UNC Baseball

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Predominantly California and Arizona until 1989. Then after that, other than LSU, pretty spread around.
I think college baseball is a far more popular sport than it was back then. While a lot of greats did play college ball, I think a lot higher percentage of middle draft level players went directly to pros. I'm sure NIL has changed that a lot but just as a spectator sport it has grown.

I was watching the LSU game and it almost felt like a college football atmosphere on TV. It seemed crazy. Certainly not classy though. Goodness those trashy shirtless cajuns...
 
I kinda liked the all blue pinstripe uni's we were wearing on Sunday, even though we didn't get a good result that day...
 
Have to correct myself on the Oklahoma State comments and then I promise I won't discuss it further. They were good and unbelievable offensively but they always had questionable pitching. Oklahoma actually had better pitching in that era. Had Oklahoma State had OU's pitching staff they would have rolled.
 
I like our chances. 7 of the 16 seeded teams are gone, including the #1 and #2 seeds. I think we can take Arizona getting to the elite 8 and #4 seed Auburn getting to the final 4.
After that, all bets are off and we stand as good a chance as anybody left standing at that point.
 
I like our chances. 7 of the 16 seeded teams are gone, including the #1 and #2 seeds. I think we can take Arizona getting to the elite 8 and #4 seed Auburn getting to the final 4.
After that, all bets are off and we stand as good a chance as anybody left standing at that point.
Beating Auburn doesn't get us to the Final Four. It is double elimination once we get to Omaha. We will need to beat Auburn and the winner of FSU/Oregon State to get to the Final Four.
 
Beating Auburn doesn't get us to the Final Four. It is double elimination once we get to Omaha. We will need to beat Auburn and the winner of FSU/Oregon State to get to the Final Four.
And then beat one of them one more time to get to the final series.
 
Right. But just winning the first two gets us into the Final Four. Then, we need to win one of two to get to the Final Two.
There was a time, I believe, where the entire 8 team tournament was like a big double elimination tournament where in the finals one would have to beat the other twice. That was obviously not good for tv.

Then they moved it to just one final game. I believe the first year or two it was like the 8 team double elimination tournament but without the loser’s bracket winner having to win two. (Would have been like OU winning the regional on Sunday night.). Thay was clearly not a fair system.

Then they moved it to like it is now (essentially two four team double elimination tournaments) but with a single championship game. They wanted the single game for TV.

Then as college baseball grew more viewers they were able to turn the champ game into the best two of three.

All of the above is from memory watching the CWS since the mid ‘80s so just take it as my recollection which is certainly fallible.
 
In 1996 I was 16 and visiting my older brother at LSU over the summer when Warren Morris hit his walk off home run to win the CWS. My brother was an RA of the athlete's dorm. He introduced me to Kevin Faulk and I saw Booger McFarland walking into the dorm.
 
There was a time, I believe, where the entire 8 team tournament was like a big double elimination tournament where in the finals one would have to beat the other twice. That was obviously not good for tv.

Then they moved it to just one final game. I believe the first year or two it was like the 8 team double elimination tournament but without the loser’s bracket winner having to win two. (Would have been like OU winning the regional on Sunday night.). Thay was clearly not a fair system.

Then they moved it to like it is now (essentially two four team double elimination tournaments) but with a single championship game. They wanted the single game for TV.

Then as college baseball grew more viewers they were able to turn the champ game into the best two of three.

All of the above is from memory watching the CWS since the mid ‘80s so just take it as my recollection which is certainly fallible.
I like the system now because it is a direct parallel of the regional and super regional format.
 
Obviously, I misunderstanding the format… I just saw 16 teams left standing here ago. We’re in the Suite 16. I see that if we take care of Arizona this weekend after that we should be one of only eight teams left standing here ago elite eight. So I naturally assumed Auburn would be next up…if we can take care of Auburn, after that we should be one of only four teams left standing. If each one of these series mimics the regionals and super regional are naturally thought of final four sort of like basketball tournament… Be that as it may I still stand by my original statement I like our chances.
 
Obviously, I misunderstanding the format… I just saw 16 teams left standing here ago. We’re in the Suite 16. I see that if we take care of Arizona this weekend after that we should be one of only eight teams left standing here ago elite eight. So I naturally assumed Auburn would be next up…if we can take care of Auburn, after that we should be one of only four teams left standing. If each one of these series mimics the regionals and super regional are naturally thought of final four sort of like basketball tournament… Be that as it may I still stand by my original statement I like our chances.
In addition to the format misunderstanding, I think there is a very good chance that Coastal Carolina beats Auburn this weekend.
 
In addition to the format misunderstanding, I think there is a very good chance that Coastal Carolina beats Auburn this weekend.
Coastal is better imo. Home field may be the tiebreaker, though i think it goes 3 and Coastal may have the best 3rd starter in the nation (now that Haugh is struggling)
 
Baseball is a random sport. Stuff like that happens more often in baseball. I’ll defer to the larger sample size of the last five years. Over time, the best league will outperform and that has certainly been the SEC.
imo it's not incongruent to say that a) the top of the SEC is better than the top of every other league, and b) that doesn't make the rest of the SEC better than the top-middle of all the other good leagues.

of the SEC teams that got into the tournament with .500 records or worse in conference play, Oklahoma was the only one that even made it to Monday, and that's because we all but let them. Kentucky lost on Sunday. Miss St got wiped by FSU. Florida got destroyed by an ECU team that didn't even make it out of that regional. Heck, Ole Miss and Bama went 16-14 and also lost in their regionals; Bama went 0-2.

the committee appeared to be running with the theory that the SEC was beating up on itself and that's why teams with bad conference records were favored over the UConns and Xaviers, but this weekend proved them wrong.
 
its been my favorite UNC uni across all sports for several years now

University Of North Carolina Baseball GIF by UNC Tar Heels
I really like that jersey (and pants), but it really needs to have everything trimmed in navy to really make the name and number pop.

And I also feel like all of the graphics are about 2" too low, but that might just be a perception thing.
 
There was a time, I believe, where the entire 8 team tournament was like a big double elimination tournament where in the finals one would have to beat the other twice. That was obviously not good for tv.

Then they moved it to just one final game. I believe the first year or two it was like the 8 team double elimination tournament but without the loser’s bracket winner having to win two. (Would have been like OU winning the regional on Sunday night.). Thay was clearly not a fair system.

Then they moved it to like it is now (essentially two four team double elimination tournaments) but with a single championship game. They wanted the single game for TV.

Then as college baseball grew more viewers they were able to turn the champ game into the best two of three.

All of the above is from memory watching the CWS since the mid ‘80s so just take it as my recollection which is certainly fallible.
Following my graduation from Carolina in 1982, I spent 3 years in law school in Austin. UT was in the final game every one of those 3 years, winning it all in 1983. In each of those 3 years, Omaha was a true 8 team double elimination. It was TV friendly EXCEPT for not knowing when the final game might take place.

As for the years of format changes, here is what I found from wikipedia:
  • 1950–1953 – An eight-team, double-elimination format for the College World Series coincided with the move to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1950. A national baseball committee chose one team from each of the eight NCAA districts.
  • 1954–1975 – Preliminary rounds determined the eight CWS teams, and the total number of teams in the preliminary round ranged from 21 to 32. The format of the CWS remained the same as 1950.
  • 1976–1981 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 34.
  • 1982–1984 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 36.
  • 1985 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 38.
  • 1986 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 40.
  • 1987 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 48, with teams split into eight, six-team regionals. The regionals were a test of endurance, as teams had to win at least four games over four days, sometimes five if a team dropped into the loser's bracket, placing a premium on pitching. In the last two years of the six-team regional format, the eventual CWS champion – LSU in 1997 and Southern California in 1998 – had to battle back from the loser's bracket in the regional to advance to Omaha. Unlike the current 64 team tournament, the CWS pairings were set after the regional tournaments.
  • 1988–1998 – The format for the CWS was changed for the first time since 1950 with the 1988 College World Series, when the tournament was divided into 2 four-team double-elimination brackets, with the survivors of each bracket playing in a single championship game. The single-game championship was designed for network television, with the final game on CBS on a Saturday afternoon.
  • 1999–2002 – With some 293 Division I teams playing, the NCAA expanded the overall tournament to a 64-team field in 1999. Teams were divided into 16 four-team double-elimination regionals. The regional winners advanced to the Super Regional round, which had 8 best-of-three series to advance to the CWS. Within each region, teams were seeded 1 to 4. Additionally, the top 8 teams in the tournament were given "national seeds" and placed in different Super Regionals so no national seeds could meet before the CWS. The 64-team bracket was set at the beginning of the championship and teams are not reseeded for the CWS. Since the 1999 College World Series, the four-team brackets in the CWS have been determined by the results of super-regional play, much like the NCAA basketball tournament.
  • 2003–2017 – The championship final became a best-of-three series between the two four-team bracket winners, with games scheduled for three consecutive evenings. In the results shown below, Score indicates the score of the championship game(s) only. In 2008, the start of the CWS was moved back one day, and an extra day of rest was added in between bracket play and the championship series.
  • 2018–present – The number of national seeds increased from 8 to 16. Each Super Regional featured the winners of regionals in which the numerical sum of those regions' national seeds totaled 17 (1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, etc.). No other format changes were made.
 
Following my graduation from Carolina in 1982, I spent 3 years in law school in Austin. UT was in the final game every one of those 3 years, winning it all in 1983. In each of those 3 years, Omaha was a true 8 team double elimination. It was TV friendly EXCEPT for not knowing when the final game might take place.

As for the years of format changes, here is what I found from wikipedia:
  • 1950–1953 – An eight-team, double-elimination format for the College World Series coincided with the move to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1950. A national baseball committee chose one team from each of the eight NCAA districts.
  • 1954–1975 – Preliminary rounds determined the eight CWS teams, and the total number of teams in the preliminary round ranged from 21 to 32. The format of the CWS remained the same as 1950.
  • 1976–1981 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 34.
  • 1982–1984 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 36.
  • 1985 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 38.
  • 1986 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 40.
  • 1987 – The number of preliminary-round teams was increased to 48, with teams split into eight, six-team regionals. The regionals were a test of endurance, as teams had to win at least four games over four days, sometimes five if a team dropped into the loser's bracket, placing a premium on pitching. In the last two years of the six-team regional format, the eventual CWS champion – LSU in 1997 and Southern California in 1998 – had to battle back from the loser's bracket in the regional to advance to Omaha. Unlike the current 64 team tournament, the CWS pairings were set after the regional tournaments.
  • 1988–1998 – The format for the CWS was changed for the first time since 1950 with the 1988 College World Series, when the tournament was divided into 2 four-team double-elimination brackets, with the survivors of each bracket playing in a single championship game. The single-game championship was designed for network television, with the final game on CBS on a Saturday afternoon.
  • 1999–2002 – With some 293 Division I teams playing, the NCAA expanded the overall tournament to a 64-team field in 1999. Teams were divided into 16 four-team double-elimination regionals. The regional winners advanced to the Super Regional round, which had 8 best-of-three series to advance to the CWS. Within each region, teams were seeded 1 to 4. Additionally, the top 8 teams in the tournament were given "national seeds" and placed in different Super Regionals so no national seeds could meet before the CWS. The 64-team bracket was set at the beginning of the championship and teams are not reseeded for the CWS. Since the 1999 College World Series, the four-team brackets in the CWS have been determined by the results of super-regional play, much like the NCAA basketball tournament.
  • 2003–2017 – The championship final became a best-of-three series between the two four-team bracket winners, with games scheduled for three consecutive evenings. In the results shown below, Score indicates the score of the championship game(s) only. In 2008, the start of the CWS was moved back one day, and an extra day of rest was added in between bracket play and the championship series.
  • 2018–present – The number of national seeds increased from 8 to 16. Each Super Regional featured the winners of regionals in which the numerical sum of those regions' national seeds totaled 17 (1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, etc.). No other format changes were made.
So I believe I was wrong about how it worked when they switched to the single final game. It worked as it does now with essentially two different four team double elimination tournaments before the final game (now final series).

If you look at the brackets from the mid '80s it was weird. You ended up with four teams - one who won the winner's bracket, one who lost the winnner's bracket final, and two who made it through the loser's bracket. So they didn't completely play out the loser's bracket where those two teams played each other then the winner's bracket finals loser as you might expect - then that team having to beat the winner's bracket winner twice.

So, anyway, you had four teams. One game between two teams who had one loss eliminated one. The undefeated team played one of the one loss teams that made it through the loser's bracket. If they won then the team who won the game between the two one loss teams would have to beat them twice. (See Texas in 1985 NCAA Division I baseball tournament - Wikipedia.) If they lost, then the two of the four teams who won played each other with the winner playing the previously undefeated team in a winner take all scenario. (See Arizona in 1986 NCAA Division I baseball tournament - Wikipedia.)

Kind of an interesting approach but not good for TV.

On the topic of double elimination tournaments, the smallest four divisions in Oklahoma have a 96 team double elimination tournament for basketball. (Lowest division can have more than 96.) Every team makes the playoffs. Once you get to the final 8 it becomes single elimination with four winner's bracket winners playing loser's bracket winners in the first round. The only other exception is that the very first round (of which 32 of the 96 get a bye) is single elimination. It's a pretty cool system that I don't think exists elsewhere.
 
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