stronger team never takes that game seriously, and puts their weakest pitching on the mound for such games, saving their three best starters for the weekend conference series, while the weaker team puts their ace on the mound to try to make a name for themselves by knocking off a big dog. And even if it’s a weekend series victory, a good team can have a bad weekend, or vice versa. Tennessee was the worst team in the SEC this year, but the only team to take 2 of 3 from LSU. Do these “quality wins” entitle Tennessee to a berth? No!

Posted by Trevor | May 26, 2009 at 9:57 am | Shortcut

Maddog – I don’t think “goof” has anything to do with it. These guys are feathering their own nests. The Chair of the Committee (Big 12 Assistant Commissioner) gets two of his own teams in that don’t belong in the field. The CS-F AD, a Committee Member, gets his team the ranking that ought to have gone to his conference rival, UCI. The ECU Assistant AD, a Committee Member, gets his team an undeserved homefield advantage.

It’s as old – and corrupt – as politics can be.

Posted by Leeotis | May 26, 2009 at 9:57 am | Shortcut

There should be a rule that if a team doesent win over 30 games or make their own conference tournament then they should not be eligable for an at large bid. Along with that there is a huge conflict of interset having the Big 12 deputy commissioner as the committe chairman.. he should be asked to step down after those disgraceful selections.

Posted by Z nugget | May 26, 2009 at 10:07 am | Shortcut

Maddog is right…..Remember is basketball the selection committee used to talk about the “importance of the last 10 games.” This yearin basketball reference was made about the “body of work for the entire season.” It’s just a lack of consistency again to twist the process to get what they want now….Big programs from big conferences to bring in big $$$$. Congress will go after the BCS cartel first but the NCAA will ultimately be next.

Posted by Andrew | May 26, 2009 at 10:07 am | Shortcut

One could make the argument that the “automatic berths” should be based on regular-season conference championships, rather than conference tournaments. I’d be in favor of that. Because it doesn’t seem fair that, in a minor conference, a team can kick butt all season long, then lose two games in mid-May and not make the tournament. On the other hand, major conference schools know they have a berth locked up if they finish in the top half of their conferences, and don’t put forth much effort at the conference tournament. During the Bertman era, LSU seemed to do that a lot. They’d win the regular-season SEC championship, then take it easy during the SEC tournament, knowing they were a lock to host a regional. (I suspect Bertman was just trying to give the on-the-bubble SEC teams a chance to win a berth.)

Posted by Trevor | May 26, 2009 at 10:08 am | Shortcut

By the way Dave Conner….Fresno St. winning last year didn’t allow Rhode Island, Missouri State, or Eastern Illinois in. So Baylor and Oklahoma St. isn’t going to keep “BCS’ schools out!

Posted by Andrew | May 26, 2009 at 10:10 am | Shortcut

Southern Miss did what it had to do to qualify for consideration as a #3 Seed. They played deep into their Conference Tourney while beating Tulane twice. Writers should spend more time challenging the fact that 2 Big12 teams got in with very shaky records and overall credentials. C-USA, year in and year out, is a 4 team Conference as it pertains to Regionals. That is, assuming that a few are always going to be down in a given year. Example, see Tulane and Houston this year. Tulane recruits nationally, so they will bounce back certainly.

Posted by Richy | May 26, 2009 at 11:18 am | Shortcut

Brian, your comment is misleading — UVA does not “field” a senior, but we have Andrew Carraway anchoring the pitching staff, Robert Poutier pitching in relief, and P Brad Grove and C Will Campbell deep on the bench.

Still, it’s a great point — the entire offense, save for SS Tyler Cannon and light-hitting C Franco Valdes, is first and second year players, and the #2 and 3 starters are underclassmen as well.

As AF said in another of his blog posts, the RPI and out-of-conference SOS is a “crutch for the lazy and the inept”. Big 12 toadie Weiser fits both categories. When other 2 seeds like Coastal Carolina, South Carolina and Middle Tennessee get cushy travel schedules, but UVA, as the 7th ranked team in the nation, gets what appears to be the #32 overall draw in the nation, something is seriously out of whack.

Posted by Scott | May 26, 2009 at 11:29 am | Shortcut

When asked why UVA was treated so poorly, Weiser said their record against the Top 100 wasn’t very stellar. UVA was 15-10-1 against the Top 100. ECU, with a number one seed and home field advantage, was 15-14 against the top 100. But ECU’s Assistant AD was on the Selection Committee. UVA did not have a representative on the Selection Committee.

Posted by Leeotis | May 26, 2009 at 1:19 pm | Shortcut

Last year’s Miami region was far worse than this year’s Irvine region. That regional included the #1 overall seed, a Missouri team that should have been hosting themselves (they were ranked about 13th or 14th), and a 3 seed that should have been a 2 seed in Ole Miss (who further proved their worth by winning the region). In other words, it had the best 1 seed in the tourney, the best 2 seed in the tourney, and the best 3 seed in the tourney. I don’t think any region will ever be able to compare to the ’08 Coral Gables fiasco, so I don’t feel sorry for anyone in Irvine.

Posted by Kevin | May 26, 2009 at 2:29 pm | Shortcut

I really don’t see why URI should have been included. Ohio State and Miami did not finish in the top 25. Where would URI have finished in a top ten conference like the SoCon? Probably 6th, maybe 7th. They aren’t as good as College of Charleston who was the 5th best team in that league this year. Eastern Illinois, on the other hand, has a stronger case and played more consistently througout the year.

Posted by WSO | May 26, 2009 at 2:55 pm | Shortcut

Shame on you, Mr. Weiser and the selection committee, for the disgraceful display of character (or lack thereof) you managed to portray yesterday. Your actions have caused more young athletes to further lose trust in the world of athletics. We stress over and over the need to be role models on and off the playing field, so please explain to these athletes your rationale for being corrupt in the name of $$$ instead of drugs!

I hope that everyone on that selection committee enjoyed their day yesterday. As the spouse of a coach whose team was one of those bumped in favor of the Big XII, I hope you feel good about that. Because of you, our day could have turned sour real quick. Fortunately, my husband’s character did not let him sit around and pout and feel sorry for himself and his players. He was hoping that his players could move forward and learn something from this disappointment in their lives to make them better leaders for tomorrow. As the saying goes, “You learn not by what others say, but rather by what others do”.

Once again, shame on you and the NCAA for allowing this to happen!! Please do the right thing and make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Posted by Debbie | May 26, 2009 at 3:23 pm | Shortcut

I find it interesting how you say ECU should be a #2 host, but in the following paragraph you say Rice shoudl be a national seed. Didn’t ECU take the Conference Regular-season crown, while Rice finished second?

Sounds contradicting to me.

Posted by Chris | May 26, 2009 at 4:08 pm | Shortcut

Weiser needs to work on his double-speak. His excuses for one team being left out always seem to contradict his excuse for another team getting in.

Posted by Christian | May 26, 2009 at 4:23 pm | Shortcut

Apparantly Mr. Weiser doesnt include wins & losses into his strength of schedule argument. Baylor’s record against the RPI teams was terrible.

Posted by Christian | May 26, 2009 at 4:24 pm | Shortcut

The following is from Monday’s Omaha World Herald

Weiser, a former Kansas State athletic director who now is the Big 12’s deputy commissioner, said Rhode Island was hurt by 12 losses to teams that had RPI rankings of 100 or higher and a nonconference strength of schedule in “the triple digits.’’

“Those are significant issues,’’ Weiser said.

Weiser wasn’t as decisive in trying to explain the lack of success either Baylor or Oklahoma State had in conference play. At one point during the call, he said playing tough teams is not enough to get a team into the tournament. Teams have to win games, too.

Neither Baylor nor Oklahoma State won with any consistency in league play. The Cowboys won just two of nine conference series and finished ninth in the regular season, a game ahead of last-place Nebraska at 9-16. Overall, Oklahoma State compiled a 32-22 record, received a No. 3 seed and was placed in the Clemson regional.

Posted by Christian | May 26, 2009 at 5:30 pm | Shortcut

Baylor & Oklahoma St were more deserving than these 4 teams who were actually in the top half of their conferences?

- Dallas Baptist (38-17, RPI No. 36)

- Notre Dame (36-23, RPI No. 55)

- Eastern Illinois (36-14, RPI No. 63)

- Illinois (34-25, RPI No. 65)

It must be getting cold in hell.

Posted by Christian | May 26, 2009 at 5:37 pm | Shortcut

The reason Virginia got screwed especially after winning the ACC tournament and had to travel to California to face statistically the best pitcher ever to come out of college is because: Mr Weiser, the deputy Big 12 commissioner and baseball committee chairman was a former athletic director at Kansas State. Kansas St. is presently fighting with Ron Prince their former football coach the last three years over a 3.2 million salary. Ron Prince is now the special teams coach at Virginia, which is where he was when hired by Kansas State.

Posted by Mike Fitzpatrick | May 26, 2009 at 6:29 pm | Shortcut

I am still scratching my head at how Georgia Southern gets sent across the country as a #2 seed to play in the CSF regional. They have to fly over at least seven other regionals that are closer. Oh well, not sure how that one happened either.

Posted by Gus | May 26, 2009 at 7:20 pm | Shortcut

i’m a big clemson fan!!! virginia really got screwed big big big time,but you watch they will be in the world series. you want to talk about non-conference strength of schedule and rpi, just take a look at LSU!!! THEY PLAY ABSOLUTELY NOBODY!!!!!! AND HAVE AN RPI OF 8,AND ARE A NATIONAL SEED GIVE ME A BREAKKKKK!!!!! WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE. THEY LOST 2 OF3 TO ILLINOIS, AND THEY DID NOT MAKE THE TOURNAMENT SO GO FIGURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by ken | May 26, 2009 at 8:43 pm | Shortcut

Eastern Illinois played most of the season without their best player. Does the commitee know that?
If North Carolina played most of the season without their best player would the commitee know that?
The whole thing is a joke.

Posted by Tim Brownlee | May 26, 2009 at 11:41 pm | Shortcut

Maybe southern miss got in because they beat 2 teams that are good enough to host regionals in the past few weeks, East Carolina, Ole Miss. plus someother good wins even Tulane. Who does Rhode Island play, Maine, or Harvard? It appears you just don’t like a school from Mississippi.

Posted by Brent Swindoll | May 27, 2009 at 3:35 am | Shortcut

What’s disappointing about the Irvine regional is that three very good teams will not move on to the next round. Three teams that could very easily go to the world series. Think of how compelling the story of Steven Strasburg is. Can anyone think of a pitcher who’s accomplished what he’s done the last two years at San Diego State and with our US National team. His stats are off the charts. Forget how he’s mowed down college players, Look at how he pitched against the world’s best last year and still was almost un-hitable. How about Fresno State. Here’s a team that returns six position players from last year led by College World Series MVP Tommy Mendonca who this year is hammering the ball(26 HR’s) and ALL-Tournament team players Muno, Allmady, Detwieler & Headstrom who have all had great years. This team can pound the ball and flat play defense. As any junkie like myself knew from the beginning of the season that pitching was going to be an issue for this team, Which turned out to be exactly the problem most of the year. The Irony comparred to last year is that as the season wound down the pitching started to gell a bit. If Fresno gets even decent pitching, Watch out. This team is hot and one team I wouldn’t want to be playing right now. These two teams coupled with a great Irvine team and a very good Virginia team is going to make for some very disappointed fans after just the first round…And, cheat fans in general by getting knocked out so early.

Posted by Dwest | May 27, 2009 at 4:50 am | Shortcut

Allow me to inject one more question that Aaron may address. I am probably mistaken and I am probably wrong, but I believe that schools still have to submit a bid to host a regional. If that is still the case, consider the following hypothetical: UVA puts in a bid, for say, $85,000 to host a regional. ECU’s bid is $125,000. UVA may average 2,500 in attendance while ECU may average over 4,000. If the NCAA believes that ECU is going to bring in more money, wouldn’t it make more economical sense to give the regional to a school that will make more money? And, if this hypothetical example is true, how come we hear very little from the NCAA in regards to what schools will put up in order to host a regional? Thereby confirming the conspiracists theory that the schools with the deeper pockets have a greater chance of hosting regionals regardless of their record? Perhaps money is just as big a driving factor as competitive records? Aaron, your thoughts?

Posted by Maddog | May 27, 2009 at 7:00 am | Shortcut

I’m curious about something. I remember a few years back when Skip Bertman was on the selection committee as LSU’s AD, there was a rule that members had to leave the room when their team (or maybe any team from their conference) was being discussed. This was specifically to avoid any conflict of interest.

Is that rule no longer in effect? Or was that just for the basketball tournament?

Posted by Kevin | May 27, 2009 at 9:03 am | Shortcut

To add on what Dwest said, it’s not fair to College Baseball to cheat teams like Irvine and UVA and FSU west and even SDSU and Baseball fans. Only one of these teams has a chance of going to the World Seris. Weiser should be fired for putting UVA and Irvine together for the sake of TV, if this happened in College Basketball Congress would get involved and it would be a National story. These teams could’ve meet in Omaha, instead of Irvine. But now UVA has to face the best pitcher in the land and Irvine has to face the hot defending Champs, boy some reward for having a great year. I wonder how many ESPN brass were in the room when this draw came up, just so happens this Region is on TV, PLEASE!!! Well it’s must see TV and i’ll be watching so in that regard it worked for ESPN. The NCAA should be ashamed of itself for letting this go on, and don’t even get me started on Baylor or Okla St. How do you not make the Big 12 tourny but get an NCAA bid! ha ha ha ha…..ok!

Posted by fumahoops | May 27, 2009 at 11:00 am | Shortcut

in response to Maddog-ECU being in a mid-major conference vs UVA in the ACC, who do you think has the deeper pockets? Greenville, much like Charlottesville, is a university town, but we WILL in fact have well over 4000 in attendance this weekend. i’ll be the first to say that UVA got screwed and should have a host spot, but not necessarily greenville’s, probably louisville’s. To another point of yours, throw W-L record out the window, mute point between the two teams. i think USC should have gone to clemson as the #2 (geographically and economically sensible), and UVA to come to greenville (even if they were still the #2). I feel for the wahoos, but don’t see “deep pockets” as being the reason, by any means UVA would have that swinging their way

Posted by Adam | May 27, 2009 at 11:05 am | Shortcut

id rather have coastal carolina in the ecu bracket then the UNC regional! Third year in a row if ccu goes out it will be to unc! gah give my boys a break!

Posted by Mike Bern | May 27, 2009 at 8:32 pm | Shortcut

When was the last time anyone from the north-central or northeast had success in Omaha? My point exactly.

Baylor had non-conference wins over national seed UC-Irvine, two over #1 seed TCU, series wins over Missouri/Kansas/Kansas State, and Big 12 tourney wins over Texas and Kansas. Several other wins over average non-conference opponents. Yes they have an advantage in playing in a good conference, but if you wanted to play for a national title, why’d you go to Rhode Island?

Every small northern schools knows it must win its conference tourney to be in the show. If you can’t win that tourney versus inferior teams, what makes you think you’ll fare better against the big boys in the same win-it-all or go-home format. There’s a reason warm-weather talent wins in Omaha. You can accept it or complain about it.

Posted by Ross Bennett | May 28, 2009 at 12:37 am | Shortcut

Having coached for nearly twenty years in the NCAA at D-1 and D-3, I can honestly say the only way to arrive at a genuine and deserving field if you want to retain a selection committee is to remove ALL individuals with conference or NCAA ties from such a committee. As you can see from the tomfoolery being orchestrated with the bowls in football, anyone associated with individual schools, conferences, or the NCAA-goal of making money soley cannot be expected to participate separate of their biased. I am the first one to say that coaches should make the choices since they know the deserving ones much better than anyone else, but obviously it would be a conflict of interest. Evidently the other members of schools, confernces, and NCAA are above reproach. Its about time to remove the suits and let common sense take over. Choose members of the committee from former major leaguers or former college coaches no longer active in the game they loave so dearly and will strive to protect. Stuffed shirts like W—–r can do no better than vote with a lack of passion for the game.

Posted by Gregg | May 28, 2009 at 1:25 am | Shortcut

unfortunately, what’s done is done. UVA got punished for not finishing higher up in their conference. it’s almost as if the ACC tourney didn’t even matter at all. i will say this – the Irvine regional might be the most exciting part of this entire tournament. set your DVRs.

Posted by Dave | May 28, 2009 at 8:39 am | Shortcut

Great post Aaron. I’d like to elaborate even further about UNC getting a #4 seed while FSU got snubbed completely. UNC was the #2 in the ACC Tourney, FSU was the #1 overall seed. In the Tourney, UNC was 1-2 and didn’t even make it to the semis, FSU made it to the championship game and lost a close one to UVA. Finally, in the regular season, FSU won the head-to-head series, taking 2 out of 3 against UNC…what gives? FSU should be in the top 8, ahead of UNC. Would you agree?

Posted by Russ | May 28, 2009 at 9:41 am | Shortcut

Sorry, I meant to say FSU was snubbed from a top 8 (super-regional) seed, they obviously weren’t snubbed from the tournament.

Posted by Russ | May 28, 2009 at 9:44 am | Shortcut

ken, to say that lsu did not deserve a high rpi or a national seed is an absolute joke. admittedly the tigers played a less than stellar ooc schedule. what you forget, however, is that they completely cleaned house in the sec…one of the top two if not the best conference in america this year (big ups to the acc as well). i suppose winning 20 conference games, winning 9 out of 10 series (including those over tourney teams florida, ole miss, arkansas, alabama, usc, and 4 of 5 on the year from former #1 uga) doesn’t merit a national seed??? not to mention regular season and sec tourney titles??? leave the bias at home and get that argument outta here!

and speaking about merit…be grateful that the snub of the century occurred and uva didn’t get clemson’s host spot. your boys could very well be on their way to irvine…..

Posted by brian | May 28, 2009 at 5:55 pm | Shortcut

It looks like Ohio State is showing how they deserved an at large bid. They stink it up on their home field in the Big 10 tourney and get in before Auburn & Kentucky (2 far superior teams). Good job selection committee!

Posted by Chris Wilson | May 29, 2009 at 1:34 pm | Shortcut

eat it, NCAA committee. UVA moves on. aw yeah.

Posted by Dave | June 1, 2009 at 11:53 am | Shortcut

Okay, I’ll try again. Posted this once already, and it was deleted for some reason.

There are three teams that everyone was complaining about receiving berths in the regionals: Southern Mississippi, Oklahoma State, and Baylor. As I said before that, if these teams win a single game in their respective regionals, it will prove that they belong in the tournament. All three of these teams surpassed this mark.

Southern Miss not only won a game, but won their regional, then went on to sweep Florida. They’re in the CWS now. Thbbbbbbbt!

Oklahoma State won two games, the first two games they played in their regional, against the number 1 and number 2 seeds, and were in the driver’s seat until Clemson came back out of the loser’s bracket to take beat them twice. OSU’s two victories is more than half of the 64-team field managed. Furthermore (I’m not going to go into the in-depth analysis that I did in the post that was deleted, but …) the quality of the opponents (both victories and losses) puts OSU at the top of the 2-loss teams. I’d rank them 16-18th best team in the tournament.

Baylor didn’t do quite as well, but they did win a game, which is better than a fourth of the field. But also look at who they played in the regional. First, they beat Minnesota, the 21st best team in the country, according to this magazine’s latest poll. Then they played LSU, the NUMBER ONE team in the country, very close, losing by only 1 run. They then lost a loser’s bracket game against Minnesota, by just 3 runs (proportionally even closer than the LSU game). The one victory was by 5 runs, more than the comibined margin of the two losses. Of all the 1-2 regional teams, only Tennessee Tech had a higher average opponent seed, but Clemson (the top seed in TT’s regional) was not a top-8 national seed like LSU was. Yes, I’d say Baylor is definitely at the top of the 1-2 regional teams, and probably better than several 2-2 or 3-2 teams, like Georgia Tech (who, even with home-field advantage, lost their regional to one of those teams that “wasn’t supposed to be in a regional”), Miami (who could only beat a 3-seed), Oral Roberts (who only beat 3 and 4 seeds), Ohio State (who gave up 71 runs in 4 games), Oklahoma (who, despite a home field advantage and a number-1 seed, couldn’t beat anyone but the 3- and 4-seeds) and UCI (ditto).

If you think Rhode Island, Missouri State, and Tulane could have done better than this trio of teams that “didn’t deserve to be in the tournament”, you’re crazy.

Posted by Trevor | June 8, 2009 at 8:25 am | Shortcut

“Rice and Florida State should have been national seeds”

Let’s see, Florida State got swept in a super-regional in which they had home-field advantage, by a team that was just a 2-seed in their regional. Doesn’t look like national-seed caliber to me.

Meanwhile, Rice struggled in the regional they hosted, losing to that perennial baseball powerhouse (note sarcasm) Kansas State, then went on to get swept by LSU. Okay, so Rice has a better case for a national seed than FSU. But a national seed should be able to take one game from another national seed, and shouldn’t lose a game to a 2-, 3-, or 4-seed at their own home regional. But I’ll give you this one, Aaron. Rice would have made a much better national seed than Oklahoma or UCI.

As for the Irvine regional, it wasn’t so tough after all, was it? Virginia breezed right through the “best team in the country” and the “best pitcher in the country”, outscoring them 14-2 in 3 games, and didn’t even have to play the defending champs, who went 2-and-cue. I’m glad the committe threw a middle-of-the-pack ACC team into that regional, just to take out three over-rated West-Coast teams. Too bad they couldn’t slip an SEC team into the Fullerton regional and take the entire state of California out of the tournament. But never fear – Arkansas and Virginia will take care of that in Omaha.

Posted by Trevor | June 8, 2009 at 9:04 am | Shortcut