Last Eight In: Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Ohio State, UNC-Wilmington
First Eight Out: Auburn, Cal State Fullerton, NC State, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, South Florida, Tulane, UC Irvine
Coming off a weekend where two Big Ten teams booked their place in the Final Four, it only seems fitting to take a look at the surging Big Ten. As it sits right now, the conference has six teams with legit shots at an NCAA Tournament bid. For a northern conference, that number is almost unheard of. There are two 20 plus win teams in Nebraska and Illinois leading the pack. Nebraska (21-7) is coming off a sweep of Texas last weekend and are winners of nine of their last ten, while Illinois (20-6) took two of three from Michigan State last weekend and boasts a series win over Oklahoma State. Maryland (18-7) had the most hype of any Big Ten team coming into the year following their Super Regional berth last year and they are off to a great start. Together, the three teams lead the conference in terms of national recognition and any of the three teams could be in line to host a regional should things fall their way the rest of the season.
Ohio State (18-7) has also been impressive this season and with a relatively weak remaining schedule, have a great shot at earning a bid this year. The real surprise of the conference has been Iowa though. The Hawkeyes are off to a 17-6 start and are coming off a huge sweep over Indiana, the sixth team in the mix, last weekend. The Hawkeyes are in this week’s projection as they look to be for real this season. The Hoosiers (16-8) started great in non-conference play with series wins over Stanford and Cal State Fullerton, as well as a midweek win over Louisville, but Indiana is off to just a 1-4 start in Big Ten play. If the Hoosiers can rebound, they give the Big Ten six legitimate regional contenders. And that doesn’t even include the two teams from the mitten state, Michigan and Michigan State, who both have schedules that feature a lot of winnable games. Both schools are off to a 2-4 start in conference play, but of the remaining Big Ten series, Michigan has to play just two of the Big Ten’s top six teams, Iowa and Indiana, and MSU has just Indiana on their schedule. If either team can get hot as conference play continues, the mix for at-large berths out of the Big Ten could get very crowded.
See the Projected Baseball NCAA Tournament Bracket
ACC: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia
American: Houston, UCF
Big East: St. John’s
Big 12: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech
Big Ten: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio State
Pac-12: Arizona State, Arizona, California, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, USC
SEC: Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
A-10: St. Louis
America East: Stony Brook
A-Sun: North Florida
Big South: Coastal Carolina
Big West: UC Santa Barbara
CAA: Charleston, UNC-Wilmington
C-USA: Rice, Florida Atlantic
Horizon: Wright State
Ivy: Columbia
MAAC: Canisius
MAC: Ball State
MEAC: Bethune-Cookman
MVC: Dallas Baptist
MWC: Nevada, San Diego State
NEC: Bryant
OVC: Southeast Missouri
Patriot: Navy
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Southeastern Louisiana
Summit: Oral Roberts
Sun Belt: Louisiana
SWAC: Alabama State
WAC: Sacramento State
WCC: San Diego
See the Projected Baseball NCAA Tournament Bracket
