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Sunday - May 25, 2008
NCAA Regional Sites Announced
The NCAA Regional Host Sites were announced at 6 p.m. today. Alas, the Horns were not selected to host. We'll find out where they're headed tomorrow at 11:30. Sigh...
The Host sites (Host City - Host Institution and current record):
- Athens, GA - U. of Georgia (35-21, 20-9 SEC)
- Ann Arbor, MI - U. of Michigan (45-12, 26-5 Big 10)
- Baton Rough, LA - Louisiana State (43-16, 18-11 SEC)
- Cary, NC - U. of North Carolina (46-12, 22-7 ACC)
- College Station, TX - Texas A&M (43-16, 19-8 Big 12)
- Conway, SC - Coastal Carolina University (47-12, 17-3 Big South)
- Coral Gables, FL - U. of Miami (47-8, 23-5 ACC)
- Fullerton, CA - Cal State Fullerton (37-19, 16-8 Big West)
- Houston, TX - Rice (42-13, 21-3 C-USA)
- Lincoln, NE - U. of Nebraska (40-14, 17-9 Big 12)
- Long Beach, CA - Cal State Long Beach (37-19, 16-8 Big West)
- Raleigh, NC - North Carolina State (38-20, 18-11 ACC)
- Stanford, CA - Stanford (33-21, 14-10 Pac 10)
- Stillwater, OK - Oklahoma State (42-16, 18-9 Big 12)
- Tallahassee, FL - Florida State (48-10, 24-6 ACC)
- Tempe, AZ - Arizona State (45-11, 16-8 Pac 10)
By conference, the host sites play out like so:
- ACC: 4 Regionals
- Big 12: 3 Regionals
- SEC, Big West, and Pac 10: 2 Regionals
- Big 10, Big South, and C-USA: 1 Regional
The top 16 schools based on RPI as of May 20, 2008 (those are the most recent numbers on the NCAA site as I post) are:
- North Carolina - check
- Miami - check
- Florida State - check
- Rice - check
- Arizona State - check
- Georgia Tech - not hosting
- Coastal Carolina - check
- Nebraska - check
- Cal State Fullerton - check
- North Carolina State - check
- Texas A&M - check
- Georgia - check
- Florida - not hosting
- Oklahoma State - check
- Arizona - not hosting
- LSU - check
So, looking solely at RPI, you might wonder why Arizona, Florida, and Georgia Tech don't get to host while Michigan (RPI: 37), Cal State Long Beach (RPI: 27), and Stanford (RPI: 19) do. (Texas had an RPI rating of 23 on May 20th, by the way.) Looking at the top 16 in the polls (as of May 19), we see:
| Rank | Collegiate Baseball | Baseball America | NCBWA | USA Today/ESPN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 |
North Carolina Miami Arizona State Florida State Rice Georgia San Diego Louisiana State Texas A&M Oklahoma State Cal State Fullerton Missouri Nebraska Michigan California Stanford |
North Carolina Arizona State Miami Florida State Rice Cal State Fullerton Oklahoma State Georgia Missouri Louisiana State San Diego Nebraska Texas A&M UC-Irvine California Stanford |
North Carolina Miami Arizona State Florida State Rice Oklahoma State Cal State Fullerton San Diego UC-Irvine Nebraska Texas A&M Missouri Coastal Carolina Georgia Arizona (tie) California & Louisiana State |
North Carolina Miami Florida State Arizona State Rice Oklahoma State Nebraska Cal State Fullerton Georgia Texas A&M San Diego UC-Irvine Louisiana State Wichita State Missouri Coastal Carolina |
So, Stanford shows up in two of the polls while Michigan shows up in one of them. Georgia Tech does not show up in any poll. Neither does Long Beach. Why does Long Beach get to host over Texas? The Long Beach numbers are similar to the Texas numbers. Long Beach is 37-19 (16-8 in conference). Texas is 37-20 (15-12 in conference). They seem to have had eerily similar seasons. However, Long Beach did do something Texas did not do: they won the regular season conference race. The Big West, by the way, doesn't play a conference tournament. So, giving a Regional to Long Beach means the Big West hosts 2 Regionals (going to the top two teams in the Big West). And, the Big 12 hosts 3 (going to the top three regular-season finishers).
I guess we need to just face it: if Texas had done a better job of taking care of business in the middle part of the season and won another series or two, it's extremely likely, we'd be watching a Regional in Austin in a few days. Alas...
Looking at the Top 16 in the polls, there are a few other teams that might be wondering, even more than Texas, why they aren't hosting. San Diego (RPI: 34) and Missouri (RPI: 32) show up in all 4 polls but aren't hosting. And, UC-Irvine (RPI: 22, who we all remember quite well, I'm sure) shows up in 3 of the polls and they aren't hosting either.
I don't know what any of it means. I'm just rambling. Thank you for your indulgence.
Posted by Joanna at 11:06 PM