Someone in the Troy athletic department just tweeted out this link to some early projections for the NCAA baseball tournament. Yes I know...take these with a grain of salt. But still something to talk about other than realignment.

NCAA Tournament projections

Schools of note:

USA as a 2 seed in Baton Rouge.

Troy as a 3 seed in Nashville.

FAU as a 3 seed in Tallahassee (against Florida Gulf coast who they destroyed last night.

Georgia Southern as a 3 seed in Atlanta.

Troy is considered one of the last 5 to make it into the tournament. Louisiana as one of the next 10 to possibly make it in.

Also, FAU is projected to win the auto-bid.

There's still so much baseball to be played in our conference that it could easily turn out WAY different than this.

Looking forward to talking baseball with y'all. My Apps are 18-10 but at #82 in the RPI, not good enough for an at-large just yet.

On the road the next two weekends but the last three conference series are at home. Add in some OOC games against Gonzaga and UNC, there will certainly be opportunities for the team to work their way into the Regional conversation.

Taking 2 of 3 from GA Southern last weekend helped but blowing a save in the series finale was brutal. A sweep would have really opened some eyes.

Sun Belt is good this year... if Louisiana, Troy, FAU, and South Alabama can keep up the success, we could have 4-5 teams in NCAA Regionals.

(04-11-2013 02:50 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Sun Belt is good this year... if Louisiana, Troy, FAU, and South Alabama can keep up the success, we could have 4-5 teams in NCAA Regionals.

Much like the SEC in football and the old Big East in basketball, we don't hurt each other in conference by playing each other. Here are the latest RPI's issued by the NCAA (on Monday):

16 - USA
34 - Louisiana-Lafayette
60 - MTSU
64 - FAU
77 - Troy
87 - ASU
99 - FIU
103 - WKU
159 - ULM
189 - UALR

With WKU's win over Louisville it pushed their pseudo-RPI below 100 and should in the actual RPI releases next week as well... That is depending on how they do this weekend at Troy.

But, boy that's the tough thing about playing baseball in these parts. It takes a freaking miracle for one of us to be able to host a regional, and you're almost always going to have to face a tough LSU, or FSU team at their place in a regional. At least twice we were one win away from the CWS in Baton Rouge, only to have LSU take the last two and go on. Believe the same happened at FSU at least once.

Did ULL host the year they made it to the CWS? We never have, but would've possibly had we done our stadium renovation earlier. We were a #1 seed in Clemson, with Clemson the #2 back in the mid 90's.

Regardless, glad that we are finally back in the conversation. We've been down for too long.

(04-11-2013 03:00 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(04-11-2013 02:50 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Sun Belt is good this year... if Louisiana, Troy, FAU, and South Alabama can keep up the success, we could have 4-5 teams in NCAA Regionals.

Much like the SEC in football and the old Big East in basketball, we don't hurt each other in conference by playing each other. Here are the latest RPI's issued by the NCAA (on Monday):

16 - USA
34 - Louisiana-Lafayette
60 - MTSU
64 - FAU
77 - Troy
87 - ASU
99 - FIU
103 - WKU
159 - ULM
189 - UALR

With WKU's win over Louisville it pushed their pseudo-RPI below 100 and should in the actual RPI releases next week as well... That is depending on how they do this weekend at Troy.

It's funny that they have us as "The Next 10 in" and not already in a regional. I mean we have the second best RPI in the conference currently with a 21-10 record. These projections are laughable. Ton of baseball to be played.

(04-11-2013 03:08 PM)BLEEDITRED Wrote:  But, boy that's the tough thing about playing baseball in these parts. It takes a freaking miracle for one of us to be able to host a regional, and you're almost always going to have to face a tough LSU, or FSU team at their place in a regional. At least twice we were one win away from the CWS in Baton Rouge, only to have LSU take the last two and go on. Believe the same happened at FSU at least once.

Did ULL host the year they made it to the CWS? We never have, but would've possibly had we done our stadium renovation earlier. We were a #1 seed in Clemson, with Clemson the #2 back in the mid 90's.

Regardless, glad that we are finally back in the conversation. We've been down for too long.

Sadly it did happen. I remember listening to Lee's broadcast.

(04-11-2013 03:08 PM)BLEEDITRED Wrote:  But, boy that's the tough thing about playing baseball in these parts. It takes a freaking miracle for one of us to be able to host a regional, and you're almost always going to have to face a tough LSU, or FSU team at their place in a regional. At least twice we were one win away from the CWS in Baton Rouge, only to have LSU take the last two and go on. Believe the same happened at FSU at least once.

Did ULL host the year they made it to the CWS? We never have, but would've possibly had we done our stadium renovation earlier. We were a #1 seed in Clemson, with Clemson the #2 back in the mid 90's.

Regardless, glad that we are finally back in the conversation. We've been down for too long.

Yes the year we went to CWS we hosted our Regional as a #2 seed and East Carolina came to our place as the #1 seed. We swept the regional and then went to the overall #1 seed South Carolina and took 2 of 3 in the Super Regional.

What a year that was. So fun to be apart of. I pull for one of the Sun Belt schools to make it to the CWS every year even if we aren't in the regionals that particular year. It's funny because I would be so ecstatic for one of our fellow Sun Belt members to make it to the CWS but I don't feel the same way when it comes to other sports. Like I don't necesarrily get excited watching WKU winning games in March Madness. I don't know why exactly... but maybe it's because making it to the CWS is SO MUCH HARDER to do than making it to post season championships in other sports.

And also because we've been there, so I know how fun it was and how we surprised a few teams in the CWS, namely Clemson. It was funny, we took out both power schools from South Carolina that year.

(04-11-2013 03:09 PM)CajunJuice Wrote:  It's funny that they have us as "The Next 10 in" and not already in a regional. I mean we have the second best RPI in the conference currently with a 21-10 record. These projections are laughable. Ton of baseball to be played.

I dont think its that far of a stretch and I certainly wouldnt call the projections laughable. Basically most of these take the current league leader as an auto bid then go off RPI for the most part as a basis for the at large bids. Our RPI is in the 40's currently and we'd need to be a little higher to grab another at large. The team that wins the regular season will likely get a spot this year, due to the conference RPI as it currently stands, and of course the tournament winner will get one. I think those are really the only 2 that are pretty much locks.

EDIT: I missed that Troy was in ahead of us. Also, just saw the writer's update stating we're in the next 10 group due to our record vs RPI top 100. Valid point but that would just be a factor weighed by the committee. I dont know if you'd put a team that's 20+ spots below you in ahead because the record vs top 100. Of course we have opportunities to improve that vs FAU and USA at the Tigue in the next few weeks

(04-11-2013 03:15 PM)CajunJuice Wrote:  

(04-11-2013 03:08 PM)BLEEDITRED Wrote:  But, boy that's the tough thing about playing baseball in these parts. It takes a freaking miracle for one of us to be able to host a regional, and you're almost always going to have to face a tough LSU, or FSU team at their place in a regional. At least twice we were one win away from the CWS in Baton Rouge, only to have LSU take the last two and go on. Believe the same happened at FSU at least once.

Did ULL host the year they made it to the CWS? We never have, but would've possibly had we done our stadium renovation earlier. We were a #1 seed in Clemson, with Clemson the #2 back in the mid 90's.

Regardless, glad that we are finally back in the conversation. We've been down for too long.

Yes the year we went to CWS we hosted our Regional as a #2 seed and East Carolina came to our place as the #1 seed. We swept the regional and then went to the overall #1 seed South Carolina and took 2 of 3 in the Super Regional.

What a year that was. So fun to be apart of. I pull for one of the Sun Belt schools to make it to the CWS every year even if we aren't in the regionals that particular year. It's funny because I would be so ecstatic for one of our fellow Sun Belt members to make it to the CWS but I don't feel the same way when it comes to other sports. Like I don't necesarrily get excited watching WKU winning games in March Madness. I don't know why exactly... but maybe it's because making it to the CWS is SO MUCH HARDER to do than making it to post season championships in other sports.

And also because we've been there, so I know how fun it was and how we surprised a few teams in the CWS, namely Clemson. It was funny, we took out both power schools from South Carolina that year.

Yeah, I thought you guys hosted that year. We've been so close so many times. 1 game short 6 different times, and in at least 2 of those occasions, only had to win 1 out of the next 2. Dang

We're really short on arms and its starting to show. Another one of our relievers was unavailable for the App series due to elbow soreness. Our Friday night starter had to move to closing duties after Kyle Rowe developed tendonitis. We also have one of our weekend starters from last year out from Tommy John surgery. It's a good thing we got off to a strong start this season.

Available pitchers:
Howard (Friday)
Richman (Saturday)
Stevenson (Sunday)
Hess (Closer)
Johnson (Reliever)
Myers (Reliever)
McCall (Midweek)
Durand (2 appearances)

Unavailable:
Rowe (Tendonitis)
Challenger (Elbow soreness)
Middour (Tommy John)

A bit more info on the projections now from that link:

Quote:* Most impressive and surprising league thus far? The usual suspects lead the latest Conference RPI figures, with the ACC holding the top spot and the SEC holding the No. 2 spot. But what about other leagues that have been impressive so far this spring? Keep an eye on the Sun Belt and Colonial Athletic Association. South Alabama, Florida Atlantic and Troy each have good RPIs and solid overall resumes, while Louisiana-Lafayette, which has an RPI of 39, narrowly missed the cut, thanks in part because of its 6-9 mark vs. RPI Top 100 clubs. Also keep an eye on Western Kentucky (86) and Middle Tennessee State (51) down the stretch. Meanwhile, in the CAA, Delaware (37) and UNC Wilmington (33) are clear-cut postseason teams right now, while William & Mary (31) is right on the cusp with a 7-7 mark vs. RPI Top 100.

(04-11-2013 03:34 PM)wcd35 Wrote:  A bit more info on the projections now from that link:

Quote:* Most impressive and surprising league thus far? The usual suspects lead the latest Conference RPI figures, with the ACC holding the top spot and the SEC holding the No. 2 spot. But what about other leagues that have been impressive so far this spring? Keep an eye on the Sun Belt and Colonial Athletic Association. South Alabama, Florida Atlantic and Troy each have good RPIs and solid overall resumes, while Louisiana-Lafayette, which has an RPI of 39, narrowly missed the cut, thanks in part because of its 6-9 mark vs. RPI Top 100 clubs. Also keep an eye on Western Kentucky (86) and Middle Tennessee State (51) down the stretch. Meanwhile, in the CAA, Delaware (37) and UNC Wilmington (33) are clear-cut postseason teams right now, while William & Mary (31) is right on the cusp with a 7-7 mark vs. RPI Top 100.

The one confusion for me has always been the thought of whether or not to play the best competition. This seems to say you're better not playing them, as basically half (15 out of 32) games were against top 100 clubs.

(04-11-2013 03:08 PM)BLEEDITRED Wrote:  But, boy that's the tough thing about playing baseball in these parts. It takes a freaking miracle for one of us to be able to host a regional, and you're almost always going to have to face a tough LSU, or FSU team at their place in a regional. At least twice we were one win away from the CWS in Baton Rouge, only to have LSU take the last two and go on. Believe the same happened at FSU at least once.

Did ULL host the year they made it to the CWS? We never have, but would've possibly had we done our stadium renovation earlier. We were a #1 seed in Clemson, with Clemson the #2 back in the mid 90's.

Regardless, glad that we are finally back in the conversation. We've been down for too long.

same thing in our area..ut and a-m can always buy a regional..then you have rice sometimes getting one