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D1 Baseball Predicts Iowa 5th in B1G in 2021. On May 6, 2019 IOWA ranked #24 (was Great Season despite 1-7 Finish). 2020 Season Cut Short by Covid

RPI ultimately decided the host sites, so HOW important is RPI because I see a school with the third highest RPI in the B1G conference in Iowa City. It’s either important or it’s not? It seems some are trying to have it both ways.
My suspicion is baseball will mirror softball
 

Host Sites Announced

We now know the 16 host sites and they went down with only one mild surprise. South Carolina received a host -- presumably as a #2 seed with C-USA Tournament champion Old Dominion as the #1 seed. The Gamecocks got the nod over Gonzaga, Charlotte, Southern Miss and Pittsburgh. Those were the only other options and since ODU couldn't go to Charlotte with the hosts in that regional, South Carolina makes sense.

The SEC haters will undoubtedly howl about a team with a 16-15 conference record hosting a regional. But I suspect the rebuttal is a shrug, and a "it's a pandemic year" mutterance.

If historical trends aren't to be followed this year, it could open the door for more surprises with the bracket tomorrow.

One observation that immediately struck me is the committee again relied on the RPI for the top seeds.

Of the 16 host sites, 15 are in the RPI top 18 leaving out only Old Dominion and Fairfield who did not bid, and Oklahoma State who wasn't in the pool of 20 teams. The other spot went to Louisiana Tech at #23. If I were a betting man, I'd say RPI #12 Oklahoma State (playing now in the Big 12 Tournament final vs. TCU) will be the #1 seed at Louisiana Tech. RPI #7 Old Dominion will go to RPI #18 South Carolina

Even in a pandemic year, RPI is king.
 
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Baseball America's final projection: just two bids for the Big Ten


Nebraska a #2 seed in the Austin Regional paired with #5 national seed Texas

Maryland a #2 seed in the Fayetteville Regional paired with #1 overall seed Arkansas
 
D1Baseball's Final Projection


Big Ten with three bids

Nebraska #2 seed in South Bend regional paired with Notre Dame (#7 national seed)

Maryland #2 seed in Tucson regional paired with Arizona (#5)

Michigan #3 seed in Austin regional paired with Texas (#3)
 
RPI doesn’t matter until all of a sudden it matters it seems we’re finding out. Some are trying to have it both ways.

@Franisdaman @KyleHuesmann @EvilMonkeyInTheCloset @AuroraHawk

this is a joke

Nebraska got screwed

the B1G got screwed

Heads should roll

cc: @BigOHawk @IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life @2bagger22 @funnyfletcher @SWIowahawks @whatsup13579er @KyleHuesmann @AuroraHawk @Alum-Ni @Cymonhawk @denmar81 @iowaHawkeyes2323 @Packer54 @EvilMonkeyInTheCloset @OutbackBowl2017
 
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Baseball America's final projection: just two bids for the Big Ten


Nebraska a #2 seed in the Austin Regional paired with #5 national seed Texas

Maryland a #2 seed in the Fayetteville Regional paired with #1 overall seed Arkansas

Will Baseball America's projection from last night where they had just 2 teams from the B1G be correct?

Or will D1 Baseball be correct, where they included Michigan?

#FireEveryone

cc: @BigOHawk @IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life @2bagger22 @funnyfletcher @SWIowahawks @whatsup13579er @KyleHuesmann @AuroraHawk @Alum-Ni @Cymonhawk @denmar81 @iowaHawkeyes2323 @Packer54 @EvilMonkeyInTheCloset @OutbackBowl2017

 
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D1Baseball's Final Projection


Big Ten with three bids

Nebraska #2 seed in South Bend regional paired with Notre Dame (#7 national seed)

Maryland #2 seed in Tucson regional paired with Arizona (#5)

Michigan #3 seed in Austin regional paired with Texas (#3)

D1 Baseball nailed it last night.

3 bids for the B1G.

Nebraska, Maryland, Michigan.

But hey, 16-32 Jacksonville is in.

On May 3rd, Indiana was in 1st place and Iowa had an easy schedule. Both teams simply did not perform.

Maryland started the season losing 3 straight to Michigan State. Now look at them; they are alone in 2nd place & heading to the NCAA Tournament.

Lets compare how the Top 5 teams in the B1G performed over the final 4 weeks of the season.

IU was a sure bet to make NCAA Tournament on May 3rd. Now? Their season is over.


Over the last 4 weeks, Nebraska & Maryland performed.
Michigan, Indiana and Iowa? Not so much.


May 3, 2021 B1G Standings:

..........................................................Games
..........................................................Back
1. Indiana (20-9, .690).....................--
2. Nebraska (20-10, .667)..............1/2
3. Michigan (21-11, .656).................1/2
4. Iowa (19-13, .594)
......................2.5
4. Maryland (19-13, .594)
.............2.5


Records over Last 4 Weeks:


Indiana (6-9)

1-3 vs Nebraska
1-2 vs Maryland
1-2 vs Michigan
2-0 vs Rutgers
0-1 vs Illinois
1-1 vs Ohio State


Nebraska (11-2)
2-1 vs Michigan
3-1 vs Indiana
2-0 vs Rutgers
2-0 vs Northwestern
2-0 vs Ohio State


Michigan (6-6)
1-2 vs Nebraska
1-2 vs Maryland
2-1 vs Indiana
2-1 vs Michigan State


Iowa (7-5)
1-2 vs Illinois
1-2 vs Northwestern
2-1 vs Penn State
3-0 vs Michigan State


Maryland (9-3)
2-1 vs Michigan
2-1 vs Indiana
2-1 vs Illinois
3-0 vs Purdue


May 30, 2021, FINAL B1G Standings:

..........................................................Games
..........................................................Back
1. Nebraska (31-12, .721)..................--
2. Maryland (28-16, .636)................3 1/2
3. Michigan (27-17, .614)..................
4 1/2

LEFT OUT OF THE NCAA TOURNAMENT


4. Indiana (26-18, .591)....................5 1/2
5. Iowa (26-18, .591).........................5 1/2


cc: @BigOHawk @IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life @2bagger22 @funnyfletcher @SWIowahawks @whatsup13579er @KyleHuesmann @AuroraHawk @Alum-Ni @Cymonhawk @denmar81 @iowaHawkeyes2323 @Packer54 @EvilMonkeyInTheCloset @OutbackBowl2017
 
The B1G was very close to being a 2 bid league, as you saw by what the Committee Chair revealed.

And the Committee Chair revealed that RPI, once again, was what mattered.

What a joke.

The B1G playing just 44 games, not playing a nonconference schedule & not having a conference tournament were killers.
We knew they would be. It was proven true today.

I feel bad for Indiana and feel even worse, of course, for the Iowa players & coaches. They deserved better from the B1G.


Last 4 In

Alabama
Michigan
North Carolina
UC Santa Barbara

First 4 OUT:

Baylor
Pittsburgh
Georgia
Ball State

#FireEveryone

cc: @BigOHawk @IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life @2bagger22 @funnyfletcher @SWIowahawks @whatsup13579er @KyleHuesmann @AuroraHawk @Alum-Ni @Cymonhawk @denmar81 @iowaHawkeyes2323 @Packer54 @EvilMonkeyInTheCloset @OutbackBowl2017
 
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I said this in the other thread. Michigan was given a mulligan pretty much all year due to going to the CWS in 2019. Yeah, I know they took 3/4 from Iowa in week one, but doesn’t the whole season count?

Iowa went 5-4 against Nebraska and Maryland.
Michigan went 3-5 against them. Indiana went 2-5 against them. Lost three times to Illinois, lost twice to MSU, lost twice to Rutgers.
 
I wonder how much Iowa’s Covid pause hurt this team out of the gates. They didn’t really find their stride until after the first two weekends. It’s a shame too when guys like Ben Norman claimed independent tests were negative but not accepted.
 
Dargain nailed it (story at end of this post).

On May 3rd, with 12 games to go, it was all there for Iowa.

Maryland performed. Iowa & Indiana did not.


May 3, 2021 B1G Standings:

..........................................................Games
..........................................................Back
1. Indiana (20-9, .690)
...................--
2. Nebraska (20-10, .667)..............1/2
3. Michigan (21-11, .656).................1/2
4. Iowa (19-13, .594)
......................2.5
4. Maryland (19-13, .594)
.............
2.5



Records over Last 4 Weeks:



Indiana (6-9)

1-3 vs Nebraska
1-2 vs Maryland
1-2 vs Michigan
2-0 vs Rutgers
0-1 vs Illinois
1-1 vs Ohio State


Nebraska (11-2)
2-1 vs Michigan
3-1 vs Indiana
2-0 vs Rutgers
2-0 vs Northwestern
2-0 vs Ohio State


Michigan (6-6)
1-2 vs Nebraska
1-2 vs Maryland
2-1 vs Indiana
2-1 vs Michigan State


Iowa (7-5)
1-2 vs Illinois
1-2 vs Northwestern
2-1 vs Penn State
3-0 vs Michigan State


Maryland (9-3)
2-1 vs Michigan
2-1 vs Indiana
2-1 vs Illinois
3-0 vs Purdue


May 30, 2021, FINAL B1G Standings:

..........................................................Games
..........................................................Back
1. Nebraska (31-12, .721)..................--
2. Maryland (28-16, .636)................3 1/2
3. Michigan (27-17, .614)..................
4 1/2


LEFT OUT OF THE NCAA TOURNAMENT


4. Indiana (26-18, .591)....................5 1/2
5. Iowa (26-18, .591).........................5 1/2



As you can see below:

* Dargan writes that Iowa could have easily been where Maryland was today — comfortably in.

* Fans are not happy with Kevin Warren.


His Story:








cc: @BigOHawk @IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life @2bagger22 @funnyfletcher @SWIowahawks @whatsup13579er @KyleHuesmann @AuroraHawk @Alum-Ni @Cymonhawk @denmar81 @iowaHawkeyes2323 @Packer54 @EvilMonkeyInTheCloset @OutbackBowl2017
 
If I was Gary Barta (and I’m not for the record) I would meet with Coach Heller and propose this.

The first three series of the year need to be true road games.
Say...

@ UCLA
@ Florida
@ Baylor

Make one of them a four game series. If you can at least go 3-7, and make up ground to finish top six in the conference you’re RPI and SOS should be there every year. Mix in a road midweek game @ Mizzou.
 
A few more things.

1. Fairfield should not have been an at large. I’m sorry, but the MAAC is a one bid league. They played conference only. The RPI was a joke. What’s to stop these conference in the future from saying they are strictly playing conference only because they know they can get multiple bids.

2. Ball State has as big of a gripe as anybody. Look at their non conference, hell they took two from Arizona.

3. I’ll also add that I definitely think the LSU retirement announcement was more than coincidental.
 
From Mitch Sherman's piece in The Athletic. Snippets below


This year, the Big Ten champion Huskers are headed to Arkansas as the No. 2 seed of four teams in the Fayetteville Regional. Nebraska will play Northeastern Friday with a potential matchup against the top-ranked and No. 1 overall national seed Razorbacks looming. Geographically it makes sense, but the assignment provided a punch in the gut.

Arkansas? Really?

The Huskers were denied, not by Mississippi State as in 1999 or Stanford in 2000, but by the Big Ten.

The league's lackadaisical approach this spring to baseball hurt every program in the conference. Only Nebraska, Michigan and Maryland made the 64-team field Monday. The Big Ten cost Nebraska an opportunity to host in the postseason.

Its decision to disallow nonconference games removed all data for the selection committee to gauge the resumes of Nebraska and other league teams against programs from around the country. Teams from every other major conference played games outside of their leagues, even the Pac-12, which otherwise acted in lockstep with the Big Ten during this pandemic-altered academic and sports year.

At 31-12 after a series win Friday and Saturday against Michigan to close out the regular season, the Huskers achieved at a level that would have placed a four-team regional at Haymarket Park in any season but this one.

The Big Ten did not care enough about baseball, though. Why wait until less than three weeks before the season to announce a 44-game schedule, while Arkansas, winner of the SEC regular season and league tournament, played 56 and Texas and TCU, co-champions of the Big 12, played 57?

Why wipe away the conference tournament, which was originally set for last week in Omaha, when other leagues played as normal?

The pandemic demanded difficult decisions. Safety was placed above the best shot to succeed. It's understandable. But remember, the Big Ten allowed nonconference basketball games. It staged conference basketball tournaments -- not to mention postseason championships on campus sites and at neutral venues in lacrosse, soccer, wrestling, golf and other sports.

Baseball simply got the backhanded treatment, a confounding reality upon consideration that Michigan came one victory from winning a national championship when the College World Series was most recently played in 2019.

The CWS itself is a wildly popular event in Omaha, which for the past decade has sat within the Big Ten footprint. Does that mean something to the conference? Hard to know from its actions.

The situation underscores a rift between Nebraska and the Big Ten and the school's mismatched priorities with several of its league cohorts. All of this took center stage last fall when Nebraska stood strongest in opposition to the league's August decision to postpone the football season.

A group of Nebraska players sued the conference. The Huskers explored nonconference options before the season and again in October when Wisconsin could not play, only to get shut down by the league in finger-wagging fashion.

With baseball, the Big Ten did not make scheduling decisions with the intent to hurt the Huskers. But it did almost nothing to help them.

The league's choices carried ramifications that left Nebraska with a season-ending RPI, according to warrennolan.com, of No. 42, best in the Big Ten but lower than representatives from 17 other conferences.

Seventeen. That's an embarrassment.
 
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From Mitch Sherman's piece in The Athletic. Snippets below


This year, the Big Ten champion Huskers are headed to Arkansas as the No. 2 seed of four teams in the Fayetteville Regional. Nebraska will play Northeastern Friday with a potential matchup against the top-ranked and No. 1 overall national seed Razorbacks looming. Geographically it makes sense, but the assignment provided a punch in the gut.

Arkansas? Really?

The Huskers were denied, not by Mississippi State as in 1999 or Stanford in 2000, but by the Big Ten.

The league's lackadaisical approach this spring to baseball hurt every program in the conference. Only Nebraska, Michigan and Maryland made the 64-team field Monday. The Big Ten cost Nebraska an opportunity to host in the postseason.

Its decision to disallow nonconference games removed all data for the selection committee to gauge the resumes of Nebraska and other league teams against programs from around the country. Teams from every other major conference played games outside of their leagues, even the Pac-12, which otherwise acted in lockstep with the Big Ten during this pandemic-altered academic and sports year.

At 31-12 after a series win Friday and Saturday against Michigan to close out the regular season, the Huskers achieved at a level that would have placed a four-team regional at Haymarket Park in any season but this one.

The Big Ten did not care enough about baseball, though. Why wait until less than three weeks before the season to announce a 44-game schedule, while Arkansas, winner of the SEC regular season and league tournament, played 56 and Texas and TCU, co-champions of the Big 12, played 57?

Why wipe away the conference tournament, which was originally set for last week in Omaha, when other leagues played as normal?

The pandemic demanded difficult decisions. Safety was placed above the best shot to succeed. It's understandable. But remember, the Big Ten allowed nonconference basketball games. It staged conference basketball tournaments -- not to mention postseason championships on campus sites and at neutral venues in lacrosse, soccer, wrestling, golf and other sports.

Baseball simply got the backhanded treatment, a confounding reality upon consideration that Michigan came one victory from winning a national championship when the College World Series was most recently played in 2019.

The CWS itself is a wildly popular event in Omaha, which for the past decade has sat within the Big Ten footprint. Does that mean something to the conference? Hard to know from its actions.

The situation underscores a rift between Nebraska and the Big Ten and the school's mismatched priorities with several of its league cohorts. All of this took center stage last fall when Nebraska stood strongest in opposition to the league's August decision to postpone the football season.

A group of Nebraska players sued the conference. The Huskers explored nonconference options before the season and again in October when Wisconsin could not play, only to get shut down by the league in finger-wagging fashion.

With baseball, the Big Ten did not make scheduling decisions with the intent to hurt the Huskers. But it did almost nothing to help them.

The league's choices carried ramifications that left Nebraska with a season-ending RPI, according to warrennolan.com, of No. 42, best in the Big Ten but lower than representatives from 17 other conferences.

Seventeen. That's an embarrassment.



But what can / will be done about the incompetence??

All of the decisions which have been made ever since the football season was originally canceled have been an embarrassment.
 
Even in a pandemic, RPI will be king.

And its just disgusting to be reminded that teams from the Big 12 (TCU) played 57 games and teams from the SEC (Arkansas) played 56.







May 31, 2021
B1G RPI Standings


Current...Previous
Rank........Rank..................................................................................Record.......Road......Neutral.......Home



4242NebraskaBig Ten31-1213-38-410-50-0
6057MarylandBig Ten28-169-73-516-40-0
7683IowaBig Ten26-1811-75-510-60-0
8890MichiganBig Ten27-179-510-48-80-0
9991Ohio St.Big Ten22-204-85-513-70-0
106114IndianaBig Ten26-1810-102-214-60-0
129131RutgersBig Ten21-2313-91-17-130-0
144145IllinoisBig Ten22-2211-74-67-90-0
160163Penn St.Big Ten18-246-134-38-80-0
169188NorthwesternBig Ten15-215-106-64-50-0
214214Michigan St.Big Ten17-277-95-75-110-0
223199PurdueBig Ten16-268-94-84-90-0
280282MinnesotaBig Ten6-311-140-15-160-0
 
If I was Gary Barta (and I’m not for the record) I would meet with Coach Heller and propose this.

The first three series of the year need to be true road games.
Say...

@ UCLA
@ Florida
@ Baylor

Make one of them a four game series. If you can at least go 3-7, and make up ground to finish top six in the conference you’re RPI and SOS should be there every year. Mix in a road midweek game @ Mizzou.
If you look at how Alabama got in, this would make complete sense, however, I have a strange feeling that Iowa wouldn’t get the same benefit of the doubt that Bama did...
 
If you look at how Alabama got in, this would make complete sense, however, I have a strange feeling that Iowa wouldn’t get the same benefit of the doubt that Bama did...

I agree 100%. It would be spun to the effect that they couldn’t get the job done against top competition. Glad they scheduled them, but need something to show from it.
 
@Alum-Ni

Questions for you.

Did the Selection Committee select the 64 teams & then rank them 1 thru 64?

And then did they say that, in each of the 16 Regionals:

1 Seed: Teams Ranked 1-16
2 Seed: Teams Ranked 17-32
3 Seed: Teams Ranked 33-48
4 Seed: Teams Ranked 49-64

I am totally guessing, but if this is the case, in Arkansas' Region, since they are the number 1 overall seed, did #1 Seed Arkansas get:

Team Ranked #32, Nebraska, the #2 Seed in Arkansas' Region

Team Ranked #48, Northeastern, the #3 Seed in Arkansas' Region

Team Ranked #64, NJIT, the #4 seed in Arkansas' Region

And if so, how in the hell is the B1G Champion considered the 32nd best team of the field of 64?
 
@Alum-Ni

Questions for you.

Did the Selection Committee select the 64 teams & then rank them 1 thru 64?

And then did they say that, in each of the 16 Regionals:

1 Seed: Teams Ranked 1-16
2 Seed: Teams Ranked 17-32
3 Seed: Teams Ranked 33-48
4 Seed: Teams Ranked 49-64

I am totally guessing, but if this is the case, in Arkansas' Region, since they are the number 1 overall seed, did #1 Seed Arkansas get:

Team Ranked #32, Nebraska, the #2 Seed in Arkansas' Region

Team Ranked #48, Northeastern, the #3 Seed in Arkansas' Region

Team Ranked #64, NJIT, the #4 seed in Arkansas' Region

And if so, how in the hell is the B1G Champion considered the 32nd best team of the field of 64?
I don't believe that they match the #1 1 seed with the #16 2 seed. I think Nebby got sent to Arkansas as a 'favor' due to location. Fayetteville is the closest regional site geographically by about 2 hours from Lincoln. I would guess pretty much all Husker fans would have gladly driven the extra 2 hours to go to South Bend...
 
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