TrueBlue82 Posted May 27, 2023 Share Posted May 27, 2023 If D1Baseball’s projections prove to be correct, college baseball will have some serious competitive issues. Yes, I acknowledge that the SEC and ACC are the top two conferences in the country, but are they SO significantly above the other leagues to warrant 12 out of 16 regional sites, and 7 of the top 8??? They would be setting up a scenario wherein it would be very plausible (if not likely) that we could see a CWS in Omaha with only SEC and ACC teams. While this might be great for the NCAA from a short-team financial perspective, there is a tipping point at which the “rich get richer” mentality eventually topples the entire competitive system - and college baseball is teetering very close to that line. I truly hope that the selection committee will see some benefit to spreading out the regional sites into a variety of conferences and geographies, and recognizes the value of a conference championship. This approach would bode well for Dallas Baptist, Campbell, and others - and the long-term vitality of college baseball as a whole. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU40 Posted May 27, 2023 Share Posted May 27, 2023 30 minutes ago, TrueBlue82 said: If D1Baseball’s projections prove to be correct, college baseball will have some serious competitive issues. Yes, I acknowledge that the SEC and ACC are the top two conferences in the country, but are they SO significantly above the other leagues to warrant 12 out of 16 regional sites, and 7 of the top 8??? They would be setting up a scenario wherein it would be very plausible (if not likely) that we could see a CWS in Omaha with only SEC and ACC teams. While this might be great for the NCAA from a short-team financial perspective, there is a tipping point at which the “rich get richer” mentality eventually topples the entire competitive system - and college baseball is teetering very close to that line. I truly hope that the selection committee will see some benefit to spreading out the regional sites into a variety of conferences and geographies, and recognizes the value of a conference championship. This approach would bode well for Dallas Baptist, Campbell, and others - and the long-term vitality of college baseball as a whole. I get your point TB82, but the key word for me in your post is... competitive! IMHO if the non-P5's want to get the selection committee's attention they have to be competitive! If the projection is correct and Coastal Carolina and Indiana St are the only non-P5's regional host cites they better win some games and at least one of those regionals and winning both would go a long way; especially, if Dallas Baptist and Cambell, etc., can win some games or a regional! As for us, we have to win a game or 2, it's bad enough that we are saddled with the very poor performing Summit league, but if we want some national respect and higher seed consideration in the future, we have to be competitive in our regional. I'm praying our baseball postseason goes better than our basketball performance, because I'm afraid if we aren't competitive, it will make it very difficult for anyone from the Summit(us) in the future to get any kind of respect regarding seeding no matter what our win-loss record or conference championship. Let's get the win today Eagles and regardless of where they put us, go make some noise in the NCAA's!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTex Posted May 27, 2023 Share Posted May 27, 2023 On 5/23/2023 at 10:55 AM, Old Titan said: Another projection as a 4-seed in Stillwater. I really think this has less to do with whether ORU is a legitimate 4-seed and everything to do with there are so many marginal at-larges from the P5's that are taking up all the 3-seeds. God forbid they put a middling P5 such as Arizona State, Oklahoma, or Iowa as a No. 4!! #smh Update: BA now has ORU as a 3 seed at Arkansas, with OSU as the 2 and St. Louis the 4. That would be a nice draw. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2023-ncaa-baseball-tournament-projected-field-of-64/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis 83 Posted May 28, 2023 Share Posted May 28, 2023 According to my best friend from HS Oklahoma St comes from down 5-0 to walk off Tech and get to the championship game tomorrow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted May 28, 2023 Share Posted May 28, 2023 On 4/30/2023 at 5:05 PM, TrueBlue82 said: I know that I'm putting the cart ahead of the course, but that's what fans do... After this weekend's thrashing of second-place SDSU, the Golden Eagles sit at 32-11 with eleven games to play. In nine of those games (three at home, six on the road), ORU will play teams with an RPI of 275+ and will be heavily favored to sweep all three of the three-game weekend series. Two mid-week games remain on the schedule - OSU at home and Wichita on the road. And then comes the Summit League tourney in Fargo. Let's assume that ORU closes out the regular season 9-2 and wins the Summit tourney (taking the conservative route and assuming one loss after reaching the Championship game, then winning the "if necessary" game to finish with a 3-1 record). ORU would be sitting on selection Monday with a very respectable 44-14 record. While conventional wisdom would say that ORU would earn yet another #4 seed, I would submit that ORU would have a great chance at a #3 seed. The team has been ranked in the Top 30 in at least one poll for the past two weeks, and should remain in the poll announced tomorrow, so they should have some positive exposure as long as they keep winning. Yes, the early-season home series loss to SFA and the road sweep at DBU do not look good, but DBU is predicted by many to host a regional. And, the road series win at Texas State and the win in Stillwater help balance out the resume. History plays in ORU's favor. In ten of the seasons from 2000-2022, ORU finished with at least 30 wins and less than 15 losses. In those ten seasons, they advanced to the NCAA tourney every time, earning a (2) or (3) seed 70% of the time - ORU was a (4) seed three times, a (3) seed five times, and a (2) seed twice. And, does it really matter??? According to recent history, the answer is YES. In ORU's 18 NCAA appearances since 2000, the Eagles have a combined record of 20-36 (.357), averaging just over one win per tourney. But, breaking this down into seeding shows the significance of earning a higher seed: ORU NCAA record since 2000 as a: (2) seed 4-4 (.500) (3) seed 8-12 (.400) (4) seed 8-20 (.286) While the Eagles should clinch the Summit regular season title next weekend, they need to keep focused on finishing strong through the season and the Summit tourney. And, if they do, I believe they will have an opportunity at a better seed in the NCAA tournament. So, I'm saying they have a chance??? Yes. I’m doubling down on this previous post with a firm prediction that ORU will earn a 3 seed for the upcoming tourney. With a 26-1 record since early April, a sweep of ranked OSU, some upsets in conference tournaments with auto-bids awarded to lower RPI teams, and the dynamics of likely regional hosts in the proximity of Tulsa, ORU deserves better than a 4 seed - and this year will receive it. As to location, my best guess is that the Eagles will be a 3 in either the Stillwater or DBU regional, but may get sent elsewhere. And, it’s probable that the first round matchup (against the 2 seed) will be against a SEC or ACC team that will feel snubbed for not getting the opportunity to host a regional. No matter what the seeding and location is, it will be great to hear ORU announced on the baseball selection show for the 30th time! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted May 28, 2023 Author Share Posted May 28, 2023 After DBU’s loss in Sunday’s C-USA championship game, my money is on the following scenarios, in order: No. 4 seed in Stillwater (it’s not fair, but it would be in keeping with previous years) No. 3 seed in Fayetteville (with Texas as No. 2) No. 3 or 4 seed (but most likely a 4) somewhere else 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 Some interesting observations from the bracket: Stillwater: DBU (a 2 seed) has a better RPI than Oklahoma State (1 seed) Terre Haute: North Carolina (a 3 seed) has a better RPI than its first round opponent Iowa (2 seed). Of course, this doesn't really matter except for the color of the jersey and who bats first/last. Stillwater and Terre Haute brackets have the best average RPIs of the teams in their regional (avg. 36), which some might say equates to the "toughest" regional. But for me, the "deathstar regional" is in Columbia, SC, which has three teams in the Top 25 RPI - South Carolina (8), Campbell (13) and NC State (23). LSU received by far the easiest draw. The #2 seed Oregon State has the worst RPI of any second seed (and worse than five three seeds)! The #3 seed Sam Houston has the worst RPI of any third seed. And, the #4 seed Tulane has the worst RPI of any fourth seed. That is ridiculous - how does the committee allow this to happen??? The last two seasons, the committee developed a bracket with super-regionals without conference match-ups (that is, if both regional hosts advance, they would play a team from another conference in the super-regional). This season, the committee has set-up two potential all-SEC super regionals (South Carolina/Florida and LSU/Kentucky). While I realize that it is more difficult to avoid conference matchups when EIGHT of the host schools are from the SEC, it still could have been done quite easily. I know that avoiding conference opponents would have meant that there was a possibility of an all-SEC bracket in Omaha. But, if the SEC is that powerful, then they deserve the chance to prove it. As it is now, we know that at least ONE non-SEC school will be in Omaha, as the Coastal/Virginia brackets have no SEC teams among the eight participants. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 What is ORU's final RPI???....TheEagleman is happy with our bracket but disappointed with our #4 seed.....still think a #3 was deserved and several schools got penalized by the outdated RPI system like Campbell who got hosed out of a #1 seed.....the NCAA chairman said as much on the Selection show yesterday that the RPI system needs to be changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted May 30, 2023 Author Share Posted May 30, 2023 11 hours ago, TrueBlue82 said: Some interesting observations from the bracket: Stillwater: DBU (a 2 seed) has a better RPI than Oklahoma State (1 seed) Terre Haute: North Carolina (a 3 seed) has a better RPI than its first round opponent Iowa (2 seed). Of course, this doesn't really matter except for the color of the jersey and who bats first/last. Stillwater and Terre Haute brackets have the best average RPIs of the teams in their regional (avg. 36), which some might say equates to the "toughest" regional. But for me, the "deathstar regional" is in Columbia, SC, which has three teams in the Top 25 RPI - South Carolina (8), Campbell (13) and NC State (23). LSU received by far the easiest draw. The #2 seed Oregon State has the worst RPI of any second seed (and worse than five three seeds)! The #3 seed Sam Houston has the worst RPI of any third seed. And, the #4 seed Tulane has the worst RPI of any fourth seed. That is ridiculous - how does the committee allow this to happen??? The last two seasons, the committee developed a bracket with super-regionals without conference match-ups (that is, if both regional hosts advance, they would play a team from another conference in the super-regional). This season, the committee has set-up two potential all-SEC super regionals (South Carolina/Florida and LSU/Kentucky). While I realize that it is more difficult to avoid conference matchups when EIGHT of the host schools are from the SEC, it still could have been done quite easily. I know that avoiding conference opponents would have meant that there was a possibility of an all-SEC bracket in Omaha. But, if the SEC is that powerful, then they deserve the chance to prove it. As it is now, we know that at least ONE non-SEC school will be in Omaha, as the Coastal/Virginia brackets have no SEC teams among the eight participants. "Could be worse - could be Lexington." (spoken in Marty Feldman's "Igor" voice from Young Frankenstein") 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUSwagger Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 6 minutes ago, Old Titan said: "Cculd be worse - could be Lexington." (spoken in Marty Feldman's "Igor" voice from Young Frankenstein") That is embarrassing for the City of Lexington. I would highly discourage UK from hosting after this disaster in the future. While UK makes money, it’s still not a good look. What a shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 1 hour ago, Old Titan said: "Could be worse - could be Lexington." (spoken in Marty Feldman's "Igor" voice from Young Frankenstein") Very poor vetting job by the selection committee. The first thing that they should be looking at is the available hotel rooms - not only for the teams but for the fans that they want to attract to the games. #LazyWork 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 Just wondering....will ORU stay in Stillwater or do they just bus back the hour to 7777 So. Lewis??? How many hotel rooms are available in a college town like Stillwater, OK???.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 32 minutes ago, theeagleman5 said: Just wondering....will ORU stay in Stillwater or do they just bus back the hour to 7777 So. Lewis??? How many hotel rooms are available in a college town like Stillwater, OK???.... The NCAA pays for the lodging, so the team will stay in Stillwater during the tournament. As a college town who's population swells by another 25,000 every Saturday that there is a football game, there are plenty of hotel rooms throughout the town. There aren't many outside events that go to Stillwater unless it is related to the University, so the hotel lodging doesn't have much competition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 Sounds good...TheEagleman would just set up shop at Eskimo Joe's...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleManiac Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 If it were me, I'd much rather sleep in my own bed and make the bus trip there and back each day. Hotel sleep is never good sleep. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU40 Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 14 minutes ago, EagleManiac said: If it were me, I'd much rather sleep in my own bed and make the bus trip there and back each day. Hotel sleep is never good sleep. I have a hunch most of the team is Ok with 2 hours less bus time each day, and one of every players road trip favorites...the per diem $$. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted May 30, 2023 Author Share Posted May 30, 2023 I'm not sure this is as obvious a choice as it may appear: lots more practice time between the field and the indoor facility if ORU stays around Beautiful JLJ as long/much as possible. Not sure when the Golden Eagles are required to be in Stillwater, but I would be willing to wager they arrive after DBU and Wazzou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titansforever Posted May 30, 2023 Share Posted May 30, 2023 Considering all the crazy drivers we see on the road every day, I think I'd rather have the team stay on site than commute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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