[CTcard]

I’m not surprised we didn’t get a top 8 seed. Everything we had read from national publications over the past few weeks indicated that we wouldn’t. Even still, the way things unfolded was frustrating.

I am not surprised either. I am mostly disappointed by the blind use of the RPI despite everybody knowing it is both a terrible power ranking and biased against regions with fewer teams. In fact, according to Baseball America, the committee's one move off of pure reliance on the RPI was looking at record vs top 50 ... in the RPI.
This offends my sense of logic and proper use of numbers more than my offense at Stanford being snubbed.


In RPI, Stanford is currently either #9 or #10 (I just saw both rankings supposedly as of this morning). With everything else Stanford has (see polls and other computer rankings) that ought to be enough for a top 8. It wasn't.

In other cases, particularly with respect to the west coast issues, teams got some accommodation despite RPI.
While it doesn't matter much, UCLA was given the benefit of the doubt over Vandy despite trailing them in RPI.
Oregon State (RPI #22 or 20) got some benefit of the doubt in getting to host, as did Mississippi (RPI #22/21).

At the bubble end, I am not sure if I think UA should have made it in, but had they made it they would have been extremely dangerous. They've won 10 straight, mostly by big scores and looked very solid.
The surprise entry is TCU, which apparently got in because of their Big 12 tournament run. There are many teams who can feel slighted by that one.

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In our regional ...

Our #2 seed, UCSB, possibly lost a chance to host by dropping 2 of 3 to Cal Poly last weekend. Before that they had won 13 in a row. They really are a hard team to gauge; they have the second highest winning percentage in the country but their schedule was a little weak and the Big West was down this year.  I suspect they are in our regional to keep it regional.

You're right that Fresno is a tough team, though I don't see anything fantastic on their resume outside of their overall record (38-14-1). Possibly their highlight was traveling to Tennessee and losing a close series 1-2. They did beat a good UNLV team 6 out of 8 and split 2-2 with UO in Eugene. Both Baseball America and D1 Baseball had them projected them as a #2 seed

And, yeah, Sac State is generally capable. They took one in a series at UCLA, took down cal, and have won 8 of their last 10.

[CTcard]

I’m not surprised we didn’t get a top 8 seed. Everything we had read from national publications over the past few weeks indicated that we wouldn’t. Even still, the way things unfolded was frustrating.

I am not surprised either. I am mostly disappointed by the blind use of the RPI despite everybody knowing it is both a terrible power ranking and biased against regions with fewer teams. In fact, according to Baseball America, the committee's one move off of pure reliance on the RPI was looking at record vs top 50 ... in the RPI.
This offends my sense of logic and proper use of numbers more than my offense at Stanford being snubbed.


In RPI, Stanford is currently either #9 or #10 (I just saw both rankings supposedly as of this morning). With everything else Stanford has (see polls and other computer rankings) that ought to be enough for a top 8. It wasn't.

In other cases, particularly with respect to the west coast issues, teams got some accommodation despite RPI.
While it doesn't matter much, UCLA was given the benefit of the doubt over Vandy despite trailing them in RPI.
Oregon State (RPI #22 or 20) got some benefit of the doubt in getting to host, as did Mississippi (RPI #22/21).

At the bubble end, I am not sure if I think UA should have made it in, but had they made it they would have been extremely dangerous. They've won 10 straight, mostly by big scores and looked very solid.
The surprise entry is TCU, which apparently got in because of their Big 12 tournament run. There are many teams who can feel slighted by that one.

---------
In our regional ...

Our #2 seed, UCSB, possibly lost a chance to host by dropping 2 of 3 to Cal Poly last weekend. Before that they had won 13 in a row. They really are a hard team to gauge; they have the second highest winning percentage in the country but their schedule was a little weak and the Big West was down this year.  I suspect they are in our regional to keep it regional.

You're right that Fresno is a tough team, though I don't see anything fantastic on their resume outside of their overall record (38-14-1). Possibly their highlight was traveling to Tennessee and losing a close series 1-2. They did beat a good UNLV team 6 out of 8 and split 2-2 with UO in Eugene. Both Baseball America and D1 Baseball had them projected them as a #2 seed

And, yeah, Sac State is generally capable. They took one in a series at UCLA, took down cal, and have won 8 of their last 10.