The Road To Omaha: Week 8

BIGGEST WINNERS

No. 1 Miami, FL

Unfortunately for the Miami Hurricanes, the weekend against Notre Dame was a washout. They were able to salvage enough to play one game and beat the Irish 10-2 on Sunday. The good news for the Canes, they have swept their last seven ACC games, with six of those wins coming against top-25 Clemson and North Carolina.

Kentucky

I think we all knew that the Wildcats would be good in 2016, but I don’t think anyone thought they’d be 22-9 midway through the season. They’ve won all four of their conference series’ to this point including series wins against Florida and Alabama. Though I wouldn’t call their out-of-conference daunting, the Cats have some good wins against teams like San Diego State and Cincinnati. In the midweek this week, they’ll take on a fellow top-25 team, and rival, in Louisville before travelling to Vanderbilt on Friday.

Tulane

The Green Wave hasn’t had the best start to their conference schedule (3-2), but Tulane has looked great otherwise. The team sports the 48th best RPI in the country right now with wins against Illinois, Pepperdine, Louisiana-Lafayette (midweek), Texas, and Louisiana State (midweek). The Green Wave also took two out of three from East Carolina over the weekend in AAC play. Tulane still has quite a bit of meat left on the schedule as well though with UCF, Houston, and Memphis still on the schedule.

IF THE TOURNAMENT STARTED TODAY:

In lieu of a “Biggest Surprises” segment, since we are midway through the college season, it is time to start looking toward the NCAA tournament and who could possibly be the 16 Regional Hosts. REMEMBER: There is more that goes into hosting a regional than just the team’s ranking in the polls and record.

16 Regional Hosts (Numbered based on RPI)

1. Florida (29-5)
2. South Carolina (28-5)
3. Miami (25-4)
4. Ole Miss (25-7)
5. Florida State (22-8)
6. Louisville (24-7)
7. Texas A&M (25-7)
8. UC Santa Barbara (21-7-1)
9. Clemson (23-9)
10. Vanderbilt (25-7)
11. Texas Tech (24-9)
12. Mississippi State (23-9-1)
13. TCU (24-7)
14. Rice (20-11)
15. Oregon State (22-7)
16. California (19-9)

MY TOP 25

1. Miami
2. Mississippi State
3. Florida State
4. Florida
5. Vanderbilt
6. Texas A&M
7. South Carolina
8. Oregon State
9. Louisville
10. TCU
11. Mississippi
12. Texas Tech
13. North Carolina State
14. Clemson
15. North Carolina
16. California
17. UC Santa Barbara
18. LSU
19. Long Beach State
20. Rice
21. Kentucky
22. East Carolina
23. Tulane
24. Florida Atlantic
25. Oklahoma State