LSU has an RPI ranking of #8. They are a lock to host a Regional, and maybe even a Super if they beat Georgia 2 of 3 in Baton Rouge this weekend. Auburn is in 3rd place in the SEC and finish up with Miss. St. - Arkansas is 1/2 game behind Auburn as they play Tennessee tonight and then finish up at Missouri. They are #14 in the RPI rankings and will probably be a Regional host. RPI rankings are given more weight than others and I just think the Gators are in a difficult spot to earn a Regional host unless there are a bunch of upsets this weekend, combined with us winning at least 3 games this week. Remember, too, that Oregon is ahead of us at #16 in the RPI and they run-ruled us in our head-to-head meeting. Now if we get on a roll and win the SEC tournament or maybe even make the finals, I guess there's hope. I would say the following teams are solid bets to be Top 8 seeds: Oklahoma, UCLA, Oklahoma State, FSU, Stanford and Tennessee. On the bubble for those final 2 spots would be Northwestern, Texas, LSU, Duke and maybe Louisiana. That leaves only 5 slots left to round out the 16 regional hosts. D1 RPI rankings in order after the above 11 are: Alabama, Washington, Arkansas, Georgia, Oregon, Clemson, Wichita State, Central Arkansas, Auburn, Florida and Baylor. Hard to see a way for UF to get into the top 5 of that group. We shall see soon enough though.
I would rather not host a regional than be seeded 15th or 16th. That puts us against UCLA or OK. Let's take our chances.
@ocalaman, since there is no game thread yet, who do you think starts against FSU? If it's EH, Rylee will come in to relieve her. Does Delbrey start?
Have no idea. What do you think? I'd like to see Lexi get a chance to build on her performance from Sunday.
These pollsters never seem to penalize teams for bad losses. Example: Alabama has lost to Lehigh, Kennesaw St, Texas St and Wisconsin and they are ranked better than Gators. Florida's worst loss is Missouri which is not bad.
I agree. FSU has seen both EH and Rylee, as they each pitched 3 innings in Talley. It's going to be a juggling act for the rest of the season because this is all we have.
LSu actually 7 rpi and still baffles me why.. I know 4 SOS, again baffling looking at schedule.. similar to UK in baseball. They are 7-9 vs Q1.. #10 rpi vols are 17-3 v Q1 for ex. My only guess is they dont have any Q5s on schedule. But who have they beat?? C Arkansas..lol
Arky is 13-8 in the SEC and has a series left with Mizzo which they should win. Even if they lose one they end up 15-9 in the SEC. They already have series wins over Bama, UF, a sweep of MSU, UK and now UT last night. Deifel had her ace return but after that had to rebuild the majority of the team. I think their ranking legit and, further, that Deifel is the best coach in the league.
That is what I implied, but maybe not well enough. We will be on the road for regionals, which will be a crapshoot. If we win the regional against a ranked team, we will go play whomever they were matched with in the supers. We just have to hope it is not the dreaded two. BTW, I would start Lex tomorrow. FSU knows the other two like a book.
Yeah....I was just suggesting that if you don't host you may be better offer as a 20 type seed. Not sure facing the 16 seed in a regional is all that different than a 12/13 seed. Just luck of the draw somewhat. and if you survive that you face a 5 or 6 seed that is beatable
I wasnt complaining on ranking(not even lsu) I was just adding the 2 SEC teams at 12 & 15, to go along w/ 13 & 14,,as in..whats the difference(to the comment)
I've seen some bracket predictions that have UF going to Tally as a #2 seed. Have to remember for regionals they like to select teams as close to the #1 of the regional as possible who is not in your conference. The only other #1 seed in the SE or Mid-atlantic that is a non-SEC team would be Duke. And most have SC going to Duke as the #2.
Man I hope the UF to FSU Regional doesn't happen. I would rather us be sent out of the South and play a team we haven't faced yet. But I agree with what the NCAA's tendencies are.
Would they really put us in a regional against a team we have already played twice. If are pitching improves just a little this team can beat anybody in the country with the exception of Oklahoma & UCLA on any given day.
Skylar just made the final 10 for collegiate softball player of the year. Congratulations to her. She deserves it.
If that possible regional is something the coaching staff is thinking about I wonder if that changes tonight’s pitching decisions. Why show Delbrey tonight if we might face them later when the stakes are higher.
