Paul Finebaum attributes SEC baseball dominance to the league's facilities arms race

Paul Finebaum put his dukes up this week, calling SEC baseball as dominant as SEC football in the overall NCAA landscape. The numbers back up his claim this year with three of the four teams remaining in the College World Series belonging to the Southeastern Conference.

Finebaum discussed the factors that have gone into that dominance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.

“I think really the resources are more important, you can have good baseball in the West,” Finebaum said, “but ultimately, this trend started years ago … where if you don’t have a top-notch facility, you’re not going to draw players. Now, everybody is trying to outdo each other. You take a drive through the SEC and your jaw drops at these facilities.

“These guys aren’t dissimilar to SEC football players. They’re looking for opportunities to get to the next level. You can do that from a lot of places, even more in baseball, but success breeds success.”

Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M are still in the picture with a chance to win the 2022 College World Series. Oklahoma, the fourth team still in it, will be in the SEC in a few short years. Coincidentally, the Sooners announced a massive, $30 million renovation to their facilities this week.

On Tuesday, Texas A&M and Oklahoma meet at 2 p.m. ET. Arkansas and Ole Miss have the late game with first pitch at 7 p.m. ET.

Butch Thompson lays out the case of SEC dominance

Following the loss on Tuesday night to the Arkansas Razorbacks, reporters asked Auburn head coach Butch Thompson about the SEC’s dominance.

“I think our league is absolutely invested from top to bottom in every one of our schools and that preparation of going through those 10 SEC weekends, absolutely, is a benefit,” Thompson began. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about it, with having to play the level of play consistency every week, you feel like you’re home, you’re on the road. The venues even prepare you for this in such a way.”

“I think we had 93 former SEC baseball players on Major League opening day rosters this year,” Thompson continued. “It’s just incredible. So that’s a pretty good track record. But I think it’s playing those 10 SEC weekends with no breaks there. If you can withstand, if you don’t get buried, and it’s a year where you’re right above the .500 mark, you can do anything.”

On3’s James Fletcher contributed to this report.