By R.L. Bynum
No. 6-ranked North Carolina is one of five regional hosts in the NCAA baseball tournament that drew a No. 2 seed with a much-higher RPI than is logical for its seed.
Granted, RPI is only one metric that the selection committee uses. However, the fairest way to allocate the No. 2 seeds would be for the No. 1 overall seed to be assigned the 16th-highest RPI No. 2 seed and the No. 16 overall seed to draw the highest RPI No. 2 seed.
The latter is true: Wake Forest, which has the best RPI of any No. 2 regional seed, is in the Greenville Region, where top-seed East Carolina is the No. 16 overall seed.
The committee wasn’t kind to Kentucky, the No. 2 overall seed. The No. 2 seed in its region should have had the 15th-best RPI among the 2 seeds. But, instead, it got Indiana State (RPI 10), which has the second-highest.
The Tar Heels, the No. 4 overall seed, are one of five regional hosts drawing a No. 2 seed with an RPI higher than the host deserved to get. In addition to Kentucky:
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— No. 1-seed Tennessee should have the 16th-best RPI No. 2 seed, but Southern Miss (RPI 26) has the 11th-best RPI among No. 2 seeds.
— No. 4-seed UNC should have the 13th-best RPI No. 2 seed, but got the reigning national champion LSU (RPI 23), with the eighth-best RPI among No. 2 seeds.
— No. 6-seed Clemson should have the 11th-best RPI No. 2 seed, but drew Vanderbilt (RPI 20), the sixth-best among No. 2 seeds
— No. 9-seed Oklahoma should have the 8th-best RPI No. 2 seed, but has Duke (RPI 16), with the third-best RPI among No. 2 seeds.
On the other end of the spectrum, the NCAA’s tendency to group teams from the same region gave some regional hosts a break:
— No. 15 seed Oregon State should have the second-highest RPI team as its No. 2 seed but drew the 12th-highest RPI No. 2 seed in UC Irvine (RPI 27).
— No. 11 seed Oklahoma State, which should have gotten the sixth-highest RPI team among No. 2 seeds, instead drew Nebraska, with the 13th-best RPI (28).
— No. 7 Georgia — widely considered to be in the easiest region — should have gotten the 10th-highest RPI No. 2 seed but instead got UNCW, which has the 15th-highest among No. 2 seeds (34).
Giving teams short regional trips saves the NCAA money since it pays for travel expenses. But it comes at the expense of fair seeding.
The ACC has four pools. It gives the top seed the No. 2 seed with the worst regular-season ACC record, then snakes through to allocate the seeds for each pool.
As the ACC tournament’s No. 1 seed, UNC also had the No. 3 seed with the worst ACC record. No. 2-seed Clemson had the No. 2 seed with the second-worst record and the No. 3 seed with the second-worst record.
It may never happen, but the NCAA should create its regional fields like the ACC creates pools for its tournament, which would make it more equitable.
Allocation of NCAA No. 2 seeds
| Overall seed | Team | No. 2 seed in region | RPI of No. 2 seed | Rank among No. 2 seeds | Difference from logical placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 2 | Kentucky | Indiana State | 10 | No. 2 | +13 |
| No. 1 | Tennessee | Southern Miss | 26 | No. 11 | +5 |
| No. 4 | UNC | LSU | 23 | No. 8 | +5 |
| No. 6 | Clemson | Vanderbilt | 20 | No. 6 | +5 |
| No. 9 | Oklahoma | Duke | 16 | No. 3 | +5 |
| No. 16 | East Carolina | Wake Forest | 9 | No. 1 | 0 |
| No. 10 | N.C. State | South Carolina | 21 | No. 7 | 0 |
| No. 8 | Florida State | Alabama | 24 | No. 9 | 0 |
| No. 13 | Arizona | Dallas Baptist | 17 | No. 4 | 0 |
| No. 3 | Texas A&M | Louisiana | 38 | No. 16 | -1 |
| No. 5 | Arkansas | Louisiana Tech | 29 | No. 14 | -2 |
| No. 14 | UC Santa Barbara | San Diego | 19 | No. 5 | -2 |
| No. 12 | Virginia | Mississippi State | 25 | No. 10 | -5 |
| No. 7 | Georgia | Georgia Tech | 34 | No. 15 | -5 |
| No. 11 | Oklahoma State | Nebraska | 28 | No. 13 | -7 |
| No. 15 | Oregon State | UC Irvine | 27 | No. 12 | -10 |
Chapel Hill Regional
At Boshamer Stadium
Friday’s games
No. 2 Tennessee (38–20) vs. No. 3 East Carolina (36–22–1), noon, ESPNU
No. 1 North Carolina (45–11–1) vs. No. 4 VCU (36–23), 5 p.m., ESPN+
Saturday’s games
Tennessee-ECU loser vs. UNC-VCU loser (elimination game), noon, ESPN+
Tennessee-ECU winner vs. UNC-VCU winner, 5 p.m., ESPN2
Sunday’s games
Winner of Saturday’s noon game vs. loser of Saturday’s 5 p.m. game (elimination game), noon
Winner of Saturday’s 5 p.m. game vs. winner of Sunday’s noon game, 6 p.m.
Monday’s game (if needed)
Deciding game should winner of Sunday’s noon game also win the 6 p.m. game, time to be determined
NCAA tournament bracket
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times/ scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record/ TV * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 13–14 | Fri., Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 12–2 (7); W, 4–3 (11) | vs. Indiana | 3–0 |
| 17 | Tuesday | W, 10–0 (7) | vs. Richmond | 4–0 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 5–3 | vs. Longwood | 5–0 |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun | W, 10–0 (8); L, 10–3; T, 3–3 | vs. East Carolina | 6–1–1 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. N.C. A&T | 7–1–1 |
| 25 | Wednesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. VCU | 8–1–1 |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | W, 16–3 (7); W, 12–2 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 10–1–1 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 21–1 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 11–1–1 |
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 5–1 | vs. Elon | 12–1–1 |
| 6–7 | Fri., Sat | L, 13–3 (7); L, 9–2; W, 8–7 (12) | vs. Virginia | 13–3–1, 1–2 ACC |
| 10 | Tuesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. Bucknell | 14–3–1 |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 8–1; W, 6–2; W, 10–2 | at California | 17–3–1, 4–2 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 8–2 | vs. UNCG | 18–3–1 |
| 20–22 | Fri.–Sun. | W, 11–1 (8); L, 2–0; W, 7–6 | vs. Louisville | 20–4–1, 6–3 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 21–4–1 |
| 28, 29 | Sat., Sun | W, 6–5; W, 13–7; W, 15–10 | at Notre Dame | 24–4–1, 9–3 |
| 31 | Tuesday | W, 5–4 (14) | vs. Campbell | 25–4–1 |
| April | ||||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | L, 6–1; W, 5–2; W, 8–7 | vs. Boston College | 27–5–1, 11–4 |
| 7 | Tuesday | W, 8–4 | vs. Charlotte | 28–5–1 |
| 10–12 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5; W, 6–4 (14); W, 12–5 | at Clemson | 30–6–1, 13–5 |
| 14 | Tuesday | W, 14–5 | vs. UNCW | 31–6–1 |
| 17–19 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–2; W, 14–4 (8); L, 5–2 | vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech | 33–7–1, 15–6 |
| 21 | Tuesday | W, 9–2 | vs. High Point | 34–7–1 |
| 23–25 | Thur.–Sat. | W, 3–1; L, 3–1; W, 22–5 (7) | at Duke | 36–8–1, 17–7 |
| 28 | Tuesday | L, 12–2 | vs. Coastal Carolina | 36–9–1 |
| May | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | W, 13–0 (7) (non-conference game) | vs. Duke | 37–9–1 |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 4–1; W, 12–2 (8); W, 7–3 | vs. Pittsburgh | 40–9–1, 20–7 |
| 12 | Tuesday | W, 13–7 | at UNCW | 41–9–1 |
| 14–16 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 17–7 (8); L, 7–2 | at N.C. State | 43–10–1, 22–8 |
| ACC tournament | Charlotte | |||
| 22 | Friday | W, 10–4 | Quarterfinal vs. Virginia Tech | 44–10–1 |
| 23 | Saturday | W, 13–5 | Semifinal vs. Pittsburgh | 45–10–1 |
| 24 | Sunday | L, 13–6 | Championship vs. No. 2 Ga. Tech | 45–11–1 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 29 | Friday | 5 p.m. | VCU | ESPN+ |
| 30 | Saturday | noon (with loss) or 5 p.m. (with win) | ECU or Tennessee | ESPN+ (noon ESPN2 (5 p.m.) |
| 31 | Sunday | noon or 5 p.m. | TBD | TBD |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Monday | TBD | (if needed) | TBD |
| 5–7 | Fri.-Sun. | Super Regionals | in Chapel Hill (if UNC advances) | TBA |
| 12–22 | Fri.-Mon | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. | TBA |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
