ADVERTISEMENT

So….what do the Cats have to do to…..

The consensus (baseball America and D1 baseball) seems to be that two more wins gets us a host site, given our RPI and quality wins. 3 more is a mortal lock. I think 3 more also gets us close to a top 8 seed which would mean also hosting a super regional. 4 more wins is a guaranteed national top 8 seed.

I really think we are going to win the home series against UF. I am very worried about this weekend in Knoxville though, hoping that we can at least grab 1 and avoid the sweep.
 
Win one this weekend and then win the series against Florida would lock it I think. Win the series against UT and you possibly can move even farther up depending on the last weekend.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RogerIndy
Get to 16 conference wins. No SEC team with a .500 record has ever hosted. But, I think if UK can win both of there last two series and make a deep run in Hoover, then there is an outside chance or a national seed. 18-12 with series wins over Florida, USC and UT you would be hard to convince me they wont deserve a top 8 seed.
 
Win one this weekend and then win the series against Florida would lock it I think. Win the series against UT and you possibly can move even farther up depending on the last weekend.

This. I think 2 wins (one this weekend and one against Florida) put us on the bubble for hosting, but 3 wins makes it a lock IMO. Really need to avoid the sweep this weekend.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dtjr
I think 3-3 over last 6 will lock in a Regional and win 1 at Hoover locks in a top 8.
I think there is no way to tell because I think UK, Florida, SC, and maybe even UT, Alabama or A&M could get that #8 national seed, depending on how it the last 6 games in play out. For example, if we go 2-1 vs UT and 1-2 vs Florida and we win 1 game in Hoover and Florida wins the tourney, I think Florida would lock a national seed instead of us. Same thing could happen with any of those team above I think.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Comebakatz3
I think there is no way to tell because I think UK, Florida, SC, and maybe even UT, Alabama or A&M could get that #8 national seed, depending on how it the last 6 games in play out. For example, if we go 2-1 vs UT and 1-2 vs Florida and we win 1 game in Hoover and Florida wins the tourney, I think Florida would lock a national seed instead of us. Same thing could happen with any of those team above I think.

Have to believe that 4 are locked. LSU, Arkansas, Vandy, and Wake. After that it's a tough call but it wouldn't surprise me to see the committee try to spread things out some. Stanford. Indiana State. Things are dicey as 10 of the top 11 are SEC or ACC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sluggercatfan
Have to believe that 4 are locked. LSU, Arkansas, Vandy, and Wake. After that it's a tough call but it wouldn't surprise me to see the committee try to spread things out some. Stanford. Indiana State. Things are dicey as 10 of the top 11 are SEC or ACC.

IMO, if UK goes 4-2 the next two weeks and are setting at 18-12 in conference play, I see no reason/explanation why they would not be a national seed over Florida and South Carolina if the SEC gets 4 of the 8 national seeds.
 
IMO, if UK goes 4-2 the next two weeks and are setting at 18-12 in conference play, I see no reason/explanation why they would not be a national seed over Florida and South Carolina if the SEC gets 4 of the 8 national seeds.

I would imagine that if we finish 4-2 that it would be an absolute lock. It goes down in increments from there. Get to 17 and we might sneak in at the 8. 16 and we're even more on the cusp with a possiblity, but less likely. Might depend on the SEC tournament at the point, but not sure. 15, I don't think that cuts it but I think we host. We could conceivably drop to a 2 if we don't win anymore.
 
I would imagine that if we finish 4-2 that it would be an absolute lock. It goes down in increments from there. Get to 17 and we might sneak in at the 8. 16 and we're even more on the cusp with a possiblity, but less likely. Might depend on the SEC tournament at the point, but not sure. 15, I don't think that cuts it but I think we host. We could conceivably drop to a 2 if we don't win anymore.
Yep, this is definitely the case. If we go 4-2 with a series win over Florida, I'd think we would be a pretty high national seed, like maybe even a 5 or 6. The rest of what you say is accurate as well in my opinion. 17 and we may sneak in as an 8, but it'll be tough, 16 or 15 is unlikely without a huge SEC tourney. But either way with 16 I think we are a host. With 15, I don't think we host.
 
Yep, this is definitely the case. If we go 4-2 with a series win over Florida, I'd think we would be a pretty high national seed, like maybe even a 5 or 6. The rest of what you say is accurate as well in my opinion. 17 and we may sneak in as an 8, but it'll be tough, 16 or 15 is unlikely without a huge SEC tourney. But either way with 16 I think we are a host. With 15, I don't think we host.

15 would probably be right there on the cusp of hosting as well. Might get propped up by our RPI. Still, what might hurt us is the fact that we would be something like 8 of our last 19 games. Flame out early in the SEC tournament and it 8 of our last 20. So, that trend could hurt us. I suppose they could also excuse away the USC series by giving more weight to USC having injuries. Not sure they should do that, but they might and they could use that as more evidence of UK spiraling rather than surging. So, I think 15 and we could sneak in as a host, but it would be one of those situations where you're leaving fate to the committee and that isn't ideal.
 
My WAG is we need to finish 17-13 in SEC and at least make a decent showing at SEC tournament. About 50% of 17-13 SEC teams have hosted a regional, I read the other day somewhere.

As a comparison, only times we have hosted this century were 20-10 in 2006 and 19-11 in 2017.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Comebakatz3
17-13 in the league would probably maintain the top RPI spot. Worst case would drop to #3. Those metrics and being 4 games over .500 in the league would guarantee a regional and would put them in a coin flip for a national seed.

2017 had a RPI ranking of 9 and 2006 checked in at 28. Still a lot of baseball left, but a lot of credit to this staff for giving their team a great opportunity through smart scheduling.
 
I should have added that having a nearly new ballpark that's sure to sell a lot of tickets would help our chances I would think.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Comebakatz3
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT