First, let me emphasize that I want whatever gives us the best chance to advance, whether we host or not.
That being said, as of yesterdays games, our RPI is 10, our SOS is 4, our non-conference RPI is 13 and our non-conference SOS is 3. Barring a total collapse, our numbers at season's end won't be much different.
In order for us not to host, the committee will have to justify 7 schools to pass us up on the pecking order.
The only team behind us with SOS even close to us is Alabama [RPI 12, SOS 1, Non Conference RPI 8 and Non Conference SOS 11]
The only team behind us that is in the conversation that we have played is Arkansas, to whom we lost by 1, but their numbers are not quite as good as ours. [RPI 14, SOS 18, NC RPI 17, NC SOS 50]. Washington is about the best of the rest [RPI 13, SOS 22, NC RPI 9, NCSOS 37]
The rest who are in contention to host have relatively bad NCSOS.
Oregon NCSOS 85 SOS 31
Georgia NCSOS 86 SOS 27
Clemson NCSOS 114 SOS 74
Tennessee NCSOS 124 SOS 29
The committee will have to violate at least the spirit of its mission to even consider schools with NCSOS of 50 or more as hosts. Of course they have done that many times before.
If I were on the committee, I would put Alabama at 10, Arkansas at 11, Louisiana at 12 and Washington at 13. The remaining 4 could fight it out with Auburn, Wichita State and Central Arkansas for the last 3 host sites.
Do I think the Committee will do that? No, but I also don't think they will drop us 7 or more spots.
In case you don't think that the polls are just name recognition popularity contests, USA today has Tennessee at 4th and Georgia at 10th. D1 Softball has Tennessee 4 and Georgia 6. Coaches Poll has Tennessee 4, Washington 9, Clemson 10, Georgia 11, Arkansas 12, Oregon 13 and Alabama 14. Softball America has Tennessee 4, Georgia 5, Washington 9, Clemson 11, Arkansas 12, Oregon 13, Alabama 15.