• The national seed race didn't take a drastic turn this week, but also isn't void of changes. South Carolina was a top eight national seed in last week's projections, but dropped out of the mix after losing a tough road series to Georgia last weekend. As a result, teams such as TCU, Rice, Louisville and Miami were in the mix for the final national seed. Louisville has a high RPI, coming in at 12 after another strong week, but is just 6-6 vs. RPI Top 50 teams with a schedule ranked No. 108 on the national stage. Miami was strongly in the mix as well, but the ACC, at least at this point, is unlikely to get three national seeds. That left us with Rice and TCU. Though the Owls are 2-0 against the Horned Frogs this spring, TCU still has the superior resume. For instance, Rice is 3-5 vs. RPI Top 25 clubs, while TCU carries an impressive 9-4 mark against the same competition. Against RPI Top 50 teams, the Frogs are 13-8, with the Owls standing at 11-9. The race between these two and others is close, so don't look for the national seed race to stay the same from now until Selection Monday.

• There are a couple of changes from last week in the NCAA Regional host department. Houston and Alabama were hosts in last week's projections, but dropped out for Louisville and Liberty this week. The Cardinals moved ahead of the Cougars in the hosting pecking order with a three-game lead on them in the American Athletic Conference standings. The Cards and Cougars have similar resumes from an RPI standpoint, so the race for a host will come down to a variety of factors, including UH finding a way to chip into UL's conference lead the final two weeks of the regular season. Meanwhile, with Alabama moving out as a host after getting swept by Florida at home, it opened the door for Liberty to jump into the mix. I still have reserves about Liberty's overall resume with few marquee wins and a strength of schedule well into the 100s, but the Flames have a high RPI, an outstanding facility, and as we've mentioned before, the NCAA loves to put postseason tournaments in “new and exciting” places. Liberty fits the bill, while Vanderbilt would be a good choice to send there as a No. 1 seed. The Commodores are rising and very close to moving in as a host. Vanderbilt's conference record sits at 14-10, along with a 5-3 mark vs. RPI Top 25, 14-9 mark vs. RPI Top 50 and 18-13 record vs. RPI Top 100.

• If you're looking for a potential surprise host site in a few weeks, keep an eye on UC Irvine. The Anteaters have rapidly climbed the RPI the past couple of weeks, and have a chance to do even more with series against Cal Poly, Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton to finish the regular season. As it stands, the Anteaters have an RPI of 29, overall record of 33-14, and are 3-6 vs. RPI Top 50 and just 13-10 vs. RPI Top 100. UCI earning a host site remains a long shot, but should the 'Eaters win their final three series and win the Big West Conference title, it absolutely remains an option … Speaking of the Big West, Long Beach State would've been in this week's projections, but given we paint the most accurate picture of how things stand right now, the Dirtbags are .500, thus would be ineligible for the NCAA postseason … Cal State Fullerton missed this week's field, and is now down to 69 in the latest RPI with just a 24-20 overall record. The Titans are 12-15 vs. RPI Top 100 teams and just 7-8 in the Big West. In other words, they're in trouble.

• We'll have much more analysis on the bubble teams, but teams just missing the postseason field this week include Dallas Baptist, San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara, Illinois State, Southern Mississippi, Southern California, Illinois, Cal State Fullerton and North Carolina State.

• Bids by conference: SEC (11), ACC (8), Big 12 (6), Pac-12 (4), American Athletic (3), Mountain West (2), Big West (2), Big Ten (2), Conference USA (2), West Coast (2), Missouri Valley (2).

-- The projected national seeds are listed on the left, seed denoted in parenthesis. Regional on the right matches up to be projected NCAA Super Regional.
* Denotes automatic bid

The Road to Omaha: Field of 64 (May 8)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. 1. Virginia* (1) 4. Delaware State* 2. Alabama 3. Bryant*	LYNCHBURG, VA. 1. Vanderbilt 4. Hartford* 2. Liberty* 3. West Virginia
GAINESVILLE, FLA. 1. Florida* (2) 4. Western Illinois* 2. UCF 3. Duke	CORAL GABLES, FLA. 1. Miami (Fla.) 4. Columbia* 2. Mississippi State 3. Florida International
CORVALLIS, ORE. 1. Oregon State* (3) 4. Wright State* 2. UNLV* 3. Tennessee	SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF. 1. Cal Poly 4. Sacramento State* 2. Pepperdine* 3. Arizona State
LAFAYETTE, LA. 1. Louisiana-Lafayette* (4) 4. Southeast Missouri St.* 2. Houston 3. Kentucky	BATON ROUGE, LA. 1. Louisiana State 4. St. John's* 2. UC Irvine* 3. Maryland
BLOOMINGTON, IND. 1. Indiana* (5) 4. Canisius* 2. Oregon 3. Indiana State	SEATTLE 1. Washington 4. Evansville* 2. Oklahoma State 3. San Diego
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 1. Florida State (6) 4. Alabama State* 2. Mercer* 3. Arkansas	COLUMBIA, S.C. 1. South Carolina 4. Western Carolina* 2. Georgia Tech 3. Kansas
OXFORD, MISS. 1. Mississippi (7) 4. Ball State* 2. Clemson 3. Nebraska	LOUISVILLE, KY. 1. Louisville* 4. William & Mary* 2. Texas Tech 3. North Carolina
FORT WORTH, TEXAS 1. Texas Christian* (8) 4. Army* 2. Texas A&M 3. New Mexico	HOUSTON (Rice U.) 1. Rice* 4. Saint Louis* 2. Texas 3. Sam Houston State*
CONFERENCE AUTOMATIC BIDS Atlantic 10: Saint Louis American Athletic: Louisville Atlantic Coast: Virginia America East: Hartford Atlantic Sun: Mercer Big Ten: Indiana Big 12: TCU Big East: St. John's Big South: Liberty Big West: UC Irvine Colonial Athletic: William & Mary Conference USA: Rice Horizon: Wright State Ivy League: Columbia Metro Atlantic: Canisius Mid-American: Ball State Mid-Eastern Athletic: Delaware State Missouri Valley: Evansville Mountain West: UNLV Northeast: Bryant Ohio Valley: Southeast Missouri Pac-12: Oregon State Patriot: Army Southeastern: Florida Southern: Western Carolina Southland: Sam Houston State Southwestern Athletic: Alabama State Summit: Western Illinois Sun Belt: Louisiana-Lafayette West Coast: Pepperdine Western Athletic: Sacramento State