College baseball writer criticizes selection process following committee chair Mike Buddie's revelation

The NC State baseball team was shockingly snubbed from the NCAA Tournament Monday despite compiling a 36-21 record and appearing in the ACC Tournament championship game over the weekend. Instead, Ole Miss reportedly received the nod as the final team in the Field of 64.

Managing editor of D1Baseball, Kendall Rogers, took to social media, calling the NCAA Selection Committee’s decision a “complete joke,” bashing Committee Chair Mike Buddie for the egregious decision.

“Mike Buddie also said he would prefer to have all the games possible played before the Selection Committee is making decisions. As long as the Big 12/Pac 12 play later games, this process should be on Monday, not Sunday, IMO,” Rogers wrote.

NC State finished the season with an aggregate 17-16 record in the ACC and a No. 33 RPI overall. D1Baseball even projected the Wolfpack to be the No. 2 seed in the Knoxville Regional, but Buddie would say that while the RPI is a good tool, but he prefers going much, much deeper into a team’s resume than just that.

Looking closer at the resumes between the Wolfpack and the Rebels – against teams ranked in the top 100 in RPI, the Wolfpack was 22-18 (.550) and the Rebels went 18-18 (.500) while NC State logged 10 wins against teams in the RPI top 25, while Ole Miss finished with just seven.

Buddie also noted that NC State won just four of their 10 ACC series, but only one of the four was over a NCAA Tournament team – Georgia Tech. Meanwhile, Ole Miss, who also won four of 10 conference series, prevailed against a pair of teams that earned at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament in Auburn and LSU.

“Miniscule differences, but when it gets down to that time of the selection, minuscule differences can sometimes make a difference,” Buddie explained.

Buddie went on to suggest that a couple of reasons the Wolfpack were omitted in favor of Ole Miss can be chalked up to non-conference strength of schedule. According to D1Baseball’s RPI rankings, NC State’s non-conference strength of schedule was ranked No. 189 in the nation while Ole Miss was No. 38 overall.

“When it comes down to those last three or four teams you are looking to for those last three or four spots, you really have to split hairs,” Buddie continued.

10 other ACC teams received bids into the NCAA Tournament this season, including the North Carolina Tar Heels, who were the ones that ended the Wolfpack’s postseason hopes with a 9-5 victory in Sunday’s ACC Tournament final despite earning three more hits than their in-state rival.