Road to Omaha thread

[micropolitan guy]

Last year, North Carolina pulled one of the all-time choke jobs against Oregon State.

Yeah, a team that was outhit, outpitched, out-defensed, outcoached, couldn't run the bases and only led for eight of the 27 innings in the Championship Series, just gave it away.

Item of note: Stanford and USC finished 8-9 in the (nine-team) Pac-10 this year; the league had only one great team, ASU, but was awfully solid from top-to-bottom. Stanford and SC have had some national success in this sport.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I'm trying to think of something more overrated than ACC baseball.

I'm having trouble coming up with something.

How about -- ACC football since Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College joined? Or ACC basketball?

Wow. That chip on your shoulder regarding the ACC weigh much?

 

[micropolitan guy]

No kidding. I don't think there's any doubt ACC football has improved substantially over the past 15 years or so. Wake and Virginia used to be gawd-awful, and virtually every league has a Duke.

 

[Charlie Brown]

As for Florida being ineligible, that's what Larry Templeton says, but there's nothing in the NCAA bylaws or the NCAA baseball championship handbook that says you must have a .500 record or better to be an at-large team. If you can find something other than a quote from Templeton, I'd love to see a link here, because the two applicable rule books are devoid of any such criteria. I'm not saying Florida should be in (although their schedule and RPI are impressive), but I see no such "rule" Templeton cited today.

 

[slappy4428]

As for Florida being ineligible, that's what Larry Templeton says, but there's nothing in the NCAA bylaws or the NCAA baseball championship handbook that says you must have a .500 record or better to be an at-large team. If you can find something other than a quote from Templeton, I'd love to see a link here, because the two applicable rule books are devoid of any such criteria. I'm not saying Florida should be in (although their schedule and RPI are impressive), but I see no such "rule" Templeton cited today.

Based on what I saw this weekend, Florida would have deserved to get in over Alabama and Mississippi STate, even with a sub ,.500 record.

 

[beefncheddar]

Wake Forest finished 14-16 in the ACC. Deacs' conference wins were over:

Virginia (2)
N.C. State (1)
North Carolina (1)
Maryland (3)
Clemson (1)
Duke (3)
Miami (1)
Va. Tech (2)

So, conference series wins over teams in the tournament = 1

I've got no problem if you want to say the ACC was up this year and the SEC was down. That's fine. But the idea that the ACC is TWO TEAMS better than the SEC is laughable. Take Wake's bid and give it to an SEC team and roll from there.

 

[MileHigh]

My Titans, sporting their worst conference record and worst conference finish (T-5) since 1989, somehow got a No. 2 seed and somehow stayed on the West Coast.

Figures. I'm actually tournament free around CWS time and there's little chance Fullerton will sniff Omaha this year with that pitching staff.

I saw that No. 2 seed today and was like, "Where the hell did that come from."

That's a complete nod to past success, but the pitching has been pretty bad this year for the Titans. They'll be lucky to get out of the regional.

 

[Birdscribe]

My Titans, sporting their worst conference record and worst conference finish (T-5) since 1989, somehow got a No. 2 seed and somehow stayed on the West Coast.

Figures. I'm actually tournament free around CWS time and there's little chance Fullerton will sniff Omaha this year with that pitching staff.

I saw that No. 2 seed today and was like, "Where the hell did that come from."

That's a complete nod to past success, but the pitching has been pretty bad this year for the Titans. They'll be lucky to get out of the regional.

Very true. I had to do a double-take when I saw that seeding and that geographic placing. If Fullerton made the tournament -- and I wasn't sure it would -- I had the Titans getting shipped out to Texas or somewhere in the Southeast.

San Diego? That's a reputation gift with a bow on it. Not something that pitching staff deserves. Not when your closer has an ERA north of 4.4, your best pitcher (who was the conference POY and an All-American last year) had his ERA jump by more than a run a game (as his wins went from 13 to 9) and you had only one pitcher post double-digit wins.

If they somehow get out of that region, there's no way they survive the Super Region.

 

[farmerjerome]

The big deal they were making on the selection show was only five SEC teams making the field.

Is it that big a deal that Tennessee et al. are out? I know Florida wasn't eligible, but still, you think there'd be more.

I didn't know that Florida was out. I was kind of hoping for a chance at the triple crown.

 

[Moland Spring]

Larry Templeton did not say Florida was out by rule. He said by policy. Which is a big difference. Maybe it was just a standard the committee decided upon at some point, rather than a rule in the book. I don't know, but if I were a Florida baseball writer (there is one, I think), I'd be very interested in this.

 

[GB-Hack]

Well they do have 30-31 Wofford to point to as a team that made it, although I think that was as a conference champion.

 

[Oz]

Well they do have 30-31 Wofford to point to as a team that made it, although I think that was as a conference champion.

Yeah, it was. Good rule of thumb, .500 teams should never get at large bids.

 

[Bill Horton]

I'm trying to think of something more overrated than ACC baseball.

I'm having trouble coming up with something.

Pop tarts?

 

[slappy4428]

I'm trying to think of something more overrated than ACC baseball.

I'm having trouble coming up with something.

Pop tarts?

Alabama football?

 

[Birdscribe]

I'm trying to think of something more overrated than ACC baseball.

I'm having trouble coming up with something.

Pop tarts?

Alabama football?

Martha Stewart?

 

[BigRed]

Wake Forest finished 14-16 in the ACC. Deacs' conference wins were over:

Virginia (2)
N.C. State (1)
North Carolina (1)
Maryland (3)
Clemson (1)
Duke (3)
Miami (1)
Va. Tech (2)

So, conference series wins over teams in the tournament = 1

I've got no problem if you want to say the ACC was up this year and the SEC was down. That's fine. But the idea that the ACC is TWO TEAMS better than the SEC is laughable. Take Wake's bid and give it to an SEC team and roll from there.

In interest of full disclosure, I might be a bit more biased towards Wake's case since I saw them at the ACC Tournament this weekend (but don't cover them).
They probably should have beaten Clemson in their weekend series..... Clemson led 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth on the Sunday afternoon game and Wake had the tying run at second with one out when rain moved in. Two hours later, with water standing in the outfield, the game was called as a Clemson win (thanks to ACC travel policies that say teams can't play on Monday).
They also beat Clemson and Miami in the ACC Tournament. They have a No.23 RPI. According to WarrenNolan.com, they have played the nation's second-toughest schedule (which includes a pair of non-conference wins over Coastal Carolina and a win over San Diego).
That looks like an NCAA-worthy resume to me, much more than Alabama or Tennessee. If Florida could have gotten its record at or above .500, it might have been worthy. But otherwise it's not as simple as yanking an ACC bid and giving it to a middling SEC team.

 

[Claws for Concern]

My Titans, sporting their worst conference record and worst conference finish (T-5) since 1989, somehow got a No. 2 seed and somehow stayed on the West Coast.

Figures. I'm actually tournament free around CWS time and there's little chance Fullerton will sniff Omaha this year with that pitching staff.

Birdscribe, you're working the Sorenstam tourney this week, right? I plan to attend the USD regional (at San Diego State) in hopes that USD and CSF (my alma mater, too) meet in a Saturday night game. Too bad, would love to have the chance to hang out.

 

[beefncheddar]

In interest of full disclosure, I might be a bit more biased towards Wake's case since I saw them at the ACC Tournament this weekend (but don't cover them).
They probably should have beaten Clemson in their weekend series..... Clemson led 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth on the Sunday afternoon game and Wake had the tying run at second with one out when rain moved in. Two hours later, with water standing in the outfield, the game was called as a Clemson win (thanks to ACC travel policies that say teams can't play on Monday).
They also beat Clemson and Miami in the ACC Tournament. They have a No.23 RPI. According to WarrenNolan.com, they have played the nation's second-toughest schedule (which includes a pair of non-conference wins over Coastal Carolina and a win over San Diego).
That looks like an NCAA-worthy resume to me, much more than Alabama or Tennessee. If Florida could have gotten its record at or above .500, it might have been worthy. But otherwise it's not as simple as yanking an ACC bid and giving it to a middling SEC team.

It's college baseball: Teams win (and lose) games they shouldn't all the time. I may be wrong, but I tend to put a lot more weight on what teams do in series and conference games as opposed to what they do out of conference or in individual midweek games. The wins over Coastal are nice, but those were individual midweekers. And the win over San Diego was part of a 1-win series.

Eight of Wake's 14 conference wins were over pretty awful teams. I'll check the stats, but I've got a hard time believing Wake saw any of Coastal's top pitcher(s) in a single midweek game.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Larry Templeton did not say Florida was out by rule. He said by policy. Which is a big difference. Maybe it was just a standard the committee decided upon at some point, rather than a rule in the book. I don't know, but if I were a Florida baseball writer (there is one, I think), I'd be very interested in this.

My mistake. I read a story that said Templeton said "by rule."

 

[Birdscribe]

My Titans, sporting their worst conference record and worst conference finish (T-5) since 1989, somehow got a No. 2 seed and somehow stayed on the West Coast.

Figures. I'm actually tournament free around CWS time and there's little chance Fullerton will sniff Omaha this year with that pitching staff.

Birdscribe, you're working the Sorenstam tourney this week, right? I plan to attend the USD regional (at San Diego State) in hopes that USD and CSF (my alma mater, too) meet in a Saturday night game. Too bad, would love to have the chance to hang out.

Yeah. I'm here in South Carolina, trying to sked a get-together (not an "outing" Moddy), with the SC SJ chapter. That offer sounded like a keeper.