2024 D1Baseball Field of 64 Projections: May 8
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Selection Day for the 2024 NCAA tournament will be here before we know it, and with that, it’s time to look at the very latest D1Baseball Field of 64 Projections.
The good news if you’re a fan of stability is there are very few changes when it comes to the top eight national seeds. There are no new teams in the top eight this week, but the order differs slightly from last week. Last week, Texas A&M, which is the top RPI team in the land, was No. 1. Now, after the Aggies dropped a road series to LSU, combined with the fact Kentucky took a home series from Arkansas, there’s a flip flop between the Wildcats and Aggies. Kentucky leads the SEC regular season standings and is two games ahead of the Aggies, while also having three more wins against Quad 1 teams and two more wins against Quad 2 teams.
The rest of the top eight includes Tennessee, Clemson, Arkansas, North Carolina, Florida State and East Carolina. If those teams continue to take care of business, it will take a Herculean effort from teams in the 9-16 range to move into the top eight.
There are some changes when it comes to hosts in the 9-16 range this week. Oklahoma State is out as a host, and Mississippi State slightly edged out Oregon State this week. While we love the Beavers from a human poll standpoint, the metrics are not expected to be in their favor. The Beavers are 14-9 in the Pac-12, just 1-2 against Q1 teams, and are third place in the Pac-12 – 2 ½ games behind Arizona. The good news for Mitch Canham’s Beavs? They face scuffling UCLA at home this weekend before finishing the regular season with a road series against Arizona. Win those two series to finish the regular season and we’ll feel great about OSU being a Top 16 seed. Lose the series and the pathway to a Top 16 seems problematic without some help.
In terms of overall conference bids in this week’s field, the SEC leads the charge with 10 bids in our projections, while the ACC is right behind with nine, the Big 12 has seven, the Sun Belt has five and the Pac-12 has four. Other multi-bid leagues include the Big East, Big Ten, Big West and Conference USA.
Our projections are assembled each week by the trio of Mark Etheridge, Kendall Rogers, and Aaron Fitt. Together, the trio has more than 60 years of experience covering college baseball and putting together regional projections.
LAST FOUR IN: Georgia Tech, UCF, James Madison, Coastal Carolina
FIRST FOUR OUT: Louisville, LSU, College of Charleston, California
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