Did anyone see this coming? Reactions?

https://twitter.com/ncaasoftball/status/...D13sHmWoIw

RPI. TXST scheduled better and it paid off. Plus the west is an RPI boost.

(05-14-2023 06:55 PM)High Country Student Wrote:  Did anyone see this coming? Reactions?

https://twitter.com/ncaasoftball/status/...D13sHmWoIw

Yes

Stop crying…if anyone was hosed it’s the Cajuns.

As GS fans can tell you with ample experience from baseball, the committee DGAF if you play good in the tournament and fall just short in the finals.

I am surprised the SBC only got two teams in. I was thinking it would have gotten at least 3, possibly 4 in.

(05-14-2023 08:51 PM)hburg Wrote:  I am surprised the SBC only got two teams in. I was thinking it would have gotten at least 3, possibly 4 in.

Not surprised whatsoever. Had Marshall won yesterday, TXST would be sitting home.

Lol. Marshall was NEVER making the tournament. Last 30 out!

One year we finished third in CUSA.

The NCAA took teams 1, 2, 4 and 5 from that league.

It was nowhere near as good as this league is. The committee is shamelessly shrinking the opportunities for smaller schools.

(05-14-2023 09:22 PM)ThunderingHerdFan Wrote:  One year we finished third in CUSA.

The NCAA took teams 1, 2, 4 and 5 from that league.

It was nowhere near as good as this league is. The committee is shamelessly shrinking the opportunities for smaller schools.

The game has changed since then.

Back then they didn't overvalue the SEC.

Now, they believe just being in the SEC is good enough to get you into the post season.

Sheisse, if you're SEC, you don't even need to win a conference tournament game to host a regional.

(05-14-2023 09:22 PM)ThunderingHerdFan Wrote:  One year we finished third in CUSA.

The NCAA took teams 1, 2, 4 and 5 from that league.

It was nowhere near as good as this league is. The committee is shamelessly shrinking the opportunities for smaller schools.

This is very true; and it is the primary reason that "smaller" schools need to be relentless in their attempt to schedule as many "P5" schools as possible in non conference play. It is the only way to improve your chances for an at large bid if you don't win the conference; plus it exposes your girls to many more games against high level competition before conference play starts and has the added benefit of helping every team you play in conference because of your SOS.

There was far from enough evidence for the committee to put Marshall in even if they wanted to do a really far stretch.

I like to think TXST mostly got in because the committee put in Notre Dame and Nebraska (P5s with lesser RPIs) and TXST was their token reference point to be able to say look "see we didn't have any bias towards P5". If UCF wasn't AAC autobid and they were already in Big 12 they likely would have been the 3rd P5 at large in with a lesser RPI and would have taken TXST's place. I kind of thought CLT not winning the CUSA autobid was the kiss of death for SBC getting in more than 1 team.

USA is a better team than TXST IMO but on paper their season long resume doesn't particularly say that they are. USA was the most snubbed team in the entire NCAA if you ask me but if the tournament took 3 SBC teams Marshall still would not have been one of them. TXST had a better RPI last year than Marshall did this season and just like Marshall did this season they also went to the tournament championship game and got left out of the field. Marshall should have seen that happen last season for TXST and know where they stood this season. TXST has also had a recent history of going to regionals which may have helped some (I know prior seasons aren't supposed to be a factor but look at Alabama and Tenn seeding and it makes it hard to believe that). TXST went in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021, just missing in 2022. If JMU had USA's RPI on selection Sunday they likely would have gone instead of TXST because of their history.

Mcneese winning the SLC autobid was also probably the SBC saving grace of getting 2 teams in.

(05-15-2023 10:10 AM)Johnnychimpo Wrote:  Marshall should have seen that happen last season for TXST and know where they stood this season.

Many of us did. We didn't start this thread. I think we all pretty much knew we had to win it all to get in and gave it a hell of a shot. I think we are capable enough to play with many of those teams, but didn't do enough preparation to earn the opportunity. Just like basketball, we won a lot of games that don't amount to much against a weak schedule.

But like I said before, given that our schedule was weak this year, we did all we could with it and still had a great year. I think we had a good enough RPI to maybe get some of those better teams to schedule us in the future. We don't have softball weather the whole season like some of the more southern teams do and scheduling better also means having teams willing to play you. It might take some time to get a solid reputation and the consistency to get those kind of games. Some of you act like we can just wave a wand and schedule what we want. Meanwhile you're playing D2 teams in basketball because it's the only games you can get. We're on the cusp of breaking into softball as a power team. With that comes the growing pains in that tweener stage. And we're aware.

When they announced earlier in the selection show that UL was not going to host I thought for sure that meant TXST was not getting in. I think in the end the selection committee seeding Texas as the 13 seed host killed UL's chance of hosting since Texas beat the cajuns a combined 17-6 H2H. Texas falling late in the season (I think they were a top 6 RPI team IICRC most of the season) probably hurt UL. If they gave Texas a top 8 national seed instead of Bama those Cajun losses to Texas would have looked better for hosting. TXST got in because they gave Bama a national seed and they beat Bama

In the tournament, Marshall showed their talent was good enough to participate in post season. We all know why they aren't.

While it is true that it takes two to tango in scheduling, in sports like softball good teams are willing to play you if you're good. Losing to a good team is no big deal. What needs to happen is the coach (if she hasn't already) needs to contact good schools that traditionally host tournaments and let them know Marshall is willing to play.

You're going to need to travel. But playing in a hostile environment can only help you down the road.

(05-15-2023 10:30 AM)MUther Wrote:  

(05-15-2023 10:10 AM)Johnnychimpo Wrote:  Marshall should have seen that happen last season for TXST and know where they stood this season.

Many of us did. We didn't start this thread. I think we all pretty much knew we had to win it all to get in and gave it a hell of a shot. I think we are capable enough to play with many of those teams, but didn't do enough preparation to earn the opportunity. Just like basketball, we won a lot of games that don't amount to much against a weak schedule.

But like I said before, given that our schedule was weak this year, we did all we could with it and still had a great year. I think we had a good enough RPI to maybe get some of those better teams to schedule us in the future. We don't have softball weather the whole season like some of the more southern teams do and scheduling better also means having teams willing to play you. It might take some time to get a solid reputation and the consistency to get those kind of games. Some of you act like we can just wave a wand and schedule what we want. Meanwhile you're playing D2 teams in basketball because it's the only games you can get. We're on the cusp of breaking into softball as a power team. With that comes the growing pains in that tweener stage. And we're aware.

You should be able to schedule well next year. Softball is much easier to schedule well in than basketball; though you may have to play a lot of road or neutral site games. That is probably less of an issue for Louisiana, South Alabama, Troy, ULM and Texas State, because climate allows those schools to host very early season tournaments and attract some solid Big 10 teams. Louisiana also co-hosts a crossover tournament with LSU in the early season.

Nonetheless, it should be no problem for Marshall or JMU to find a tournament or two at Clemson or South Carolina or similar schools that will invite them in. McNeese hosts a nice tournament as well. Point being that even if you can't get invited to Clearwater or one of the other elite tournaments, there are still some opportunities out there, if you are willing to travel.

Later in the season, you can probably get games on the road with teams like VT, FSU, Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia, Florida, Auburn and others in the Big 10 or ACC or SEC.

TXST's RPI is better than at least 20 teams that will be playing in the field...to say they don't belong is a bit rash. If anything there is probably at least 20 conferences that are so bad at the D1 level that they are lucky they even are eligible to send an auto-bid. Hate the game, not the player.

Auto Bids:

America East #153 UMBC
A10 #134 George Mason
Big East #100 Seton Hall
Big Sky #218 N Colorado
CAA #151 Hofstra
Horizon #221 NKY
Ivy #138 Harvard
MAAC #168 Marist
MAC #107 Ohio
MEAC #260 NC Central
NEC #169 LIU
OVC #202 E Ill
SWAC #185 PV
Summit #97 Omaha

Cajuns got absolutely hosed. Marshall isn't fully surprising, their RPI was poor. Hopefully they can use this season to now get some of the tougher opponents they couldn't schedule earlier.

Truth is, other SBC teams will have inherent advantages over Marshall because its always going to be far easier to get an SEC school to go play in Lafayette compared to getting an ACC to Huntington. Means Marshall is going to have to go on the road to be successful, which means giving up home games that are important for the fan base.

Half the SBC faces much of the same issues in baseball.

(05-15-2023 10:36 AM)BirdofParadise Wrote:  In the tournament, Marshall showed their talent was good enough to participate in post season. We all know why they aren't.

While it is true that it takes two to tango in scheduling, in sports like softball good teams are willing to play you if you're good. Losing to a good team is no big deal. What needs to happen is the coach (if she hasn't already) needs to contact good schools that traditionally host tournaments and let them know Marshall is willing to play.

You're going to need to travel. But playing in a hostile environment can only help you down the road.

Just don't take it to extreme like South's coach did in 2022. From 2/11 thru 3/13 South played all games away and then played only 1 OOC GAME at home 12 home conference games for a total of 13 home games. Not a fan friendly schedule or good for the players.

(05-15-2023 01:26 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Cajuns got absolutely hosed. Marshall isn't fully surprising, their RPI was poor. Hopefully they can use this season to now get some of the tougher opponents they couldn't schedule earlier.

Truth is, other SBC teams will have inherent advantages over Marshall because its always going to be far easier to get an SEC school to go play in Lafayette compared to getting an ACC to Huntington. Means Marshall is going to have to go on the road to be successful, which means giving up home games that are important for the fan base.

Half the SBC faces much of the same issues in baseball.

The Cajuns had quite a few SEC and Big 12 games and some from the ACC, Big 10 and Pac 12.... Exactly 2 of them [LSU and Ole Miss] were in Lafayette, [and we got those by co-hosting a tournament with LSU] the rest were road or neutral site games. If you won't travel, you won't play many teams from those conferences.