The whispers started a few weeks ago. Will they get 10 teams in? Will they be the first? Will this be the year? Leading up to the NCAA baseball tournament, much ado was being made about the potential for the SEC to get 10 teams in the NCAA tournament, if not 11. Ten turned out to be the magic number, and almost as soon as the announcements were made, the complaining began. Unfair! Overrated! $@*! the SEC!
This is not uncharted waters for the SEC. We hear it all the time during football season, and even in the offseason thanks to people like Bob Stoops. Then the season starts, and anything short of every team in the SEC going undefeated and winning every bowl game leads to the inevitable chants of overrated. Same thing happens during baseball. Can we help it we live in a part of the country where the weather is conducive to playing baseball nearly year round, and our teams are amongst the nation's best? We would probably hear the same kind of talk in the winter and late spring too, if only there were a competitive team sport being contested at that time.
But back to baseball, the 10 SEC teams scattered themselves around the country and began playing. Predictably, as soon as the losses started coming in, the screams of “overrated” became louder and louder. It made me wonder what that really meant. At whom was it directed? It seems to me that initially the “overrated” talk meant that some part of the ten teams didn't deserve to be there, but as the weekend progressed, the definition changed to mean that anything short of all 10 advancing to the Super Regionals meant our league was a failure. Either way, that's dumb. Our ten teams certainly deserved to be there and given Clemson's horrible performance, Tennessee has a decent case for there being 11 teams. Were any of the 10 actually overrated?? Let's dig in, shall we?
Vanderbilt and Ole Miss advanced to the Supers. I guess if they both lose their Supers there is more to the discussion on them, but I personally think that once you advance to a Super, your season is made. Sure Omaha is great, and that’s the goal for all these teams, but Supers are at best a crapshoot. Great teams lose in the Supers all the time. I don’t think there’s any way the overrated tag can be applied to Vandy or Ole Miss. Congratulations to both of them for advancing.
Florida was the only SEC team to go 0-2. The Gators were a host, a national seed, and the conference champions. Going 0-2 is certainly not the way you want to go out, but does it make you overrated? If so, then was FSU also overrated? I don’t think the overrated jeers were pointed at the Gators, but they certainly earned some jeering of their own.
That leaves seven teams: Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. These must be the overrated teams, right?
Kentucky played in the Louisville regional. They went 2-2, splitting two games with Kansas and losing to host Louisville in the regional championship. They were a 2 seed. Kansas was the 3. Flip that and the bracket results stay the same. Kentucky was not overrated.
Alabama played in the Tallahassee regional, and eliminated the Seminoles. They went 3-2 in the regional but fell in game 7 to Kennesaw State in the regional championship. Does losing two out of three to a three seed make you overrated? Perhaps Kennesaw was underrated. Regardless, Alabama was a few innings away from advancing. Alabama was not overrated.
Arkansas played in the Charlottesville regional. They beat both teams seeded below them and lost to Virginia twice, once in the regional championship. No shame in that. Arkansas was not overrated.
Mississippi State went to the Lafayette regional and had two chances to advance to the Supers before falling to the #1 team in the country. State went 2-2, beating both other teams in their regional. Mississippi State was not overrated.
Texas A&M went to the Houston regional. As a #3 seed, they went 3-2, and beat every other team in the regional. They were also innings away from a Super regional. Texas A&M was not overrated.
LSU hosted their regional, but lost to Houston in the regional championship. I’m sure the LSU fans would agree there is no excuse for losing a regional on your home field, but Houston was widely considered one of if not the best #2 seed. They should be hosting the Super but Texas bought it. Like Florida, LSU had earned the respect it was being given, and certainly was not part of the “overrated” accusations.
South Carolina on the other hand hosted their own regional, but mustered only two wins over Campbell while losing twice to Maryland. MARYLAND! The Terps were a middle of the pack team in the ACC, lumped in with North Carolina, Clemson, Georgia Tech and other garbage teams but somehow earned a #2 seed thanks to an RPI significantly higher than their rankings in human polls. I doubt many people picked the Terps to advance, but advance they did, dominating USC in the regional championship game 10-1. South Carolina had a higher ranking, better RPI and was at home, yet still lost twice to Maryland. Way to go South Carolina. You’re who everyone was screaming about. YOU were overrated. YOU are why we will have to listen to this for the next 12 months. You’re not really welcome here anyway. I’ve never accepted you as part of the SEC, even when we added these other two new bastard schools last year. You may be in the SEC on paper, but you’re still a Metro Conference or an independent team in my book. Thanks a lot South Carolina. You were OVERRATED.
This is not uncharted waters for the SEC. We hear it all the time during football season, and even in the offseason thanks to people like Bob Stoops. Then the season starts, and anything short of every team in the SEC going undefeated and winning every bowl game leads to the inevitable chants of overrated. Same thing happens during baseball. Can we help it we live in a part of the country where the weather is conducive to playing baseball nearly year round, and our teams are amongst the nation's best? We would probably hear the same kind of talk in the winter and late spring too, if only there were a competitive team sport being contested at that time.
But back to baseball, the 10 SEC teams scattered themselves around the country and began playing. Predictably, as soon as the losses started coming in, the screams of “overrated” became louder and louder. It made me wonder what that really meant. At whom was it directed? It seems to me that initially the “overrated” talk meant that some part of the ten teams didn't deserve to be there, but as the weekend progressed, the definition changed to mean that anything short of all 10 advancing to the Super Regionals meant our league was a failure. Either way, that's dumb. Our ten teams certainly deserved to be there and given Clemson's horrible performance, Tennessee has a decent case for there being 11 teams. Were any of the 10 actually overrated?? Let's dig in, shall we?
Vanderbilt and Ole Miss advanced to the Supers. I guess if they both lose their Supers there is more to the discussion on them, but I personally think that once you advance to a Super, your season is made. Sure Omaha is great, and that’s the goal for all these teams, but Supers are at best a crapshoot. Great teams lose in the Supers all the time. I don’t think there’s any way the overrated tag can be applied to Vandy or Ole Miss. Congratulations to both of them for advancing.
Florida was the only SEC team to go 0-2. The Gators were a host, a national seed, and the conference champions. Going 0-2 is certainly not the way you want to go out, but does it make you overrated? If so, then was FSU also overrated? I don’t think the overrated jeers were pointed at the Gators, but they certainly earned some jeering of their own.
That leaves seven teams: Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. These must be the overrated teams, right?
Kentucky played in the Louisville regional. They went 2-2, splitting two games with Kansas and losing to host Louisville in the regional championship. They were a 2 seed. Kansas was the 3. Flip that and the bracket results stay the same. Kentucky was not overrated.
Alabama played in the Tallahassee regional, and eliminated the Seminoles. They went 3-2 in the regional but fell in game 7 to Kennesaw State in the regional championship. Does losing two out of three to a three seed make you overrated? Perhaps Kennesaw was underrated. Regardless, Alabama was a few innings away from advancing. Alabama was not overrated.
Arkansas played in the Charlottesville regional. They beat both teams seeded below them and lost to Virginia twice, once in the regional championship. No shame in that. Arkansas was not overrated.
Mississippi State went to the Lafayette regional and had two chances to advance to the Supers before falling to the #1 team in the country. State went 2-2, beating both other teams in their regional. Mississippi State was not overrated.
Texas A&M went to the Houston regional. As a #3 seed, they went 3-2, and beat every other team in the regional. They were also innings away from a Super regional. Texas A&M was not overrated.
LSU hosted their regional, but lost to Houston in the regional championship. I’m sure the LSU fans would agree there is no excuse for losing a regional on your home field, but Houston was widely considered one of if not the best #2 seed. They should be hosting the Super but Texas bought it. Like Florida, LSU had earned the respect it was being given, and certainly was not part of the “overrated” accusations.
South Carolina on the other hand hosted their own regional, but mustered only two wins over Campbell while losing twice to Maryland. MARYLAND! The Terps were a middle of the pack team in the ACC, lumped in with North Carolina, Clemson, Georgia Tech and other garbage teams but somehow earned a #2 seed thanks to an RPI significantly higher than their rankings in human polls. I doubt many people picked the Terps to advance, but advance they did, dominating USC in the regional championship game 10-1. South Carolina had a higher ranking, better RPI and was at home, yet still lost twice to Maryland. Way to go South Carolina. You’re who everyone was screaming about. YOU were overrated. YOU are why we will have to listen to this for the next 12 months. You’re not really welcome here anyway. I’ve never accepted you as part of the SEC, even when we added these other two new bastard schools last year. You may be in the SEC on paper, but you’re still a Metro Conference or an independent team in my book. Thanks a lot South Carolina. You were OVERRATED.
