NCAA Softball Selection -- Does the committee love the B1G?

[bbg95]

May 16, 2021 22:01:21 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Arizona Head coach - Mike Candrea: "The influence that ESPN has on our game, is pretty interesting... How can Washington be a 16-seed? That hurts. To send Oregon to Texas. C'mon."

What does he mean by ESPN's "influence"? Are they consistently trashing the Pac-12 during their broadcasts?

[n00b]

May 16, 2021 21:19:22 GMT -5 c4ndlelight said:

Noob always ready to blame the PAC-12. Oregon #15 RPI, Top 10 SOS and unseeded. Sent to Texas totally coincidentally (Texas HC left Oregon somewhat acrimoniously in 2018).
UCLA #1 RPI and dropped below #4 RPI Oklahoma in seeding. Arizona St. seeded below its RPI as well.

Nah, I’ll disagree with just about any fan that thinks the committee has any sort of agenda to screw their favorite team. It just so happens it’s usually Pac-12 (and Hawaii) fans airing their grievances.

Not saying the committee does or did a good job. But I think it’s ridiculous to think they have any motive or desire to treat Pac-12 teams and their resumes any different from the other teams in the tournament.

[n00b]

May 16, 2021 22:03:55 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

May 16, 2021 22:01:21 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Arizona Head coach - Mike Candrea: "The influence that ESPN has on our game, is pretty interesting... How can Washington be a 16-seed? That hurts. To send Oregon to Texas. C'mon."

What does he mean by ESPN's "influence"? Are they consistently trashing the Pac-12 during their broadcasts?

I’m sure he’s implying the SEC gets preferential treatment because they play on an ESPN network.

No clue how that would affect the committee members.

[jayj79]

I was pleasantly surprised to see UNI get an at-large bid. I had figured their season had ended when they lost in the MVC championship final.

[trojansc]

May 16, 2021 22:03:55 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

May 16, 2021 22:01:21 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Arizona Head coach - Mike Candrea: "The influence that ESPN has on our game, is pretty interesting... How can Washington be a 16-seed? That hurts. To send Oregon to Texas. C'mon."

What does he mean by ESPN's "influence"? Are they consistently trashing the Pac-12 during their broadcasts?

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm sure it has to do with how SEC-heavy the ESPN is, along with their obsession with *storylines*. The Oregon-Texas storyline definitely has a lot behind it.... So I'm guessing it's a mixture of drama a long with over-obsession with one conference. A lot of softball fans think the committee tries to play up certain matchups and plays into the drama.

The SEC's top teams are not miles above the PAC-12 top teams, they're even. But I do think the SEC is stronger at the bottom and has more depth (they have more teams, for one). You don't see an overwhelming SEC dominance at WCWS, the PAC-12 sends just as many teams there and performs just as well. That's why the *best* conference thing can always be overrated. Even if deeper, it doesn't seem to hurt that the PAC-12's bottom teams aren't as good as the SEC's. I also think geography does help the SEC slightly in RPI terms, but, I'd still usually take their lower teams over the PAC's in a given year in recent history. It didn't used to be that way.

Stanford getting better is a very good sign for the conference as well. A lot of PAC fans are calling for a change re Utah's coach though.

[trojansc]

Apparently Kennesaw State did gather. I'm not sure by that reaction they were really expecting to be called. More of a holy sh*t is this really happening?

[trojansc]

May 16, 2021 22:14:40 GMT -5 jayj79 said:

I was pleasantly surprised to see UNI get an at-large bid. I had figured their season had ended when they lost in the MVC championship final.

A key factor was "no bid stealers". The AQ favorites in their conferences who would have got an at-large if they lost all won. A bit of a perfect storm.

Also, Northern Iowa swept Southern Illinois (the team they lost to in the Championship) just a week before. That gave them 3 Top 50 wins. Huge for them. I think Northern Iowa was safer than South Florida and Kennesaw State.

[mikegarrison]

Well, we'll see.

Washington probably shouldn't have lost two games to Stanford on Friday if they wanted to complain too much.

[mikegarrison]

May 16, 2021 22:15:12 GMT -5 trojansc said:

It didn't used to be that way.

That's a huge understatement. The PAC-10 used to have complete dominance over D1 NCAA softball. 24 of the first 30 champions were from the PAC (mostly UCLA and Arizona). 16 of the first 30 runners up were from the PAC. 12 of those first 30 finals were PAC v. PAC. For 25 years in a row there was at least one PAC team in the final.

[trojansc]

May 16, 2021 22:24:29 GMT -5 mikegarrison said:

Well, we'll see.

Washington probably shouldn't have lost two games to Stanford on Friday if they wanted to complain too much.

I think this is true complaining re: a Top 8 seed, but of course that late season performance only matters sometimes. Stanford is still a tournament team and Top 50, but not someone you want to split with to make a statement for Top 8. The Stanford losses aren't horrible, they just don't scream *I deserve Top 8!* when you have a 16 RPI.

Then you have Texas, who hasn't beat a Top 25 team in ages (and had half the T25 wins Oregon did) who LOST to Texas Tech, a sub.500 Big 12 team in the Big 12 Tournament.

That's what I don't like. Oregon's wins were much better than Texas' profile. I don't think many projections had Texas hosting at all. But, two Northwest hosts was not good for the travel either. *cue geographical theories*.....

[trojansc]

Here's the Regional matchups by RPI. The 'rank' is an ideal scenario, #32 should be the 32nd best team, etc. The 'red' usually means traveling, not within 400 miles, but I didn't update all those when plugging these in. They are mostly accurate, but Portland State for example is a drive in to Washington. Duke is a drive-in to Georgia. I didn't double-check all of them.

[trojansc]

Troy one is pretty good. They were one of the last 4 in(I think). A lot of people thought 4 bids from the Sun Belt might not happen. Also notable that #23 Delaware did not get in.

[bbg95]

May 16, 2021 23:25:30 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Here's the Regional matchups by RPI. The 'rank' is an ideal scenario, #32 should be the 32nd best team, etc. The 'red' usually means traveling, not within 400 miles, but I didn't update all those when plugging these in. They are mostly accurate, but Portland State for example is a drive in to Washington. Duke is a drive-in to Georgia. I didn't double-check all of them.

Is the Sunbelt Conference typically strong in softball? Based on basketball, etc., I wouldn't have expected them to get four bids in any major sport.

[trojansc]

May 17, 2021 0:09:13 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Is the Sunbelt Conference typically strong in softball? Based on basketball, etc., I wouldn't have expected them to get four bids in any major sport.

They're more of a 2-bid league in Softball. Louisiana-Lafayette is ALWAYS good. They can host Regionals sometimes, but will often get sent to LSU as a strong 2-seed. South Alabama was a top-16 seed not too long ago. Texas State has had decent teams as well.

The AAC is on the rise in softball. Houston and Tulsa have had very good teams in the past, but UCF and South Florida are dangerous, along with Wichita State. UCF actually beat Florida twice this year, including 7-0(!) in Gainesville -- I bet the Gators are thrilled to not see UCF not in their subregional.

Duke and Clemson are interesting for me to watch as well. FSU won a national championship, but the ACC hasn't been a softball power. Duke has been a program for just 4 years, Clemson for just 2. They are newbies. Very excited to see how they perform in the tournament.

[bbg95]

May 17, 2021 0:17:37 GMT -5 trojansc said:

May 17, 2021 0:09:13 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Is the Sunbelt Conference typically strong in softball? Based on basketball, etc., I wouldn't have expected them to get four bids in any major sport.

They're more of a 2-bid league in Softball. Louisiana-Lafayette is ALWAYS good. They can host Regionals sometimes, but will often get sent to LSU as a strong 2-seed. South Alabama was a top-16 seed not too long ago. Texas State has had decent teams as well.

The AAC is on the rise in softball. Houston and Tulsa have had very good teams in the past, but UCF and South Florida are dangerous, along with Wichita State. UCF actually beat Florida twice this year, including 7-0(!) in Gainesville -- I bet the Gators are thrilled to not see UCF not in their subregional.

Duke and Clemson are interesting for me to watch as well. FSU won a national championship, but the ACC hasn't been a softball power. Duke has been a program for just 4 years, Clemson for just 2. They are newbies. Very excited to see how they perform in the tournament.

Interesting. After some research, I see that current Sunbelt member Coastal Carolina won the 2016 College World Series in baseball as a member of the Big South right before they joined the Sunbelt. I'm seeing some articles saying this wasn't that improbable, but it's still kind of hard for me to believe.