No games this weekend so let's look at the Horns post season scenarios. We've gone from a potential overall #1 seed to a possible 2 seed at Rice in three short weeks. Definitely not where we want to be but we remain #13 in the RPI and the Boyd's RPI needs report has a 2-2 finish assuring us of a top 16 RPI so there is hope. At least one projection has us hosting,but they also have Rice, Houston and TCU hosting and Okie St. as a #2 on the road. Seems unlikely. Baseball America has us on the bubble out as a host so we really need to take three out of the next four and make a little noise in the Big 12 tourney. The regional hosts are usually announced on Sunday so it would be nice to still be in contention. I always like spending my birthday at Disch Falk so let's hope the pitching and Defense holds steady and the bats finally come around. The Link
Are the regional host locations still determined by other factors than simply "best teams get the gig"? Seem to recall with Gus that sometimes there were judgement calls on Austin being a regional site not only because of Texas being a quality team that year, but UT guaranteeing a certain gate dollar amount or the like? A big college stadium like UFCUABCDEFwhatever in Austin with a hometown Longhorn participant is tough to beat in revenues that the NCAA would otherwise get at, say, Rice (at Hess?, whatever their field is), unless they host regionals at MinuteMaid (or whatever THAT park is now). Anyone know the decision criteria for regional hosting?
RPI and record against the top 30 is a big factor. UT is now 16 and has the 2nd best record against top 30 RPI teams in the country. The committee also looks at conference standings but Okie state can win the Big 12 and still not host because of their low RPI. The bad thing for Texas is that we're slumping at the wrong time. Hot teams like TCU have an edge.
We are an average team. I would love to be proven wrong, but we aren't going anywhere in post season.
As someone who lives outside of Austin I'm biased. Being paired with Oregon State if we host would be awesome. Otherwise I'd love to see Texas sent to Washington (they just built a stadium, so I assume the NCAA will reward that with a regional) A lot has changed in college baseball since Gus was here. Texas is average because the top 25 is basically the same quality. Some schools have stronger batting or pitching. No team has everything IMO. Since the college baseball season ended last year on May 18th for Texas, I'll take this over last year. And since two years ago I drove out of Palo Alto wondering how we were going to win 23 games that year, I feel we have improved each year with more to come.
If we are now entertaining suggestions for the future, we need to remove that awful rug from the base paths and batter area. Since we put that in and offended the baseball gods, we have gone downhill. Baseball needs dirt!
I also suggest moving in the damn fence a tad so it's not a wasteland of mass green out there. With a fence barely noticeable to the naked eye it's so far away. Not saying make it HR friendly, just not insanely HR unfriendly. Our field is boring as hell to watch us in when comparing games I see us play on the road. There's a new hint of excitement with a reasonable chance for a blast. 8 of our 12 HR's came on the road. And we're playing more bad teams here with the extra Tuesday games at home. We've hit 4 damn HR's at home all season. Yay! I'm not blaming that all on dead bats, been like this at the Disch forever now. The advantage we think we have is negligible. Especially compared to the dampened fan experience.
True, but what we have been playing with last few years isn't outhitting our competent competitors much at home even with our shortened swings either. When we loosen the reigns more on the road our hitters look far more comfortable. I truly believe a big part of the reasons our hitters slump often is due to adjusted swings tailored to our park and style. Combined with the dead bats thanks to the NCAA, it's been awful on our short game strategy. Hopefully, the ball change next year helps correct that some. We are in the small minority of team's with monster parks. There's a reason for that, it's unfriendly to spectators. So what? Fans strongly drive the success of the overall college game. Not like it'd be asking to make a change that is out of whack from others and controversial.
The new livelier ball should help some next year. Interesting projection out today. UT, along with TCU, Tech, Rice and UH all hosts with probable Big 12 champ OSU a #2 seed at Houston. Interesting 3 seed in Austin. The Link
4 straight and good showing in the tourney...I can see hosting certainly still within reach. But to be honest, I'll take it however they want to hand it to us. Miss watching the excitement of a regional in person.
I have always found a pitching duel to be far more exciting than watching "round the bases gorilla ball."
That's like saying I've always preferred to watch Texas football win a tight, good game by a point or FG, instead of a 28 point blowout. Of course, in most cases they are not comparable. No one is asking for gorilla ball. It's just as fun watching an exciting 5-4 game with some timely pop, as a 2-1 pitching duel. The excitement comes in the closeness of the game. A slightly shallower fence doesn't prevent pitching duels between really solid pitching staffs. Pitching duels still take place all over the country, with their reduced parks. Naturally it's ridiculous to watch 2 teams pound the pitchers for a 12-11 game. Typically that's just terrible pitching throughout. The whole idea is certainly each individuals preference. There will be a healthy group supporting both sides in Austin. However, the deadly combination of stricter bat rules with our monster park has taken much from the excitement of games without question.
Those regional predictions are quite flawed. Such as Stanford as a #2 seed? They are barely over .500 for the season at 24-22 and seventh in the PAC 12 with a 11-13 record. Most don't even have them in the regional field. Texas and Tech hosting over OSU? Washingtion is in a dogfight for the PAC 12 title and has a new stadium, but Tech would host and they would be a #2 seed? It's still much more realistic to see Texas as a #2 seed at Rice unless disaster strikes like losing the series to a horrible KSU team or going 0-2 in the OKC. Or a miracle happened like winning the Conference Tourney. The Link Much more reasonable predictions.
