(05-23-2017 01:03 PM)SactoHornetAlum Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 10:10 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  Every single SEC team got in. Every. Single. One. There's something wrong with that big time.

MW only two bids. The BW and WCC one each.

Amazing what the football TV blood money over the past 20 years will do. Excluding Mizzou and aTm, most of the rest of the league didn't have softball programs until 1997. That is all TV blood money. When the TV bubble finally bursts, it will be amazing to see what survives.

TV revenue may decline at some point but more likely it will morph into a more effective delivery system. When it does content will drive value. I like our positioning for that too.

(05-23-2017 01:01 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(05-23-2017 12:43 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  Every Home Team won their regionals.

8 SEC
5 Pac 12
2 Big 12
1 ACC

So, Minnesota lost twice to #16 seeded host Alabama and are eliminated. Is it possible the Gophers were overrated in the polls?

They lost both games 1-0. I would wager if the games were in Minneapolis, Minnesota would have won.

(05-23-2017 03:29 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(05-23-2017 01:01 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(05-23-2017 12:43 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  Every Home Team won their regionals.

8 SEC
5 Pac 12
2 Big 12
1 ACC

So, Minnesota lost twice to #16 seeded host Alabama and are eliminated. Is it possible the Gophers were overrated in the polls?

They lost both games 1-0. I would wager if the games were in Minneapolis, Minnesota would have won.

The difference between Minnesota and Alabama was that Alabama had 2 pitchers and Minnesota had Sara Groenewegen, who quite possibly is the best softball pitcher currently. But a 4 team tournament takes you into likely 4 games if the field is competitive, or even 5. Since it is held over 3 days and a softball pitcher throwing a complete game takes you to about 110 pitches in 7 innings in a low scoring game the number of looks that Alabama's hitters had against her was her only deficit.

Add to that fact that she hits and hits for power and her importance to Minnesota becomes fairly obvious. Had Minnesota had one more pitcher of just the quality of Alabama's Littlejohn they might have won. But the debatable part here is that they didn't manage a single run against the Tide in 16 innings over two games. And Alabama was the #16 national seed and I think they finished 7th in the SEC. You put one more pitcher of any starting quality on Minnesota's team and they probably make the WCWS. But they would have lost there. The schools that make it will all have two solid pitchers (Florida has 3) and the vast majority of them will have 9 skilled hitters in the lineup.

The latter is Auburn's weakness this year. We have two good pitchers. But we have about 3 slots in the batting lineup that have not been productive enough.

(05-15-2017 10:18 AM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 10:10 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  Every single SEC team got in. Every. Single. One. There's something wrong with that big time.

MW only two bids. The BW and WCC one each.

Agreed. That really sucks

What's wrong with that? The last place team in the SEC (Georgia) went 28-3 out of conference, including 7-2 against P5 teams.

Softball is a hard one for seeding. The game is so dependent on pitching, and as JrSEC points out, a team can ride one elite pitcher, especially if that team is in a weak conference and can build an OOC resume by pitching that elite pitcher for every midweek OOC matchup. That's one anomaly that makes OOC comparisons less useful.