Now that the MAC Tournament is over, we turn our attention to softball’s “Big Dance.” Selection show is tomorrow (5/12) at 7pm on ESPN2, I believe.
Today’s broadcast seemed to think we are a 2 seed. What do you think? We are:
-Top 25 in most human polls.
-Top 30 in the Massey Ratings.
-Mid-30s in the RPI.
Of our 7 losses, 5 were to quality opponents (Oklahoma, Clemson, Ole Miss, UGA x2). The OU, Ole Miss, and one of the Georgia losses were close. The CMU loss was bad, and the Jax St. loss wasn’t great.
We don’t really have a ton of quality wins. Louisiana is definitely our best. The Louisville, Tulsa, and EKU wins would probably be the equivalent of Quad 2 wins in basketball.
So, will we nab a 2 seed?
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Seems like we beat two ACC schools. That has to be in the quality bracket.
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Pitt was not a quality win. They were last in the ACC. Granted, that’s a tough conference, and we did beat them at their place.
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I’d like to see if they beat any good teams. They have to be better than some of the MAC schools we played
They have 7 top 100 wins per Massey. 62 UL and 63 UNC were their best. Their worst loss was to Loyola-Chicago (177). They also lost to WMU (158).
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How does the seeding process work? The regionals listed in the bracketology prediction I posted assigned regionals to the top 16 teams in the Coaches Poll.
Each of the top 16 national seeds hosts a regional as a 1 seed. The other three teams in the region are seeded 2-4. I am not sure what the criteria for seeding is. I’m not sure anyone does, actually.
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That Arizona series would have helped. Wish it hadn’t cancelled
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Here’s my prediction. We head to Knoxville:
- Tennessee
- MIAMI
- Indiana
- Dayton
We’ve beaten the Vols once before in the tournament!
Updated through Thursday: 35
Updated through Friday: 34
https://d1softball.com/nitty-gritty/
Updated Live (although it appears to be using a different formula): 32
Indiana just outhit Michigan but lost the Big 10 championship 3-1 this afternoon.
Looks like Penn St is in position to get a 3 seed. Possible matchup with Clarisa Crowell?
Kentucky had a late season meltdown and Virginia Tech took a bad upset in the opening round of the ACC tournament, so the only remaining potential 1 seeds that are somewhat geographically close are Tennessee, Missouri, and Duke.
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If logic prevailed, it looks like we should be the #2 seed in Tuscaloosa.
Not that I have much to complain about this season, but man it would’ve been cool if we pulled out some of our losses to justify a high enough ranking to get a 1 seed. Miami hosting an NCAA softball (or baseball) tourney regional is very improbable but would be really neat (and great for Oxford as a town).
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I think the fact that more than half of our wins are against quadrant four teams would keep that from happening.
Tennessee’s commencement ceremonies are next weekend. Rooms at the Marriott in downtown Knoxville are going for $639 a night. If they announce a Regional is going there rooms might jump to $1000.
Might be a problem lots of places…would have been a complete deal breaker if we were hosting a Regional in Oxford next weekend.
I’ve long thought that 2018 Tennessee Tech baseball is a good point of reference. Mid major. Led the country in basically every offensive category. Serviceable but not great pitching. Some good performances against quality teams in nonconference play, but weak schedule and a couple bad losses dropped them to the fringe of the top 25 and a regional 2 seed.
They ended up pulling off an upset in their regional and lost their super regional series 2-1. Would be awesome if we can do something similar.
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I think the Indians squad in Major League would be better. Go win the whole damn thing!