Graham Hays, who covers softball for ESPN, mentioned UCF's snub in a column today. In a snippet about top pitchers:
Shelby Turnier, UCF (Tallahassee regional): Turnier and virtual co-ace Mackenzie Audas could be trouble for a Florida State lineup that produced runs in the ACC tournament but had to that point been less consistent than most of its seeded peers. The potential for a pitching duel deep into the night between Turnier and reigning player of the year Lacey Waldrop is both tantalizing and unfair. Along with Minnesota, UCF had the strongest claim for a national seed among teams that didn't receive one. Sending the Knights to Tallahassee fits the tournament's geographic necessities, but it isn't fair to either team involved (not to mention South Carolina ace Nickie Blue, who could pitch some marathons of her own).
Link: http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-comme...0/5-things-need-know-ncaa-softball-tournament
==
I exchanged e-mails with Eric Lopez, the play-by-play voice of UCF Softball, and here are some of the things he mentioned after analyzing the selections:
"Latest RPI is coming out Monday so it will be interesting to see where Notre Dame is. No one can believe Notre Dame is hosting. Even if you take UCF out of equation, Minnesota who has been in the top 12 all year long should host over Notre Dame."
I thought geography - and specifically grouping teams to curtail the need for last-minute charter flights - could have nixed UCF's regional. There are already two Florida regionals and a Notre Dame Regional conveniently gives a Midwest Regional for neighboring teams.
"They always try to put teams within 400 miles. I studied the brackets. They basically spend money for 16 flights. In my mock bracket with UCF hosting they would have had 19 flights. Basically they picked Notre Dame to save three flights."
More on the flawed logic of Notre Dame hosting:
"Notre Dame lost in the quarterfinals in ACC Tournament. Committee ignored that. James Madison lost TWICE at home in conference tournament to Hofstra (who won tourney). Yet Hofstra is rewarded for winning tourney with a trip to No. 1 Florida while James Madison hosts cause they can bus teams there.
"Baseball does similar things, but they do good job of trying to put teams on a seeding curve. Softball does not."
Lopez broke that down:
"FSU is a 9 seed. Which means by seed the number 2 seed should be around 24. Look below what they
did:
Region Seed ( RPI)
9. FSU (8)
24. UCF (17)
41. South Carolina (30)
They basically forced in UCF and South Carolina to have 2 teams bus to Tallahassee. Columbia, S.C. to Tally is 357 miles which is under the 400 miles NCAA uses. So Honestly they could have made this bracket in February and it be no different."
Let's look at the positive.
"Now there some good news from this. 1. We are not in Florida side of bracket. Tallahassee Regional is a toss up regional which UCF has not ever been part of before. Plus winner gets winner of Tennessee Volunteers regional which all things considered is not bad for a map to get to OKC."
Quick Notes from Bar Louie:
"Really good turn out for show. AD Todd Stansbury and wife were there. The girls were stunned that they did not host and were going to Tallahassee, so it was deflating from that standpoint once bracket was revealed.
"I wish Softball was like Baseball where they announce host sites in advance so at least people can enjoy the selection show and schools can have more time to prep to host, etc.
"I think the girls will be fine and will have a chip on shoulder heading up to Tally. We play South Carolina at 4:30 p.m."
Eric had the same thought I did. Will the FSU video department drop the ball like they did for NCAA Women's Soccer?
"Interesting to see what TV/Online situation will be in Tally. FSU Baseball is hosting Clemson that weekend on ESPN3 so It be interesting if that will effects streaming options for softball. Hope we do not have a repeat of Women Soccer fiasco."
==
If you hadn't seen the posts from Saturday, I posted a gallery of UCF's walk-off victory against Tulsa in the AAC Championship game: http://imgur.com/a/V9ow2
Here's the HR that won it with Eric's call:
Shelby Turnier, UCF (Tallahassee regional): Turnier and virtual co-ace Mackenzie Audas could be trouble for a Florida State lineup that produced runs in the ACC tournament but had to that point been less consistent than most of its seeded peers. The potential for a pitching duel deep into the night between Turnier and reigning player of the year Lacey Waldrop is both tantalizing and unfair. Along with Minnesota, UCF had the strongest claim for a national seed among teams that didn't receive one. Sending the Knights to Tallahassee fits the tournament's geographic necessities, but it isn't fair to either team involved (not to mention South Carolina ace Nickie Blue, who could pitch some marathons of her own).
Link: http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-comme...0/5-things-need-know-ncaa-softball-tournament
==
I exchanged e-mails with Eric Lopez, the play-by-play voice of UCF Softball, and here are some of the things he mentioned after analyzing the selections:
"Latest RPI is coming out Monday so it will be interesting to see where Notre Dame is. No one can believe Notre Dame is hosting. Even if you take UCF out of equation, Minnesota who has been in the top 12 all year long should host over Notre Dame."
I thought geography - and specifically grouping teams to curtail the need for last-minute charter flights - could have nixed UCF's regional. There are already two Florida regionals and a Notre Dame Regional conveniently gives a Midwest Regional for neighboring teams.
"They always try to put teams within 400 miles. I studied the brackets. They basically spend money for 16 flights. In my mock bracket with UCF hosting they would have had 19 flights. Basically they picked Notre Dame to save three flights."
More on the flawed logic of Notre Dame hosting:
"Notre Dame lost in the quarterfinals in ACC Tournament. Committee ignored that. James Madison lost TWICE at home in conference tournament to Hofstra (who won tourney). Yet Hofstra is rewarded for winning tourney with a trip to No. 1 Florida while James Madison hosts cause they can bus teams there.
"Baseball does similar things, but they do good job of trying to put teams on a seeding curve. Softball does not."
Lopez broke that down:
"FSU is a 9 seed. Which means by seed the number 2 seed should be around 24. Look below what they
did:
Region Seed ( RPI)
9. FSU (8)
24. UCF (17)
41. South Carolina (30)
They basically forced in UCF and South Carolina to have 2 teams bus to Tallahassee. Columbia, S.C. to Tally is 357 miles which is under the 400 miles NCAA uses. So Honestly they could have made this bracket in February and it be no different."
Let's look at the positive.
"Now there some good news from this. 1. We are not in Florida side of bracket. Tallahassee Regional is a toss up regional which UCF has not ever been part of before. Plus winner gets winner of Tennessee Volunteers regional which all things considered is not bad for a map to get to OKC."
Quick Notes from Bar Louie:
"Really good turn out for show. AD Todd Stansbury and wife were there. The girls were stunned that they did not host and were going to Tallahassee, so it was deflating from that standpoint once bracket was revealed.
"I wish Softball was like Baseball where they announce host sites in advance so at least people can enjoy the selection show and schools can have more time to prep to host, etc.
"I think the girls will be fine and will have a chip on shoulder heading up to Tally. We play South Carolina at 4:30 p.m."
Eric had the same thought I did. Will the FSU video department drop the ball like they did for NCAA Women's Soccer?
"Interesting to see what TV/Online situation will be in Tally. FSU Baseball is hosting Clemson that weekend on ESPN3 so It be interesting if that will effects streaming options for softball. Hope we do not have a repeat of Women Soccer fiasco."
==
If you hadn't seen the posts from Saturday, I posted a gallery of UCF's walk-off victory against Tulsa in the AAC Championship game: http://imgur.com/a/V9ow2
Here's the HR that won it with Eric's call:
