The day is finally here for college baseball coaches, players and fans alike. It’s Selection Monday.
All the blood, sweat and tears of the past few months will pay off for 64 teams who will have their names called Monday morning at 11 a.m., central, on ESPNU.
But while we wait for the official NCAA Field of 64 to be announced, we’re also determined to take one last crack at predicting the field.
From a national seed standpoint, LSU is clearly in the top eight after winning the SEC tournament with a dominant showing all week in Hoover, Ala. That left us with TCU, South Carolina and Ole Miss for a final national seed. The Gamecocks were heavily in our mix for a national seed, but we gave the edge to TCU, which is one of the nation’s hottest teams, finished one game out of first place in the Big 12 regular season, won the Big 12 tournament and has a very impressive overall resume.
From a hosting standpoint, there weren’t any big surprises. We had Louisville as a host Sunday morning. And though we thought the committee might take that host site away from the Cardinals with a loss to Houston in the American Athletic Conference tournament title game, that didn’t happen, and UH and Washington both were unable to secure host sites. Washington not getting a host site is of particular interest, as the West Coast is left with just two host sites — Cal Poly and Oregon State.
Let’s cut to the chase and reveal our final field, along with our bubble teams who are in or out.
BIDS BY CONFERENCE
Southeastern (10): Florida, LSU, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas A&M
Atlantic Coast (6): Florida State, Maryland, Miami, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia Tech
Big 12 (5): Texas Christian, Oklahoma State, Texas, Kansas, Texas Tech
Pac-12 (5): Oregon State, Oregon, Arizona State, Stanford, Washington
Big West (4): Cal Poly, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton
American Athletic (3): Louisville, Houston, UCF
Missouri Valley (2): Indiana State, Dallas Baptist
Conference USA (2): Rice, Old Dominion
Southland (2): Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana
Big South (2): Liberty, Campbell
Mountain West (2): San Diego State, UNLV
Big Ten (2): Indiana, Nebraska
FINAL AT-LARGE BIDS
Last five in: Old Dominion, North Carolina, Stanford, UC Irvine, UCF
First five out: Clemson, Mercer, Illinois, West Virginia, Western Carolina
-- 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
| Final postseason Field of 64 (May 26) |
CORVALLIS, Ore.
1. Oregon State* (1)
4. North Dakota State*
2. Long Beach State
3. Kansas
|
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.
1. Cal Poly*
4. Sacramento State*
2. Pepperdine*
3. Stanford
|
GAINESVILLE, Fla.
1. Florida (2)
4. Bethune-Cookman*
2. Georgia Tech*
3. Bryant*
|
CORAL GABLES, Fla.
1. Miami
4. Siena*
2. Arkansas
3. UCF
|
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.
1. Virginia (3)
4. Bucknell*
2. Liberty
3. Old Dominion
|
LOUISVILLE, Ky.
1. Louisville
4. Kent State*
2. Kentucky
3. San Diego State*
|
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.
1. Indiana* (4)
4. Youngstown State*
2. Oregon
3. Indiana State
|
STILLWATER, Okla.
1. Oklahoma State
4. Binghamton*
2. Nebraska
3. Cal State Fullerton
|
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
1. Florida State (5)
4. Jacksonville State*
2. Alabama
3. Kennesaw State*
|
COLUMBIA, S.C.
1. South Carolina
4. Georgia Southern*
2. Maryland
3. College of Charleston*
|
LAFAYETTE, La.
1. Louisiana-Lafayette* (6)
4. Xavier*
2. Mississippi State
3. Sam Houston State
|
OXFORD, Miss.
1. Mississippi
4. Jackson State*
2. Texas Tech
3. UNLV
|
FORT WORTH, Texas
1. Texas Christian* (7)
4. George Mason*
2. Washington
3. Dallas Baptist*
|
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
1. Vanderbilt
4. Campbell*
2. Arizona State
3. North Carolina
|
BATON ROUGE, La.
1. Louisiana State* (8)
4. Southeastern Louisiana*
2. Houston*
3. UC Irvine
|
HOUSTON
1. Rice*
4. Columbia*
2. Texas
3. Texas A&M
|
CONFERENCE AUTOMATIC BIDS
Atlantic 10: George Mason
American Athletic: Houston
Atlantic Coast: Georgia Tech
America East: Binghamton
Atlantic Sun: Kennesaw State
Big Ten: Indiana
Big 12: TCU
Big East: Xavier
Big South: Campbell
Big West: Cal Poly
Colonial Athletic: College of Charleston
Conference USA: Rice
Horizon: Youngstown State
Ivy League: Columbia
Metro Atlantic: Siena
Mid-American: Kent State
Mid-Eastern Athletic: Bethune-Cookman
Missouri Valley: Dallas Baptist
Mountain West: San Diego State
Northeast: Bryant
Ohio Valley: Jacksonville State
Pac-12: Oregon State
Patriot: Bucknell
Southeastern: Louisiana State
Southern: Georgia Southern
Southland: Southeastern Louisiana
Southwestern Athletic: Jackson State
Summit: North Dakota State
Sun Belt: Louisiana-Lafayette
West Coast: Pepperdine
Western Athletic: Sacramento State |