{"id":12294,"date":"2016-06-02T12:24:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=12294"},"modified":"2016-06-08T10:12:54","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T14:12:54","slug":"cws-2016-field-fo-64-announced-with-regional-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=12294","title":{"rendered":"CWS 2016: Field fo 64 announced with Regional predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Its that time of year again; Its College Baseball playoff season!<\/p>\n

On 5\/29\/16, a day before the entire field was announced, the 16 Regional hosts were announced<\/a>.\u00a0 These are also the top 16 seeds (though they only acknowledge the top 8 “national seeds”).\u00a0 The following day, the entire field was announced.\u00a0 Here’s a look at the 16 regional tournaments<\/a> with some quickie thoughts.<\/p>\n

Each of these 4-team sets is listed in the “seed” in the regional, starting with the host:<\/p>\n

1. Florida<\/strong>, Georgia Tech, UConn, Bethune-Cookman: hard to see the #1 overall seed and presumptive favorite all year lose at this stage.
\n16. Florida State<\/strong>, Southern Miss, South Alabama, Alabama State: Some think there’s an upset possible here, since both Southern Miss and South Alabama are tough; I still think Fla State can power its way through here.<\/p>\n

If seeds hold, Florida meets Florida State for a fun intra-state tourney.\u00a0 They’ve played three mid-week games this season with Florida sweeping them all, so odds are that Florida is making Omaha.<\/p>\n

2. Louisville<\/strong>, Ohio State, Wright State, Western Michigan: Ohio State as your 2-seed isn’t scaring anyone.
\n15. Vanderbilt<\/strong>, UC Santa Barbara, Washington, Xavier: Not really much of a challenge for Vanderbilt in this regional; not even another top-25 team.<\/p>\n

If seeds hold, yet another intra-state<\/del> repeat super-regional matchup between these two teams, and a pretty tough draw for Louisville if it happens.\u00a0 Vanderbilt is better than a #15 seed and this match-up seems like its forced to save a few dollars in travel costs; both of these teams are legitimate Omaha threats, with Vanderbilt having made the final in both of the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

3. Miami<\/strong>, Florida Atlantic, Long Beach State, Stetson: Miami and Florida Atlantic split a couple of mid-week games; they have a dangerous Long Beach State as a #3 seed.\u00a0 tough regional.
\n14. Ole Miss<\/strong>, Tulane, Boston College, Utah: Ole Miss will have its hands full with Tulane but should advance.<\/p>\n

If seeds hold, Ole Miss gets a tough assignment going to Miami, but Miami should prevail.<\/p>\n

4. Texas A&M<\/strong>, Minnesota, Wake Forest, Binghamton: wow, Minnesota as your #2 seed?\u00a0 Tough regional you laid out there for TAMU this year.
\n13. TCU<\/strong>, Arizona State, Gonzaga, Orel Roberts: I don’t trust any of the Pac-12 teams this year; TCU should prevail.<\/p>\n

If seeds hold, yet another manufactured super regional of local teams.\u00a0 They didn’t play mid-week this season.\u00a0 This could be a good series; some think TAMU is the beat team in the land.<\/p>\n

5. Texas Tech<\/strong>, Dallas Baptist, New Mexico, Fairfield: shouldn’t be too tough for newcomer Texas Tech.
\n12. UVA<\/strong>, Bryant, ECU, William & Mary: well, UVA got kind of short changed here; Bryant isn’t tough but ECU can be.\u00a0 They can’t be happy about seeing in-state rival W&M either.\u00a0 They dodged a bullet with a weaker #2 seed though.<\/p>\n

If seeds hold, Texas Tech-UVA is super close; they’re #6 and #7 in d1baseball’s latest poll.\u00a0 I know nothing of Texas Tech but know UVA has played great as of late, has two 1st round talents and could be a tough out.<\/p>\n

6. Mississippi State<\/strong>, Cal-State Fullerton, Louisiana Tech, Southeast Missouri State; Mississippi State should cruise here: Fullerton looks tough on paper but can come up short in the playoffs.
\n11. Louisiana-Lafayette<\/strong>, Arizona, Sam Houston State, Princeton: some upset potential here if you trust any Pac-12 teams.<\/p>\n

If seeds hold, hard to see Mississippi State (ranked #3 in d1baseball’s latest poll) losing.<\/p>\n

7. Clemson<\/strong>, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Western Carolina: Clemson will be favored but will struggle with OK State.
\n10. South Carolina<\/strong>, UNC-Wilmington, Duke, Rhode Island; tough regional for South Carolina; Duke is no slouch and Wilmington is tough.<\/p>\n

If seeds hold (and sensing a pattern here), another intra-state superregional.\u00a0 Clemson-South Carolina would be fun.<\/p>\n

8. LSU, <\/strong>Rice, Southeastern LA, Utah Valley: hard to see LSU getting stressed here: Rice always underperforms in the post-season.
\n9. NC State<\/strong>, Coastal Carolina, St. Marys, Navy: tough blow for Coastal, which apparently went from just missing being a regional host to having to travel to tough ACC competitor NC State.\u00a0 Meanwhile, NC State probably has the hardest regional of them all, with Navy’s pre-season all-american Luke Gillingham<\/strong> set to go in game 1.<\/p>\n

If seeds hold, LSU-NC State could be a barn burner.<\/p>\n

Easiest Regionals<\/strong>: I’d go with TAMU, Florida, Louisville.<\/p>\n

Hardest Regionals<\/strong>: NC State, South Carolina, UVA.<\/p>\n

My Omaha predictions right now:<\/strong> <\/span>Florida, Louisville, Miami, TAMU, UVA, Mississippi State, South Carolina, LSU.\u00a0 A lot of chalk there.<\/p>\n

\n

Snubs<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

North Carolina.\u00a0 A top 20 team by RPI but yet again finishes with a sub-par, sub-.500 record in ACC play and gets left out.\u00a0 10 other ACC teams made the tournament, making college baseball more and more of an ACC-SEC affair, but not having a top 20 team by the same RPI factors<\/a> that clearly drove both the regional host selections and the at-large teams really is kind of hypocritical.\u00a0 Why not just tell teams at the beginning of the year, “if you don’t finish .500 in conference play you will not be selected.”<\/p>\n

The college podcasts listed a few other snubs like Kent State and PAC-12 teams Oregon and\/or Oregon State, but for me it starts and ends with UNC.<\/p>\n

Marquee Draft-related players to watch<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I won’t go through all 64 teams, but here’s some of the more interesting names to keep an eye on:<\/p>\n