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Longhorns headline national seeds
By The Associated Press
A Big 12 juggernaut was
selected Monday as the top seed for the Division I college baseball
tournament, while the Southeastern Conference
received a
record nine berths.
The Texas Longhorns (50-13),
making their 47th tournament appearance and sixth in a row, are the No. 1
seed in the 64-team field and will host one of
16
four-team, double-elimination regionals that begin Friday.
"There are so many good teams
out there that there wasn't any one that was a slam dunk," Division I
baseball committee chairman Charlie Carr said. "Texas is a great team, had a
great run, had an unbelievable record and deserved to be No. 1. That's not
to say there weren't other teams that also could have been No. 1."
The other national seeds, in
order, are: South Carolina (45-15), Miami (44-11), Georgia Tech (41-19),
Stanford (44-12), Rice (43-12), Arizona State (40-16) and Arkansas (39-21).
Those schools would face each other only if they made the College World
Series.
"There is very little
difference between No. 1 and No. 8," Carr said.
The nine SEC schools in the
tournament are: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi
State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt — with a record five serving
as regional hosts. The SEC also had the previous record of eight schools in
the regionals, set in 2001 and matched last year.
"The SEC this year was far and
above stronger than any conference," said Carr, also the senior associate
athletic director at Florida State. "When you have nine, sure it certainly
grabs your attention, but we just wanted to be diligent and make sure the
best teams got in."
The Atlantic Coast Conference
— with Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina
State and Virginia — and the Big 12 — with Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma
State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech — were next with six teams.
Miami is making its 32nd
consecutive appearance to extend its NCAA record.
Eight teams will make their
first NCAA tournament appearances: Birmingham Southern, College of
Charleston, Jacksonville State, St. Bonaventure,
Stony Brook, Texas Southern, UC
Irvine and Youngstown State.
Western Kentucky and
Vanderbilt received at-large bids to reach the regionals for the first time
since 1980. George Mason will make its first tournament appearance since
1993.
"I think we look at each
school and their record and are open to every team, not just the ones that
are in a big conference," Carr said.
Mississippi State (34-22) was
the only team to make the tournament despite not making its conference
tournament. The committee set precedent for that last year, when it took
Florida, which also didn't make the SEC tournament.
"That's a quality team playing
in a quality conference," Carr said. "There are some great teams in the SEC.
It was just a great year for those schools, and my hat's off to them."
The winners of each regional
will advance to the super regionals, played June 11-13. The eight winners of
the super regionals will play in the College World Series, which starts June
18 in Omaha, Neb.
Texas has been to the College
World Series a record 30 times, and won five times (1949-50, '75, '83 and
2002). The Longhorns will take on Youngstown State (22-30) in its first
game, and TCU and Oral Roberts will also play in the regional at Austin,
Texas.
Rice is trying to join Texas
(1949-50), Southern California (1970-74), Stanford (1987-88) and Louisiana
State (1996-97) as repeat national champions. The Owls (43-12) play Texas
Southern (18-33) in the first round of the Houston regional, which also
includes Lamar and Texas A&M.
The 16 regional hosts, which
were announced by the NCAA Division I baseball committee Sunday, are:
Arkansas, Cal State Fullerton,
East Carolina, Florida State,
Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Mississippi, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Rice,
South Carolina, Stanford, Texas and Virginia.
The only hosts not to receive
the top seed in their regional were Cal State Fullerton and Oklahoma, which
were No. 2 in their regionals.
"It was an unbelievably
difficult year," Carr said. "We say that every year and we all laugh about
it, but it really was."
Copyright 2004
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:37:02 AM
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