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There are two takeaways for SEC fans from the NCAA baseball tournament bracket that was released today. First, the committee really likes the SEC. And second, the committee really likes SEC teams to play their nonconference rivals (and, possibly, their conference rivals) in the tournament.
The first: Ten of the conference's 14 teams made it into the national playoff, setting a record for the most berths ever earned by one conference in the history of the event. Two of those teams -- No. 2 Florida and No. 8 LSU -- gained national seeds. The second point might be easier to illustrate by looking at the brackets involved.
| Gainesville Regional |
| paired with Miami (FL) Regional |
| 1 Florida |
| 2 Long Beach State |
| 3 North Carolina |
| 4 College of Charleston |
| Baton Rouge Regional |
| paired with Houston Regional |
| 1 LSU |
| 2 Houston |
| 3 Bryant |
| 4 Southeastern Louisiana |
| Houston Regional |
| paired with Baton Rouge Regional |
| 1 Rice |
| 2 Texas |
| 3 Texas A&M |
| 4 George Mason |
| Charlottesville Regional |
| paired with Columbia Regional |
| 1 Virginia |
| 2 Arkansas |
| 3 Liberty |
| 4 Bucknell |
| Columbia Regional |
| paired with Charlottesville Regional |
| 1 South Carolina |
| 2 Maryland |
| 3 Old Dominion |
| 4 Campbell |
| Tallahassee Regional |
| paired with Louisville Regional |
| 1 Florida State |
| 2 Alabama |
| 3 Kennesaw State |
| 4 Georgia Southern |
| Louisville Regional |
| paired with Tallahassee Regional |
| 1 Louisville |
| 2 Kentucky |
| 3 Kansas |
| 4 Kent State |
| Lafayette Regional |
| paired with Oxford Regional |
| 1 Louisiana-Lafayette |
| 2 Mississippi State |
| 3 San Diego State |
| 4 Jackson State |
| Oxford Regional |
| paired with Lafayette Regional |
| 1 Ole Miss |
| 2 Washington |
| 3 Georgia Tech |
| 4 Jacksonville State |
| Nashville Regional |
| paired with Bloomington Regional |
| 1 Vanderbilt |
| 2 Oregon |
| 3 Clemson |
| 4 Xavier |
Yes, Texas will play Texas A&M (at something, finally) and Kentucky could play Louisville at the regional level. Meanwhile, Florida could face Miami and Ole Miss could play Mississippi State at the super regional level. (Other potential SEC meetings are LSU-Texas A&M, South Carolina-Arkansas and Kentucky-Alabama.
None of these regionals are particularly easy, though regionals are not supposed to be easy. LSU and Florida's might be slightly easier -- and they should be, given that those are the two national seeds from the SEC -- but neither of them are a walk in the park.
In the first round, the No. 1 seeds play the No. 4 seeds while the No. 2 and No. 3 teams square off. That means your first-round games on Friday are:
Alabama vs. Kennesaw State, noon ET, ESPN3
Kentucky vs. Kansas, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN3
Mississippi State vs. San Diego State, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN3
(8) LSU vs. Southeastern Louisiana, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN3
Texas A&M vs. Texas, 4 p.m. ET, ESPNU
(2) Florida vs. College of Charleston, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN3
South Carolina vs. Campbell, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN3
Arkansas vs. Liberty, 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU
Vanderbilt vs. Xavier, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN3
Ole Miss vs. Jacksonville State, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN3
The regionals, like all levels of the tournament, are played in a double-elimination format. (People will say the super regionals are a best-of-three series, but that's still double-elimination for all practical purposes.) All games are available on either an ESPN television network or ESPN3 / WatchESPN.