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Does Hoover even matter for us?

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MSUDC11

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Aug 23, 2012
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If we lose to Georgia, we will be a 2 seed. If we win the whole thing, we will still be a 2 seed.

And I don't think the "play your way out of a national seed Regional" argument is very valid. Here's an example:

2012: We were one of the next teams in line for a host. We get a brutal draw with the #3 national seed and a really tough 3 seed in Samford in Tallahassee.

2011: We go 0-2 in Hoover, have a losing SEC record, and barely make the tourney. We get rewarded with one of the weaker hosts and 2 seeds in GT and USM.

They will send us somewhere in Texas, Florida, or Lafayette (most likely destinations) based on geography. I don't think they rank teams after the Top 16.

So in the end, is losing to Georgia really that bad of a thing? I hope we win a few games, but I don't think it matters much if this is a one game trip.
 
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state2013

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Dec 17, 2013
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I'd like to play to win for first two games. Win or lose, if I'm Cohen I'm rested my arms the rest of the way. If we keep winning fine but no way I'm gunning for the whole tourney. Let bianco or whoever win that. The goal for the tourney is that it should get our team in gear for the regionals. Baseball, especially this time of the year, is a chess match.
 
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Snog

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Aug 21, 2012
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Short answer, no.

Only difference I see it making is dropping from a 2 to a 3.

Really.
 
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jcdawgman18

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Jul 1, 2008
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state2013 said:
I'd like to play to win for first two games. Win or lose, if I'm Cohen I'm rested my arms the rest of the way. If we keep winning fine but no way I'm gunning for the whole tourney. Let bianco or whoever win that. The goal for the tourney is that it should get our team in gear for the regionals. Baseball, especially this time of the year, is a chess match.
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See I would go the other way. I let the young guys handle Tuesday and Wednesday and into Thursday and if we suddenly look up and we're playing Friday then I go with a normal weekend rotation and bullpen plan and hope to win the thing.
I know winning the tournament doesn't really do anything for us in the NCAA but it was a lot of fun in 2012. There is something to be said for that.
 
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8dog

All-American
Feb 23, 2008
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No. Conf teams cant be in the same regional

Only thing we need to do in hoover is get tatum laster and gentry work. And get hump and garner some abs. Id like to see us play 3-4 games

But i dont see us sliding to a 3
 
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drt7891

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Dec 6, 2010
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^^^^ yup ^^^^ We have nothing to gain (except valuable experience for young guys that don't see as much playing time) and nothing to lose. This should be preparation for a regional... nothing more, nothing less.
 
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Dogariffic

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Aug 21, 2012
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I think it is a shame the conference tournament is something teams dont shoot far. I understand why as it is close to regionals beginning, but it is the darn SEC TOURNAMENT. It has to mean something. Conference officials, coaches, heck all school officials need to make sure our conference tournaments are always relevant and valuable to fight for.
 
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drt7891

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Dec 6, 2010
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I think it goes beyond the conference officials because the selection committees are really the ones holding it back. Like conference tournaments in basketball allow you the chance to fight for seeding (and really, their simplicity affords "cinderella teams" a chance in the tournament), there is little to no advantage to going out in 2 days and winning the whole thing in terms of seeding, or really hosting in baseball... and because the tournament is far more grueling, "cinderella teams" are rare to non-existent. It's beneficial to the conferences (at least the SEC) because they make money on hosting the event.
 
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mcdawg22

mcdawg22

Heisman
Sep 18, 2004
13,198
10,847
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It's the nature of the game. If you're already set, why tire arms that give you the best shot of winning it all. The selection committee clearly doesn't award locations according to how they would rank lower seeds, so why would you care about picking up a couple of wins. I think one way they could fix it is by giving the higher 2's and 3's easier draws as geography allows. But even that could be difficult to do because you match a high two with a low 3 then stick them in the low one regional? You've just rewarded the high two the easiest route tI the super. But if you keep in that line the one would have to play the best 2 and the best 4 back to back. Although now that I look at it, that does seem pretty fair, because outside the top ten, it does get pretty muddled.
 
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patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,905
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0-1 and we might be a #3 seed. If we make it to the finals, we might possibly host. But you're right, it probably doesn't matter at all for anything other than pride. Which is usually the case for the conference tournament anyway. It's pretty meaningless.
 
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drt7891

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Dec 6, 2010
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I disagree in that I think we are securely a 2 seed, no matter what happens Tuesday night, and I think our chances of hosting are about none, even with making a deep run this week. History shows us that location is a crap shoot, so we really don't have any advantage there.

I'm with the OP that our goal should simply be getting guys experience that need experience (Gentry, Laster, Garner, Humphrey's, Collins, etc.), as well as letting our lineup see as many pitches as possible to fine-tune swings, etc. Our sights should be already set on a regional.
 
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patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,905
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Just checked Warren Nolan. He has us at #29 and Boyd at #31. When I posted that I knew we were #31 and lost yesterday. I agree, w won't be a #3 even if we're 1 and done. If we go 4-0 to get to the finals (would probably mean 3 wins against top 8 RPI teams), that might put our RPI in the top 20, and might possibly get us a host spot.
 
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drt7891

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Dec 6, 2010
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Do you think the committee would consider us this late in the game, especially with Vandy and LSU holding much closer to the margin for the 5th SEC spot? I remember a few years ago the committee released some kind of statement saying the conference tournaments would have little to no bearing on host spots, and objectively, I believe the committee would have a very hard justifying us being in the top 5 in the SEC as far as deserving host locations.

Florida, South Carolina, LSU, Ole Miss, and Vandy (who are all more deserving candidates) will host from the SEC.
 
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HD6

HD6

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Apr 8, 2003
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There is no chance that we will host. Get that idea out of your head.
 
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jamdawg96

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Feb 27, 2008
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Agree with most here. Doesn't matter what we do... we're an absolute lock for a 2-seed. Would be nice to get some experience for younger guys and carry a little momentum into Regionals, but our postseason fate is sealed. Interested to see how we play with absolutely nothing on the line. Maybe we'll be loose and get some things going at the plate. As far as destinations go, Tallahassee or Miami seem like the most likely outcomes. It'd be nice to go to Laffy, Ft. Worth, or Houston, but I don't think we'll be traveling west.
 
mcdawg22

mcdawg22

Heisman
Sep 18, 2004
13,198
10,847
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As Rogers pointed out yesterday on Twitter. The selection committee makes their choice Saturday night. This reeks of 2012. And we know what happened there. We do not need to use arms making a run. Plus the forecast for next week doesn't look like it did last year when it was in the mid seventies on the weekend. It will be in the 90's.
 
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patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
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It's not really in my head. For one thing, we won't go 4-0 to get to the finals. For another, even if we did, we'd still have a 10% chance max of hosting. I did say in my original post that basically, the first poster is right. The SECT doesn't matter. It's basically a meaningless week for every team every season. It's just about making some money.
 
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patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,905
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mcdawg22 said:
We do not need to use arms making a run.
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Regionals don't start until a week from Friday. We certainly don't need to overpitch anyone, but there's no reason not to use every pitcher who can help us this week. In fact, the bigger concern would be if we didn't get a pitcher some work this week and he went into the regional on 2+ weeks of rest.
 
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patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
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jamdawg96 said:
As far as destinations go, Tallahassee or Miami seem like the most likely outcomes. It'd be nice to go to Laffy, Ft. Worth, or Houston, but I don't think we'll be traveling west.
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History agrees. Last 8 regionals we've played in have been in Starkville or at an ACC school.
 
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jcdawgman18

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Jul 1, 2008
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Agree, too much rest can be a bad thing, too. I would try to do this:
Tuesday: Laster and Gentry; could use Holder late (basically in the 9th) if we have the lead.
Wednesday: Hudson and Tatum, could use Lindgren/Bracewell to finish things if for no more than 2 innings.
Thursday: Sexton and Woodruff, could use Holder for an inning at the end.
Friday: Fitts/Lindgren/Maybe Holder
Saturday: Mitchell/Maybe Holder if not on Friday
Sunday: Brown/Bracewell/Woodruff/everybody else

Obviously there are a lot of iffy situations in that lineup but that would get everyone work without overdoing it for anyone.

ETA: We could potentially swap what I have for Thursday and Friday if we won Tuesday and Wednesday since if we won on Thursday we wouldn't play again until Saturday.
 
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K

KurtRambis4

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Aug 30, 2006
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I guess

anyting is possible, but I just do not see an 18 win SEC team being a 3 seed. I do not know for certain, but I would venture to guess that that has never happened.
 
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