Yesterday the NCAA announced the field for the NCAA baseball tourney so GA asked me to put together a post about the 16 regionals. Boys we are only 3 weeks away from hearing the "Back Home to Omaha" tune that I love so much....Get your drinking shoes on boys, the CWS is almost here. We all know we will be there, but what 8 teams will be joining us??? Here's my breakdown:

Clemson Regional - Clemson (#1), Elon, Miss. St., and UNC-Ashville
Pick: Clemson
Sleeper: none
Analysis: Not much to say here...Clemson has been the most consistent team in the country and drew the easiest region. It's a joke that Miss. St. even made the tourney considering they didn't even make their own conference tourney....guess it helps that their AD was the head of the committee

Arkansas Regional: Okie St, Princeton, Oral Roberts, Arkansas
Pick: toss up between Arkansas and OSU
Sleeper: ORU...they beat both OSU and Arkansas during the year in midweek games
Analysis: Okie St. is a great ball club that is terribly inconsistent. They went 0-3 in OKC including getting waxed 21-6 in their last game...but still if their bats show up they should win this region even though they are the only traveling #1 seed. Arkansas having home field advantage greatly helps their chances to advance. This is a tough regional but if I had to pick right now I'd go with Arkansas at home.

Kentucky Regional: UK, Ball St., Notre Dame, Col. of Charleston
Pick: UK
Sleeper: Domers
Analysis: Tough regional with 3 teams with 42+ wins...but no real tourney mainstays. Kentucky has been incredible this year in the SEC and is the biggest surprise team in the country going from the bottom of the league to the top in one season....but they don't have much postseason experience. CoC has been good this year finishing 1 game behind Elon in the Southern Conference but have a pretty week SoS. Ditto for the Domers....the Big East is horrible in baseball. They do have a couple solid arms so they could be the spoiler for UK.

Georgia Tech Regional: GT (#8), Stetson, Michigan, Vandy
Pick: GT
Sleeper: Vandy
Georgia Tech is the best club in this region....but the best pitcher is Vandy's David Price. He's a 6'6 lefty that touches mid 90's and has one of the nastiest breaking pitches i've seen...very Randy Johnson-ish. So if Vandy holds him for a sat. matchup against GT they might have a chance.

Fullerton Regional: CSF (#5), ST. Louis, San Diego, Fresno St.
Pick: CSF
Sleeper: San Diego
Analysis: I won't lie, i don't follow the west coast teams like I should but CSF is always touney tested and has been red hot at the end of the year. San Diego has been a "buzz" team all year so i'll take them as my sleeper.

Pepperdine Regional: Pepperdine, Mizzou, UC Irvine, UCLA
Pick: toss up for all 4 teams...i'll take Mizzou
Sleeper: UC-I
Mizzou a #4 seed? are you kidding me? That has to just suck for Pepperdine who gets to host their first regional ever and your draw....Max Scherzer and a peaking Mizzou team. Than throw in UCLA and Irvine and you've got a fun, very competitive regional. I'll go with the Tigers because of Scherzer and Culp at the front of their rotation. They have the talent to make a post season run and I would expect the winner of the opening Mizzou/Pepperdine game to come out of this regional.

N. Carolina Regional: UNC, Maine, UNC-Wilmington, Winthrop
Pick: UNC
Sleeper: Winthrop
UNC comes in with a great pitching staff and if they can get back to their mid season form after a mini-slump (2 and Q in the ACC tourney) to end the seson, they will win this regional. Winthrop won 44 games this season and actually beat the Tar Heels in their one meeting this year.

Alabama Regional: Bama (#4), Jacksonville St., S. Miss, Troy
Pick: Bama
Sleeper: Troy
Analysis: Bama is one of the best pitching teams in the nation and I think they handle this regional pretty easily. S. Miss finished 4th in a very tough C-USA but struggled against the really good teams in their conference (Rice, Tulane, and Houston). Troy won 45 games this year including beating Bama 8-5 during a March midweek game....they could be the spoiler here, but none of these teams have the talent to match up with the tide.

Rice Regional: Rice (#2), prairie View, Baylor, Arizona St.
Pick: Rice
Sleeper: Baylor, ASU could both pull this one off
Analysis: Rice is tough...as usual they have great pitching and are very well coached. Degerman is their ace and hasn't hardly been touched all year (11-1 1.80 ERA). Than they bring in the Savery kid who was a stud last year but was injured until the midway point. They also have one of the best closers in the nation in St. Clair....this team can just shut any offense down and is exactly the reason I am picking them to win the whole thing this year...but making it out of the regional won't be cake. Baylor struggled early but return
s most of their CWS team from last year. ASU took 2-3 from Baylor in Waco early in the year and beat Rice in a tourney so they have the ability to win this regional....but struggled on the road all year. In the end Rice wins a bunch of low scoring games and moves on.

Sooner Regional: OU, TCU, Wichita St., Houston
Pick: Houston
Sleeper: TCU
This is the second toughest regional this year...TCU as a 4 seed is brutally tough, I have no idea what the committee was doing but that sucks as a draw for the poor Sooners. OU got redhot during the middle of the year but struggled at the end of the year but is a very balanced club. Houston was great this year and arguably should have been a #1 seed. They were runner up to Rice in C-USA and have Brad Lincoln at the front of their rotation who could end up being the #1 draft pick. He went 12-1, 1.64 ERA and had 147 SO in 121 innings pitched this year...the kid is money and he will own Wichita St. in round 1.

Virginia Regional: UVA, Lehigh, Evansville, S. Carolina
Pick: UVA toss up
Sleeper: Cocks
Analysis: Virginia led the field in wins this year and gets a home regional which gives them the slight nod over tourney tested USC. Virginia finished 3rd in the ACC but never lost a series at home. USC was good at the beginning of the year but faded to 15-15 in the SEC....UVA should advance.

Georgia Regional: UGA (#7), Sacred Heart, Jacksonville, Florida St.
Pick: Georgia
Sleeper: Jacksonville
Analysis: Georgia should win this series fairly easily. Florida St. has been your typical Seminole team this year but played better at the end of the year and lost in the ACC title game. Josh Morris from UGA hit 20 HR and had 60 RBI's this year...he's actually one of 3 dawgs with double digit dongs.

Husker Invitational: NU (#6), the Jaspers, the Dons, and the Canes
Pick: NU
I'll spend some more time on this regional in a separate post. This all comes down to which NU team shows up...if its the team in of April and early May than forget about the canes go home happy....Otherwise we are good to go. One suprising note is that we will be facing a great ace from Manhattan on friday which scares me a little. Joba could K about 26 in that game though.

Ole Miss regional: Ole miss, B-Cookman, S. Alabama, Tulane
Pick: Miss.
Sleeper: Tulane
Analysis: Tulane is tough and finished right behind Rice in C-USA. Ole Miss got red hot at the end of the year winning 10 of their last 11...including sweeping ARkansas and than marching through the SEC tourney to the title. If Ole Miss plays as well as they have been they win easily...if the team of the beginning of the year shows up we will see the Green Wave in Lincoln in 2 weeks.

Beaver Regional: Oregon ST., Wright ST., Hawaii, and KU
Pick: KU/Beavs
Analysis: This region is simple to me, if OSU throws their ace (Dallas Buck...been a college stud for the last 2 years...11-2,2.92 ERA) against Wright St. than the redhot Jayhawks win this regional. KU can flat out swing the bats, they are a great hitting team and the Price kid who got in a brawl during their Mizzou tourney game will be back after missing the title game will be back from his suspension. If they hold buck back look for OSU to hold home court.

Austin Regional: Whorns (#3), UT-Arlington, Stanford, NC St.
Pick: Whorns
Analysis is simple its UT, Soggie Burrito, and the postseason which unfortunately always equals wins.

Super Regional Picks
Clemson over Arkansas
GT over Kentucky
Cal St.-Fullerton over Mizzou and we all rejoice because Kevin Costner will be in Omaha
UNC over Bama
Rice over Houston
Neb over Ole Miss
UT over KU

further I'll take Rice over Fullerton in the final series.

Post predictions here so i can laugh at all of you.