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Softball America Bracketology: May 1

Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 7.46.34 PMby:Brady Vernon•05/01/24•

BradyVernon

Bracketology

IT’S OFFICIALLY MAYHEM

Softball America’s bracketology is here with the 16 host projections and the entire field of 64 teams. Let’s jump into the basics before unveiling the bracket. The bracket is made of 16 regionals with each host being determined by the selection committee based on certain metrics such as strength of schedule and record versus the best teams according to the RPI.

The Field of 64 is divided into the 32 conference winners who earn the automatic bid, these are determined by the conference tournaments rather than the Big West and WCC that award the regular season champion. The 32 at-large bids are determined by the same criteria used for the hosts.

Softball America will have a weekly – and sometimes more – bracket projection until Selection Sunday on May 12. Here is the latest bracket based on the April 29 RPI update:

* = denotes automatic qualifier – the automatic qualifiers for this exercise are determined by the highest-rated RPI in most circumstances

Field of 64: May 1 #colspan#
AUSTIN LAFAYETTE
1. Texas* (1) 1. Louisiana* (16)
4. Prairie View A&M* 4. Princeton*
2. Arizona 2. Baylor
3. South Dakota State* 3. Ole Miss
NORMAN TALLAHASSEE
1. Oklahoma (2) 1. Florida State (15)
4. Northern Colorado* 4. Delaware*
2. Oregon 2. Auburn
3. Penn State 3. South Alabama
KNOXVILLE TUSCALOOSA
1. Tennessee* (3) 1. Alabama (14)
4. Dayton* 4. Chattanooga*
2. Virginia 2. Clemson
3. Eastern Kentucky* 3. Miami*
STANFORD COLLEGE STATION
1. Stanford (4) 1. Texas A&M (13)
4. LMU* 4. Binghamton*
2. Mississippi State 2. Texas State
3. Cal State Fullerton* 3. Texas Tech
BATON ROUGE STILLWATER
1. LSU (5) 1. Oklahoma State (12)
4. Villanova* 4. Oakland*
2. Washington 2. Kentucky
3. McNeese* 3. Michgan
ATHENS GAINESVILLE
1. Georgia (6) 1. Florida (11)
4. USC Upstate* 4. Saint Francis (PA)*
2. Charlotte* 2. UCF
3. Boston* 3. FAU
LOS ANGELES COLUMBIA
1. UCLA* (7) 1. Missouri (10)
4. Grand Canyon* 4. Eastern Illinois*
2. Virginia Tech 2. Northwestern*
3. San Diego State* 3. Southern Illinois*
DURHAM FAYETTEVILLE
1. Duke* (8) 1. Arkansas (9)
4. Morgan State* 4. Marist*
2. South Carolina 2. California
3. Liberty* 3. Kansas

Hosts

1. Texas
2. Oklahoma
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. LSU
6. Stanford
7. Duke
8. UCLA
9. Texas A&M
10. Arkansas
11. Florida
12. Oklahoma State
13. Missouri
14. Alabama
15. Louisiana
16. Florida State

The Field of 64

  • SEC – 13
  • Big 12 – 7
  • Pac-12 – 6
  • ACC – 5
  • Big Ten – 3
  • Sun Belt – 3
  • American – 2
  • All other conferences – 1

The Bubble

Last Four In: Penn State, Ole Miss, FAU, Kansas

First Four Out: Indiana, Utah, Louisville, Nebraska

Next Four Out: Wichita State, USF, Nevada, Ohio State

The Breakdown

  • The Top 16 seeds are the same as last week. There isn’t much of a hosting bubble as these 16 teams feel very solid as of right now. But there is a lot of softball left.
  • LSU and Georgia remain as Super Regional hosts despite recent struggles because of the high volume of Top 10 and 25 RPI wins, good strength of schedule and a top 10 RPI.
  • Arkansas has a lot of good metrics to make its case for a Top-Eight seed but is lacking with a 15 RPI.
  • Washington should have the best chance to host from the outside but the Huskies need a sweep of Utah and a very good showing at the Pac-12 Tournament even to have a chance.
  • This is the first time we’ve given the auto-bid to Charlotte for the American as the Niners are tied with FAU atop the conference standings and have looked like the better team to match the RPI.
  • Ole Miss is staying firm in the tournament after a series win over Auburn. Kansas is holding its postseason life by a thread.

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