Welcome to the best time of the season. Regional weekend is here and Omaha is right around the corner! The bracket was announced this afternoon and there has been plenty of public reaction. To a surprise, I believe the committee did a good job.

Bubble:

My bracket projection managed to hit 63/64 of the teams in the field. I had a second Big East team making it over Arizona State, but happy for the Sun Devils. They are a good ball club.

Creighton being the only Big East team was my biggest surprise to the release. UConn and Xavier were very hard to separate in the metrics. I had Xavier in due to the higher RPI and series win over UConn, but the committee decided to leave them both out. Xavier should have made the First 4 Out over SELA but that doesn’t matter.

3 Big 12 teams on the Last 4 In. I had Kentucky and Miami in, but surprised neither one made the Last 4 In graphic.

Hosting

Hit 15/16 of the hosting locations with Georgia Tech > Southern Miss being the only one I had incorrect. I didn’t expect the Sun Belt to receive 2 hosting sites given the overall conference strength being down this season. Georgia Tech becomes the first ACC regular season champ to not receive a host. I am fine with the decision, as GT did not deliver in the series against the better ACC opponents.

Florida State being the #9 overall seed was high, but they received a tough regional with Northeastern and Mississippi State.

Toughest Regionals

Oxford

Ole Miss is red hot from Hoover. Georgia Tech will have a chip on their shoulder. They did not receive a host despite being the ACC regular season champs and will have a long time coach retiring at the end of the season. Western Kentucky (46-12) and Murray State (38-13) will head into Oxford as CUSA & MVC champs.

Eugene

The Ducks claim a deserved host spot this season, but I love that the committee made this tough. Oregon has 12 combined Q3 & Q4 losses, far more than any other host. Cal Poly won the Big West tourney and is highest overall 3 seed according to RPI. Arizona won the Big 12 tourney and has racked up 12 Q1 wins this season. Utah Valley is no joke of a 4 seed either.

Easiest Regional

Texas

Houston Christian, UTSA & Kansas State. UTSA had a great season, but fell to Tulane twice in the American tournament. Kansas State was a last 4 in according to the committee. Texas had 2 bad weekend down the stretch, but they picked it back up vs Oklahoma. I know they only played one game in Hoover, but they played well. Texas was 26-5 at the Disch this season.

Team that could surprise

Wake Forest / Cincinnati

Tennessee proved to pick it back up in Hoover but they have shown vulnerability at home this season as well. Wake has been up and down this season, but this lineup could do serious damage in LNS. Cincinnati will throw Taylor against Wake in game one. The BearCats led the Big 12 in Stolen Bases, which could be a nightmare for Tennessee