Special Season in the making? How Good Are We?
- Thread starter m080470
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You dont go 11-1 in the league by accident or pure luck. We haven't yet played the toughest league schedule but we've taken a huge advantage of it.
18 games left. Just win 1 each weekend and we have 17 wins. That gets us a bid to host a regional once again. Go .500 in those and we're at 20 and we're hosting a regional and a top 8 seed to host a super.
I don't see many teams sweeping UK.
18 games left. Just win 1 each weekend and we have 17 wins. That gets us a bid to host a regional once again. Go .500 in those and we're at 20 and we're hosting a regional and a top 8 seed to host a super.
I don't see many teams sweeping UK.
We're good. How good is still TBD. Can't wait to see how we do when it really heats up in a couple weeks.
I've been to most of the home games and I've watched many of the others on TV.
Our starting pitching is outstanding. Our weekend lineup is about as good as you'll find. Our bullpen is not quite as strong, but it is solid. We don 't have that dominating shut down closer, but we have a bunch of decent arms.
Our hitting started off slowly, but for some reason, we've started slugging in league play. We hit a bunch more homers than UGA and Alabama and both are power hitting teams. Frankly, the only weak spot in the lineup is currently Devon burkes who is one of my favorite players - he is just struggling this year (so far).
Arkansas' ace is a monster. A&M is excellent. Vandy is always good, though I'm not sure how good (they have had a pretty easy league slate too, but were swept at USC). UT has a monster lineup, but their pitching is suspect. Florida was supposed to be awesome but they are barely above .500 and just got swept at mizzou.
For now, I would put UK behind Arkansas, right with A&M at second in the league, and just above Vandy and UT.
One edit I would make to the above notes about number of wins - UK"s sweeps are huge, b/c the following numbers are pretty set in stone:
-14 SEC wins will get you into the tourney (13 is possible, but you're playing with fire; 15 wins is a tourney lock)
-16 wins is usually good enough to host. 17 wins should be a lock for an SEC team.
At this rate, UK would simply need to avoid sweeps the rest of the way to host. To get a top 8 seed, 18 wins is likely good enough, though 17 might get it done. 19 and you can take it to the bank.
UK is top 5 RPI, so the metrics are also in our favor. Last year, we were the #12 national seed - we had a top 5 RPI, 16 league wins, and only four SEC series wins. We already have four series wins this year, so you can see how we're trending.
In short, I think UK is easily a top 15 team. Our performance at the plate is improving every week, so I could definitely make the argument that we are a top 10 team with the potential for more. I'd like to see how we fare against the creme de la creme in the next two months. We'll play the best teams in the country starting April 19 against UT, so we'll have a great idea of what we have going into Hoover.
Our starting pitching is outstanding. Our weekend lineup is about as good as you'll find. Our bullpen is not quite as strong, but it is solid. We don 't have that dominating shut down closer, but we have a bunch of decent arms.
Our hitting started off slowly, but for some reason, we've started slugging in league play. We hit a bunch more homers than UGA and Alabama and both are power hitting teams. Frankly, the only weak spot in the lineup is currently Devon burkes who is one of my favorite players - he is just struggling this year (so far).
Arkansas' ace is a monster. A&M is excellent. Vandy is always good, though I'm not sure how good (they have had a pretty easy league slate too, but were swept at USC). UT has a monster lineup, but their pitching is suspect. Florida was supposed to be awesome but they are barely above .500 and just got swept at mizzou.
For now, I would put UK behind Arkansas, right with A&M at second in the league, and just above Vandy and UT.
One edit I would make to the above notes about number of wins - UK"s sweeps are huge, b/c the following numbers are pretty set in stone:
-14 SEC wins will get you into the tourney (13 is possible, but you're playing with fire; 15 wins is a tourney lock)
-16 wins is usually good enough to host. 17 wins should be a lock for an SEC team.
At this rate, UK would simply need to avoid sweeps the rest of the way to host. To get a top 8 seed, 18 wins is likely good enough, though 17 might get it done. 19 and you can take it to the bank.
UK is top 5 RPI, so the metrics are also in our favor. Last year, we were the #12 national seed - we had a top 5 RPI, 16 league wins, and only four SEC series wins. We already have four series wins this year, so you can see how we're trending.
In short, I think UK is easily a top 15 team. Our performance at the plate is improving every week, so I could definitely make the argument that we are a top 10 team with the potential for more. I'd like to see how we fare against the creme de la creme in the next two months. We'll play the best teams in the country starting April 19 against UT, so we'll have a great idea of what we have going into Hoover.
This is easily the best UK baseball run that I can remember. Never would've predicted that we'd be like 26-4 at this point in the season, even with a backloaded SEC schedule.
I've always wanted to see us play in Omaha, just like I'd love to eventually see UK football play for the SEC Championship. I'm hoping this can be the year for that to happen!
I've always wanted to see us play in Omaha, just like I'd love to eventually see UK football play for the SEC Championship. I'm hoping this can be the year for that to happen!
I think it's only TBD in the sense of how far they can go. I think they have basically proven that they'll hang with anyone in the country. They might not be the best talent wise, but they just seem to know how to win and they never give up. That can be intimidating for opponents. You get a 4 run lead. You typically think that's safe. UK laughs at that lead and next thing you know it's 6-4 and they're in a spot to add more.
We don't necessarily have to win 2 of 3 of those. We win 2 against Auburn and we're sitting at 13-2 in the league. That is weird to type. Then we're at home against Tennessee. Say we get 1 of those. We're now at 14-4. Win 2 from USC and we're at 16-5. Win 1 at Arky and we're at 17-7. Get one from Florida and we're 18-9. Get 1 from Vandy and we're 19-11.
So, even if we only win 2 of the remaining series, none against Vandy, UT, or Arky, we're in the conversation of being a top 8 seed with 19 league wins. We might not get over that hump because it will be a bit of a slow finish at the end, but we'd still be in the conversation. Win one of those series and everything else remains the same then we're up to 20 wins and I think it is pretty much a lock we're top 8. Almost every SEC team with 20 wins over the past 3 years has been a top 8 seed.
Was really fun at KPP this weekend. Love the team and the crowd support.
Friday 2598
Saturday 3866
Sunday 3579
Those are good crowds for us especially with Keeneland open. And I will go on record and I say the pink rally hats are fun. And the boys stayed almost an hour after the game signing autographs for the kids. That kinda stuff builds your fanbase.
Friday 2598
Saturday 3866
Sunday 3579
Those are good crowds for us especially with Keeneland open. And I will go on record and I say the pink rally hats are fun. And the boys stayed almost an hour after the game signing autographs for the kids. That kinda stuff builds your fanbase.
My wife has a pink hat ordered to wear for the rest of the games we attend. KPP and the team are a lot of fun.
100%. Last year, we were the number 12 national seed and we had only 4 (out of 10) sec series wins and 16 total SEC wins. All of these sweeps really aid our cause for being a national seed this year. I think we'll take care of business in some of these tough upcoming series, but we aren't going to win them all. Even if we only win 1 or 2, we are in excellent shape to be a national top 8 seed.
Agreed, and it's about to get better. The UT and Arkansas series will be insane b/c A) BBN is now fully aware that we have a great team and will show up and B ) those teams will bring a bunch of fans with them that Bama did not.
As long as the weather is decent, the crowds for UT and Arkansas will rival what we had vs. UL and at the regional last year.
Watched this team play in Round Rock. Beat the Jayhawks 8-5.
Had no idea they'd get this hot. Go Cats!
Had no idea they'd get this hot. Go Cats!
Huge comeback, another sweep, Arkansas goes down, sole possession of first in the SEC!
You can bet puke orange fans are buying tickets now!!! The administration needs to be on the phone pushing those to season ticket fb/bb holders
To their credit they have been pushing baseball tickets for the ut series for about 5 days diligently on email and through UK alumni association communications. So it’s better than we normally do I will say.
I don’t think the administration does a good job promoting the team. A number of UK fans I have spoken with have no idea what kind of season the team is having.
I think UK is elite. Legit top 5 and a team full of personalities who are fun to watch. ESPN is wringing their hands over not having KY vs UT on the network this weekend. UK baseball is must see TV.
Thanks for the kind words.
I also think highly of UT (obviously, I don't like UT, but I respect their team
I feel very good about UK's chances against Vandy and Arkansas at home, but I think this weekend's series is the toughest one on the schedule b/c UT's lineup is a beast and the pitching staff has pulled it together. Whoever wins this series should be a top 2 team in next week's rankings IMO.
I think it will be an incredible series. UK will be hosting a Super this year. Mark. It. Down.Thanks for the kind words.
I also think highly of UT (obviously, I don't like UT, but I respect their team
I feel very good about UK's chances against Vandy and Arkansas at home, but I think this weekend's series is the toughest one on the schedule b/c UT's lineup is a beast and the pitching staff has pulled it together. Whoever wins this series should be a top 2 team in next week's rankings IMO.
I saw a comment from someone from D1 today that said that UK could go 6-9 through the rest of the SEC schedule and would still probably be a lock for a top 8 seed. I hope it isn’t that close but I thought that was an interesting comment.
Yes, 20-10 in the SEC is a lock to host a Super. Plus your non-conference schedule is relatively strong. Mingione is a master of understanding RPI and a tremendous Coach. He leverages the portal very well and will have UK baseball as a perennial post season contender. Start making plans for Omaha.
Thanks for joining in. It’s sad but you know more about UK baseball than most of BBN.
I’m just a college baseball junkie and have some ties to BBN (my Grandparents grew up in Elkton/Trenton and Granddad graduated from UK). Plus, I do think KY has the most beautiful blue I’ve ever seen. Now, don’t tell that to my fellow Vols fans or they’ll accuse me a being a traitor or a VOLCAT! 🥹
