Last Eight In: Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Ohio State, UNC-Wilmington
First Eight Out: Auburn, Alabama, Cal State Fullerton, Connecticut, Liberty, Memphis, Mississippi, NC State
College baseball has been dominated by the power conferences in the south and west (ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC), but it’s the schools from the other big conferences that are making noise this year. The SEC is deep at the top, but really struggling at the bottom. The ACC looks a bit down and both the Big 12 and Pac-12 have a big gap between their top notch teams and the rest of the teams in the conference. This has given schools from the American Athletic, Big Ten, Big West and Missouri Valley a chance to shine. We looked at the Big Ten last week and there are still five teams that are safely in and now the AAC is creeping up on the same mark. Houston and UCF should be regional locks, while South Florida, Memphis and Connecticut are all in the mix. South Florida is in this week’s projections and Memphis and Connecticut are in the first eight out. USF is sitting in first place in the conference at the moment, Memphis just took two of three from Houston and Connecticut has an RPI in the top 40. The Big West struggled as a whole to start the year, but UC Irvine and Long Beach State have snapped out of their struggles and both return to the field alongside UC Santa Barbara. And in the MVC, Missouri State is in the field after taking two of three from Dallas Baptist. These teams will be in the mix for a regional bid as the season moves on and if a couple of teams in the power conferences can string together some wins, the race for the final slots in the tournament could get very tight.
See the Projected Baseball NCAA Tournament Bracket
ACC: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia
American: Houston, South Florida 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 State, UCLA, USC
SEC: Florida, Kentucky, LSU, 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: Long Beach State, UC Irvine, 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, Missouri State
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
