All SEC/ACC CWS
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So if Florida goes 2 & Q with their overall record, will they still be ranked 8th in the final rankings?
Probably going to be the norm moving forward. I don't know if that's good or bad for the game overall.
That is crazy. Will be either 4 on 4 or 5 on 3 depending on what happens in Athens today.
I think Florida has a good chance to win it all. They are loaded with blue chip talent and severely underachieved during the regular season. Incidentally, they are the only non-1 seed that will make it to Omaha.
I think Florida has a good chance to win it all. They are loaded with blue chip talent and severely underachieved during the regular season. Incidentally, they are the only non-1 seed that will make it to Omaha.
I think the CWS is going to always have a 6-8 team mix of SEC & ACC going forward. There are just too many good programs in those conferences for them not to put that many through on a normal basis. The other 1 or 2 teams will usually be a mix of Sun Belt and Big 12 with some random team like Oregon State making it as an independent every so often.
SEC is absolutely the best baseball conference at this point and is adding two traditional baseball powers, OU and Texas. ACC is inarguably the second best baseball conference after the SEC and will be adding Stanford next year.
Big 12 losing Texas and OU hurts them, but they're adding Arizona and Arizona State. Along with Oklahoma State and maybe TCU and Texas Tech, that will keep them in the mix for a spot in Omaha a lot of years.
The Sun Belt has put at least 4 teams in the tournament the past 4 seasons and eventually one of those teams in going to break through.
SEC is absolutely the best baseball conference at this point and is adding two traditional baseball powers, OU and Texas. ACC is inarguably the second best baseball conference after the SEC and will be adding Stanford next year.
Big 12 losing Texas and OU hurts them, but they're adding Arizona and Arizona State. Along with Oklahoma State and maybe TCU and Texas Tech, that will keep them in the mix for a spot in Omaha a lot of years.
The Sun Belt has put at least 4 teams in the tournament the past 4 seasons and eventually one of those teams in going to break through.
I bet 10 of the 16 host sites next year are SEC or ACC. Which is actually probably a little less than those conferences deserve. But college baseball is barely an afterthought for the NCAA. They barely even notice it, much less care about it.
Demographic change in the West hasn't benefited college baseball nor has an emphasis on other sports, especially women's sports. The South loves sports and the dominance of some groups in football and basketball have led a trend where middle-class white parents who want junior and the little missus to play sports pick baseball, softball and soccer over others. But soccer and softball are also increasingly favored by the middle class of all ethnicities so it's not nearly as mono-ethnic as college baseball. It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds over the next 10 years. I expect to see more Latinos in college baseball over the next few years because they're moving into the middle class in increasing numbers.
I tend to agree, even if an oversimplification. Not too long ago you have Arizona, Oregon State and UCLA regularly showing up in CWS and winning them, mainly with California players. I guess the exodus out of there really took a toll on the 'sports-playing' class of the state.
Even with that, I don't think it's ALL about the exodus of people. I think those California and West Coast players are just wanting to head to the South, because people care more. Just like football.
And THAT is what's puzzling to me. Football and baseball has (or had) declining youth participation numbers, and you also are seeing the consolidation of power in the South. But at the same time football is gaining popularity (both college and pro), while baseball is declining. It's hard to figure out what is really going on here.
The natural advantage that warm weather states had in Baseball has steadily diminished as the sport has become more popular. This is why USC won 11 NCs between 48-78 but just 1 since then. That is because the players who used to play before 100 people and do their own field maintenance now have options to play where people give a crap and they can get money to make it worth their while. This also gives cold weather states a chance because they can recruit players from the warm states. CA will never care about college baseball nor does AZ care that much either.
Wait....are you saying that warm weather states are losing their advantage? That's not true at all. The ones that don't care as much, are losing their advantage to the ones that do (i.e. Californians to the South), but nobody is losing anything to the cold weather states. And not to mention baseball is not becoming more popular. Travel ball is, i.e. the hardcores, but not baseball overall.
They did align this year very heavy on one side for sec. Notice loafers wisely threw flarda over on the lightweight side though.
It’s almost as if NIL has fully entrenched itself in baseball, and the rich are getting richer there…..too. Awesome. Well on the way to even the non-revenue sports becoming shítty as hell. Glad we got our NC back when things were still somewhat competitive for everyone.
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