ACC awaits 2011 NCAA Baseball Tourney field
Posted by Brandon Rink on May 29, 2011 under ACC Baseball | 
Read the First Comment
Updated: 10:40 a.m. ET, 5/30
The Seminoles are hoping to stay home all the way to Omaha with a Super Regional bid. (Pic per OrangeandWhite.com)
The ACC got the five regional hosts in Clemson, FSU, Georgia Tech, UNC and Virginia. Now, we wait until the NCAA announces the field at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Will FSU make it three national seeds for the ACC?
Will Clemson get paired with the South Carolina super regional?
Where will Miami and NC State be traveling?
Kendall Rogers of the Perfect Game released his final projections in the early morning hours…He’s not feeling the three national seeds for the ACC and pegs Virginia as the No. 2 seed overall. Rogers is about the only guy who doesn’t see a NC State pairing with South Carolina as he has them going to TCU. Instead, he has Miami headed to Columbia. If the ‘Canes survive there, they could face FSU in the Super Regional.
Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt has the ACC field like…
Charlottesville, Va.
1. (1) Virginia
2. Florida International
3. James Madison
4. NavyChapel Hill, N.C.
1. (5) North Carolina
2. East Carolina
3. Charlotte
4. PrincetonTallahassee, Fla.
1. (6) Florida State
2. Southern Mississippi
3. Troy
4. Bethune-CookmanAtlanta
1. Georgia Tech
2. Stetson
3. Alabama
4. Georgia SouthernTempe, Ariz.
1. Arizona State
2. Miami
3. Kansas State
4. IllinoisClemson, S.C.
1. Clemson
2. Georgia
3. Connecticut
4. Sacred HeartColumbia, S.C.
1. (3) South Carolina
2. North Carolina State
3. Coastal Carolina
4. Maine
Analysis: Baseball America on the three national seed bandwagon with FSU in at a six seed – they’re paired with Arizona State’s regional, which sets up a possible matchup with Miami if the ‘Canes pull the upset. Clemson and SC are paired for the Supers as well. Fitt has three ACC vs. PAC-10 Super Regionals as well and all against the conference’s national seeds. If that comes to fruition, you wonder if the ACC schools will try to get some early start times to mess with the West Coast teams.
SEBaseball released their final projections in the wee hours of the morning as well…SEBaseball is our last bracket in the gates and they aren’t going for triplet national seeds as FSU is paired up with the Florida Super. Miami hits the road for LA – NC State to the all too familiar South Carolina regional. They’re liking the Clemson-SC Super pairing, which I think would be great. Both national seeds are paired with West Coast teams with UVa v. Oregon St. and UNC vs. UCLA. Them having to travel East is an advantage if the teams can’t get out of their regionals.
Here’s what the ESPN College Baseball Blog thinks…
Charlottesville Regional
No. 2 Virginia
Oklahoma State
James Madison
MaineChapel Hill Regional
No. 5 North Carolina
East Carolina
Seton Hall
CharlotteClemson Regional
Clemson
UCF
Coastal Carolina
Austin PeayTallahassee Regional
Florida State
Florida International
Alabama
Alcorn StateAtlanta Regional
Georgia Tech
Georgia
Georgia Southern
ManhattanGainesville Regional
No. 1 Florida
Miami
Jacksonville
Bethune-CookmanColumbia Regional
No. 4 South Carolina
Stetson
NC State
Sacred Heart
Analysis: Whole lot o’ SEC-ACC with Georgia Tech hosting Georgia and Bama going to FSU – Miami plays at SEC Champ Florida and NC State hits the road to Columbia with SEC regular season champ South Carolina. They have Clemson vs. SC, FSU vs. UF, GT vs. Vandy, Virginia vs. CS-Fullerton and UNC vs. Oregon State in the Super Regionals. I know there’s a ton of SEC and ACC teams in the field, but not seeing this many Southeastern on Atlantic Coast matchups.
Chasing Omaha offers their thoughts…
Charlottesville Regional:
Virginia (1)
Connecticut
James Madison
MaineChapel Hill Regional:
North Carolina (4)
East Carolina
Charlotte
IllinoisTallahassee Regional:
Florida State (6)
Central Florida
Georgia
Alcorn StateAtlanta Regional:
Georgia Tech
Stetson
Mississippi State
Georgia SouthernClemson Regional:
Clemson
LSU
Baylor
Sacred HeartCorvallis Regional:
Oregon State
Miami
Seton Hall
ManhattanColumbia Regional:
South Carolina (5)
North Carolina State
Coastal Carolina
Austin Peay
Analysis: Pretty drastic difference between this one and ESPN’s. FSU grabs the national seed and are paired with the UCLA regional. Like LSU traveling to Clemson – that would be a fun matchup. Poor Miami gets shipped out to Oregon State, but it’s winnable at least.
Jack Chey said,
I think the reasoning Aaron Fitt of Baseball America uses for FSU getting a national seed is absolutely correct (RPI and wins against top 5 and top 10 teams). That leaves two national seeds to go to teams from Texas and the West. The committee can either put them both in Texas to pair those four teams in super regionals (shipping all four West teams to the East) or put one in Texas and one in the West (shipping two teams from Texas and two teams from the West to the East). The committee won’t like either of these options, but the only alternative is to leave FSU out of the national seeds. If they do that, they are almost forced into the lunacy that Jeremy Mills of ESPN projects with FSU and Florida paired in a super regional. That pairing would be completely unfair to both of the Florida teams, so I just can’t see that happening. Bottom line is that FSU deserves the #6 national seed and the committee will bite the bullet, prepare for all the east coast bias whining that will come from the West, and then they’ll ship all four West region winners to the East. They will send Arkansas and Miami to two of the West region sites as Aaron Fitt suggests, looking for a couple of the supposed West-East supers to become ACC-SEC supers. I’ll guess Miami to Corvallis and paired with Gainesville, and Arkansas to Fullerton and paired with Chapel Hill.