Gators up against it as NCAA will select Regional and Super Regional sites early
The Florida Gators (20-9, 5-4 SEC) are suddenly in a crunch to win a bunch of baseball games if they want to make sure that they host an NCAA Regional and even a Super Regional for the 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament. The organization will make decisions on Regional and Super Regional sites on May 10 which would not include a couple of weekend series against SEC teams and the SEC Baseball Tournament. Florida has a month to prove their worth and a couple of Top 6 teams on the docket in order to get there.
According to a tweet from Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) of D1Baseball, the NCAA has an early deadline for selecting the host sites for a Regional or Super Regional but schools have to submit bids to host them this week.
“BREAKING: The @NCAA will have predetermined Regional and Super Regional sites in this year’s tournament, sources tell @d1baseball. The sites for both rounds will be announced the week of May 10 and bids must be submitted by April 12.”
There are multiple things to consider here in terms of Florida who sits at No. 12 in the country with a few wins against Top 25 teams. First off is Florida having enough quality wins and is ranked high enough to get there. That seems the case in terms of a Regional at this point with the No. 12 ranking. There is also the consideration of Florida putting in a bid to host a Regional and/ or Super Regional which has to happen by Monday. Third is that whoever is selected to host, has to do so whether they make the tournament or win the Regional and whether or not they make the Super Regional.
On the heels of a three-game series with No. 6 Tennessee in Knoxville this weekend, Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan pointed out the change in the forecasting for the tournament and the importance of the series with Tennessee this weekend after not faring very well on the road so far this season.
“The NCAA came out and they’re going to announce regional sites and top-eight seeds by the end of the month,” O’Sullivan said Wednesday night after beating MEAC leading Florida A&M. “Us like everybody else, we need to have a good April. This is a good opportunity for us to go on the road against a ranked team who is much improved and play well.”
Here is the remaining schedule for Florida before Regional and Super Regional sites are chosen.
No. 6 Tennessee (April 9 – 11)
No. 17 Florida State (April 13)
Missouri (April 16 – 18)
Jacksonville (April 20)
Auburn (April 23 – 25)
No. 1 Vanderbilt (April 30 – May 2)
Stetson (May 4)
Kentucky (May 6 – May 8)
Of course the schedule above isn’t all that will determine where the final seeding will come, only where they will play if they decide to host and are chosen to host. One thing that can help is that teams have to be able to prove that they can handle all of the COVID protocols needed to put on the showcase for all of the teams they are hosting. Florida should have no trouble with that.
The most important thing for any team to host is to be worthy of the choice given the schedule they have played and the record they have with the schedule. With that in mind, the games get more important for the next month.
