Cajun pRPI

[JMV JustMyView]

Brian I hate to keep asking you questions, but I and most others greatly value your honesty and knowledge, your response is always apprecited. While I think UL hosting a regional is really out of question at this point with Tulane ranked #1 and Lspuke rebounding in the last few weeks, is there a chance that if we win a regional and the other regional that we are matched up against has a surprise winner and a lower seed than UL that we could host a super regional? Thanks JMVCAJUNS

[GoneGolfin]

If this could work out like I think it could it would give fans the best of both worlds, a quality mid week opponent and a chance to stay home while returning the favor for there fans. Brian do you think this could work out?

Certainly it could. But it would need to be a Wednesday game and the opposing coach would need to be willing to keep the kids out of class Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The Cajuns have hosted quality midweek games against out of state teams in the past. I remember Texas coming to Lafayette in 1992. One of the few non-conference road games for Gustafson that year. Lamar is a frequent opponent.

Note that there have been some good midweek contests featuring teams from different states on TV recently. You might see TV playing more of a role in scheduling if ESPN, ESPNU, and CSTV continue to showcase college baseball in April and May. Just last week Wichita State hosted both Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Brian

[GoneGolfin]

Brian I hate to keep asking you questions, but I and most others greatly value your honesty and knowledge, your response is always apprecited. While I think UL hosting a regional is really out of question at this point with Tulane ranked #1 and Lspuke rebounding in the last few weeks, is there a chance that if we win a regional and the other regional that we are matched up against has a surprise winner and a lower seed than UL that we could host a super regional? Thanks JMVCAJUNS

I am not willing to say definitively that UL hosting is out of the question. It is not. There is still a lot of ball left in the SEC. It is likely the case that the Top 5 seeds to the SEC Tournament will host regionals, with five possibly six #1 seeds. This is what happened last year. Florida was the #6 seed and was 2-2 in the SEC Tournament (tied for 3rd). But even with a pRPI of 7, they were sent to OKlahoma City with Oklahoma hosting as a #2 seed. Things are very tight in the SEC right now and anything can happen. If LSU does not finish in the Top 6, I do not think they will host. They might not host if they finish 6th. That said, I think they will finish in the Top 6. If the season ended today, LSU would finish in the Top 6, two full games and a tiebreaker ahead of Vanderbilt. Last weekend's 2-1 series win over Vanderbilt was huge for LSU's chance of hosting. LSU finishes with last place Kentucky and current #3 seed Tennessee at home, followed by the finale at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs trail the Tigers in the SEC West by 2.5 games.

Your question has come up nearly every single year in the past. And the answer is yes, the Cajuns could host a super-regional in this scenario.

If UL were to be a traveling #1 seed, they would obviously be paired up against a national seed in the opposing regional. Should someone in the opposing regional upset the national seed and the Cajuns win their regional, the Cajuns would host the super-regional provided they bid a super-regional (which they will).

Just last season, Texas A&M upset National Seed Rice and LSU was the beneficiary. After winning their own regional, LSU was awarded the super-regional site against Texas A&M.

Remember that in 1999, Rice was a traveling national seed (only because their facility was under refursbishment and the Astrodome was unavailable). They won the Lubbock regional and squared off against the Cajuns who won the Houston regional as a #2 seed. Had #2 seed Texas Tech won their own regional that year, which they almost did as Rice and ace Mario Ramos was upset by Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the opening round game, the Cajuns would have hosted Texas Tech in the super-regional (I know this from a good source).

There were several cases in 2004 and 2003 where the #1 seeds did not win their regionals and the super-regionals saw non #1 seeds square off against one another.

In 2003, National Seed Auburn was upset by #3 seed Ohio State in its own regional. In the opposing regional, #3 seed Southwest Missouri State won the Lincoln regional. So, you had two #3 seeds meeting in Columbus, Ohio with the Bears winning the trip to the CWS.

Also in 2003, #2 seeds South Carolina and North Carolina won road regionals and met in the super-regionals with South Carolina hosting.

Brian

[DaddyCajun]

LSU's RPI just may sag a little with a mid-week lost to Southern! Jags are faster than the Tigers, by a score of 9-5!!


Geaux Louisiana,
DaddyCajun!

[Lil_Robi]

Since we won against them does that help us?


GO JAGS!!!!!!!!

[GoneGolfin]

LSU's RPI just may sag a little with a mid-week lost to Southern! Jags are faster than the Tigers, by a score of 9-5!!


Geaux Louisiana,
DaddyCajun!

It will some. But it was an extremely strong 9 coming into this game. Southern was 181 coming into this game.

The bigger thing to look for right now is how LSU does in conference play down the stretch.

Brian

[GoneGolfin]

Since we won against them does that help us?


GO JAGS!!!!!!!!

Yes it does. But it is much more complex than that. It affects the RPI of all of LSU's opponents and those opponents opponents. Some of the those opponents are Cajun opponents. But in the end, it is a small net positive effect to the Cajun RPI.

A bigger win for the Cajun RPI would have been New Orleans winning on the road against Tulane. The Privateers lost 7-6.

Brian

[Maverick]

With all this talk about scheduling next year, remember, the SBC will be a much better conference next year. It will be nice not to have to make these road trips to NMSU anymore. They are a pretty bad team right now but they are very hard to beat at home. I think they only have 4 loses there. I posted several weeks ago that this was going to be a very tough week for the Cajuns. Another thing to keep in mind is that it is very important for the Cajuns to win the sunbelt. USA has only six games left. If they sweep those two series, the cajuns have to go 8-1 the rest of the way to win the conference outright so the Cajuns really need to win this weekend.