Last Eight In: Lamar, Saint Mary’s, Long Beach State, Maryland, Wake Forest, Alabama, Oregon State, Michigan State
First Eight Out: Boston College, Connecticut, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Louisiana Tech, High Point, Georgia, Duke
Last week was not a good week to be a bubble team in the ACC or SEC. Notre Dame lost a midweek game against Eastern Michigan and then dropped their weekend series with Ohio. Georgia got blown out by Vanderbilt in their weekend series. Tennessee went 1-4 with a loss to Alabama State and three on the road at Missouri. Duke and Pittsburgh had a chance to make up ground, but couldn’t capitalize in big weekend series. Boston College dropped a winnable midweek against Bryant and a game to Virginia Tech over the weekend. Add in College of Charleston falling apart, 2-8 in their last 10 with seven losses to teams outside the top 200 in the RPI, and the last few spots in the field are now open for the taking.
Entering the field is Maryland, Lamar, Saint Mary’s, Long Beach State, and a team that is really surging, Cincinnati. The Bearcats aren’t going to get an at-large bid, but after going 1-1-1 in a weather altered series with East Carolina, Cincinnati looks like a real threat to win the American Athletic Conference. Cincinnati has already won series against Connecticut and Tulane, and are looking at three winnable series to close out the year. A 1-11 start to the year is holding them back from being in the at-large discussion, but its not like the Bearcats were playing bad teams. The stretch featured a three game series at LSU and games against Georgia, South Alabama, Tennessee, Coastal Carolina, Ole Miss and Kentucky. Cincinnati won at Coastal Carolina, and dropped one run games against LSU, Georgia, and South Alabama. With 20 wins since the end of that stretch, the Bearcats are on a roll and should be a very tough matchup at the AAC Tournament.
See the Projected Baseball NCAA Tournament Bracket
ACC: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, Wake Forest
American: Cincinnati, Tulane, East Carolina
Big East: Creighton
Big 12: Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech
Big Ten: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Maryland
Pac-12: Arizona, California, Oregon State, Washington
SEC: Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
A-10: VCU
America East: Binghamton
A-Sun: Kennesaw State
Big South: Coastal Carolina
Big West: UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State
CAA: UNC-Wilmington
C-USA: Florida Atlantic, Rice, Southern Miss
Horizon: Wright State
Ivy: Princeton
MAAC: Canisius
MAC: Kent State
MEAC: Florida A&M
MVC: Dallas Baptist
MWC: New Mexico
NEC: Bryant
OVC: Southeast Missouri
Patriot: Navy
Southern: UNC Greensboro
Southland: Southeastern Louisiana, Lamar
Summit: Oral Roberts
Sun Belt: South Alabama, Louisiana
SWAC: Alabama State
WAC: Seattle
WCC: BYU, Saint Mary’s
See the Projected Baseball NCAA Tournament Bracket