BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

The #1 seed in a region (regardless of pool status) often has the best chance to host, if they have the facilities, filed the paperwork, and if it works from an NCAA travel $ viewpoint.  I don't know where all those schools are located, Frank, but if say everyone had to fly to Millsaps and the NCAA could instead save money by busing several teams w/i 200 miles of the #2 or #3 seed, then that's who will host.  Trinity has seen way too many times that they've had to fly as the #1 seed in other sports for that reason (tho sometimes there is a facilities issue). 

Ron, the bussing limit is 500 miles.  But only Emory and the SLIAC team may be within the 500 mile limit.

[Ralph Turner]

If we were to "connect the dots" on the periphery of D3, then Seguin, San Antonio, Kerrville and Alpine would define the southern periphery of D3 in Texas.

The next stop to the west would be the SCIAC and up the West Coast!

[Ron Boerger]

200 miles, 500 miles ... too many miles to keep track of.  Thanks for keeping it straight, Ralph. 

Of course, 500 miles in TX is like 200 miles in most other states ;-)

[frank_ezelle]

The bottom line to all this seems to indicate that watching Millsaps play in the regionals will mean a drive to Atlanta at best and quite possibily a longer trip up the east coast.  That makes the webcasts sound awfully appealing but it is hard to take photos over the internet.

[historymajor]

Does anybody know when/how the regional locations/seedings will be announced?

[Blang]

The seedings and locations will be announced late sun evening.  The rumor on the south regional is that it's likely to be in Jackon MS at Millsaps.  The site was supposed to be annoucned weeks ago, but problems emerged and everything should be cleared up late tonight, along with the announcements of regional tourney brackets.

[frank_ezelle]

Hope that Blang is right about that rumor.  A story in the local paper this morning did confirm that Millsaps did put in a bid to host the tournament.  My guess is that the tournament site would be at Smith-Wills stadium, a city owned ballpark that is about a mile from the campus. 

I ran into some of the Millsaps players at a high school game yesterday and they felt good about their preparation prior to the regionals.  They are hitting the ball well in practice and apparently everyone is healthy.  As for pitching, John Fox has pitched well all year and Todd Kindler has pitched 17 innings of scoreless ball in his last two games and Jay Hollenbeck had a fairly dominant win over DePauw in the SCAC Tournament.  They were thinking that they might get sent to RHIT for regionals but I know they would love to hear that they get to stay in Jackson to play.  I'm sure there are plenty of parents who would love to hear that as well.

[Ralph Turner]

I can imagine 3 teams that could bus to Jackson, Emory, Wash St L and Webster...I think that they are barely within the 500 mile limit.

If UT-Dallas got a Pool C bid, then they could bus to Jackson, too.  That would make 5.  Add one plane flight and you have a bracket.

[historymajor]

Ralph, It's Chapman.... complete bracket and times to follow

[Spence]

If that's the case, then my question is how do you get 6 teams to California and take the most deserving teams?

There's Redlands, Trinity, Chapman, TX Lu...and who else? East Bay? Just fly in someone or two from a major hub (Webster, Dominican)?

This problem gets worse if the South region is in Clinton, MS IMO, because then you've got Va. and NC schools that are flying too. then you have to try to backfill the central regional somehow and disperse the glut of Mid-Atlantic and New England teams. Did anyone in NC or Va put in a bid?

This is why I think the West regional should be in Texas, mideast in Ohio and the south in North Carolina as often as practical. NC offers a release valve for mid-Atlantic teams, as does an Ohio site for the Mideast. Then you can flow excess east teams from the NE/NY/MA regions into the South and Mideast.

If the regionals are hosted in Cali and Miss., I have a feeling these selections are going to look rather unusual. I've been playing with it here and...it doesn't work well lol.

[consultant]

Millsaps in St. Louis regional....#2 seed.

[Spence]

Do you know anything else?

[consultant]

Do not.... I've been traveling and got a text message as I got off the plane with nothing but the info
listed  in the previous post.....

[Spence]

Well what you gave is several important pieces of info IMO.

1. There is a St. Louis regional. Far as I know this is a first. Guessing one of the Frontier League stadiums.

2. Millsaps is not hosting the South regional. With no teams anywhere near Mississippi, I doubt the South regional is going to be there. Perhaps the committee ran into the same problem I outlined, if they ever did plan to have the regional there.

Thanks for the info!

[frank_ezelle]

Here's the link to the regional breakdowns that was posted on the NCAA Tournament thread:  http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/story/9439692

The St. Louis regional has:
1)  Carthage (33-7) -- #1 in Central region
2)  Millsaps (34-11) -- #1 in South region
3)  Washington U. in St. Louis (34-5) -- #4 in Central region
4)  Aurora (29-11) -- #2 in Central region (1-2 since regional rankings)
5)  Webster (26-16) -- not ranked
6)  Mount St. Joseph (28-15) -- not ranked

I'm not sure if there is such a thing as an easy regional but this one looks fairly tough with two teams ranked #1 in their region and the host team being 34-5.  In the SCAC 6-team tournament everyone played in the first round.  Is that how they do it in the NCAA or do the #1 and #2 seeds get first round byes?