John Wich
The regular season of college baseball is winding down and the stakes are high for teams across the country. The NCAA tournament regionals are the first step to reaching the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, but only 64 teams will make the cut. Who’s in and who’s out of the regionals? Here’s a breakdown of the latest projections and scenarios.
The Top 16 Seeds
The top 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament will host the regionals, which are four-team double-elimination brackets. The winners of each regional will advance to the super regionals, where they will face another regional winner in a best-of-three series. The eight super regional winners will then move on to Omaha for the College World Series.
According to D1Baseball.com, the latest top 16 seeds are:
- Arkansas (40-10)
- Texas (38-12)
- Tennessee (39-13)
- Vanderbilt (36-12)
- Arizona (36-13)
- Texas Tech (33-13)
- Notre Dame (28-10)
- Stanford (30-13)
- Oregon (34-11)
- Mississippi State (36-13)
- Florida (35-16)
- Louisville (26-15)
- East Carolina (36-11)
- Oregon State (33-15)
- Texas Christian (35-12)
- Louisiana Tech (35-14)
These seeds are not final and could change depending on the results of the remaining games and conference tournaments. Some of the teams that are close to cracking the top 16 are Old Dominion (37-12), Charlotte (37-17), Gonzaga (31-15), Southern Mississippi (33-15) and South Carolina (31-18).
The Bubble Teams
Besides the top 16 seeds, there are 48 other teams that will make the NCAA tournament as at-large bids or conference champions. The at-large bids are determined by a selection committee that considers various factors such as record, strength of schedule, quality wins and losses, RPI and metrics like WARREN and ISR.
Some of the teams that are currently on the bubble, meaning they are not guaranteed to make the tournament but have a chance depending on their performance in the final week, are:
- Baylor (29-17)
- Clemson (24-22)
- Duke (28-20)
- Florida State (28-19)
- Georgia Tech (27-21)
- Indiana State (25-15)
- Kentucky (28-20)
- Maryland (26-21)
- Miami (FL) (28-17)
- Northeastern (32-9)
- Pittsburgh (22-19)
- Southeastern Louisiana (31-18)
- UC Irvine (33-15)
- UCLA (31-16)
Some of these teams could improve their chances by winning their conference tournaments or finishing strong in their regular season games. Some of them could also be edged out by other teams that are not currently on the bubble but could make a late surge or win their conference tournaments.
The Final Countdown
The NCAA tournament selection show will air on Monday, May 31 at noon ET on ESPN2. The show will reveal the 64-team field, including the top 16 seeds, the regional hosts and matchups, and the super regional pairings.
The regionals will begin on Friday, June 4 and run through Monday, June 7. The super regionals will take place from Friday, June 11 to Monday, June 14. The College World Series will start on Saturday, June 19 and end with a best-of-three championship series from Monday, June 28 to Wednesday, June 30.
College baseball week 14 is here and it’s time to get ready for some exciting action on the diamond. Who will make it to Omaha and who will fall short? Stay tuned to find out.
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