Tossing projectiles

by mlcotcher on May 18, 2010 1:20 PM CDT in Texas Longhorns and Other Baseball

Had enough rumor mongering about conference realignment? If so, there is some quality discussion to be had regarding the upcoming College World Series. The regular season is winding down and there are a boatload of possibilities for postseason positioning.

In addition to the traditional seeding, there are also some quality storylines emerging nationally:

- Coastal Carolina is walking in Butler’s shadow. The Chanticleers are having a memorable season and how they are treated may be an early peek at how the NCAA and the media will handle Boise State & TCU this Fall.

- Garrett Wittels of Florida International currently owns a 45-game hitting streak. Wittels is currently third on the NCAA all-time list, trailing Robin Ventura (58) and Phil Stephenson (47).

- This is the final year for the CWS at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium.

While those stories continue to develop, the postseason field and it’s hierarchy are still being tightly contested. With less than two weeks until Regional hosts are selected, there are a lot more unknowns than knowns regarding the 2010 postseason. Forget about which teams are in or out for the moment – the majority of National Seeds & Regional host sites remain in question. Here is a look at how things are shaping up at this point…

Locks for a national seed
Team: Arizona State
Record/Conference Record: 43-6 / 16-5
ISR: 1
RPI: 1
What’s ahead – Sparky still has series left with Stanford and Oregon State.

Team: Texas
Record/Conference Record: 43-8 / 21-3
ISR: 6
RPI: 3
What’s ahead – The Longhorns close regular season play with a series at Missouri, then head to Oklahoma City as the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

Team: Virginia
Record/Conference Record: 43-9 / 21-6
ISR: 2
RPI: 7
What’s ahead – The ‘Hoos finish the regular season by traveling to Coral Gables to face Miami before playing in the ACC tournament.

Comment: While these three teams are the only sure bets to receive a national seed, the pecking order is still up for grabs. In other words, all three are playing for positioning. The upcoming weekend coupled with respective conference tournaments will most certainly play a significant role in determining the overall No. 1 seed. Reality is that both ASU and UVA finish with a more difficult schedule than Texas. That means it may be important for the Horns to dominate the rest of the way, as just winning might not be enough to secure the national top seed.

In contention for a national seed
Team: UCLA
Record/Conference Record: 37-11 / 13-8
ISR: 2
RPI: 7

Team: Louisville
Record/Conference Record: 42-10 / 18-6
ISR: 14
RPI: 5

Team: Coastal Carolina
Record/Conference Record: 45-6 / 23-0
ISR: 5
RPI: 3

Team: Georgia Tech
Record/Conference Record: 41-10 / 19-8
ISR: 11
RPI: 10

Team: South Carolina
Record/Conference Record: 41-11 / 20-7
ISR: 12
RPI: 14

Team: Florida
Record/Conference Record: 37-12 / 20-7
ISR: 6
RPI: 4

Team: TCU
Record/Conference Record: 40-11 / 19-5
ISR: 8
RPI: 20

In contention for a Regional host site
Team: Miami (FL)
Record/Conference Record: 37-13 / 19-8
ISR: 16
RPI: 8

Team: CS – Fullerton
Record/Conference Record: 34-14 / 18-3
ISR: 4
RPI: 11

Team: Vanderbilt
Record/Conference Record: 39-13 / 15-10
ISR: 13
RPI: 13

Team: Arkansas
Record/Conference Record: 38-14 / 16-11
ISR: 10
RPI: 9

Team: Florida State
Record/Conference Record: 39-13 / 18-9
ISR: 18
RPI: 12

Team: Auburn
Record/Conference Record: 35-17 / 17-10
ISR: 21
RPI: 16

(Note - I plan to update this after this weekend's games and before conference tournaments begin.)

(photo credit: omahaorbust.com / Jarrod Coover)

Tweet Comment 9 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Is it a stone cold lock that the Austin regional will be matched up with the Ft. Worth regional?

by nordberg on May 18, 2010 2:01 PM CDT reply actions

@ nordeberg — If so, I’m REALLY not thrilled with our Super Regional possible match-up. According to ESPN and a few other projections, the TCU Regional consists of:

TCU
LSU
Texas A&M
Oral Roberts.

by Kriess on May 18, 2010 2:23 PM CDT reply actions

The NCAA will figure out a way to stick it to us one way or another as it always seems to happen this time of year.

by uthookem on May 18, 2010 2:29 PM CDT reply actions

TCU is very much in the picture for a national seed. If they are awarded one, then Austin vs Ft Worth won’t happen.

As a Horns fan, I’d really like to see Rice in Ft. Worth and LSU in Fayetteville. I’d just as soon have those four teams whittle each other down to two before a chance of facing either one. And if TCU got a national seed, then a pairing Ft. Worth with Fayetteville is even better.

It seems like the Longhorns don’t have much to play for – that is not at all the case…..
1. Theoretically the 2nd & 3rd National seeds should be on the opposite side of the Omaha bracket from No. 1. That means that Texas could see ASU & UVA both get shipped to the other side if they earn the overall #1.
2. If TCU is the “last team out” in National seed consideration, then the committee will probably try not to match them against a highly-ranked seed (ex. #9 vs #2). Texas will be one of the top 3 seeds, so the higher the better (if TCU misses the cut).

In the last 2 years, the committee has really favored geography over seeding. If they do so again this year, the Horns will have a much more difficult road.

by Matt Cotcher on May 18, 2010 4:17 PM CDT reply actions