SB Nation - Login for mobile commenting

Burnt Orange Nation

ATTENTION: Last Big College Sports Event Until Football!

[Update:] Horns are indeed the overall #1 seed. They get #4 Army, #3 Boston College and #2 Texas State (a team we've already beaten twice).

One of our very favorite times of year has arrived again. It is "Selection Monday," so to speak, and the question for Texas is no longer whether or not the Longhorns will be a top eight national seed; the question is whether they will be the Number One national seed. It's an exciting position to be in and either way, there is comfort in knowing that Augie's bunch has earned the right to play in a maximum of two stadiums for the entirety of the tournament: Disch-Falk Field and the holy ground of Rosenblatt Stadium.

Texas was announced as a sub-regional host yesterday, as were Rice and TCU. That there are three regionals in the state of Texas speaks to the enormous quality of college baseball being played in the Lone Star State these days and, perhaps just as important, to the tremendous fan support that those three squads enjoy. By comparison, California will be hosting only two regionals--in Fullerton and Irvine. Has Texas surpassed California as the nation's leading exporter of college baseball? The argument can be made.

Oklahoma is the only other Big XII regional host aside from the Longhorns. 

Southest Baseball has its final projections up, and they have the top eight looking like this:

 

  1. Texas (Big XII Automatic)
  2. LSU (SEC Automatic)
  3. Arizona State (Pac-10 Automatic)
  4. UC Irvine (Big West Automatic)
  5. Cal State Fullerton (Big West At-Large)
  6. North Carolina (ACC At-Large)
  7. Florida State (ACC Automatic)
  8. Rice (C-USA Automatic)
If things do indeed shake out this way, it will be a very interesting group. Traditional power conferences the Pac-10 and SEC would have one team each in the top eight, while the Big West--which has been CSU-Fullerton and everybody else for so long--would have two. Some readers may recall that UC-Irvine came agonizingly close to ousting LSU in the Baton Rouge Super Regional last year before the Tigers pulled out a very close three-game series to go to Omaha. Irvine has continued to rise and their likely appearance in the top eight this season is well-deserved and no surprise.

The selection show is on ESPN at 11:30 CDT. We'll return after it's over to update the actual field on the front page, but during the show you can use this as your open thread.

Get excited!

 

0 recs  |  60 comments

Comments

Horns #1 overall!
OU #7 Seed

Fullerton what an easy regional

Florida St has there work cut out for them
I like our regional

A quick look shows the three other teams have ERAs in the high 4. Playing at the Disch gives us a big advantage…

UCI gets San Diego State as its 3 seed, ouch.

UC Irvine might turn out like us back in 06 when we thought we had it made
Rice there bracket looks like a joke
They lost to Sam Houston St. earlier this year.....

Not too much of a joke considering they’re playing them in their first game…

LSU shouldnt have a problem
Our regional looks very nice I just we don't underestimate any of those weak ass teams
Baylor a three seed

So Big XII teams (Okie State also got in as a 3) and Tech isn’t one of them…ouch

I guess the committee bought into the depth fo the Big 12

But I agree with the ESPN talking head — did the Big 12 deserve to get teams like Baylor and Oklahoma State into the tournament?

No way either of those teams deserved in

But I thought Tech did…looks like we won the #1 seed with that sweep of OU

No way they would get in with an RPI of 88
OSU's RPI is 26

26! I can see how they got in.

Frankly, I can actually understand Baylor, too. Their slide at the end of the season came against Texas and Oklahoma (and OK, Nebraska, too, but whatever). RPI of 29.

What website has the printable bracket right now NCAA.Com or ESPN.Com
Don't see it on ESPN.
I missed the other three teams in the regional.

Who does Texas have?

army, texas state and boston college
Army I think BC
I'm lovin' our bracket! There's a reason they play the games,

but we have got some favorable matchups in our bracket.

The regional:

1) Texas
4) Army — 4.98 ERA

2) Texas State — 4.83 ERA
3) Boston College — 4.79 ERA

Dustin Ackley still plays for UNC
And he's a badass!
I thought that guy got drafted last year
Already beat Texas State twice

Once on a day when we stretched Shinaberry to 2.1 innings. I can’t imagine the Bobcats had all lefties in the lineup that day, so it was probably a minor miracle we won that game.

It would be a massive disappointment not to win this regional.
I completely agree, we are set up very well.
I see us playing Texas A&M in the regional Championship
I think Texas may be out of the baseball wastelands now,

regardless of where this season even ends up. Wood is the only major loss from the pitching staff. Think about that for a second.

Not to mention Jungmann, stud!
wastelands?

a little perspective, please!

Hey man, losing in the regionals is a wasteland to me.

I have perspective, it’s just the perspective of wanting to be in Omaha every year! : – )

Green Workman Ruffin Dicharry arent they all sophmores
Dicharry is a freshman.
Right just looked that up
When is the first game Wednesday
The guy I don't want to lose is Brandon Belt.

Probably happens though if he’s drafted reasonably high.

How's our recruiting class this year for baseball?

I’m sure it’s good as always, but haven’t heard much. I know we never truly know until the draft has come and gone too.

I should probably write about that soon.

The stud is Colton Cain, a first baseman from Waxahachie who pitches for them as well. This site calls him a first-round draft pick, so he probably goes pro. Why turn down at least a million dollars for three years? He would really assuage the loss of Brandon Belt if he makes it on campus.

None of the services seem to follow high school baseball recruiting,

except for a few articles from Gerry Hamilton this spring.

You can't blame a guy for goin' pro if drafted in the first round or

for getting drafted in a later round and getting the first round money, but hopefully he goes to TX

Well I'm out. Gonna go run before the Rangers game.

Let’s go Colt! Nothing less than 80 mph!

Hello from Oregon....

Congrats on the overall #1 seed. The Beavers and Longhorns are set up for a potential Super Regional matchup, which could be… interesting.

However, I was looking for some help…. being that TCU and Texas A&M are both in our regional (Fort Worth) and that Texas has already played both of them this year, I was wondering if you guys had any information on them you could share?

Hopefully you don't meet the A&M blogger.

That’s my advice.

Hope Brooks Raley forgets how to play baseball this week.
Not quite as qualified to answer as 40AS,

but the big thing I can think of with A&M is that they underachieved a little bit this year and their ace, a lefty named Brooks Raley, has really struggled towards the end of the year, I believe giving up 20 runs in 13 innings or something like that. Beyond him, their pitching doesn’t have great depth, but freshman Ross Hales may be on the upswing after he had a complete-game shutout against the Longhorns two weekends ago. He’s a left-hander and really pounded the strike zone.

Don't know so much about TCU except that we beat them 6-0 in a midweek game.
How is Fullerton seeded over Irvine?

How is Irvine only the 6?

That seems to be the major travesty of the selection process.

And maybe Rhode Island not getting in, from what they were saying on ESPN.

Strength of schedule even though I believe Irvine believe Fullerton
I think K-State

could make it out of the Rice regional.

they steal a ton of bases.
Wow, look at the Irvine regional

They got mega-screwed by the committee.

You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Burnt Orange Nation to post a comment.