D1Baseball reporter heavily criticizes committee after eight SEC teams named as regional hosts
The SEC’s dominance in the college baseball world continued on Sunday evening upon the release of the regional hosts for the NCAA Tournament. Of the 16 selected sites, eight of them went to the Southeastern Conference.
That fact had D1Baseball’s Shotgun Spratling up in arms following the announcement. He makes the point that giving that many SEC teams a home-field advantage in the postseason doesn’t seem fair, especially considering how little they travel during the season and how poorly they combined to do whenever they did.
The eight SEC teams given the privilege of hosting a regional were Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt. In comparison, the next closest league was the ACC with only four selections. After that, the Big-12, Pac-12, Sun Belt, and Missouri Valley each got one apiece.
To be fair, the SEC boasted some of the nation’s top teams all season long, regardless of record at home or away. Once you take Spratling’s stats into consideration, though, you start to wonder if maybe the conference should have fewer official hosts and just more postseason participants in general.
Projecting the Field of 64 after announcement of 16 regional hosts
The NCAA baseball tournament is nearly upon us. On Sunday night, following the conclusion of conference tournaments across college baseball, the 16 regional host sites were announced by the NCAA. Following the release of the top 16 teams in the tournament, we have projected the entire Field of 64.
Full Field of 64 Projection
Last four teams in: 61. Kent State, 62. UC Irvine, 63. Texas Tech, 64. Kansas State
First four teams out: 65. NC State, 66. Louisiana, 67. Arizona State, 68. UC Santa Barbara
*Indicates automatic qualifier from winning their respective conference tournament title
Winston-Salem Regional
1. Wake Forest (No. 1 overall)
4. Tulane*
2. Indiana
3. Charlotte*
Auburn Regional
1. Auburn (No. 16 overall)
4. Lipscomb*
2. Texas
3. Xavier*
Gainesville Regional
1. Florida (No. 2 overall)
4. Florida A&M*
2. Oregon
3. Troy
Terre Haute Regional
1. Indiana State (No. 15 overall)*
4. Central Connecticut State*
2. Boston College
3. Kent State
Clemson Regional
1. Clemson (No. 3 overall)
4. Penn*
2. Texas A&M
3. Kansas State
Lexington Regional
1. Kentucky (No. 14 overall)
4. Ball State*
2. Connecticut
3. UC Irvine
Fayetteville Regional
1. Arkansas (No. 4 overall)
4. Wright State*
2. Maryland*
3. Sam Houston*
Columbia Regional
1. South Carolina (No. 13 overall)
4. Eastern Illinois*
2. East Carolina
3. UNC Wilmington*
Nashville Regional
1. Vanderbilt (No. 5 overall)*
4. Rider*
2. Southern Miss*
3. Samford*
Stillwater Regional
1. Oklahoma State (No. 12 overall)
4. Santa Clara*
2. Dallas Baptist
3. Iowa
Baton Rouge Regional
1. LSU (No. 6 overall)
4. George Mason*
2. Duke
3. Texas Tech
Coral Gables Regional
1. Miami (No. 11 overall)
4. Oral Roberts*
2. TCU*
3. Oregon State
Stanford Regional
1. Stanford (No. 7 overall)
4. San Jose State*
2. Tennessee
3. Cal State Fullerton*
Conway Regional
1. Coastal Carolina (No. 10 overall)
4. Nicholls*
2. Campbell*
3. Washington
Charlottesville Regional
1. Virginia (No. 8 overall)
4. Maine*
2. West Virginia
3. Northeastern
Tuscaloosa Regional
1. Alabama (No. 9 overall)
4. Army*
2. North Carolina
3. Oklahoma