Diamond Dogs Likely to Return to SEC and NCAA Baseball Tournaments
by T Kyle King on Apr 25, 2011 12:15 AM EDT
in SEC Baseball
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PrintThe good news is that Georgia won on Sunday. The bad news is that the three teams ahead of the Diamond Dogs in the SEC baseball standings all won on Easter, as well.
The Florida Gators, the South Carolina Gamecocks, and the Vanderbilt Commodores, all ranked in the top five nationally, are tied atop the conference at 14-4. Among the nine SEC squads trailing that trio, only the Georgia Bulldogs are above .500 in league play. At 11-7 in the conference, the Red and Black have taken every SEC series except their three-game sets with the Palmetto State Poultry and the Sunshine State Saurians, each of whom defeated the Classic City Canines twice and lost to the Athenians once. The Music City Mariners visit Foley Field to close out the regular season on May 19, 20, and 21.
The top eight teams in the league qualify for the SEC Tournament, and, as matters presently stand, Georgia would received the No. 4 seed, and would open the tourney against the No. 5 seed on the evening of May 25.
Despite their 21-20 record, however, the Diamond Dogs may well be headed for the NCAA postseason. According to Warren Nolan, the Red and Black boast a No. 17 RPI and the country’s No. 1 strength of schedule. David Perno’s club is a better baseball team than its record suggests, and, while the Bulldogs are unlikely to catch any of the three powerhouses ahead of them in the league standings, Georgia still should be looking at trips to Hoover and beyond.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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We would actually be the 5 seed and be playing Florida if the SEC Tourney started today
From the SEC website:
SEC Tournament Seeding: The two division champions shall be automatically seeded number one and number two based on winning percentage in conference competition. The rest shall be seeded numbers three through eight based on winning percentage without regard to division.
My bad.
You are, of course, correct, and I apologize for the error. Fortunately, since the four and five seeds face one another, it would make no practical difference: we still would be playing in the May 25 nightcap. It tells you how deep the SEC is as a baseball league that Florida could be the No. 5 team in the country and the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, though.
It also reminds us, much as last year’s SEC tourney seeding in men’s basketball did, that conference tourney seeding needs to be by conference record, top to bottom, without regard to division. In baseball, as in basketball, Western teams are being rewarded for playing in the weaker division. Right now, Georgia would be leading the West.
Go 'Dawgs!
I agree about the basketball tournament needing to seed regardless of division
I wouldn’t be opposed to giving the top team in each division a bye, along with the next 2 with the best record regardless of division. I don’t mind the way the SEC Baseball Tourney is set up to reward division winners, because I think this is just an odd year where the East is dominant over the West, and not a trend like in basketball where the East has been much better than the West over the last few years.
The great baseball teams seem to rotate every couple of years, with South Carolina, Florida, and Vandy leading the way the past few, with Georgia and LSU before them, and Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi State before them. The MLB Draft and general roster attrition seems to keep baseball pretty balanced.
I hope that the Diamond Dogs can do enough to be selected for the NCAA Tourney based on their own merit before the end of the regular season...
… because if history has taught us anything, it’s that we suck in Hoover. Even in seasons when we’ve reached the CWS, we’ve still put up poor records at the SEC Tourney… almost as though it were a force of habit.
If Georgia goes into the Tourney in Hoover with proverbial “work to do,” then it’s most likely that the Dawgs are already done.
We need to beat Tech at the Ted on Tuesday
we’ve fallen to them far too much lately in baseball.
I’m not extremely knowledgeable about College baseball tourney seeding, but I’m picturing us as a likely 2 seed at a regional sight as of now (possibly a 3 seed I suppose, but there really is almost no difference between the two). Correct?
They hit the road doing 90
Leavin' them steel mills far behind
Ain't no good life down at the Ford plant
Three guitars or a life of crime
by Dawg in Beaumont on Apr 25, 2011 1:34 PM EDT reply actions
The last projection I saw had us as the No. 2 seed in the Atlanta Regional, . . .
. . . with Georgia Tech hosting as the No. 1 seed and Georgia Southern and Jacksonville State rounding out the regional field. That seems about right.
(By the way, you get extra credit for quoting “Southern Rock Opera” in your signature line. DBT FTW!)
Go 'Dawgs!
I appreciate it, Kyle
Love your work.
Let’s beat the hayull out of the nerds tomorrow and in the regional!
They hit the road doing 90
Leavin' them steel mills far behind
Ain't no good life down at the Ford plant
Three guitars or a life of crime
by Dawg in Beaumont on Apr 25, 2011 5:03 PM EDT reply actions
Thanks.
By the way, a more recent projection than the one I cited above has Georgia Tech as a regional host and national seed, with Georgia as the No. 2 seed in the Atlanta Regional.
Go 'Dawgs!
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