It's barely been six months ago, but I hope everyone recalls how teams from the nation's top two college baseball conferences fared in the NCAA tournament. In two words, not well...a more vivid and accurate description would have been "flame out".
I looked at some of the more popular preseason polls for the number of ACC and SEC teams ranked in the Top 25 for 2017. And I researched where the polls had teams from these two conferences ranked in the preseason last year (2016). Here's what I found...
Total Number of SEC and ACC teams Ranked in the Preseason Top 25
POLL: 2017 # teams - 2016 # teams
Perfect Game: 10 - 13
Baseball America: 11 - 12
D1 Baseball: 12 - 13
USA Today Coaches Poll: 13 - 12
Three of the polls show almost no change, little accounting for last year's results. Perfect Game has three fewer teams. I'm no college baseball wonk, so I have no idea if there's any discussion around this issue in any of the preseason announcements. I haven't heard any.
Is this right or expected? I'd like to think last year was a fluke because of our competing in the ACC. Maybe it was, and the polls are right to tout the SEC and ACC as much as last year. But how do we know?
What I do know is that I will be a little more guarded in my optimism if we end the conference season and tourney well. We have very little OOC opportunities against the Big XII, west coast, and small conference teams. And those teams absolutely ate the lunch of ACC and SEC teams last year...
I looked at some of the more popular preseason polls for the number of ACC and SEC teams ranked in the Top 25 for 2017. And I researched where the polls had teams from these two conferences ranked in the preseason last year (2016). Here's what I found...
Total Number of SEC and ACC teams Ranked in the Preseason Top 25
POLL: 2017 # teams - 2016 # teams
Perfect Game: 10 - 13
Baseball America: 11 - 12
D1 Baseball: 12 - 13
USA Today Coaches Poll: 13 - 12
Three of the polls show almost no change, little accounting for last year's results. Perfect Game has three fewer teams. I'm no college baseball wonk, so I have no idea if there's any discussion around this issue in any of the preseason announcements. I haven't heard any.
Is this right or expected? I'd like to think last year was a fluke because of our competing in the ACC. Maybe it was, and the polls are right to tout the SEC and ACC as much as last year. But how do we know?
What I do know is that I will be a little more guarded in my optimism if we end the conference season and tourney well. We have very little OOC opportunities against the Big XII, west coast, and small conference teams. And those teams absolutely ate the lunch of ACC and SEC teams last year...
