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USA Today
16-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
13 SEC teams projected to make NCAA Baseball Tournament
13 SEC teams projected to make NCAA Baseball Tournament With just over a week until the NCAA Baseball Tournament, the Oklahoma Soones have a bit of good news and a bit of bad. The good is that OU is locked into the postseason. Oklahoma could lose its final two regular-season games against Texas, lost in the first round of next week's Southeastern Conference Tournament, and still make the NCAAs. The Sooners may not like their seeding if that happened, but they'd be in. The bad news is after Friday's loss to the Longhorns, the chances of hosting in the NCAA Tournament are all but kaput. And finishing in the aforementioned manner might drop the Oklahoma to a Regional three-seed instead of a two-seed. As of now, in the latest bracket projections from USA TODAY Sports, OU remains a two. Eddie Timanus and Erick Smith released their latest projection on Thursday and the Sooners found themselves as the No. 2-seed in the Chapel Hill Regional, hosting by North Carolina. If such a meeting were to come to fruition, Oklahoma would play No. 3-seed and former Big 12 rival Kansas State. The host Tar Heels would get No. 4 Yale. The USA TODAY Sports projections listed 13 of the 16 SEC teams as in the tournament field. Another, preseason No. 1 Texas A&M slotted in the First Four Out listing. Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Arkansas, LSU and Texas would all host regionals in the projections. Oklahoma's regional would be against national No. 8-seed North Carolina. The Sooners won't know their NCAA Tournament fate until Sunday, May 25 during the NCAA Tournament selection show. They have at least three games left until then, meaning fortunes can change, even if it's unlikely they do.
USA Today
16-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
USA TODAY Sports' college baseball tournament bracket projections, including Florida
USA TODAY Sports' college baseball tournament bracket projections, including Florida The end of the college baseball regular season is just around the corner, which means that the postseason is just about to begin. With a nearly full season now in the books, the final pieces of the regional tournament picture are finally falling into place. Mind you, there are still games left to be played but with a nearly complete sample size on hand, USA TODAY Sports duo Eddie Timanus and Erick Smith took a stab at projecting what the early postseason picture will look like. Among those listed are the Florida Gators, whose late-season surge saved them from a lost season and got them back to the NCAA Tournament. Timanus and Smith agreed that the Orange and Blue will be the second seed in the Fort Worth Region, where the TCU Horned Frogs hold the top seed. Also included in that bracket are the Virginia Cavaliers at the No. 3 seed and the Wright State Raiders at No. 4. Take a look below at USA TODAY Sports' full college baseball NCAA Tournament seeding projections. (* denotes teams that are automatic qualifiers based on current conference standings.) Austin region Texas* (1) Texas-San Antonio* Kansas Central Connecticut State* Baton Rouge region LSU (2) Northeastern* Arizona Missouri State* Tallahassee region Florida State* (3) Mississippi State Stetson* Bethune-Cookman* Fayetteville region Arkansas (4) Duke Northeastern* Bryant* Athens region Georgia (5) Louisville Texas Rio Grande Valley Holy Cross* Auburn region Auburn (6) Miami (Fla.) Connecticut* Miami (Ohio)* Nashville region Vanderbilt (7) Wake Forest Southern California Oral Roberts* Chapel Hill region North Carolina (8) Oklahoma Kansas State Yale* Corvallis region Oregon State (9) Mississippi Arizona State Sacramento State* Myrtle Beach region Coastal Carolina* (10) North Carolina State Kentucky High Point* Los Angeles region UCLA (11) Dallas Baptist* Cal Poly San Diego* Clemson region Clemson (12) Southern Mississippi East Tennessee State* Rhode Island* Knoxville region Tennessee (13) Georgia Tech Iowa* Tennessee Tech* Eugene region Oregon (14) UC Irvine* Xavier Nevada* Tuscaloosa region Alabama (15) West Virginia* Southeastern Louisiana* Fairfield* Fort Worth region TCU (16) Florida Virginia Wright State* Last four in: Cal Poly, Texas Rio Grande Valley, Virginia, Xavier. First four out: Western Kentucky, Creighton, Cincinnati, Texas A&M. Team breakdown by conference: SEC (13), ACC (10), Big 12 (6), Big Ten (4), Sun Belt (3), Big East (2), Big West (2), Southland (2). Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
15-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Is Notre Dame baseball projected to make the NCAA Tournament by USA TODAY?
Is Notre Dame baseball projected to make the NCAA Tournament by USA TODAY? As the NCAA baseball season is entering its final regular season weekend, many in South Bend have been wondering if Notre Dame's late season push will be enough to get them into the tournament. Well, if Eddie Timanus and Erick Smith of the USA TODAY are correct, the Irish won't be making a return to the tournament. They released their projected bracket, and Notre Dame wasn't even listed as one of the first four out. It's pretty clear that the ACC, along with the SEC, are the top two baseball conferences in the country, as they totaled 23 bids in this projection. The Irish are viewed currently as a fringe team to make the tournament, and they could force the issue for the committee over the next few weeks. The weekend series in Miami just became that much bigger for Notre Dame, as the Hurricanes in this projection are in, although they are not one of hosts of a regional. There is still some hope for the Irish, but they'll need to win the series this weekend along with a few games in the ACC Tournament to force their way in.
USA Today
29-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Oklahoma Sooners included in USA TODAY Sports post-spring top 25
Oklahoma Sooners included in USA TODAY Sports post-spring top 25 The vibes surrounding the Oklahoma football team couldn't be much higher. At least, couldn't be much higher considering the Sooners are coming off their second 6-7 season in the last three years. And it isn't just local diehards. National college football writers Paul Myerberg and Erick Smith placed the Sooners at No. 25 in the updated USA TODAY Sports too-early rankings Monday. Oklahoma had not been ranked in the previous iteration. "The program's downward trend under coach Brent Venables makes this a wild-card pick to round out our post-spring rankings," Myerberg and Smith wrote. "Defensively, Oklahoma should be in good shape after bringing back many of the key pieces behind a unit that ranked seventh in the SEC last season in yards per play." On the other side of the ball, there's a lot more to be positive about for 2025, thanks to a re-vamped attack. Venables brought in former Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle in December. Along with Arbuckle came quarter John Mateer, who quickly established himself as the likely starter. Mateer led FBS in total touchdowns last year, throwing for 15 scores and throwing for 29. He should have an arsenal at his disposal out wide. Deion Burks and Jacob Jordan, the team's second and third leading receivers last year, return after playing about half the season each last year because of injuries. The Sooners also added Javonnie Gibson from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Josiah Martin from California-Berkeley, Isaiah Sategna from Arkansas and Keontez Lewis from Southern Illinois. The Sooners are also hoping for the return of Jayden Gibson from knee injury that sidelined him for the 2024 season. He was trending toward a breakout season before the injury. If Oklahoma is able to maintain a reasonable level of health on offense, they'll have a much better season in 2025 than they did a year ago. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.
USA Today
08-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Way-too-early men's college basketball rankings from USA TODAY Sports for Florida Gators
Way-too-early men's college basketball rankings from USA TODAY Sports for Florida Gators It has been less than 24 hours since the Florida Gators earned their third-ever national championship in the 2025 men's college basketball NCAA Tournament and already, the sports media is looking ahead to next fall. While the ticker tape still lines the floor inside the Alamodome, USA TODAY Sports' Paul Myerberg, Erick Smith and Eddie Timanus put together their way-too-early ranking for the 2025-26 campaign. In it, Todd Golden's team remains among the top 10, but the loss of the team's seniors — including All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr. — will be a tough void to fill. Nonetheless, the trio expects Florida to come in at No. 8 with six months standing between now and the start of the preseason. They offered a succinct explanation for the pick. "There will certainly be a transition from a team led by All-America guard Walter Clayton, and he will be hard to replace," they note. "However, the Gators still should have most of the inside players returning, with Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu all poised for increased production. Denzel Aberdeen should be a consistent perimeter scorer and will get boosted by incoming freshman Alex Lloyd." USA TODAY Sports way-too-early men's basketball top 25 Houston (35-5) Duke (35-4) Connecticut (24-11) UCLA (23-11) Brigham Young (26-10) Alabama (28-9) Texas Tech (28-9) Florida (36-4) Michigan (27-10) Louisville (27-8) Purdue (24-12) Arkansas (22-14) St. John's (31-5) Iowa State (25-10) Michigan State (30-7) Kentucky (24-12) Kansas (23-12) Tennessee (30-8) Wisconsin (27-10) Gonzaga (26-9) Creighton (25-11) North Carolina (23-14) Arizona (24-13) Auburn (32-5) Baylor (20-15) Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
