|
SEC hits homer with selection committee
By The Associated Press
The road to the College World
Series will go through the Southeastern Conference.
Widely regarded as college
baseball's best league the past few seasons, the SEC had an NCAA-record nine
schools earn berths for the
64-team Division I tournament
Monday.
``The SEC this year was far
and above stronger than any conference,'' Division I baseball committee
chairman Charlie Carr said. ``When you have nine, sure it certainly grabs
your attention, but we just wanted to be diligent and make sure the best
teams got in.''
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee and
Vanderbilt all made it to the NCAA tournament — with a record five serving
as hosts for the 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals that begin
Friday.
The SEC also had the previous
record of eight schools in the regionals, set in 2001 and matched last year.
``There are some great teams
in the SEC,'' Carr said. ``It was just a great year for those schools, and
my hat's off to them.''
Texas (50-13), which won the College World Series two years
ago, was selected as the top national seed for the tournament.
``There are so many good teams
out there that there wasn't any one that was a slam dunk,'' Carr said.
``Texas is a great team, had a great run, had an unbelievable record and
deserved to be No. 1. That's not to say there weren't other teams that also
could have been No. 1.''
The other national seeds, in
order, are: South Carolina (45-15), Miami (44-11), Georgia Tech (41-19),
Stanford (44-12),
Rice (43-12), Arizona State (40-16) and
Arkansas (39-21). Those schools would face each other only if they make the
College World Series.
``There is very little
difference between No. 1 and No. 8,'' said Carr, senior associate athletic
director at Florida State and a former athletics administrator at East
Carolina.
The Longhorns are making their
47th tournament appearance and sixth in a row. Texas has been to the College
World Series a record 30 times, and won five championships (1949-50, '75,
'83 and 2002).
``I think the secret is to
stay focused within yourself and play the game, and not letting the
championships be a part of your thinking and staying healthy,'' said coach
Augie Garrido, whose 1,480 career wins are the most in Division I history.
The Longhorns will take on
Youngstown State (22-30) in their first game, and Texas Christian and Oral
Roberts will also play in the regional at Austin, Texas.
Rice is trying to join Texas
(1949-50), Southern California (1970-74), Stanford (1987-88) and Louisiana
State (1996-97) as repeat national champions. The Owls are led by their
highly touted trio of right-handers Jeff Niemann, Wade Townsend and Philip
Humber — all possible top 10 picks in next Monday's draft.
The Owls play Texas Southern
(18-33) in the first round of the Houston regional, which also includes
Lamar and Texas A&M.
The Atlantic Coast Conference
— with Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina
State and Virginia — and the Big 12 — with Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma
State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech — had the second-most teams with six.
Miami, in its last year as an
independent, is making its 32nd straight appearance to extend its NCAA
record. The Hurricanes will begin play in the ACC next season.
Eight teams are making their
first NCAA tournament appearances: Birmingham Southern, the College of
Charleston, Jacksonville State, St. Bonaventure,
Stony Brook, Texas Southern, UC
Irvine and Youngstown State.
Western Kentucky and
Vanderbilt received at-large bids to reach the regionals for the first time
since 1980. George Mason will make its first tournament appearance since
1993.
Mississippi State was the only
team to make it despite not making its conference tournament. The committee
set precedent for that last year, when it took Florida, which also didn't
make the SEC tournament.
``That's a quality team
playing in a quality conference,'' Carr said.
The 16 regional hosts,
announced Sunday, are: Arkansas, Cal State Fullerton,
East Carolina, Florida State,
Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Mississippi, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Rice,
South Carolina, Stanford, Texas and Virginia.
The only hosts not to receive
the top seed in their regional were Cal State Fullerton and Oklahoma, which
were No. 2 in their regionals.
``It was an unbelievably
difficult year,'' Carr said of the selection process. ``We say that every
year and we all laugh about it, but it really was.''
The winners of each regional
will advance to the super regionals, played June 11-13. The eight winners of
the super regionals will play in the College World Series, which starts June
18 in Omaha, Neb.
Copyright 2004
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:37:03 AM
|
