FSU finally wins a championship, but it isn't Florida State.
Fresno State (47-31) takes 2 of 3 to beat Georgia (45-25-1) for the
NCAA Championship, the first ever for CSU Fresno in any men's sport.
Fresno State came in as the regular season and tournament champion
of the WAC. They were seeded fourth with an RPI of 89 and the
47th ISR (112) nationally, which makes them the biggest surprise
winner in a long time in any sport. However, it is worth noting that
Georgia was only 17 in the RPI and had the 31st ISR (115). Neither team
really belonged in the final game if you believed those numbers.
Further, the ISR gap between them had narrowed to one point
(117 vs 116) by the time they met in the finals, so the games
between them were basically a toss up by that point. The ESPN
commentariat seemed to miss the detail that both of the teams
in the championship were underdogs. The difference was that
Georgia didn't think it was, despite losing the SEC tournament.
The seedings and standings are structured to reflect the fact that we have, in effect, a structure identical to a pair of regionals feeding into a best 2-of-3 super regional for the championship.
seed team CWS record CB BA ISR' ISR ---- --------------- ----- ------ -- -- ---- --- N8 * Georgia (3-0) 41-23-1 6 7 115 115 5. Stanford (2-2) 39-22-2 7 6 123 121 N1. Miami (1-2) 52- 9 1 1 124 124 N4. Florida St (0-2) 54-12 3 2 122 122 ---- --------------- ----- ------ -- -- ---- --- 3 * Fresno St (3-1) 42-29 8 8 114 112 ! 4th seed N2. N. Carolina (3-2) 51-12 4 3 121 121 N7. Louisiana St (1-2) 48-17-1 2 4 117 116 N6. Rice (0-2) 47-13 5 5 122 121 ---- --------------- ----- ------ -- -- ---- ---
Records and poll rankings are from after the Super Regionals, before the CWS.
Order reflects the results of a "regional-style" double elimination tourney.
The ranking
produced by Boyd Nation before regional play is
listed under ISR, while that after the regionals is under ISR'.
First (1-4-5-8) bracket:
------------------------
1. Miami 4
8. Georgia 7
Georgia 4 Georgia 10 *
Stanford 3 Stanford 8
4. Fla. St 5 Stanford 8
5. Stanford 16 Miami 3
Miami 7
Fla. St 5
Second (2-3-6-7) bracket:
-------------------------
2. N.Car. 8
7. LSU 4
N. Carol. 3 Fresno St 3 6 *
Fresno St 5 N. Carol. 4 1
3. Fresno St 17 N.Car. 7
6. Rice 5 LSU 3
LSU 6
Rice 5
Fresno St 001 020 030 - 6 7 0 Georgia 100 101 04x - 7 10 1 Georgia 311 100 400 - 10 15 0 Fresno St 006 540 31x - 19 19 3 Fresno St 020 103 000 - 6 8 4 Georgia 000 000 010 - 1 6 2