FB Recruiting Bat Cats snubbed?

[Jeff Drummond]

Kentucky fails to receive NCAA Tourney bid

After a poor finish in SEC play, Kentucky will not take part in the 2018 NCAA Baseball Tournament.
Jeff Drummond/Cats Illustrated

Jeff Drummond • CatsIllustrated.com
@JDrumUK

After being ranked in the Top 25 polls for almost the entire season, Kentucky learned Monday it will not get a chance to compete in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

The Wildcats were one of the "last four out" teams in the field of 64 despite owning a No. 30 RPI and more Top 50 wins than all but eight other clubs in the nation.

Ray Tanner, the NCAA Tournament committee chairman and former head coach at South Carolina, said UK's fate boiled down to its poor conference record.

"I think anyone that follows college baseball recognizes that Kentucky has a great club, but there are some metrics that we look at in the selection room and one is sub-.500 against conference competition," Tanner said. "There's only one team in the field that is sub-.500 against conference competition. It was a glaring weakness against Kentucky."

Kentucky finished 13-17 in SEC play, tied for 10th in the league. Ultimately, losing five out of six down the stretch to Tennessee and Vanderbilt may have been the tipping point.

The Cats also lost their SEC Tournament opener against Auburn, putting them five games under .500 against league teams.

Despite that black mark, UK still had a strong case to receive an at-large bid. The "last four in" clubs included Dallas Baptist (RPI 36), Northeastern (35), Oklahoma State (41) and Troy (39).

Kentucky won 16 games against Top 50 competition this season, including five against national seeds - Texas Tech (2), Georgia (2) and Florida (1). The Cats also won thier series against at-large bids Mississippi State and South Carolina, and picked up wins over Louisville, Indiana, Houston and Morehead State in non-conference play.

The "last four in" teams' results against Top 50 play were as follows: Dallas Baptist (5-9), Northeastern (3-9), Oklahoma State (9-9) and Troy (6-10).

Ten SEC schools received bids for the tourney.

 

[Comebakatz3]

I wonder how many other teams spent 14 of 15 weeks in the top 25, including 10 in the top 10, and failed to make the NCAA tournament. I'm guessing it's not many, if any.

 

[hs_sportsfan]

Nobody to blame but themselves. For this team to be in this spot is inexcusable, you can't put it in the hands of other people. Just win one at Vandy and then start Hjelle in the SEC tourney and we would have had a better opportunity to win. Some head scratching moves and quite honestly some of our kids just didn't deliver most notably on the mound.

 

[Comebakatz3]

The conference being held against us is total crap. In conference Dallas Baptist played just 1 team in the top 50 RPI. They went 1-3 against them. They had the benefit of playing 4 conference teams with RPIs outside of the top 100, all of which had losing records overall. They got 10 of their 16 conference wins against these opponents. UK played 0 conference teams outside of the top 100 and just 2 outside the top 50. So, 11 of our conference wins came against top 50 opponents.

Northeastern is a total joke.

Oklahoma State has 2... 2 wins in the month of May. They are 2-10 this month. That's atrocious, but I guess because they swept 90th RPI Kansas and 135th Kansas State for 6 wins they are more deserving than we are. What a joke.

Troy also only had to play 2 teams in conference with RPIs below 50. They went 3-3. 12 of their 19 conference wins came against teams with RPIs over 100.

Houston getting a nod is also somewhat suspect. They were swept in Houston by 3 SEC teams, including UK. They failed to win a single top 50 RPI game out of conference. I do give them credit for beating their best conference opponents though.

 

[law1127]

Until UK starts finishing the season on an uptick,which hasn’t been the case very often,then the ncaa has all the excuses for leaving us home!

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Look at these strength of schedule rankings for teams getting in
Tennessee Tech 182
St. John's 105
Northeastern 74
Minnesota 14 national seed 60
Oregon State 3 national seed 59
Talk about a need for transparency, and definite guidelines for the Selection committee !

 

[Oldtrainer]

Not surprised. Losing 2 of 3 to a not a good Vol team and getting swept at a very ordinary Vandy team hurt!

 

[Jeff Drummond]

I wonder how many other teams spent 14 of 15 weeks in the top 25, including 10 in the top 10, and failed to make the NCAA tournament. I'm guessing it's not many, if any.

I would venture to say this has never happened.

 

[irishcat1965]

Was UK screwed? Absolutely. Did UK control it’s own destiny and blow it? Yep.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Was UK screwed? Absolutely. Did UK control it’s own destiny and blow it? Yep.

Agreed. It's definitely on us as well.

 

[ukdesi]

This argument is bogus. Why do conference games count more than non conference games ? They should look at the overall body of work rather than emphasize conference games.

 

[STUCKNBIG10]

Was UK screwed? Absolutely. Did UK control it’s own destiny and blow it? Yep.

Perfect summary. UK absolutely did get screwed as there was zero good reason for them to not get into this tournament. On the other hand, I place the blame for this season squarely at the feet of Ming for blowing the season with this level of talent at his disposal.

 

[Jeff Drummond]

Twiter reacts to UK tourney snub...

https://kentucky.rivals.com/news/tourney-snub-for-cats-draws-strong-reaction

 

[Jeff Drummond]

Was UK screwed? Absolutely. Did UK control it’s own destiny and blow it? Yep.

Probably the best way to put it. Doesn't excuse the former, but Cats could have taken care of business.

 

[Jeff Drummond]

Strong words from Ole Miss coach...

 

[STUCKNBIG10]

This argument is bogus. Why do conference games count more than non conference games ? They should look at the overall body of work rather than emphasize conference games.

Agreed, and why do the committee rationales for each sport (hell, even the same sport but in different seasons) change? The UK softball team got in despite having a horrendous SEC record and acquitted itself quite well. The reasoning given for their admission was their OOC play and their strength of schedule.

In basketball, the committee's priorities seem to change but they ALWAYS say that conference does not matter and that each team is looked at individually.

So, for the conference record alone to keep UK out is an abomination. Further, UK went 5-5 in SEC series. They were swept twice, otherwise they'd have easily hit .500 in league play.

Stupid lazy work by Ray Tanner and his cronies.

 

[ukdesi]

Agreed, and why do the committee rationales for each sport (hell, even the same sport but in different seasons) change? The UK softball team got in despite having a horrendous SEC record and acquitted itself quite well. The reasoning given for their admission was their OOC play and their strength of schedule.

In basketball, the committee's priorities seem to change but they ALWAYS say that conference does not matter and that each team is looked at individually.

So, for the conference record alone to keep UK out is an abomination. Further, UK went 5-5 in SEC series. They were swept twice, otherwise they'd have easily hit .500 in league play.

Stupid lazy work by Ray Tanner and his cronies.

All good points. Sounds like UK would have been a no brainer if the whole resume was the criteria. Effectively NCAA gave a higher weighting to conf record than to non conf games, which as you mentioned is inconsistent across other sports. In addition, the series record at 500 should be considered in my opinion---in any college playoff format if you lose 2 games you are done--that happened in 5/10 conf series for UK, which in the SEC is not bad.

 

[Larry Skaggs]

This new coach is all talk so far. Give him two more years and move on.

 

[hs_sportsfan]

Isn't Mitch still on the basketball committee? Maybe next year he can stick it back at Tanner!

 

[Comebakatz3]

This new coach is all talk so far. Give him two more years and move on.

He has the only super regional appearance in UK history. That is far from "all talk."

 

[jashby]

This new coach is all talk so far. Give him two more years and move on.

He led the team to their best finish in school history in his first season. This is just a ridiculous statement.