NCAA Baseball
Regional Results
2002

Super Regionals complete.

New readers should consult a separate page that gives some general background information on the records, polls, RPI, ISR, etc information included in the table below. (An "N" indicates a "national" seed.) As usual, the polls and data are from from Monday, 27 May 2002, when the regional pairings and seedings were announced. Again, many thanks to Rick Rollins for the conference standings that make my "etc..." column and a separate analysis of performance grouped by conference possible, and to Boyd Nation for the pseudo-RPI and ISR information generated from Rick's database.

The average (mean) ISR for the field is 112.9, plus or minus a standard deviation of 8.5.
The median ISR is 113.4.

The highest pseudo-RPI ranking without a bid was Mississippi (32). The lowest pseudo-RPI with an at-large bid was Washington (79), although it could seem that Stetson or CSU,Fullerton were lowest in the NCAA's official RPI. [I say "could seem" since the post-9/11 travel considerations likely explain these teams being 4 seeds.] The highest ISR without a bid was Mississippi (116.4). The lowest ISR with an at-large bid was Elon (107.8), well behind South Florida (109.9) and Florida Atlantic (110.3).

There is one striking anomaly this year:
Navy seeded 3rd above George Washington. The only reason is to avoid a 1st round match between teams from the same conference, but this could have been dealt with by swapping a few teams between nearby regionals. Just as odd was Stetson as the #4 seed rather than #2 (where its pRPI says it should be), since swapping it with UCF would have matched the pRPI better. The NCAA clearly went with conference finish and national ranking over its own ranking.

Note: The NCAA identified the regions only by location, so the region numbering scheme is my own creation, reflecting the seeding of the associated super regional and identifying which of the two paired regionals has a top-8 nationally seeded team.

Super Regional Summary:

I order these results in almost the same way the NCAA does (they use 1-8, 5-4, 2-7, 6-3), reflecting the pairings in the CWS brackets.


       Super Regional 1:    Notre Dame  10   5  3   ==>  meets 8
                         at Florida St   4  12  1  


       Super Regional 8:    Southern Cal  2  3  
                         at Stanford      4  5   ==>  meets 1


       Super Regional 4:    Louisiana St  0  0 
                         at Rice          6  3  ==>  meets 5


       Super Regional 5:    Houston  2   2  2 
                         at Texas    0  17  5  ==>  meets 4


            ==========================

       Super Regional 2:    Arkansas  9  7  4   
                         at Clemson   6  8  7    ==>  meets 7


       Super Regional 7:    Richmond  0  6   6 
                         at Nebraska  2  2  11   ==>  meets 2


       Super Regional 3:    Fla Atlantic   3   5   
                         at Georgia Tech  14  11   ==>  meets 6


       Super Regional 6:    Miami         7  5  4 
                         at S. Carolina  10  2  6  ==>  meets 3


            ==========================

Complete Results:

Note: The regional names in square brackets were "officially" determined by Craig Gowens, now and forever the "Commissioner of the SWC". All series start on 31 May. The order here is by national seed, not by future CWS pairing (which is the 1-8, 5-4, 2-7, 6-3 order used in NCAA listings) or the (seemingly random) east-west order used in the newspaper this year. For convenience, I give the location name used in the NCAA nomenclature in quotes along with the actual location in my listings for the one case where the NCAA got the location wrong.


                       NCAA  Record   Polls  Boyd Nation
 Seed Team            Result W  L  T  CB BA   RPI   ISR   etc....
 ==== =============== ====== =======  == ==   ===   ===   ===============

  Region 1 [Swamp I] - Tallahassee, FL
  -------------------   ---------------
 N1 * Florida St      WW W   56-12     1  1     2   126   ACC champ (#1)
  3   South Fla       LWWL   33-27     .  .    37   110   Conf USA (#7)
  2   Central Fla     WLL    40-20    26 23    36   110   Atl.Sun champ (#1)
  4   Stetson         LL     42-17     .  .    23   112   Atl.Sun (#3)

  Region 1a [Mideast] - South Bend, IN
  -------------------   --------------
  2 * Notre Dame      WW W   44-15    17 16    44   111   Big East champ (#1)
  3   Ohio State      LWWL   36-18-1  30 --    94   106   Big Ten champ (#2)
  1   S. Alabama      WLL    41-17    20 20    18   116   Sun Belt (#1)
  4   Kent State      LL     37-20     .  .    80   103   MAC champ (E#2)

     ===>   Super Regional 1:    Notre Dame  10   5  3   ==>  meets 8
                              at Florida St   4  12  1  

            ==========================

  Region 2 [East I] - Clemson, SC
  -----------------   -----------
 N1 * Clemson         WW W   47-14     7  5     1   125   ACC (#4)
  2   E. Carolina     WLWL   41-18-1  27 --    33   115   Conf USA champ (#6)
  4   Ga. Southern    LWL    38-23     .  .    92   105   Southern champ ($4)
  3   Elon            LL     34-21     .  .    45   108   Big South (#2)

  Region 2a [Midwest II] - Wichita, KS
  ----------------------   -----------
  3 * Arkansas        WW W   31-26     .  .    35   113   SEC (W5,8)
  4   Oral Roberts    WLWL   46-17     .  .   141   108   Mid-Cont. champ (#1)
  1   Wichita St      LWL    46-15    13 14    17   118   MoValley champ (#1)
  2   Oklahoma        LL     35-25    29 --    26   116   Big 12 (#4)

     ===>   Super Regional 2:    Arkansas  9  7  4   
                              at Clemson   6  8  7    ==>  meets 7

            ==========================

  Region 3 [South I] - Tuscaloosa, AL
  ------------------   --------------
  3 * Fla Atlantic    WW LW  43-18     .  .    42   110   Atl.Sun (#2)
 N1   Alabama         LWWWL  48-13     6  6    11   123   SEC champ (E1,2)
  4   SE Mo. St       WLL    36-18     .  .    93   108   OhioVal champ (#1)
  2   Auburn          LL     34-24     .  .    34   114   SEC (W3,5)

  Region 3a [South II] - Atlanta, GA
  --------------------   -----------
  1 * Georgia Tech    WW W   46-14     9 12     5   122   ACC (#5)
  2   Georgia         WLWL   30-27     .  .    20   114   SEC (E3,6)
  4   Coastal Carol.  LWL    43-17     .  .    29   112   Big South champ (#1)
  3   Louisville      LL     39-16     .  .    41   114   Conf USA (#2)

     ===>   Super Regional 3:    Fla Atlantic   3   5   
                              at Georgia Tech  14  11   ==>  meets 6

            ==========================

  Region 4 [Bayou I] - Houston, TX
  ------------------   ----------- 
 N1 * Rice            WW LW  47-11     2  2     7   125   WAC champ (#1)
  3   Washington      LWWWL  30-25-1   .  .    79   112   Pac 10 (#2t)
  2   Texas Tech      WLL    41-18    19 --    25   119   Big 12 (#2t)
  4   Harvard         LL     20-24     .  .   190    90   Ivy champ (Rolfe#1)

  Region 4a [Bayou II] - Baton Rouge, LA
  --------------------   ---------------
  1 * Louisiana St    WLWWW  40-19    11 10     6   121   SEC (W2,4)
  2   U.LA-Lafayette  WW LL  37-21     .  .    16   116   Sun Belt (#2)
  3   Tulane          LWL    35-25     .  .    54   111   Conf USA (#5)
  4   Southern        LL     45- 8     .  .    75   101   SWAC champ (W#1)

     ===>   Super Regional 4:    Louisiana St  0  0 
                              at Rice          6  3  ==>  meets 5

            ==========================

  Region 5 [Central] - Austin, TX
  ------------------   ----------
 N1 * Texas           WW W   48-14     3  3     9   125   Big 12 champ (#1)
  2   Baylor          WLWL   34-24     .  .    31   116   Big 12 (#5t)
  3   Lamar           LWL    35-22     .  .    91   109   Southland champ (#3)
  4   Cent. Conn. St  LL     34-21     .  .   194    89   Northeast champ (#3)

  Region 5a [Mountain] - "Tempe" (HoHoKam Stadium in Mesa, AZ)
  --------------------   -------
  1 * Houston         WW W   44-15     8  7     8   124   Conf USA (#1)
  2   Arizona St      WLWL   35-19    21 21    28   119   Pac 10 (#4)
  3   San Diego       LWL    38-21     .  .    89   114   West Coast champ (W#1)
  4   New Mexico St   LL     37-23     .  .    90   108   Sun Belt champ (#6)

     ===>   Super Regional 5:    Houston  2   2  2 
                              at Texas    0  17  5  ==>  meets 4

            ==========================

  Region 6 [East II] - Columbia, SC
  ------------------   ------------
 N1 * S. Carolina     WW LW  48-14     5  4     4   123   SEC (E1,1)
  2   N. Carolina     WLWWL  40-19    14 19    13   118   ACC (#3)
  3   James Madison   LWL    43-14     .  .    22   113   Colonial (Am#1)
  4   Va. Comm.       LL     38-25     .  .    62   104   Colonial champ (Col#3)

  Region 6a [Swamp II] - Gainesville, FL
  --------------------   ---------------
  3 * Miami (FL)      WW LW  30-26     .  .    19   113   indep (#2)
  1   Florida         WLWWL  43-17    15 11    10   120   SEC (E2,3)
  4   Bethune-Cookman LWL    38-20     .  .    63   105   MEAC champ (S#1)
  2   Florida Intl    LL     41-18     .  .    27   112   Sun Belt (#4)

     ===>   Super Regional 6:    Miami         7  5  4 
                              at S. Carolina  10  2  6  ==>  meets 3

            ==========================

  Region 7 [Atlantic] - Winston-Salem NC (Ernie Shore Field)
  -------------------   ----------------
  2 * Richmond        WW LW  49-10    23 24    15   113   Atl.10 (W#1)
 N1   Wake Forest     WLWWL  44-11-1   4  8     3   124   ACC (#2)
  3   Navy            LWL    22-23     .  .   173    92   Patriot champ (#1)
  4   Geo.Washington  LL     42-21     .  .    59   104   Atl.10 champ (W#2)

  Region 7a [Midwest I] - Lincoln, NE
  ---------------------   -----------
  1 * Nebraska        WW W   42-18    12 13    14   120   Big 12 (#2t)
  2   SW Mo. St       LWWL   41-19    28 --    39   115   MoValley (#3)
  3   Marist          WLL    40-12     .  .    56   103   MetroAtl champ (#1)
  4   Wis.-Milwaukee  LL     36-18     .  .   134   101   Horizon champ (#2)

     ===>   Super Regional 7:    Richmond  0  6   6 
                              at Nebraska  2  2  11   ==>  meets 2

            ==========================

  Region 8 [West I] - Stanford, CA
  -----------------   ------------
 N1 * Stanford        WW W   40-16    10  9    12   124   Pac 10 (#2t)
  2   Long Beach St   WLWL   37-19    24 22    21   120   Big West (#2t)
  4   CSU,Fullerton   LWL    36-20    25 25    24   119   Big West (#2t)
  3   San Jose St     LL     45-15    22 18    51   119   WAC (#2)

  Region 8a [West II] - Los Angeles, CA
  -------------------   ---------------
  1 * Southern Cal    WW W   34-22    18 17    30   119   Pac 10 champ (#1)
  4   Brigham Young   LWWL   29-29-1   .  .   132   106   Mtn West champ (#3)
  2   CSU,Northridge  WLL    40-15    16 15    40   119   Big West champ (#1)
  3   Maine           LL     40-15     .  .    74   100   Am.East champ (#1)

     ===>   Super Regional 8:    Southern Cal  2  3  
                              at Stanford      4  5   ==>  meets 1

            ==========================

Related information:

In addition, I include the usual list of "bridesmaid" teams. Several of these were obvious and proposed by many newsgroup readers, others stood out in Boyd's rankings, and some were picked just to placate or annoy regular newsgroup readers. There are none missing with an ISR of 113 or above.

This list of possible teams is of particular interest with the expansion of the tournament to 64 teams. One can compare the thresholds used in past years (where we also have RPI and ISR data) to those used with the expanded field. Teams that exceed the objective thresholds in the pseudo-RPI and ISR which lead me to think they deserve consideration are flagged in the table below. However, it is important to note that these numeric scores from computer rating formulae are not the only criteria used by the selection committee, nor should they be the only criteria used.

Decisive criteria listed by the NCAA selection committee in the past have included strength of non-conference schedule and performance in the conference tournament in addition to the overall season performance numbers we tabulate here.

Examination of the 2001 seeds showed that conference finish was undoubtedly the reason every team with a pseudo-RPI high enough to make the field strictly by the numbers (those marked with an "*") was left out by the committee. This is clearly the case for Mississippi (9th in conference, did not qualify for conference tournament) and NC State (7th in conference), and probably for Delaware () as well.

??? ..... was clearly the last team added to the field.


... RPI analysis NOT EVEN STARTED ...


   Overlooked ?   (ordered by ISR, records may not be accurate) 
   ----------

                             Record   Polls  Boyd Nation
 Seed Team                   W  L  T  CB BA   RPI   ISR   etc....
 ==== =============== ...... =======  == ==   ===   ===   ===============

  X*  Mississippi            37-19     .  .    32   116   SEC (W6,9)
  X   Texas A & M            35-23     .  .    53   115   Big 12 (#8)
  X   Oklahoma St            37-21     .  .    46   114   Big 12 (#5)
  X   Arizona                30-22     .  .    68   113   Pac 10 (#8)
      Northwestern St        41-16     .  .    60   113   Southland (#1)
      Oregon St              31-20     .  .    88   113   Pac 10 (#5)
      Mississippi St         34-23-1   .  .    50   113   SEC (W4,7)
      Fresno St              29-27     .  .    73   113   WAC (#3)
      San Diego St           43-21     .  .    86   113   Mtn West (#1)
      So. Mississippi        36-21     .  .    55   112   Conf USA (#4)
      SW Texas St            36-23     .  .    57   112   Southland (#6)
      TCU                    30-28     .  .    47   111   Conf USA (#3)
      W. Kentucky            38-19     .  .    67   110   Sun Belt (#3)
      Tennessee              27-28     .  .    52   110   SEC (E4,10)
  *   N.C. State             33-26     .  .    38   109   ACC (#7)
      U.N.C.-Wilmington      36-21     .  .    49   108   Colonial (Am#2)
      Michigan St            38-18     .  .    84   106   Big 10 (#3)
      Rutgers                33-21     .  .    48   105   Big East (#4)
      Minnesota              30-25     .  .    83   105   Big 10 (#1)
  *   Delaware               35-21     .  .    43   104   Colonial (Col#1t)
      Virginia               25-32     .  .    66   104   ACC (#6)
      Ball State             33-22     .  .   122   100   MAC (W#2)
      New York Tech          27-22     .  .   189    91   indep (#1)
      Morris Brown           15-35-2   .  .   286    66   indep (#3)
      Maryland E-S            4-36     .  .   285    66   MEAC (N#4)

 ---------------

  X - denotes team with Boyd's computer ranking above the 113.4 
      median for regional tournament teams.  The lowest ISR of an 
      at-large team was 1xx.

  * - denotes team with a higher pseudo-RPI than the natural cutoff 
      for a 64-team tournament after automatic bids are used up [45]. 

 ==== =============== ====== =======  == ==  === ===  ==  ===============