Projected Field of 64

One piece of the puzzle is now in place. The NCAA selection committee announced its 16 regional hosts Sunday night with the remainder of the field set to be announced Monday at noon ET on ESPN2.

The 16 regional hosts are reflected in the projected Field of 64 below and are as follows: Arkansas, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Houston, Kentucky, Long Beach State, Louisiana State, Louisville, North Carolina, Oregon State, Southern Miss, Stanford, Texas Christian, Texas Tech and Wake Forest.

Those hosts are mostly in line with Baseball America’s predictions, although Clemson hosting over Virginia comes as a surprise. Though the Tigers rank No. 12 in the RPI and the Cavaliers rank No. 16, Clemson lost 11 of its last 12 Atlantic Coast Conference games, including an 0-2 showing in the ACC Tournament in Louisville. Virginia, meanwhile, won its last six ACC series and defeated Clemson in the tournament.

Florida State, which a couple of weeks ago was a team on the bubble, earns a hosting nod thanks to an impressive series win at Louisville followed by the ACC Tournament championship.

Houston, which won the American Athletic Conference tournament, joins the hosting ranks, supplanting Central Florida—the AAC regular season title winner.

As for the rest of the field, Baseball America’s final projections are below. The automatic bids, marked with an asterisk, are set in stone with conference championships wrapping up today.

Rice and Oklahoma State, two teams without at-large resumes, won the Conference USA and Big 12 Conference tournaments, respectively, to steal bids from teams on the bubble. Other “bid thieves” include Big Ten Confeence Tournament champion Iowa, Xavier in the Big East and Dallas Baptist in the Missouri Valley Conference.

With fewer at-large bids available, the next 24 hours will be tense for teams on the bubble. UCLA, Southeastern Louisiana, St. John’s and Miami are the last four teams in, while Auburn and Texas A&M could also have reason to worry due to RPIs in the mid-40s.

Connecticut, Gonzaga, Maryland, South Carolina are the first four out and could conceivably get in depending on how much the committee values RPI. UConn, Maryland and South Carolina all have RPIs in the 30s. The Gamecocks, however, lost eight straight SEC series to end the season and could’ve benefited from another win in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

Old Dominion, Mississippi, McNeese State and Louisiana Tech—the next four out—could also be in the mix, but poor conference tournament performances could keep them on the outside looking in.

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

Last four in: UCLA, Southeastern Louisiana, St. John’s, Miami
First four out: Connecticut, Gonzaga, Maryland, South Carolina
Next four out: Old Dominion, Mississippi, McNeese State, Louisiana Tech

New hosts: Florida State, Houston
New Auto Bids: Brigham Young (WCC), Central Connecticut State (NEC), Dallas Baptist (MVC), Davidson (A-10), Delaware (Colonial), Florida Gulf Coast (A-Sun), Iowa (Big Ten), Marist (MAAC), Maryland-Baltimore County (America East), Ohio (MAC), Oklahoma State (Big 12), Radford (Big South), Rice (CUSA), Sacramento State (WAC), Sam Houston State (Southland), San Diego State (MWC), South Alabama (Sun Belt), UNC Greensboro (Southern), Xavier (Big East)
New At-Large Bids: None
Dropped Out: Connecticut, Louisiana-Lafayette, Maryland, Mississippi, Old Dominion

8: ACC, SEC
7: Big 12
4: Big Ten, Pac-12
3: AAC
2: Big East, Big West, CUSA, Missouri Valley, Southland
1: A-10, A-Sun, America East, Big South, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Summit, Sun Belt, SWAC, WAC, WCC