May 29, 2011
 Field of
Dreamers
Christmas Eve for college baseball
By
Phil Stanton and Sean Ryan
CollegeBaseballInsider.com
Co-Founders
Maydness
(May Madness) is in the house.
The regular season is
in the books, with 30 automatic bids awarded. Some were
expected, but there were several surprises.
Now the bubble teams have to sweat out the next few hours before
the Field of 64 is released.
We’ll take a final
look at our Field of Dreamers (as of 9 p.m. ET Sunday). We may
make a change or two in the morning after we sleep on it, but
this is how we think the committee will select the at-large
pool. RPI and strength-of-schedule info (as of 8 p.m. ET Sunday)
are courtesy of Warren Nolan at
www.warrennolan.com.
Automatic bids only
(19)
America
East
– Maine
Atlantic 10
– Charlotte
Big South
– Coastal Carolina
Big Ten
– Illinois
Colonial
– James Madison
Horizon
– Wright State
Ivy
– Princeton
Metro Atlantic
– Manhattan
Mid-American
– Kent
State
Mid-Eastern
– Bethune-Cookman
Missouri Valley
– Creighton
Northeast
– Sacred
Heart
Ohio Valley
– Austin
Peay
Patriot
– Navy
Southland
– Texas
State
Southwestern
– Alcorn State
Summit
– Oral Roberts
West Coast
– San
Francisco
Western Athletic
– Fresno State
Multiple-bid
leagues
ACC (7)
– Virginia (automatic), North Carolina (1), Florida State (5),
Clemson (7), Georgia Tech (8), Miami (14), NC State (31)
[solid seven for
ACC]
Atlantic Sun (3) – Belmont (automatic), Stetson (21),
Jacksonville (43)
[Stetson with strong
RPI, won regular-season title. JU finished second with solid RPI]
Big East (2)
– Seton Hall (automatic), Connecticut (47)
[UConn finished
first in regular season]
Big 12 (6)
– Texas A&M (automatic), Texas (12), Oklahoma (17), Baylor (33),
Oklahoma State (34), Kansas State (44)
[KSU had series win
over OU plus 2-0 vs. OU in Big 12 tourney]
Big West (2) – Cal State Fullerton (automatic), UC Irvine
(42)
[UCI solid in second
place]
Conference USA (4)
– Rice (automatic), UCF (18), Southern Miss (20), East Carolina
(29)
[strong quartet for
C-USA]
Mountain West (2)
– New Mexico (automatic), TCU (28)
[surprising Lobos
join regional-host Horned Frogs]
Pac-10 (6)
– UCLA (automatic), Arizona State (10), Stanford (23), Arizona
(24), Oregon State (30), California (41)
[solid top five, Cal
beat teams below in standings]
Southeastern (8)
– Florida (automatic), Vanderbilt (4), South Carolina (6),
Arkansas (13), Georgia (16), LSU (22), Mississippi State (25),
Alabama (36)
[Ole Miss was close,
only one good series win vs. South Carolina]
Southern (2)
– Georgia Southern (automatic), Elon (49)
[Elon was
regular-season champ and had series win over NC State]
Sun Belt (3)
– UALR (automatic), FIU (27), Troy (46)
[FIU with strong RPI
& second-place finish, Troy was regular-season champ]
We tried to think as
the committee would. Our debate for the last spot was between
Elon and Dallas Baptist. Elon won the regular-season title in
the Southern Conference, posted a RPI of 49 and had strength of
schedule of 76. Independent Dallas Baptist had a RPI of 54 with
two wins over TCU, one over Rice and Oklahoma State, and a 1-2
record vs. Texas A&M. But the Patriots have a strength of
schedule of 160.
Last five in:
Elon, Troy, Kansas State, Jacksonville, California
First 10 out:
Dallas Baptist, Ole Miss, ETSU, Southeastern Louisiana, St.
John’s, Texas Tech, Cal State Bakersfield, Hawaii, Mercer,
Oregon
(photo
courtesy of MAAC) |
