Softball headed to NCAA Seattle Regional
Michigan will head on the road for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.
A year where we shocked 9 Arizona State, coming back from the elimination bracket to beat ASU twice and move on to the Super Regionals.
The regional is hosted by Washington who is the 6 seed nationally and the regional 1 seed.
Michigan is the regional's 2 seed and will face the 3 seed Fresno State (34-21).
UW will face 4 seed Montana (35-22)
Friday, May 19
Game 1 -- Michigan (41-11-1) vs. Fresno State (34-21), 9pm/ESPN2
Game 2 -- 6 Washington (43-11) vs. Montana (35-22), 11:30pm/ESPN3Saturday, May 20
Game 3 -- Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 5pm
Game 4 -- Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 8:30pm
Game 5 -- Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 10pmSunday, May 21
Game 6 -- Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 7pm
Game 7 (if necessary) -- Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser, 9:30pm
Michigan has won an NCAA Regional Championship each of the last 5 years. 2 of those 5 have come on the road.
In the biggest shocks I've ever seen on the selection show personally, Minnesota did not even get to host a regional much less a top-8 seed.
They learned the hard way. All year long people on here have been noting how weak of a schedule they played. They're 54-3 on the season and 1-2 against RPI Top-20 teams.
Wow, Minnesota did not get seeded in the top 16 and is going on the road to Alabama. Did anyone see that coming ?
Honestly, in a vacuum, I'm completely fine with Minnesota not hosting. You can't play that weak of a schedule and host. Their non-conference only consisted of 4 Top 25 teams and they went 2-2 in those. Plus Big Ten softball does nothing for anyone.
But the fact that they were ranked in the top 8 in the 2 midseason polls the selection committee put out just taints the whole thing. Nothing changed for the Gophers since those polls came out so for them to drop 10+ spots in the final one is horrible. Send the message sure, but don't string them along and then kick them in the teeth.
They just posted the final RPI:
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d1/ncaa-womens-softball-rpi
Hosting? #17 Kentucky, #18 Mississippi, #19 Utah. Not hosting? #11 Minnesota, #13 James Madison, #16 Louisiana-Lafayette. You can't justify that in any way, unless you just decide that a bad record with a tough schedule is more important than winning actual softball games.
Kentucky has 7 wins against Top 25 teams. Ole Miss has 13. Utah has 11.
Minnesota has 2. James Madison has 3. ULL has 2. None of these teams played more than 4.
Yes, you have to win the games. But there's a reason Michigan's non-conference is always so rigorous. Because it's not just wins that matter. You have to have wins over good teams.
That said, Minnesota going from top 8 in the midseason poll to not hosting is crap.
I'm not going to get to far in to using the RPI to define who the "top 25" teams are in your analysis. I will say, though, that the RPI is a bit of a positive feedback loop in this respect.
This is where the RPI breaks down--it tends to over-rate good conferences that play spectacularly weak non-conference schedules. Look at baseball, the western schools are almost always under-rated compared to the southeastern schools. It's because the schools in the southeast can pad their record against ASC, MEAC, OVC, SWAC teams. That gives them better opponents' and opponents' opponents' records once the conference season starts.
Add to that the fact that most of the SEC (except Florida) is clearly dodging difficult non-conference games in the early season, and we have a conference that is clearly "gaming" the RPI.
I do want to refer people to the Massey Ratings, which actually take into account the same things that the RPI takes into account (winning percentage, strength of schedule), but they do it in a more logical manner:
http://masseyratings.com/csoft/ncaa-d1/ratings
The Massey ratings seem to have a more realistic view of those mid-level SEC teams: Kentucky #18, Alabama #19, LSU #20, Mississippi #21. And Minnesota #3.
I don't doubt at all that Minnesota is good enough to take out Alabama. Sara G. alone gives them enough to take on most teams in the country.
I definitely think Minnesota can can come out of that Regional. Unfortunately, their most likely obstacle after that is Florida and possibly the most ridiculous college pitcher we've ever seen in Kelly Barnhill. Hopefully, they can get to the WCWS this year because this may be a 1 and done for the Gophers. Groenewegen's gone after this year and I don't know what's behind her.
If Michigan doesn't survive this Region, i have a new team to root for.
That said, Go Blue!
pissed away their chance to host by loosing that game to MSU in the B1G tourney. They should've at least made it to the B1G championship and that may have been enough to get them in as a host.
Hard to believe that Minnesota doesn't host.
If Minnesota had beaten Michigan in the Big Ten champiionship, maybe Minnesota is hosting a regional right now. Michigan absolutely would not be--Minnesota had the better RPI, better conference record, better conference tournament result, better overall record. If that can't get Minnesota a host spot, there is no way Michigan would get one.
I thought Michigan's only shot at hosting would have been by beating Minnesota in the conference finals. Interesting thought: is Minnesota travelling for the first round only because they didn't get to play Michigan in the conference tournament? I think you can easily make that argument.
in the conference tournament would've definitely gotten them a host position in the regionals. I said Michigan needed to at least make the championship to have a shot at it and they pissed it away early blowing the game to MSU, especially when the tourney was in Ann Arbor it destroyed what small chance they had.
Sitll can't believe Minnesota isn't hosting but their schedule was pathetic this year and only had 1 victory over a top 25 team all year. Michigan had a better record against ranked opponents why I felt they had a better chance at hosting. If they play each other in the conference championship and Minny wins a close game, maybe they both host, who knows.....
but their Conference sked was weak because for the second year now the top two regular season finishers didn't play each other. The NCAA just sent the BT a message: get your scheduling right. They can start by getting rid the Conference Tournament.
The Big10 just resumed the Conference Tournament a few years ago. I don't see them dropping it, especially since all the tourney games are now televised.
The drag on the RPI is playing Rutgers and Maryland every year, as they are on Michigan's side of the scheduling bracket. Otherwise, they would be playing Minnesota more often. Nebraska has still not even played a series in Ann Arbor.