LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.
Yes, I stole that line. If you’re a baseball fan, you know I borrowed it from Yankees’ Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, who also advised that when you come to a fork in the road, you should take it.
If you’re not a baseball fan, consider the Yogism the best explanation for what happened to the Southeastern Conference in the opening weekend of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
In college baseball, the SEC has the best weather.
It has the best recruiting backdrop.
It has the best facilities.
It has the best tradition.
It has the most money.
And this year, the SEC has delivered the most inexplicable NCAA Tournament flop. Yogi would call it 90% mental, 50% physical and 110% jarring.
Three SEC national seeds have exited as its teams have gone 4-7 in matchups against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Remember, the SEC had the most teams invited to the 64-team NCAA field, a record 13. That was one fewer than the record 14 the league put in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Seven SEC men’s basketball teams made the Sweet Sixteen, with four hitting the Elite Eight, two the Final Four and Florida winning the national title.
In baseball, there are four games involving SEC teams on the schedule Monday, but the early report on the SEC’s performance is strictly E(xit) 7.
As in seven of the 13 SEC teams have been eliminated, with only two assured of reaching the super regional round. That includes three of the top seven national seeds gone, programs that had the added edge of playing at home.
That would be national top-seed Vanderbilt, which was dispatched by Louisville and Wright State.
The Cards delivered the first blow Saturday night in a gritty, 3-2 win in Nashville. Wright State, making Brad Stevens proud by representing his beloved Horizon League, finished the job Sunday with a 5-4 upset.
For the record, that is the same cold-weather Wright State program that sits at No. 88 in the Ratings Percentage Index and allowed 41 runs to Purdue Fort Wayne in its final regular season three-game series.
"I think they're all surprising when you're finished, when you lose,” Vandy coach Tim Corbin said. “When you're out, you're out. There hasn't been a day where we've been out of a tournament where I don't feel the same way …
“… I just wish the outcome was different for the boys. That stinks. But it's the nature of the game. It's cruel. It can be cruel.”
The second national seed to exit would be second-seed Texas, which watched Texas-San Antonio prove it has a better squad not once, but twice.
UTSA failed to win the American Athletic Conference Tournament, losing twice to Tulane. Hooked ‘em.
The third SEC power to exit would be seven-seed Georgia, which allowed 17 runs in losses to Duke and Oklahoma State.
The Bulldogs’ only victory came against Binghamton, Tony Kornheiser’s famous alma mater.
Whiff.
In baseball, bragging rights generally turn to the SEC and Atlantic Coast Conferences. Six of the 16 regionals remain in play on Monday.
Four SEC programs can advance to join Arkansas and Auburn in super regional play. Three ACC programs (U of L, Duke and Florida State) can be joined by three others from their conference.
Two elimination games Monday are ACC vs. SEC stare downs— Wake Forest at defending national champion Tennessee and Oklahoma at North Carolina.
But the early scorecard tilts toward the ACC, beyond the 7-4 head to head advantage. Three ACC teams have advanced. Three (Clemson, Georgia Tech and North Carolina State) were eliminated. Miami joins the Tar Heels and Demon Deacons in action Monday.
The overall ACC record: 20 wins, 9 losses.
The overall SEC record: 23 wins, 18 losses.
In addition to the surprising departures by three SEC national seeds, Kentucky, Florida, Mississippi State and Alabama did not survive the first weekend.
The four SEC teams playing for their seasons today are Tennessee, Louisiana State, Oklahoma and Ole Miss.
The Vols, Tigers and Rebels are playing at home. There’s still an opening for the SEC to get six teams to the super regional round as well five to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska next week.
With Vanderbilt and Texas eliminated, Auburn and Arkansas become the favorites to win the national championship.
Nobody would be shocked if the league won its sixth straight national title. Considering all of its advantages, the SEC should be winning national baseball titles. The ACC, remember, has not won the national baseball title since Virginia scored 10 years ago.
The ACC can match the SEC with six super regional teams. It can only send five to Omaha. Why? Because if Miami survives at Southern Miss Monday, the Hurricanes would meet Louisville in the super regional.
So the SEC/ACC debate will continue for another week. But it does not look nearly as one sided as the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee suggested.
Other sports stories:
Dan McDonnell emotional as Louisville baseball storms into Super Regional
Louisville blanks Wright State 6-0 to win its 10th NCAA regional championship
Sananda Fru is official — and might be Louisville’s most intriguing new transfer
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