Lady Cajuns seeding in the tournament is laughable

[NewsCopy]

If college is all about preparing you for life in the adult world, then Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns got a snootful of the future on Sunday.

It’s hard to look a team member in the eye and tell her that life is fair after the bids were announced for the NCAA Softball Tournament.

How could you?

The Cajuns went to the Women’s College World Series in 2003.

They finished 55-6 this season, improving from last year’s 47-11 finish with only one senior seeing any action.

They’re ranked No. 9 in the country after a 27-2 mark down the stretch.

They swept the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament, and even if you don’t think much of that league the Cajuns still bashed all comers.

They defeated Florida State, which has one of the No. 1 regional seeds this week.

They played Arizona, the No. 1 team in the nation and top seed in the tournament, to a 2-0 score.

So, what is their reward for all those hours in the batting cages, all the infield drills, all the pitching work?

Here’s a No. 5 seed, Cajuns. No, not in the 64-team tournament — in your region. And, oh, by the way, you’ll be joining Arizona in Tucson this week. Have fun.

Somehow, in filling out the field, the committee found at least 32 teams it felt were better than the Cajuns. That’s eight regions of seeds 1-4 each, giving you 32 — half the field.

And No. 33 is a best-case scenario.

Are the polls that meaningless? Is the process that blatantly political?

Apparently.

Good thing the Cajuns won that 55th game. If they had slipped up and won just 54, they might not be in the tournament at all.

The lowest seed for a Pac-10 school is No. 3. For the SEC, No. 4. For the Big 12, No. 5. For the Big Ten, No. 6. This isn’t the BCS, folks ... or is it?

For the record, the No. 4 seeds include South Carolina (27-22), UL’s opening-round foe on Thursday, Louisville (40-17), Seton Hall (44-17), Florida (40-18), Mississippi State (38-24), Notre Dame (48-18), Pacific (34-21) and Texas A&M (32-20).

And UL is a No. 5. Curious, isn’t it?

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[UAFan]

As I said before: How Louisians-Lafayette is not a number two seed in some regional is completely beyond me. It is absolutely ludicrous that they should be a fifth seed! They are seeded below 24 teams that are either unranked or ranked below them in both polls! Granted the seedings are not done according to the polls, but this is an outrageous insult to both Louisiana-Lafayette and College Softball. However, I'm sure that your schedule did not help you any. Look at the the record of the top five teams against top 25 teams:
Top five teams (based on ESPN/USA poll) and their record against the current top 25

Rank, Team, Record, Top 25 Record
#1, Arizona, 53-4, 24-4
#2, California, 46-11, 12-10
#3, LSU, 50-10, 14-7
#4, UCLA, 39-9, 19-8
#5, Florida St, 57-9, 12-6
#9, La-Lafayette,55-6, 1-1

But the fact that you lost to Team USA by only 3-0 says that you are worthy of at least a #2 seed in a regional. Something is VERY wrong here!

[Turbine]

Originally posted by UAFan
#9, La-Lafayette, 55-6, 1-1

But the fact that you lost to Team USA by only 3-0 says that you are worthy of at least a #2 seed in a regional. Something is VERY wrong here!

You are so right UAFan that ranked loss really sticks out right now. Especially when it came at the hands of the team you root for, and perhaps the team Louisiana will have to face a couple more times.

Hey can you recommend a good Arizona fan forum?