Can Mich host a NCAA baseball reg?

Submitted by Wolvie3758 on

Its out there for them if they can turn it on from here on in..This from Baseball America:

 

• With the dearth of hosting candidates in the West, the door is open for either Minnesota or Michigan to land a hosting spot out of the Big Ten. Right now, we’ll give the edge to the Gophers. Minnesota beat Michigan head-to-head and is a game ahead in the Big Ten standings at 9-2 vs. Michigan’s 8-3. Minnesota didn’t help its cause by losing a midweek game to North Dakota State on Tuesday, which dropped its RPI seven spots from No. 23 to No. 30, leaving them behind No. 25 Michigan. This would be problematic if the season ended today, but for the time being will give the Gophers the benefit of the doubt that they can get their RPI back into at least the low 20s.

The other question will be whether the Gophers have enough quality wins. As of now, their two wins against Michigan are their only top 50 wins—they need to root for Maryland to get back into the top 50—and they have no more top-50 opponents left on the schedule. They even only have three games left against top 100 teams—this weekend’s set at Illinois—which means they have little margin for error to improve their RPI. Michigan, by comparison, has a much more RPI-friendly schedule with all four of its remaining series against top 100 teams—granted that one of those opponents, Ohio State, is barely in the top 100 at No. 99. If the standings stay in the order they are but Minnesota can’t keep its RPI strong enough, then it’s more likely neither would host than a second-place Michigan team gets a bid over a team it both lost to and finished behind, regardless of its own RPI.


Read more at http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/projected-field-of-64-april-27/#…

Wolverine Devotee

April 28th, 2016 at 4:28 PM ^

Barring a ridiculous winning streak like Illinois had last year, no.

Top-16 RPI host regionals. 

Alton

April 28th, 2016 at 4:47 PM ^

Michigan would certainly have to win or share the Big Ten championship and would probably have to win the Big Ten tournament, but if they do they should be one of the top 16 seeds.

The top 16 seeds host regionals--there are no more #2 seeds hosting like they had a few years ago--but the baseball committee doesn't always stick to the RPI the way the softball committee has in the recent past.  The hosts aren't decided by RPI, but they also aren't decided by regional considerations either.

Last season, #18 Houston, #20 Cal State-Fullerton and #24 UC-Santa Barbara all got #1 seeds and hosted regionals despite not being ranked in the top 16 of the RPI (to the annoyance of #11 Virginia, #14 Radford and #15 College of Charleston, who all ended up as #2 seeds).