(05-18-2019 02:56 PM)jdgaucho Wrote: Every single SEC team earned a bid. There's something wrong with that.
Every one of them had winning records. And the conference SOS is off the charts strong.
Georgia beat Drake 7-4. The SEC placed 11 of its 13 entrants into the Regional Finals. That means out of 32 teams remaining the SEC has just over a 1/3rd of them. We have already placed 6 in the final 16 and Georgia is still alive for one of the last 2 spots. That's over 1/3rd too.
The two schools which are out are Arkansas, which finished ahead of Missouri, Auburn, South Carolina and Mississippi State all of which made their regional finals. And Texas A&M which finished last in the SEC.
You have a good argument for Texas A&M not being included. That's it. The Aggies finished above .500 by 1 game because they lost 2 in their regional without winning. But both games were relatively close and Houston which beat them in the first game is the unbeaten school tomorrow going up against a very good Texas team led by a 1 really stellar pitcher and the Aggies lost to her by 1 run.
So when you think that clearly 12 of the 13 schools had records sufficient to be in, RPI's sufficient to be in, and you see that likely 11 of them will be in the final 32, it's hard to say that A&M which had a much higher winning % against non conference competition should have been left out.
Now will the SEC place more than 5 into the Super Regionals? Maybe. But I think the final pool of 8 will likely only include 2, maybe 3 SEC schools, likely the same number of PAC schools, and Florida State and Oklahoma.
But as far as depth goes, without question the SEC is deepest conference.