It’s the best time of year for college baseball fans.
One of the most underrated weekends in sports is finally here as 64 teams begin their journey to Omaha across 16 regional sites. Here’s what to watch as the NCAA Tournament gets underway.
The SEC once again dominates the NCAA Tournament field
The SEC will be heavily represented, once again, in the tournament.
The conference placed 12 teams in the field, meaning 75 percent of the league reached the postseason and nearly 20 percent of the entire NCAA Tournament field came from the SEC.
The conference is also heavily represented at the top, with five national seeds and seven regional hosts.
Here’s a look at where each team is seeded.
No. 1 Seeds
No. 3 Georgia
No. 4 Auburn
No. 6. Texas
No. 7 Alabama
No. 8 Florida
No. 12 Texas A&M
No. 14 Mississippi State
No. 2 and 3 Seeds (regional location)
No. 2 Oklahoma (Atlanta Regional)
No. 2 Arkansas (Lawrence Regional)
No. 2 Ole Miss (Lincoln Regional)
No. 2 Tennessee (Chapel Hill Regional)
No. 3 Kentucky (Morgantown Regional)
Lincoln Regional loaded with power arms and power bats
The Pac-12, and original PAC 8, family reunion that’s happening in Eugene, Oregon should be fun. The Hattiesburg regional is way more loaded than people realize with Southern Miss, Virginia and the best No. 3 seed in the entire tournament, Jacksonville State.
The one I am looking forward to most, however, is in Lincoln, Nebraska. The regional host is Nebraska. They will host Ole Miss, Arizona State and South Dakota.
I don’t care about South Dakota or their baseball team. I’ve always thought we only needed one Dakota as a state, to be honest. This entire regional is just brute force on a baseball field.
Ole Miss boasts the nation’s fourth-best strikeout rate on the mound, but the Rebels also rank 305th nationally in offensive strikeouts. They’ll open regional play against Arizona State, a club featuring one of the country’s best players, and arguably the best nickname in college baseball.
Landon Hairston, AKA Hairy Bonds, is unreal. He finished the season hitting .413 with 28 home runs and 78 RBIs.
Two SEC regional hosts facing more danger than expected
Seven SEC teams will host regionals this weekend, and I expect five of them to advance. Two hosts, however, look vulnerable to an early exit: Alabama and Texas A&M.
Alabama is such a tough team to break down because the resumé matches the No. 7 overall seed. But, they do not pass the eye test, and that’s saying something since I technically have four of them with these Warby Parker’s.
They finished the season with a team batting average of .253 which was 15th in the SEC. They also did most of their resumé building before April. The sweep of Florida and Auburn are incredibly impressive, but they also got swept by Kentucky in the opening series and got trounced 13-3 in their only game of the SEC tournament against Florida.
They only have two .300 hitters in the lineup and one player with double-digit home runs. Oklahoma State on the other hand rakes. They have six players with double digit home runs and finished second in the country in home runs. They’re a bad matchup for Alabama on opening weekend.
The other team I think is on upset alert is Texas A&M. They’re the No. 12 seed and hosting the College Station Regional. The No. 2 team in that region is Southern Cal.
This is a fascinating matchup because I love the Texas A&M baseball lineup. I’ve said all season that its one-through-four may be the best in the country. The question has always been the pitching, and this weekend they’ll face a USC staff capable of putting that concern to the test.
The Trojans are intriguing because they haven’t faced much elite competition this season. When they have, they’ve struggled. USC Trojans baseball went just 1-11 against Quad 1 opponents, which raises legitimate questions about how they’ll handle the level of competition they’ll see this weekend.
Still, they have two of the best arms in the country, and are saving their ace, Mason Edwards, for Game 2 of the regional. Their top two guys finished the year with a combined 18-2 record and each had an ERA under 3.00 and WHIP under 1.00.
Can they beat someone with a pulse? That’s the biggest question.
Battle-tested SEC clubs poised to spoil host sites again
There’s a consensus pick here, and it’s Arkansas. I like Arkansas to advance over Kansas, but they aren’t the only ones from the league that will. The other is Ole Miss.
Both hosts that Arkansas and Ole Miss will face (Kansas and Nebraska) have way less experience in this position. There’s a case to be made that Arkansas is playing its best baseball right now. But, their regional hosts each played just 17 games against Quad 1 teams this year.
Arkansas and Ole Miss played 28 and 31, respectively. They won 16 and 14, which is good for the second and fourth most in the country.
Give me the battle tested teams from the old SEC West to advance to next weekend.
Picking all 16 regionals: Who’s headed to Super Regionals?
Every week during the regular season, we put together a weekend preview packed with predictions, upset alerts and storylines to watch. Usually, we keep it strictly SEC-focused.I’ve consumed enough college baseball this year to feel comfortable enough predicting outside the league, so let’s broaden our scope and pick the winner of every regional this weekend.
No. 1 Los Angeles Regional
UCLA, Virginia Tech, Cal-Poly, St. Mary’s
Winner: UCLA
No. 2 Atlanta Regional
Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Citadel, UIC
Winner: Georgia Tech
No. 3 Athens Regional
UGA, Boston College, Liberty, LIU
Winner: Georgia
No. 4 Auburn Regional
Auburn, UCF, NC State, Milwaukee
Winner: Auburn
No. 5 Chapel Hill Regional
UNC, Tennessee, East Carolina, VCU
Winner: UNC
No. 6 Austin Regional
Texas, UC Santa Barbara, Tarleton State, Holy Cross
Winner: Texas
No. 7 Tuscaloosa Regional
Alabama, Oklahoma State, USC Upstate, Alabama State
Winner: Oklahoma State
No. 8 Gainesville Regional
Florida, Miami, Troy, Rider
Winner: Florida
No. 9 Hattiesburg Regional
Southern Miss, Virginia, Jacksonville State, Little Rock
Winner: Jacksonville State
No. 10 Tallahassee Regional
Florida State, Coastal Carolina, Northern Illinois, St. John’s
Winner: Florida State
No. 11 Eugene Regional
Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, Yale
Winner: Oregon State
No. 12 College Station Regional
Texas A&M, Southern Cal, Texas State, Lamar
Winner: Southern Cal
No. 13 Linoln Regional
Nebraska, Ole Miss, Arizona State, South Dakota State
Winner: Ole Miss
No. 14 Starkville Regional
Mississippi State, Cincinnati, Louisiana, Lipscomb
Winner: Mississippi State
No. 15 Lawrence Regional
Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri State, Northeastern
Winner: Arkansas
No. 16 Morgantown Regional
West Virginia, Wake Forest, Kentucky, Binghamton
Winner: Wake Forest
