NCAA Field of 64

NCAA FIELD OF 64
Corvallis, OR	Clemson, SC
(1) Oregon State^*	Clemson^
Nebraska	Vanderbilt
Yale*	St. John’s
Holy Cross*	UNC-Greensboro*
Chapel Hill, NC	Houston
(2) North Carolina^	Houston^*
Florida Gulf Coast*	Baylor
Michigan	Texas A&M
Davidson*	Iowa*
Gainesville, FL	Winston-Salem, NC
(3) Florida^	Wake Forest^
South Florida	West Virginia
Bethune-Cookman*	Maryland
Marist*	Maryland-Baltimore County*
Baton Rouge, LA	Hattiesburg, MS
(4) Louisiana State^	Southern Mississippi^
Southeastern Louisiana	Mississippi State
Rice	South Alabama*
Texas Southern	Illinois-Chicago*
Lubbock, Texas	Tallahassee, FL
(5) Texas Tech	Florida State^*
Arizona	Central Florida
Sam Houston State*	Auburn
Delaware*	Tennessee Tech*
Fort Worth	Fayetteville, AR
(6) Texas Christian^	Arkansas^
Virginia	Missouri State
Dallas Baptist*	Oklahoma State*
Central Connecticut State*	Oral Roberts*
Louisville	Lexington, Ky
(7) Louisville	Kentucky^
Oklahoma	Indiana
Xavier	North Carolina State
Radford*	Ohio*
Stanford, CA	Long Beach, CA
(8) Stanford^	Long Beach State^*
Cal State Fullerton	Texas
Brigham Young*	UCLA
Sacramento State*	San Diego State*
*-Automatic bid; ^-Regional host

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The NCAA selection committee announced its 64-team field on Monday with few surprises, as 63 of the 64 teams were in Baseball America’s most-recent projected field.

The lone difference was Maryland getting in the field over Miami, which is significant news as the Hurricanes had made 44 straight regional trips—and back-to-back College World Series trips—prior to Monday.

Miami dug itself into a hole in non-conference play early in the year and was below .500 for much of the season, but the Hurricanes rallied late in the year to surge up to No. 41 in the RPI and improve to 16-13 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. That late push wasn’t enough for the committee.

Committee chairman Scott Sidwell, also the San Francisco athletic director, said that while Miami had several strong aspects on its resume—the Hurricanes are No. 41 in RPI and No. 5 in strength of schedule—its 31-27 record wasn’t good enough.

“At the end of the day, for our group, they had 30 Division I wins,” Sidwell said. “So one of those wins was against a non-Division I team and some of those wins came in the postseason. So for us it was about the number of wins that they had and ultimately just didn’t stack up at the end of the day to be a team that was selected for an at-large.”

Miami coach Jim Morris told reporters in Miami that it was “an honor and a privilege” to be a part of Miami’s historic streak.

“Very disappointed that we didn’t get in,” Morris said. “I felt like after we won the first two games (in the ACC Tournament) that we were going to get in, but, yesterday, watching the games being played out, seeing all the upsets, you know it starts shrinking down the number of at-large bids.”

Miami had the longest active regional streak, but that now belongs to Florida State, which is making its 40th consecutive appearance. Behind the Seminoles are Cal State Fullerton (26) and Rice (23), who won the Conference USA tournament to get the conference’s automatic bid.

Rice needed a late run to win the CUSA Tournament to extend its own streak. The Owls’ upset of Southern Mississippi in Biloxi, Miss., over the weekend was one of several in conference tournaments that caused the bubble to shrink and the committee to have to rework the field.

Sidwell said six teams that were not receiving consideration for at-large berths won automatic bids, knocking other teams out of the field.

The committee announced the 16 regional hosts on Sunday night. Of those hosts, the eight national seeds are, in order:
Oregon State, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana State, Texas Tech, Texas Christian, Louisville and Stanford.

Clemson was awarded a host site over Virginia in the lone controversial decision among hosts. The Cavaliers finished ahead of the Tigers in the ACC standings and the Tigers stumbled down the stretch, losing their last three conference series and going 0-2 in the ACC Tournament.

Sidwell said the margin between Clemson and Virginia was “razor thin.” Ultimately, the deciding factor was Virginia’s nonconference strength of schedule, which ranked No. 235, vs. Clemson’s, which was No. 67.

“I think that ultimately as we looked at all of it there were arguments on both sides,” he said. “And so the one thing that stood out to us was the nonconference schedule of Virginia was significantly higher than it was for Clemson.”

Clemson also ranked higher than Virginia in RPI (No. 13 vs. 17), which was in line with many of the committee’s other decisions in the field. The eight national seeds are also the top eight teams by RPI.

But Sidwell said RPI did not outweigh other metrics.

“It’s one of the tools that we can look at that has the most consistency throughout,” he said. “And so whether it had more emphasis than another thing, no, but it’s one of many tools in our toolbox, and certainly that’s what we take a look at is all that information.”

Clemson draws the toughest slate in the field. The Tigers host Vanderbilt as a No. 2 seed, St. John’s as a No. 3 and UNC-Greensboro as a No. 4, and, should they advance, they are paired with No. 1 national seed Oregon State.

Virginia, meanwhile, is the No. 2 seed in the Fort Worth Regional and is the highest-ranked No. 2 seed in the field as No. 16 team in the RPI.

The Southeastern Conference leads the field with eight teams selected—notably missing both South Carolina and Mississippi. The ACC and Big 12 are just behind with seven teams each. The Big Ten tied its conference record with five teams selected. Michigan was one of the last four teams in, joined by Auburn, Texas A&M and UCLA.

Among notable pairings, Louisville, unsurprisingly, is paired with the Lexington Regional, which would lead to a rivalry super regional at Louisville should Kentucky and Louisville both advance. After being eliminated in supers by Big West teams in the last two years, the Cardinals will not have to contend with a team from that conference this year. They’ll host Oklahoma, Xavier and Radford; while Kentucky will host Indiana, North Carolina State and Ohio.

Other regionals with storylines worth watching: The Lubbock Regional features two teams who were in Omaha last year in Texas Tech and Arizona, the CWS runner-up. That regional is paired with the Tallahassee Regional, hosted by the Seminoles, who made an impressive late-season surge from bubble team to host by winning a series at Louisville, then winning the ACC tournament. FSU will host American Athletic Conference regular season winner Central Florida as a No. 2 seed, while Auburn could be the toughest No. 3 seed in the field.

Florida Gulf Coast, the No. 2 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional, is making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Davidson, the No. 4 seed in that same regional, is making its first appearance, as well, in what is a fairly light draw for the No. 2 national seed Tar Heels.

Holy Cross earned its first bid since 1978, Yale earned its first since 1993, and West Virginia—the No. 2 seed in the Winston-Salem Regional—is in for the first time since 1996.

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NCAA Regional Schedule (All Times Eastern)

Baton Rouge Regional hosted by LSU
Friday
No. 1 LSU (43-17) vs. No. 4 Texas Southern (20-32), 3:30 p.m., SECN
No. 2 Southeastern La. (36-20) vs. No. 3 Rice (31-29), 8 p.m., ESPN3

Chapel Hill Regional hosted by North Carolina
Friday
No. 1 North Carolina (47-12) vs. No. 4 Davidson (32-24), 6 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 FGCU (42-18) vs. No. 3 Michigan (42-15), 1 p.m., ESPN3

Clemson Regional hosted by Clemson
Friday
No. 1 Clemson (39-19) vs. No. 4 UNCG (35-22), 7 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 Vanderbilt (33-22-1) vs. No. 3 St. John’s (NY) (42-11), Noon, SECN

Corvallis Regional hosted by Oregon State
Friday
No. 1 Oregon St. (49-4) vs. No. 4 Holy Cross (23-27), 11 p.m., ESPNU
No. 2 Nebraska (35-20-1) vs. No. 3 Yale (32-16), 4 p.m., ESPN3

Fayetteville Regional hosted by Arkansas
Friday
No. 1 Arkansas (42-17) vs. No. 4 Oral Roberts (42-14), 8 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 Missouri St. (40-17) vs. No. 3 Oklahoma St. (30-25), 3 p.m., ESPN3

Fort Worth Regional hosted by TCU
Friday
No. 1 TCU (42-16) vs. No. 4 Central Conn. St. (36-20), 9 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 Virginia (42-14) vs. No. 3 DBU (40-19), 4 p.m., ESPNU

Gainesville Regional hosted by Florida
Friday
No. 1 Florida (42-16) vs. No. 4 Marist (32-21), 7 p.m., SECN
No. 2 South Fla. (41-17) vs. No. 3 Bethune-Cookman (33-23), 1 p.m., ESPN3

Hattiesburg Regional hosted by Southern Miss.
Friday
No. 1 Southern Miss. (48-14) vs. No. 4 Ill.-Chicago (39-15), TBA, ESPN3
No. 2 Mississippi St. (36-24) vs. No. 3 South Ala. (39-19), TBA, ESPN3

Houston Regional hosted by Houston
Friday
No. 1 Houston (40-19) vs. No. 4 Iowa (38-20), 8 p.m., ESPNU
No. 2 Baylor (34-21) vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (36-21), 3 p.m., ESPN2

Lexington Regional hosted by Kentucky
Friday
No. 1 Kentucky (39-20) vs. No. 4 Ohio (31-26), Noon, ESPNU
No. 2 Indiana (33-22-2) vs. No. 3 North Carolina St. (34-23), 7 p.m., ESPN3

Long Beach Regional hosted by Long Beach State
Friday
No. 1 Long Beach St. (37-17-1) vs. No. 4 San Diego St. (41-19), 11 p.m., ESPN2
No. 2 Texas (37-22) vs. No. 3 UCLA (30-25), 7 p.m., ESPN2

Louisville Regional hosted by Louisville
Friday
No. 1 Louisville (47-10) vs. No. 4 Radford (27-30), 6 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 Oklahoma (34-22) vs. No. 3 Xavier (32-25), 2 p.m., ESPN3

Lubbock Regional hosted by Texas Tech
Friday
No. 1 Texas Tech (43-15) vs. No. 4 Delaware (34-21), 3 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 Arizona (37-19) vs. No. 3 Sam Houston St. (40-20), 7 p.m., ESPN3

Stanford Regional hosted by Stanford
Thursday
No. 1 Stanford (40-14) vs. No. 4 Sacramento St. (32-27), 9 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 Cal St. Fullerton (34-21) vs. No. 3 BYU (37-19), 4 p.m., ESPN3

Tallahassee Regional hosted by Florida State
Friday
No. 1 Florida St. (39-20) vs. No. 4 Tennessee Tech (40-19), 6 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 UCF (40-20) vs. No. 3 Auburn (35-24), Noon, ESPN2

Winston-Salem Regional hosted by Wake Forest
Friday
No. 1 Wake Forest (39-18) vs. No. 4 UMBC (23-23), 7 p.m., ESPN3
No. 2 West Virginia (34-24) vs. No. 3 Maryland (37-21), 2 p.m., ESPN3