The University of Kentucky baseball team (42-15) will play host to Ball State (37-20) in the first round of the NCAA college baseball tournament that begins June 2. Meanwhile, the University of Louisville failed to get an at-large bid in Monday's tournament draw.

The other two teams to play in Lexington will be Notre Dame (45-15) vs. College of Charleston (43-15). Notre Dame is the only Big East school in the tournament.

I think that St. Johns or UConn should have gotten into the tournament over Mississippi State, which failed to even qualify for the SEC Tournament.

BTW, the Miss. St. AD is the Chairman of the Selection Committee.......

;-)

There's nothing you can do about that I guess.

UofL certainly wasn't next in line for an at-large bid. UConn would have gotten a 2nd Big East bid if the committee felt it warranted. Looking at it myself, I don't think anyone else from the league deserved a bid. I also was surprised Notre Dame's coach acted so offended at not being a host site. I know hosts don't have to be a #1 necessarily, but they normally are a #1 or very close to a #1. Notre Dame was no were close to a #1 seed this year.

The Big East was 14th in the conference RPI. Notre Dame was 41st in the team RPI. What is Notre Dame's coach crying about here?

http://www.warrennolan.com/baseball/2006...Big%20East

Well, he thinks that RPI is skewed towards Southern/Western teams. He thinks that it is a tool, but one relied upon too heavily by the Selection Committee.

He thinks that Northern teams start at a disadvantage by having to play Southern/Western teams on the road without outdoor practice time against teams that already had outdoor practice time and played some games. There are early losses to good teams which hurts RPI.

For instance, ND played their first 15 games down South on the road.

He said that playing Midwestern teams in mid-week games and Big East (or Big Ten, for instance..he wasn't just talking about ND) Conference games doesn't help Northern or Midwestern team RPI's. Who else is a team like ND going to play midweek or on weekends in April and May?

He felt that going 45-15-1 and winning both the Big East regular season and Big East Tournament was enough to get a home regional.

He thought that a 23 game winning streak and ending the season winning seven of their last eight were factors in ND's favor.

He thought that the 15th ranked team by Baseball America (ND) should have gotten a home regional.

He recalled the NCAA's commitment to making college baseball more popular in the North and Midwest a couple of years ago by having more regionals there and notes there are zero regionals there this year and wonders what happened to that commitment.

He noted that no other teams from the Midwest and Northeast were selected and thought that St. Johns and UConn, for instance, were more deserving than Missississpi State.

Well, we blew it at the end. If we could have lived longer in the BE tourney...

Oh well, next year looks good too.

I am somewhat surprised that UConn or St. John's did not get in.

TerryD Wrote:Well, he thinks that RPI is skewed towards Southern/Western teams. He thinks that it is a tool, but one relied upon too heavily by the Selection Committee.

He thinks that Northern teams start at a disadvantage by having to play Southern/Western teams on the road without outdoor practice time against teams that already had outdoor practice time and played some games. There are early losses to good teams which hurts RPI.

For instance, ND played their first 15 games down South on the road.

He said that playing Midwestern teams in mid-week games and Big East (or Big Ten, for instance..he wasn't just talking about ND) Conference games doesn't help Northern or Midwestern team RPI's. Who else is a team like ND going to play midweek or on weekends in April and May?

He felt that going 45-15-1 and winning both the Big East regular season and Big East Tournament was enough to get a home regional.

He thought that a 23 game winning streak and ending the season winning seven of their last eight were factors in ND's favor.

He thought that the 15th ranked team by Baseball America (ND) should have gotten a home regional.

He recalled the NCAA's commitment to making college baseball more popular in the North and Midwest a couple of years ago by having more regionals there and notes there are zero regionals there this year and wonders what happened to that commitment.

He noted that no other teams from the Midwest and Northeast were selected and thought that St. Johns and UConn, for instance, were more deserving than Missississpi State.

Jim Delany (Big 10 commish) said pretty much the same thing several years ago.