By Micah Beutell
We are two weekends into the 2024 college baseball season, and there are already a lot of story lines. This week's bracketology did not see too much change from the preseason.
Seeds may have moved, but a lot of that comes from such a small sample size. I will break down any major changes in the same format as last week. First the Power 5, then Mid-Majors, then the Small Conference teams. So lets dive into it!
POWER FIVE:
SEC (11): Florida, Arkansas, LSU, Texas A&M, Tennessee, South Carolina, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia
ACC (8): Wake Forest, Clemson, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, NC State, Miami, Louisville, and Florida State
Big 12 (7): TCU, Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Kansas State, West Virginia, and Oklahoma
Pac 12 (5): Oregon State, UCLA, Arizona , Arizona State and Oregon
Big 10 (3): Iowa, Indiana, and Maryland
Let's start with with the recent removal of one ACC teams. I have been high on Louisville entering the season, but yet they have not lived up to the hype. A team that is 3-4 and struggling getting good outings from their bullpen. They are hitting the ball and I have moved them to Next Four Out. Two new ACC teams moved up in the post-season watch with both Pitt and Virginia Tech entering the First Four Out category. Also, Virginia replaces Indiana as a regional host after their very impressive weekend in Jacksonville.
Now lets go to our two newest additions in both the Pac 12 and Big 10. Arizona State reenters after following just outside. I am seeing the Pac 12 as a 5 bid league and Arizona State has been the most impressive team of late. Cal is just on the outside looking in, as they are my first team out and I could easily see them entering the picture after another good week. The Big 10 also saw the addition of Maryland. I was very impressed with this Terps team this past weekend and feel I punished them too much for the loss of their head coach and a few key pieces from last season. The blue print is still there for the Terps and I have them in the tournament at this time.
Mid-Majors:
CAA (2): Northeastern, Campbell, and UNC-Wilmington
Sun Belt (3): Coastal Carolina, Southern Miss, and Troy
C-USA (2): Dallas Baptist & Sam Houston State
Big West (2): UC-Santa Barbara & UC Irvine
American: (1): East Carolina
A10 (1): VCU
Mountain West (1): San Jose State
Mid-American (1): Western Michigan
UNCW is a tricky team and they will be hanging around the bubble all year. With a 2-2 week that includes a lost to Princeton, it felt like it was time to move a few new teams in for their spot. I still really like this Seahawk group, but we will need to see more from them to feel as though they should be back in the field.
The only other note in this Mid-Major category comes from the decision to reverse my swap of Cal St Fullerton for UC Irvine. The Anteaters looked very impressive at Tulane this weekend and I have determined this is a 2-bid Big West. The Titans were impressive in their series win over Stanford on opening weekend, but Stanford has looked less than good to start and losing the series to Fresno State has them on the outside looking in.
Small Conference:
Missouri Valley (1): Indiana State
Southern (1): Samford
West Coast (1): Santa Clara
Southland (1): Nicholls
Big South (1): USC-Upstate
WAC (1): Grand Canyon
ASUN (1): Lipscomb
America East (1): Binghamton
Horizon (1): Wright State
Ohio Valley (1): Southeast Missouri State (SEMO)
Patriot (1): Army
Ivy (1): Penn
MAAC (1): Rider
Summit (1): Oral Roberts
NEC (1): Central Connecticut State
SWAC (1): Alabama State
The Small Conference category of this exercise will not change much until conference play gets rolling and with that comes ZERO change from last weekend.
Let me know what you think in the comments. Did I wrongly seed your favorite team? Who am I sleeping on? What team am I way too high on? All feedback is good, and I look forward to talking baseball all season long with you.
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