I know I'm late to the dance with my reaction to the NCAA Tournament Field, but I had a work assignment Monday.
A few quick thoughts. I reserve the right to expand and revise them later today.
1. I'm only moderately surprised that Clemson has been sent to the Columbia regional again. Rumblings behind the scenes were that ESPN wanted that matchup. The NCAA takes care to avoid, say, a Kentucky-Louisville matchup right off the bat in basketball. There's no such desire in baseball I guess.
2. It's too bad the Southern only got one bid this year, but, honestly it was a down year for the league overall. Western Carolina was superb the second half of the conference season, but had a couple of losses at the wrong time - in the conference tournament.
3. Campbell knows just how Western is feeling. The Camels were the class of the Big South Conference in the regular season, then stumbled against host Liberty in the tournament championship game and were bypassed by Coastal Carolina for a second Big South bid.
4. I'm surprised Florida got in the tournament with a 29-28 record. Yes, the Gators played a tough schedule and they had some solid wins. But how is a team one game over .500 more deserving of at-large bid than a team with 40 or more wins. Campbell, for instance had 20 - TWENTY - more wins that Florida. Granted, the Camels' non-conference schedule was weak, but shouldn't a team's record account for something? Otherwise, just select the teams who played the most challenging schedule.
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