"Not a lot of people know a lot about Rice."

"Four guys have hit home runs ... 90% from three guys."

A&M has the talent to make a run.

"Houston has the #4 pitching staff in the country. They can give LSU some trouble down there."

Sigh. ESPN selection show was pushing ULaLa as the big storyline. Still doing that too?

(05-26-2014 05:28 PM)stompclapwhoosh Wrote:  Sigh. ESPN selection show was pushing ULaLa as the big storyline. Still doing that too?

Ben McDonald continued his questioning of Indiana being seeded higher than Ole Miss. Moderator asked if they switched conferences, where would they stand. Peterson said Indiana would be a Top 4 team in the SEC. McDonald fired back that the #2 and #4 SEC teams were not national seeds this year.

McDonald questioned if Florida can continue their top play. In particular, he thinks the Gatros' Friday starter, freshman pitcher Logan Shore, is fading as he's logged more inning deep into the season.

In a telephone interview repeated from the selection show, Miami coach questions why, if Miami was a "near national seed" they are paired with the #2 seed, Florida, with whom they have frequently been paired in recent years. But then he backtracked, saying he doesn't care where they have to go.

Both McDonald and Peterson rave about TCU.

Peterson: "I like their 1-2 (pitchers) as much as anyone's 1-2 in the nation."

Coming up ... The Science of the Dogpile!

(05-26-2014 05:27 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  "Not a lot of people know a lot about Rice."

"Four guys have hit home runs ... 90% from three guys."

A&M has the talent to make a run.

"Houston has the #4 pitching staff in the country. They can give LSU some trouble down there."

Rice is the best team no one has talked about all season, and even Kendall has written twice in the past week that Blake Fox is the best college pitcher nobody has heard of. Talk about flying under the radar? This Rice team has been doing it all season long...and getting very little respect relative to the other Top 15 - 20 teams. We're hosting a regional and all the ESPN talking heads do is talk about UT and A&M...with only at the very end a brief statement that, "oh, and Rice is the #1 seed in the regional". Par for the course. Let's show them!

(05-26-2014 05:27 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  "Not a lot of people know a lot about Rice."

"Four guys have hit home runs ... 90% from three guys."

A&M has the talent to make a run.

"Houston has the #4 pitching staff in the country. They can give LSU some trouble down there."

During this morning's show, they raved about the offense of Indiana and ULL, menitoning that each had hit .293 as a team, but no mention of Rice's offense with it's .294 AVG against MUCH stronger opposition. They raved about ULL's .978 fielding percentage...but no mention of Rice's .979. Go figure.

(05-26-2014 05:50 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-26-2014 05:27 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  "Not a lot of people know a lot about Rice."

"Four guys have hit home runs ... 90% from three guys."

A&M has the talent to make a run.

"Houston has the #4 pitching staff in the country. They can give LSU some trouble down there."

Rice is the best team no one has talked about all season, and even Kendall has written twice in the past week that Blake Fox is the best college pitcher nobody has heard of. Talk about flying under the radar? This Rice team has been doing it all season long...and getting very little respect relative to the other Top 15 - 20 teams. We're hosting a regional and all the ESPN talking heads do is talk about UT and A&M...with only at the very end a brief statement that, "oh, and Rice is the #1 seed in the regional". Par for the course. Let's show them!

At first, watching that ESPN BS, it made me mad. But, on second thought, I think it's just fine. Let 'em ignore us. Put a lot of national coverage and media exposure on the Ags and Horns and not on us. Let's take care of business and George Mason and fly under the radar. Then unload on UT or the Ags in our house.

Their first talk about the ULL regional was about all those folks "coming west from Mississippi." Geez! Check a map, guys!. It's far more south than west from Jackson & Starkville to Lafayette.

Then they talk a lot (as they did in the selection show) about all the very good food in Lafayette "that they don't tell you what's in it." Huh?

When they finally get to talking about baseball, it's "everyone talks (ULL's) offense first. But they are top 5 in stolen bases and home runs."

Washington: "From hosting to traveling to Oxford, Miss. ... Their power is spread out; 6 batting over .300."

Ole Miss' coach has never gotten his team to Omaha. This could be the year, as he has "lots of veteran leadership" (i.e., seniors and juniors).

South Carolina has two injured stars who might be able to come back. If so, watch out, as their pitching is very good. "Their bullpen is off the charts. Six with 1 ERAs or lower."

"Don't sleep on Campbell, though. They didn't get in last year as an at large with 50 wins. They're the real deal."

Science of the Dogpile segment was, predicatably, pretty fluffy. But had some science: They used a force plate to measure the force at the bottom of the pile, with three dummies at the bottom, instead of real people. Adding five players gives a force at the bottom of 475 pounds.

The segment host flashed some trig equations about the height and angles of arriving and falling-off players ... and said that was the simple part, adding that he wouldn't go further for fear of losing his audience. Sigh. :-)

The show host asked Peterson & McDonald for their Best Dogpile Moments. Peterson's was Wichita State-Kansas; McDonald's was the day LSU beat #1 A&M ("We had to beat them twice. I pitched and won the first game and closed the second. On the same day, mind you.") Peterson: "It's great the minute it starts. But in 30 seconds you're screaming for people to get off."

Wrapping up the show, the host asked Kyle Peterson and Ben McDonald for their:

Best #1 seed draw:
Ben: Indiana (Stanford barely got in)
Klye: Miami (Columbia should be a #4 seed)

Toughest regional:
Ben: Oxford (with Washington & Georgia Tech)
Kyle: Stillwater (Fullerton is playing very well now)

Toughest #4 seed:
Ben: Southeast Louisiana
Kyle: College of Charleston (more wins than anyone else in their region)

In the show-ending chit-chat, the host said: "I was to go to Lafayette!"
Ben: "You will not be disappointed."
Kyle: "Be careful what you eat!"
Ben: "Just eat it, baby. Just eat it."

Thanks Mike