My NCAA Tournament Selections

[GoneGolfin]

I did not have time to slot them in regionals. But here we go . New Orleans is in. I also think Tulane makes the field.

#1 Seeds

N1 Miami
N2 Florida State
N3 LSU
N4 Arizona State
N5 North Carolina
N6 Rice
N7 Cal State-Fullerton
N8 Oklahoma State
Georgia
Coastal Carolina
Texas A&M
Nebraska
Long Beach State
North Carolina State
Stanford
Georgia Tech

#2 Seeds

Arizona
Texas
Florida
Wichita State
Michigan
California
UNC-Wilmington
East Carolina
Viriginia
UC-Irvine
San Diego
Texas Christian
Missouri
South Carolina
Kentucky
Vanderbilt

#3 Seeds

Pepperdine
Southern Mississippi
Elon
Oral Roberts
Houston
New Orleans
Tulane
Alabama
Ole Miss
UCLA
Dallas Baptist
UC Davis
St. John's
Oregon State
Arkansas
Louisville

#4 Seeds

Western Kentucky
James Madison
Charlotte
Fresno State
Sam Houston State
Stony Brook
Lipscomb
Illinois-Chicago
Columbia
Rider
Eastern Michigan
Bethune Cookman
Mt. St. Mary's
Eastern Illinois
Bucknell
Texas Southern

The last spots will be interesting between Arkansas, College of Charleston, Oklahoma, Missouri State, Oregon State, Clemson, Washington State, and Baylor.

The last national seed is likely between Oklahoma State and Georgia. The last #1 seed is likely between Georgia Tech and Arizona.

Brian

[raginsaints]

You forgot UL.oh wait *goes cry in corner again*

[Sonsissymia]

the streak continues of at least two 'belt teams in the field.

[Turner]

Lightning strikes

[Boomer]

Did Tulane get in the mix and where is everybody going????

[GoneGolfin]

the streak continues of at least two 'belt teams in the field.

UNO was comfortably in. Tulane, as well as some others, came in after UNO.

Brian

[GoneGolfin]

As they moved to the end of the selection show, I thought I was going to have all 64 teams projected. Then Oklahoma came on the board instead of Oregon State at the end. Well, I will take 63/64. I did get Arkansas, which some missed.

Brian

[LifeTimeCajun]

explain the thought with arkansas getting in and not making the confernece tourney. I have seen this a couple of times in the past few years with the SEC. I just cant believe that the 9th place team that could not make there own confernce is a better choice than somebody else. I really haven't studied the field this year, so i dont know what other team would replace them, but my point being they didnt make there conference tourney as the 9th place team. I dont know what there RPI is, but i am assuming since they are in it was good enough?

[Pirogue]

Sun Belt Sends Two to NCAA Baseball Regionals
Written by: Sun Belt Conference

Release: 05/26/2008








NEW ORLEANS – For the 20th consecutive season the Sun Belt Conference will send two teams to the NCAA Baseball Championship as Western Kentucky University and the University of New Orleans were both selected as representatives from the Sun Belt.



WKU earned a spot in the NCAA Regionals after defeating UNO in Sunday’s Sun Belt Championship in Lafayette, La. The Hilltoppers will play in the Stillwater, Oklahoma Regional against the host school Oklahoma State.



UNO, meanwhile, will play in the Baton Rouge Regional. The Privateers were selected to the tournament as an at large team after an impressive campaign that saw the squad go 42-19 with wins over LSU (twice), Tulane (twice), Alabama (twice), and Southern Mississippi. UNO will face off against that Southern Miss squad once more in the opening game of that Regional.



The Sun Belt’s 20-year streak of having two or more teams reach NCAA play is matched by only four other conferences (ACC, Big West, SEC, Pac-10).



2008 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Field



Ann Arbor Regional

#1 Arizona (38-17) vs. #4 Eastern Michigan (25-32)

#2 Michigan (45-12) vs. #3 Kentucky (42-17)



Athens Regional

#1 Georgia (35-21-1) vs. #4 Lipscomb (32-28)

#2 Georgia Tech (39-19) vs. #3 Louisville (41-19)



Baton Rouge Regional

#1 LSU (43-16-1) vs. #4 Texas Southern (16-32)

#2 Southern Miss. (40-20) vs. #3 New Orleans (42-19)



Cary Regional

#1 North Carolina (46-12) vs. #4 Mt. St. Mary’s (21-32)

#2 UNC Wilmington (42-15-1) vs. #3 Elon (43-16)



College Station Regional

#1 Texas A&M (43-16) vs. #4 Ill.-Chicago (34-20)

#2 Dallas Baptist (37-17) vs. #3 Houston (39-22)



Conway Regional

#1 Coastal Caro. (47-12) vs. #4 Columbia (22-28)

#2 East Carolina (40-19) vs. #3 Alabama (34-26)



Coral Gables Regional

#1 Miami (Fla.) (47-8) vs. #4 Bethune-Cookman (36-20)

#2 Missouri (38-19) vs. #3 Ole Miss (37-24)



Fullerton Regional

#1 Cal St. Fullerton (37-19) vs. #4 Rider (29-26)

#2 UCLA (31-25) vs. #3 Virginia (38-21)



Houston (Rice) Regional

#1 Rice (42-13) vs. #4 Sam Houston St. (37-23)

#2 Texas (37-20) vs. St. John’s (N.Y.) (41-14)



Lincoln Regional

#1 Nebraska (40-14-1) vs. #4 Eastern Ill. (27-28)

#2 UC Irvine (38-16) vs. #3 Oral Roberts (46-12)



Long Beach Regional

#1 Long Beach St. (37-19) vs. #4 Fresno St. (37-27)

#2 San Diego (41-15) vs. #3 California (33-19-2)



Raleigh Regional

#1 North Carolina St. (38-20) vs. #4 James Madison (38-17)

#2 South Carolina (38-21) vs. #3 Charlotte (43-14)



Stanford Regional

#1 Stanford (33-21-2) vs. #4 UC Davis (34-22)

#2 Pepperdine (36-19) vs. #3 Arkansas (34-22)



Stillwater Regional

#1 Oklahoma St. (42-16) vs. #4 Western Kentucky University (33-25)

#2 Wichita St. (44-15) vs. #3 TCU (43-17)



Tallahassee Regional

#1 Florida St. (48-10) vs. Bucknell (29-22-2)

#2 Florida (34-22) vs. #3 Tulane (37-20-1)



Tempe Regional

#1 Arizona St. (45-11) vs. #4 Stony Brook (34-24)

#2 Vanderbilt (40-20) vs. #3 Oklahoma (34-24-1)

[CajunT]

_ UNO was comfortably in. Tulane, as well as some others, came in after UNO.

Brian _

I'm just outraged the ULM is not in as the regular season champion, when is the last time that happen in the Sun Belt Brian?

[DieHard1280]

#1 LSU (43-16-1) vs. #4 Texas Southern (16-32)

Wow, what a mismatch. Obviously, Texas Southern won their conference tourney.

[GoneGolfin]

I'm just outraged the ULM is not in as the regular season champion, when is the last time that happen in the Sun Belt Brian?

South Alabama in 1994 was the last Sun Belt regular season champion not to make the NCAA Tournament (48-team field then). The Jaguars were only 32-25 that season. Jacksonville (#2 seed in SBC Tournament) made it that season as an at-large.

ULM was really not very close. They had a poor overall resume and RPI. They were several spots off of my list of the "next teams" to be considered. They would have needed to have an RPI of about 35 positions higher to have been seriously considered.

Brian

[GoneGolfin]

explain the thought with arkansas getting in and not making the confernece tourney. I have seen this a couple of times in the past few years with the SEC. I just cant believe that the 9th place team that could not make there own confernce is a better choice than somebody else. I really haven't studied the field this year, so i dont know what other team would replace them, but my point being they didnt make there conference tourney as the 9th place team. I dont know what there RPI is, but i am assuming since they are in it was good enough?

The SEC has placed more than eight teams in the NCAA Tournament several times. Arkansas was not a surprise to me for several reasons. But first, you should consider that Arkansas was certainly not the last team in the field. The last team in the field was either UC Davis or Oklahoma. Arkansas is the #3 seed in the Palo Alto regional while UC Davis in the #4 seed in the same regional. UC Davis deserves to be in the field of 64. No way do I think that Oklahoma made the field of 64 before Arkansas.

Arkansas finished 9th in the SEC with a 14-15 record. But they were also only 1 1/2 games away from being the #4 seed in the SEC Tournament. The SEC was packed tight in the middle. Arkansas also had an RPI of 32.

I think that the last team in the field was either UC Davis or Oklahoma. The second to last team in the field was UC Davis or Oklahoma. Meanwhile the third to last team in the field was Arkansas. Arkansas also was a respectable 8-11 against the RPI Top 25. I think this made a huge difference. Meanwhile, Oklahoma was a paltry 9-17 in Big XII play (8th place). Yes, they went 2-1 in the Big XII Tournament. But still, that is 11-18 in conference play. The Sooners have an RPI of 41 and went 4-11-1 vs. the RPI Top 25. They did have a strong record vs. the RPI Top 75 (21-20-1). This, I believe coupled with the showing in the Big XII Tournament got them into the field.

Meanwhile, Oregon State (two-time defending national champion that proved themselves last season by barely making the field of 64 and then winning the national championship . again) finished 11-13 in a tightly packed Pac-10 (as with the SEC). The Beavers finished in a three-way tie for 6th, but were only two games removed from third place UCLA and three games removed from second place and regional host Stanford. The Beavers finished a single game behind #1 seed Arizona. As far as Oregon State's resume is concerned, they have an RPI of 59 (this hurt them), but they also were 8-10 vs. the RPI Top 25 and 13-15 vs. the RPI Top 50. They did have some bad losses on their resume. But I certainly thought that their conference record (second best baseball conference in the country this season) along with their record vs. top teams would get them into the field over Oklahoma. Oregon State split against national seed Arizona State (four games) and took a three game series against national seed Georgia. They also took 2/3 from #1 seed Arizona and #2 seed Pepperdine. I feel a bit cheated in that I would have liked to see the Beavers defend their back-to-back national championships with a plethora of impressive pitching coming back from last season.

I do not buy the argument that a team must qualify for their postseason conference tournament if they are to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Absolutes such as this do not make sense when you consider how tightly packed some of the elite conferences are from season to season. While the SEC has not had the elite teams at the top for a while now. Top to bottom, there has not been a stronger conference in the country. A team should not be penalized because they finished 1/2 game behind *two* schools that qualified for the SEC Tournament. Especially when they were short a game (rainout) and the two teams that finished 1/2 game ahead of them (South Carolina and Mississippi) lost 5/6 to the team in question (Arkansas). If Arkansas wins that rainout, they are the #7 seed in the SEC Tournament.

What matters is your resume from top to bottom.

Brian

[Dad04]

Hopefully The UNO bid will help soothe the ringing in their ears from the tongue lashing they received the two past weekends. I think they are on the verge of holding each other and having a good cry. Alot of mascara is running on their keyboards. . Maybe we should go over there and say something nice? The Privateers are hurting.

http://steve264.proboards102.com/ind.ay&thread=1210

[Sonsissymia]

_ #1 LSU (43-16-1) vs. #4 Texas Southern (16-32)

Wow, what a mismatch. Obviously, Texas Southern won their conference tourney. _

not every day you'll see a match-up in a regional where one team's losses are the same as the opponent's wins. weird.