The tournament field was announced this afternoon. Michigan doesn't head west to Corvallis, as a number of folks thought the Big Ten Champions might, they head south to play in the regional hosted by Georgia Tech. In addition, to having the Yellow Jackets, the Wolverines are in a regional with Stetson and their opening round opponent, Vanderbilt.
This is not an easy regional. The Jackets (45-16) are one of the eight national seeds, in more simple terms, one of the eight teams favored to be in the College World Series. That's bad enough. Stetson (38-22) may not be a household name to fans of Big Ten football and basketball, but they can play baseball. Finally, there is Michigan's (42-19) first opponent, Vanderbilt. The Commodores (36-25) are darn good. I've seen them two or three times on television and they have a very solid team.
If the average college baseball fan was asked to put in order who would win this regional, I suspect it would be: Tech, then Vandy, Stetson third and the Wolverines last. It's painful, but true. Did I mention this is not an easy regional?
That doesn't matter, however. There are no easy regionals. Michigan, and Notre Dame, for that matter, needs to win NCAA Tournament games regardless of the opposition. They need to bring some credibility and respect to baseball in the north. It needs to begin somewhere, it may as well begin in Georgia.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Don't forget Ball State! They can bring some respect to the north for baseball if they can get some upset wins.
Great work, Brian.
My sister lives in Charleston, and hopes she gets the chance to talk some trash if Michigan and College of Charleston face each other in the tournament.
You are correct, Jeff. Ball State does deserve some love here, too. I'll have to review who they have in their regional match-up.
Ian, I think the prudent thing would be to encourage your sister to refrain from talking any smack to the Charleston supporters.
If the Wolverines start to win regionals on a regular basis, she will have something to talk about.
Obviously, winning the GA Tech regional would be quite an accomplishment.
Post a Comment