By Sean Ryan
CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder
Less than an hour ago, the NCAA unveiled the Field of 64 for this year’s Division I college baseball tournament.
Here are some rapid reactions to the good, the bad and the snubs…
Long Live the RPI
RPI proved king again. It shows in the choices for Regional hosts, save for Campbell (13) and Dallas Baptist (16). Auburn (19) appeared as a host, as did South Carolina (8), which sputtered down the stretch. Bubble teams Kent State (46), UC Irvine (49), Arizona State (52), Southern California (53) and Kansas State (55) were one-upped by Oklahoma (40), Arizona (45) and Louisiana (47).
The Snubs
When we make our projections, we try to predict what the committee will do. We projected Louisiana, UC Irvine and Southern California as three of our final spots. While Louisiana made the cut, we missed on Oklahoma and Arizona. The Sooners were our first team out, largely because of a sub-.500 record and seventh-place finish in the Big 12. We weren’t sold on USC, but had them in over Arizona (and Arizona State) based on a fourth-place finish in the Pac-12. The Wildcats – 12-18 and eighth in the Pac-12 – somehow got in over the Trojans, who finished five games ahead of them (but lost two of three to Arizona), and Arizona State, which finished 4.5 games ahead of its in-state rival. UC Irvine should have gone in ahead of Arizona and is my biggest beef. We hoped Kent State might slip in, but we guessed correctly that the committee would favor the Power 5s with similar RPI.
The Hosts
For the most part, the hosts are fine. Campbell easily could have hosted at a nearby minor league park over Auburn for instance. But we understand the committee – led by Auburn’s AD – savoring yet another packed SEC stadium over a mid-major playing at a minor league park. Boston College also could have hosted over Auburn. So much for spreading things out.
The Bracket
As you can see, we thought Auburn would be a 16 or 15, maybe a 14 at best. Alabama got the 16 seed instead. We had them reversed. RPI pushed Kentucky up to a 12 (we had guessed 10). It’s a little surprising to see Tennessee (20), one of the top 2-seeds, sent to No. 4 national seed Clemson – we had the Volunteers on the other side of the bracket. Same goes for North Carolina (27) as a 3-seed. We’ll have more to come on the bracket.