Vols among two teams fighting to expose the selection committee in Clemson
The NCAA baseball tournament bracket was unveiled Monday, and there were few major surprises. However, a pair of them came together in one regional – Clemson, SC. The Clemson Tigers earned the #4 national seed at 43-17 (20-10 in the ACC) and are currently riding a 16-game winning streak into the tournament. They exploded for […]
The NCAA baseball tournament bracket was unveiled Monday, and there were few major surprises. However, a pair of them came together in one regional – Clemson, SC.
The Clemson Tigers earned the #4 national seed at 43-17 (20-10 in the ACC) and are currently riding a 16-game winning streak into the tournament. They exploded for 8 runs in the bottom of the 7th in their 11-5 win against Miami in the ACC Championship game.
And while the seed itself was earned, it was the remainder of the announcement that created some disbelief among the Tiger faithful.
Despite being in the top half of the top eight national seeds, the Tigers were strangely saddled with perhaps the best and most dangerous two seed in the country in the Tennessee Volunteers. The Vols finished with an RPI of 20, best among all two seeds traveling to the top 8 national seeds. Aside from UConn (22) traveling to Florida and UT (20) at Clemson, all other national seeds are facing a two seed at 26 or worse in the RPI. The Vols' RPI fits with some projections that had UT very close to hosting, but just below the cut line. The team immediately above UT in the RPI, Auburn, is hosting as the 13 seed.
While Clemson is smoking hot entering the tournament, the Vols are also a team whose stock is pointing way up going into June. Despite the loss to Texas A&M in the single-elimination part of the SEC tournament, the Vols found their groove in the second half of the season, going 11-4 in the second half of SEC play with sweeps of Vanderbilt and Mississippi State coupled with an impressive road series win at South Carolina.
As such, both Clemson and Tennessee will be looking to shake off the bizarre seeding decisions – disrespect, even – by the committee and advance to the super regionals next weekend. The Vols deserved far better than to go to the fourth-best team in the tournament, and the Tigers deserved to face a likely second-game opponent that is significantly less potent than the Vols.
There's work to be done by both teams to get there – Lipscomb and Charlotte will have something to say about it on Friday – but the Tigers and Vols are on a collision course on Saturday. One would get to thumb its nose at the committee. The other would be fighting to stay alive to keep their dreams of Omaha alive.
Featured image via Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK
