LSU draws Chapel Hill Regional in NCAA Tournament
There was a time when it seemed uncertain as to if LSU would be in the position to even get into the NCAA tournament earlier this year, but now, after having won 18 of the last 24 games, including seven of their last eight, the Tigers are comfortably in the field.
On Monday afternoon, LSU tuned into the NCAA Selection show awaiting to see where they would be headed, knowing they were not one of the 16 regional hosts. Eventually, it was announced the Tigers were headed to Chapel Hill as a two seed in a region with No. 1 seed North Carolina, No. 3 seed Wofford, and No. 4 seed Long Island.
The Tigers will face the Terriers on Friday, the SoCon tournament champs who enter the postseason with a 41-18 record. Wofford has the most steals of any team in the NCAA tournament field and has eight players hitting .300 or better, setting up an intriguing regional for LSU this weekend. North Carolina, the No. 1 seed and host in this region enters at 42-13 overall and is the highest ranked non-SEC team in the field.
LSU comes off of a thrilling week in the SEC Tournament, winning four straight games over four top 25 teams in the RPI, before losing to Tennessee 4-3 on Sunday in the title game. Despite not securing the championship, the job was done. Confidence was instilled in Jay Johnson’s squad. After dismantling Georgia and Kentucky behind the arms of Luke Holman and Gage Jump, LSU knows it has two elite arms to lead the way going into the regional and the bats have woken up over the past month.
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The Tigers are now 40-21 overall and have become one of the more dangerous teams in the nation. LSU did what it takes to get back to the tournament after a rough start, but what’s ahead is where the attention turns.
“I’m just proud of the play and proud of the growth,” Johnson said after the loss to Tennessee. “We were in a tough spot midway through league play and a lot of that had to do with the league. To flip the script in the second half and play consistently then come here and win four games and be a base hit away from going to extra innings today. These guys wanted to win today, but I think they emptied the tank pretty good.
“We’ll get home. We’ll get some rest. We’ll celebrate when the bracket pops up for the NCAA Tournament. Then we’ll give them a good itinerary once we know who we play and where we’re playing and we’ll be prepared. This was a good week, but this wasn’t the end game for this team. They respected the game and this conference, but we’re excited about what’s ahead.”
