2023 Softball Post-Season Bracket

[Golden Eagle 401]

Wow.  Auburn was the next to last team announced tonight.  And going back to Clemson.  And, if by chance they win the regional they will face Oklahoma in a super regional.  🥴

Norman Regional

1. Oklahoma (1)
2. Missouri
3. California
4. Hofstra 

Los Angeles Regional

1. UCLA (2)
2. San Diego State
3. Liberty
4. Grand Canyon

Tallahassee Regional

1. Florida State (3)
2. UCF
3. South Carolina
4. Marist

Knoxville Regional

1. Tennessee (4)
2. Louisville
3. Indiana
4. Northern Kentucky

Tuscaloosa Regional

1. Alabama (5)
2. Middle Tennessee
3. Central Arkansas
4. LIU

Stillwater Regional

1. Oklahoma State (6)
2. Nebraska
3. Wichita State
4. UMBC

Seattle Regional

1. Washington (7)
2. McNeese
3. Minnesota
4. Northern Colorado

Durham Regional

1. Duke (8)
2. Campbell
3. Charlotte
4. George Mason

Stanford Regional 

1. Stanford (9)
2. Loyola Marymount
3. Florida
4. Long Beach State

Baton Rouge Regional

1. LSU (10)
2. Omaha
3. Louisiana 
4. Prairie View

Fayetteville Regional

1. Arkansas (11)
2. Notre Dame
3. Oregon
4. Harvard

Evanston Regional

1. Northwestern (12)
2. Miami (OH)
3. Kentucky 
4. Eastern Illinois

Austin Regional

1. Texas (13)
2. Texas St.
3. Texas A&M
4. Seton Hall

Athens Regional

1. Georgia (14)
2. Boston University
3. Virginia Tech
4. NC Central

Salt Lake City Regional

1. Utah (15)
2. Ole Miss
3. Baylor
4. Southern Illinois

Clemson Regional

1. Clemson (16)
2. Cal St Fullerton
3. Auburn
4. UNC Greensboro

[tiger1168 51]

How are we next to last but bama got 5th seed?

 

 

[AU1947 157]

Yep, other than SEC schedule we do NOT play anyone but weaker teams..... A weak and padded schedule!!! CMD needs to play tougher non-conference teams!!

[AU1947 157]

Just now, tiger1168 said:

How are we next to last but bama got 5th seed?

 

 

Look at their Nonconference schedule... and they stayed in the SEC tourney longer than we did..

Edited May 15, 2023 by AU1947

[tiger1168 51]

2 minutes ago, AU1947 said:

Look at their Nonconference schedule... and they stayed in the SEC tourney longer than we did..

We made the final 4 as the did

 

[Golden Eagle 401]

3 minutes ago, AU1947 said:

Yep, other than SEC schedule we do NOT play anyone but weaker teams..... A weak and padded schedule!!! CMD needs to play tougher non-conference teams!!

That's mostly true...we went to OKC in March and played Oklahoma twice and Northwestern twice...but lost all 4 games.  We also won the series against Alabama and LSU, both of whom are apparently top 10 teams so 4 wins there.

[tigers23 673]

24 minutes ago, AU1947 said:

and they stayed in the SEC tourney longer than we did..

Nope

[TigerTennis80 345]

Maybe we didn't deserve a national seed but how does Alabama earn a 5 seed when they had a mediocre conference record like they did? If they deserve a 5 seed, then we deserve a national seed. And being put in the Oklahoma bracket is so tough!

[TigerTennis80 345]

Wait, we're the 3rd seed in our regional? Really?

[Golden Eagle 401]

1 minute ago, TigerTennis80 said:

Wait, we're the 3rd seed in our regional? Really?

Yep.  Second to last team announced.  Shocked me that we weren't a 2 seed somewhere.

[Golden Eagle 401]

4 minutes ago, TigerTennis80 said:

Maybe we didn't deserve a national seed but how does Alabama earn a 5 seed when they had a mediocre conference record like they did? If they deserve a 5 seed, then we deserve a national seed. And being put in the Oklahoma bracket is so tough!

On the selection show, one of the people on the committee who came up with the bracket said they were so impressed by Alabama's 6 wins against top 10 teams as well as additional wins against top 25 teams (many of whom are in the SEC).  Alabama did play a much tougher out of conference schedule than we did...but I also think there is too often a bias in favor of Alabama.  Before they announced Alabama, they said something to the effect that the next one was going to surprise people.  I think that's an understatement.

[Golden Eagle 401]

59 minutes ago, AU1947 said:

Look at their Nonconference schedule... and they stayed in the SEC tourney longer than we did..

Both Auburn and Alabama were eliminated in the semi-final round.  Alabama was in it longer than Auburn because Auburn had a bye in the first 2 rounds due to their 3rd place finish in the SEC (so Auburn only played 2 games).  Alabama only had a bye in the first round due to their 5th place finish in the SEC (so they played 3 games).  But, Auburn lost to unseeded South Carolina.  Alabama, to their credit, lost to the eventual winner, Tennessee, by a score of 7-6.  I didn't watch it but apparently it was a close game.

Edited May 15, 2023 by Golden Eagle

[TigerTennis80 345]

5 minutes ago, Golden Eagle said:

On the selection show, one of the people on the committee who came up with the bracket said they were so impressed by Alabama's 6 wins against top 10 teams as well as additional wins against top 25 teams (many of whom are in the SEC).  Alabama did play a much tougher out of conference schedule than we did...but I also think there is too often a bias in favor of Alabama.  Before they announced Alabama, they said something to the effect that the next one was going to surprise people.  I think that's an understatement.

I get that those out of conference wins are impressive. But how long ago were they? How do you weigh starting off with a bang but then sliding back into pretty average through conference play? Meanwhile we started off looking pretty average but finished strong, which apparently matters little. I wonder if winning the series at UGa (not losing the lead in the 7th in Athens) would have made a difference. Anyway, I just don't like it.

[Golden Eagle 401]

2 minutes ago, TigerTennis80 said:

I get that those out of conference wins are impressive. But how long ago were they? How do you weigh starting off with a bang but then sliding back into pretty average through conference play? Meanwhile we started off looking pretty average but finished strong, which apparently matters little. I wonder if winning the series at UGa (not losing the lead in the 7th in Athens) would have made a difference. Anyway, I just don't like it.

I don't either...and, as you say, supposedly how you finish matters (thus South Carolina made it into the tournament).  The person who explained why Alabama was seeded so high was asked whether the committee considered late-season injuries going into the postseason (e.g., potentially Fouts) and she said 'no' - just the team's overall performance.   As I said I think there is always bias in favor of Alabama and, it honestly seems to me, some bias against Auburn.  Then again, we're just not a stellar offensive team and we only have 1 ace pitcher.  Seems that most other teams have at least 3 really good pitchers that they cycle in to keep batters off kilter.  We just ride Maddie into the ground.

[AU1947 157]

According to the RPI we are NOT in the TOP 20. 

[Golden Eagle 401]

Did anyone say we were?  Most of the RPI rankings don't map to seedings in the postseason bracket...Alabama's RPI is 12 and they are seeded 5th.

[AU1947 157]

13 minutes ago, Golden Eagle said:

Did anyone say we were?  Most of the RPI rankings don't map to seedings in the postseason bracket...Alabama's RPI is 12 and they are seeded 5th.

Sure looks like the Top teams in RPI are all hosting.....  

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/other-sports/news/ncaa-softball-bracket-2023-selections-live/pnzqk9plveepoaetudfwkjcm

[Golden Eagle 401]

9 minutes ago, AU1947 said:

Sure looks like the Top teams in RPI are all hosting.....  

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/other-sports/news/ncaa-softball-bracket-2023-selections-live/pnzqk9plveepoaetudfwkjcm

Not sure I understand your point.  In the RPI list you show above, Louisiana has an RPI of 11 while Alabama's is 12.  But the selection committed decided Alabama is the #5 overall seed (and hosting) while Louisiana is the #3 seed in the Baton Rouge regional hosted by the overall #10 seed LSU (whose RPI is 7).  Both LSU and Louisiana have higher RPIs than Alabama...but LSU is seeded 5 spots lower than Alabama and Louisiana isn't even hosting.  Tennessee's RPI is 10th but they are seeded 4th.  Etc, etc, etc.  So while RPI is a factor, it clearly isn't the most important factor.  In the past, there has been talk of an edge being given to teams who finish the year strong.  South Carolina seems to fit that profile this year.  After finishing 3rd in the SEC (with series wins over Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss among others) I expected Auburn to be a 2 seed in one of the regionals, not a 3 seed.  Ole Miss is a 2 seed in their regional, though.  

[AUBwins 10,091]

I didn't expect us to host, but sure didn't expect us to be a 3 seed.  We got the shaft! Almost like they were aggravated to put us in the tournament lol.  Bama should have been an 8 or something.  More appalled with how easy their regional is on top of that.  This field must have been set a month ago lol. 

I just hate it we are matched with Oklahoma for supers.  That just sucks. 

[TigerTennis80 345]

2 hours ago, Golden Eagle said:

I don't either...and, as you say, supposedly how you finish matters (thus South Carolina made it into the tournament).  The person who explained why Alabama was seeded so high was asked whether the committee considered late-season injuries going into the postseason (e.g., potentially Fouts) and she said 'no' - just the team's overall performance.   As I said I think there is always bias in favor of Alabama and, it honestly seems to me, some bias against Auburn.  Then again, we're just not a stellar offensive team and we only have 1 ace pitcher.  Seems that most other teams have at least 3 really good pitchers that they cycle in to keep batters off kilter.  We just ride Maddie into the ground.

I would agree that we're not a stellar offense, but we're also not a terrible offense. The announcers during the SEC tournament last week called us 1 of the better offenses in the SEC (which made me wonder about SEC offenses, I must admit 😄). But as for riding 1 pitcher, Oklahoma had that girl we faced in the championship series (can't put a date on when that was but y'all remember) who pitched every postseason game for them but 1. Look, if Fouts can't pitch for Bama, they aren't the same team, but that doesn't matter. And RPI doesn't matter apparently. So what does? Ole Miss finishes 10th in the SEC & gets a 2 seed in their region while we finish 3rd (& finish the conference season strong) & beat them in the SEC tournament but get a 3 seed in our region. I'm just baffled. And pissed. I hope the girls have a bit of chip on their shoulders after this.

[AU1947 157]

So each committee determines more on what they see as more influential in their own ranking system according to the ESPN article and interview. Everyone was shocked about that team from West Alabama.. this was taken from the article....

"Six top-10 wins and strength of schedule were the key components to the seeding according to the chair of the committee. 

 

However, that's not how the previous committees had determined where teams should be in the bracket, relaying a lot more on RPI (Rating Percentage Index).

Alabama's RPI was 12th after the SEC Tournament. Consequently, the expectation was Florida State would be No. 5, with Alabama having to visit Tallahassee to have a shot at the Women's College World Series. "

 

So there is a LOT more that plays into the so called seeding and it all falls back on what the committee sees as important.  AND the strength of schedule (RPI) always plays a part and most of the time it is the most important. So my point is you need to have a strong RPI, with wins vs who, how you are playing at the end, that is what has traditionally been factors. They had to tweak their process this year....

And while we had a much better season this year the ball just bounced our way in several very close series wins.. we are still 103 in team BA in the overall rankings. And we played better than expected. Kudos to our team. 

Make it out of Clemson Regional and it is Oklahoma! Play the best right out the gate. 

Edited May 15, 2023 by AU1947

[AU1947 157]

And someone got smart at the end of the season because the game against Alabama State that was canceled due to "everything to lose - nothing to gain" quite possibly could have cost us to miss the whole show... 

Edited May 15, 2023 by AU1947

[all4AU 379]

@TigerTennis80 @Golden Eagle @AUBwins

We are the 2 seed and will be the home team Friday against Cal State Fullerton. Each regional was announced in this order: 1-4-3-2, with the 1 and 2 seeds opposing each other. 

[AUBwins 10,091]

1 hour ago, all4AU said:

@TigerTennis80 @Golden Eagle @AUBwins

We are the 2 seed and will be the home team Friday against Cal State Fullerton. Each regional was announced in this order: 1-4-3-2, with the 1 and 2 seeds opposing each other. 

Then that makes more sense.  We are the strongest 2, being matched up against the lowest ranked 1.  Then we likely would have been the 16 hosting if we did enough to host and in the same spot.  So, I guess we are about where we thought we would be.  I think the other seeds (Bama especially) are what we are comparing Auburn to that seems not right.   Probably would have actually benefitted losing to Bama St to get a lower 2 seed and avoid Oklahoma in a best of 3.  Rather face them in WCWS.  

Edited May 15, 2023 by AUBwins

[AU1947 157]

2 hours ago, all4AU said:

@TigerTennis80 @Golden Eagle @AUBwins

We are the 2 seed and will be the home team Friday against Cal State Fullerton. Each regional was announced in this order: 1-4-3-2, with the 1 and 2 seeds opposing each other. 

Are you sure because everything I have seen has us the #3...

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/other-sports/news/ncaa-softball-bracket-2023-selections-live/pnzqk9plveepoaetudfwkjcm