Arizona will find out Monday morning whether or not its impressive finish to the season is enough to earn a spot in the NCAA Baseball Tournament field. The Wildcats lost just one game in the month of May – a midweek defeat at the hands of ASU – and wrapped up the regular season with a sweep of Washington State. As it turns out, the Cougars are so bad it has actually cost UA some spots in the RPI when factoring in other games across the country.
The Wildcats are officially at No. 48 in the RPI rankings, but the numbers are only up to date with Saturday's action. WarrenNolan.com's live RPI has UA currently at No. 49, which is a drop of four spots from its previous ranking. UA was likely hurt by some of what took place after the last pitch of its series with Wazzu.
Sunday's action brought a couple of unexpected conference champs as conference tournaments continued to play out. Ohio State winning the Big Ten tournament today likely hurt UA as a bubble team with Nebraska going in as the expected winner there. Southern Miss, which has been one of the other hottest teams in the country like Arizona, won the Conference USA tournament taking a spot away from another bubble team. Cincinnati beat UConn in the AAC tournament defeating the league favorite meaning the expected champ (UConn) will now take up an at-large bid.
All that is to say what once looked like a strong possibility for UA making the tournament field is now a bit more bleak. The Wildcats are not completely out of it yet, but it certainly is going to take a stroke of luck for Jay Johnson's team to get in.
Both Baseball America and D1Baseball.com previously had the Wildcats as one of the last teams in the field, but now both have UA as one of the teams on the outside looking in. BA has the Wildcats out alongside BYU, Houston and Missouri as one of the first four out. Meanwhile, D1Baseball.com has dropped the 'Cats completely off its list in the website's final projections for tomorrow's selections.
Much has been made of conference record and UA was able to squeak out a Pac-12 record that was above .500, which is positive for its chances considering that is something that kept the Wildcats out in 2018. What could end up hurting UA most is its record against teams in the RPI's top 50, which is 3-16. With that being said, Arizona played the top teams in the conference all on the road this season. Three of those teams earned national seeds and will be hosting this week when the tournament begins.
While the Pac-12 as a whole was weak at the bottom, the top of the conference is strong and has been the entire year. Even teams that will finish the year in the bottom half of the standings played solid at the finish including USC, which finished its season with a series win over Oregon State.
At this point it feels like it will just barely not be enough to get UA win, but the Wildcats certainly have a case especially in a year when the bubble is not particularly strong.
The selection show begins at 9 a.m. on ESPNU. Johnson and select players are scheduled to speak with the media later Monday morning regardless of the outcome.
The Wildcats are officially at No. 48 in the RPI rankings, but the numbers are only up to date with Saturday's action. WarrenNolan.com's live RPI has UA currently at No. 49, which is a drop of four spots from its previous ranking. UA was likely hurt by some of what took place after the last pitch of its series with Wazzu.
Sunday's action brought a couple of unexpected conference champs as conference tournaments continued to play out. Ohio State winning the Big Ten tournament today likely hurt UA as a bubble team with Nebraska going in as the expected winner there. Southern Miss, which has been one of the other hottest teams in the country like Arizona, won the Conference USA tournament taking a spot away from another bubble team. Cincinnati beat UConn in the AAC tournament defeating the league favorite meaning the expected champ (UConn) will now take up an at-large bid.
All that is to say what once looked like a strong possibility for UA making the tournament field is now a bit more bleak. The Wildcats are not completely out of it yet, but it certainly is going to take a stroke of luck for Jay Johnson's team to get in.
Both Baseball America and D1Baseball.com previously had the Wildcats as one of the last teams in the field, but now both have UA as one of the teams on the outside looking in. BA has the Wildcats out alongside BYU, Houston and Missouri as one of the first four out. Meanwhile, D1Baseball.com has dropped the 'Cats completely off its list in the website's final projections for tomorrow's selections.
Much has been made of conference record and UA was able to squeak out a Pac-12 record that was above .500, which is positive for its chances considering that is something that kept the Wildcats out in 2018. What could end up hurting UA most is its record against teams in the RPI's top 50, which is 3-16. With that being said, Arizona played the top teams in the conference all on the road this season. Three of those teams earned national seeds and will be hosting this week when the tournament begins.
While the Pac-12 as a whole was weak at the bottom, the top of the conference is strong and has been the entire year. Even teams that will finish the year in the bottom half of the standings played solid at the finish including USC, which finished its season with a series win over Oregon State.
At this point it feels like it will just barely not be enough to get UA win, but the Wildcats certainly have a case especially in a year when the bubble is not particularly strong.
The selection show begins at 9 a.m. on ESPNU. Johnson and select players are scheduled to speak with the media later Monday morning regardless of the outcome.
