Road to Omaha: Projecting the 34 At-Larges

At-Large Selections (with final RPI)
2. *Vanderbilt (SEC)
3. Virginia (ACC)
7. NC State (ACC)
8. Florida State (ACC)
9. Oregon (Pac 12)
10. Mississippi State (SEC)
11. Virginia Tech (ACC)
13. South Carolina (SEC)
14. Clemson (ACC)
15. UCLA (Pac 12)
16. *Louisville (Big East)
17. South Alabama (Sun Belt)
18. *Kansas State (Big 12)
19. Miami-Florida (ACC)
20. Ole Miss (SEC)
21. Georgia Tech (ACC)
22. Arizona State (Pac 12)
23. Louisiana (Sun Belt)
24. Cal Poly (Big West)
25. Alabama (SEC)
29. *Mercer (Atlantic Sun)
30. *NC-Wilmington (Colonial)
31. Arkansas (SEC)
32. Notre Dame (Big East)
33. Texas A&M (SEC)
35. Florida (SEC)
41. *Troy (Sun Belt)
42. Michigan State (Big 10)
45. Coastal Carolina (Big South)
48. *Sam Houston State (Southland)
50. San Francisco (West Coast)
51. *New Mexico (Mountain West)
52. Oklahoma State (Big 12)
55. UCSB (Big West)

Last 4 In: Troy (41), San Francisco (50), New Mexico (51), UCSB (55)

First 4 Out: Illinois (40), Auburn (43), BYU (54), Stanford (65)

Others Considered: *Campbell (38), Seton Hall (39), William & Mary (44), Southeastern Louisiana (53), *Western Carolina (56), Arizona (58), Pitt (60), *Illinois State (71)

* Denotes regular-season conference champion

I don't know about Michigan St over Illinois?

At least Illinois made the conference tournament.

Ski U Mah Gopher said:

I don't know about Michigan St over Illinois?

At least Illinois made the conference tournament.

Click to expand...

I agree with you I think Illinois will end up in over Michigan State. I also don't think Notre Dame will end up in and maybe not Texas A&M either. I think Stanford will find a way to just sneak in and take the place of one of them and would guess Campbell ends up in too.

That was a tough call. I hope both get in so that the B1G has 3 teams in the field.

Illinois is in and Michigan State is out. good job by the selection committee.

Missed 2.

Illinois and William & Mary are in, Michigan State and Notre Dame are out.

Worst 4 RPIs among at-larges are San Francisco (50), New Mexico (51), Oklahoma State (52), and UCSB (55).

Records vs. Teams in the NCAA Field
Indiana (8-4)
Ohio State (9-13)
Nebraska (8-13)
Illinois (1-2)
Michigan State (6-3)

Even though the Big Ten was improved this year, after looking at the numbers I'd say the B1G should feel fortunate it received an at-large bid this year. Illinois is very shaky as the only at-large selection (it only played one series vs. a NCAA qualifier, IU), Michigan State had a decent enough resume (including a sweep of IU and a series win over Illinois) but can't expect a bid after not making the BTT, while Ohio State and Nebraska played plenty strong enough schedules but in the end didn't win enough games vs. the elite teams on their schedules.

SelectionSunday said:

Missed 2.

Illinois and William & Mary are in, Michigan State and Notre Dame are out.

Click to expand...

Nice job SS I thought they might put Stanford in over A&M or Florida and thought Campbell would get in with their overall record but was wrong on those 2. Stanford would have been a dangerous team that teams wouldn't have wanted to face if they were selected with the 2 1st round picks they have. I think Indiana got a pretty decent draw and actually has a decent chance do some damage and maybe find a way to Omaha although starting pitching depth could be a little bit of a question.

Selection Committee Chairman: Mercer got final at-large bid over Michigan State

The Selection Committee chairman said Mercer beat out Michigan State for the final at-large bid.

For the record, Mercer had a RPI of 29 with these final numbers:
Overall Record: 43-16
Road/Neutral Record: 22-10
Strength of Schedule: 152
Record vs. RPI Top 50: 2-1
Record vs. RPI Top 100: 10-6
Record vs. Teams in the 64-Team Field: 7-3
vs. #21 Georgia Tech (1-1)
vs. #164 South Dakota State (2-0)
vs. #180 Savannah State (2-0)
vs. #85 East Tennessee State (2-2)

Michigan State had a RPI of 42 with these final numbers:
Overall Record: 33-17
Road/Neutral Record: 22-13
Strength of Schedule: 144
Record vs. RPI Top 50: 7-6
Record vs. RPI Top 100: 11-7
Record vs. Teams in the 64-Team Field: 6-3
@ #27 Austin Peay (1-2)
#12 Indiana (3-0)
#40 Illinois (2-1)

There were 6 bid-stealers

Michigan State is one example of why a team doesn't want to be anywhere near the bubble as Championship Week gets underway. Even without making the Big Ten Tournament, Sparty was in solid position to earn an at-large bid, but 6 bid-stealers in the conference tournaments sealed their fate. Towson (CAA), East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun), UConn (Big East), Liberty (Big South), San Diego State (Mountain West), and Central Arkansas (Southland) all swiped bids from likely at-larges.

Big Ten is 2-0 after the first day of NCAA tournament. Amazing comeback by Indiana.