Anyone who expected, in February, for this team to make Omaha wasn't paying attention. This year had rebuilding written all over it. We were spoiled with Nola... it's hard for pitchers to have dominant back to back to back seasons, especially if you are banking on them to do so.

It was totally reasonable to expect Poche and Lange to come down a bit, which they did. It was totally reasonable to expect the hitting to come on later in the season, yet remain inconsistent, which it did.

If anything, this season proves not only the folly of preseason baseball rankings in a sport that depends on a lot of first-year guys and transfers, but it also shows how flawed the entire seeding process is for the postseason.

All season long, the experts told us, via the rankings, that the SEC and ACC were kind, and the west coast was garbage, even though there were very few inter-regional games.

Well, Arizona and UCSB are in Omaha, the Big XII, which everyone thought had one good team at best, got two into Omana, an experienced small-conference team that played well all year but never got the respect it deserved is playing in Omaha, and the ACC/SEC will combine for three teams in Omaha.

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Posted by tirebiter

7K R&G chile land aka SF

Member since Oct 2006

9204 posts

Posted on 6/13/16 at 11:00 am to ell_13

quote:
I thought we'd go to Omaha this year based on the team we became.

Before or after the CCU matchup? I didn't believe in the pitching due to how up and down it was most of the season. The team absolutely exceeded my expectations with the 2015 talent loss, some guys greatly improved, some were very sporadic which is not atypical given the roster turnover, base running comedies, pitching challenges, etc. PM might be ready for a bit of a mental break after it's said and done. Definitely have to give the team and coaching staff a ton of credit for grinding through the end of the schedule and earning the #8 seed. There is a lot of luck and randomness in life, no shame in not making the CWS.

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Posted by d2

Member since Jan 2009

447 posts

Posted on 6/13/16 at 11:19 am to nola000

Not sure how anyone can rationalize bashing les miles and giving mainieri a pass.

They are errily similar.
-both coaches finish in top 10/15 range consistently
-both have 1 championship
-both coach better as an underdog
-both are solid coaches, but not spectacular.

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Posted by nola000

Lacombe, LA

Member since Dec 2014

13139 posts

Posted on 6/13/16 at 11:10 pm to d2

quote:
They are errily similar.
-both coaches finish in top 10/15 range consistently
-both have 1 championship
-both coach better as an underdog
-both are solid coaches, but not spectacular.

Like I said, expectations. There is more parody in baseball and winning in baseball doesnt always follow talent like it does in football. If you look at the recruiting class rankings of any given college football team over a given numbers of years and compare it to that particular teams end-of-year rankings you will see a correlation. Well, at least if the coaching staff is doing their job. You see, Ive done this before and it doesnt look good for LSU/Less Smiles. Every other team in the SEC usually ends the season ranked within 2 or 3 spots of their recruiting class rankings from the previous year. LSU is usually several spots below. There is really no more surefire metric to separate a good coach from a bad coach.

Good post by the way.

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Posted by YouAre8Up