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The field is set. The road to Omaha can officially begin.
Well, it can begin when the NCAA Tournament kicks off on Friday. But on Monday, we had the selection show to announce the field.
This is what the field looks like:
The bracket is set.
️ https://t.co/O8eHAliwjO
https://t.co/gmEvesF6Zt #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/a6Xm5oEIKE— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 27, 2024
Here are 5 SEC takeaways from the reveal of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
1. Tennessee has the No. 1 overall seed and a juicy path to Omaha
After the Vols’ 50th victory earned them an SEC Tournament title, there wasn’t much debate about whether they’d get the No. 1 overall seed. For the second time in 3 years, that happened. The debate was about what the Tennessee Regional would look like. Needless to say, it’s loaded with intrigue. For starters, Tennessee will face a Southern Miss squad that it eliminated last year in the Southern Miss Super Regional. There’s a revenge angle there.
There’s also the revenge angle of the potential Super Regional matchup against former Vols hurler and current Wake Forest star Chase Burns, who could return to Knoxville if the Demon Deacons can win the East Carolina Regional. Do you think there’d be just a few eyeballs on that one? No matter how it shakes out, Tennessee’s path to become the first No. 1 overall seed to win the College World Series since 1999 Miami is as juicy as it gets.
2. Tommy White is returning to the state of North Carolina
Speaking of intrigue, the LSU star is returning to the state where he burst onto the scene as a true freshman. Granted, the former NC State slugger is returning to a different school in the Triangle. UNC will play host to LSU in the UNC Regional, where Wofford will await the defending national champs. That’ll be a unique way to start for Jay Johnson’s squad. No team in the field has more stolen bases than Wofford, which swiped 144 bags in 2024 (7th in Division I).
The question is if that’ll matter against White and the high-powered LSU bats, who averaged 11 runs in the first 4 games of the SEC Tournament. The Tigers went from a bubble team to perhaps the ultimate wild card. White doing some damage back where his college career began would be a welcome sight for the title defense.
3. Florida won’t be in the Florida State Regional, but it will indeed be in the field in a Fiesta Bowl rematch
The anti-SEC crowd didn’t want to see Florida make the field at just 1 game over .500 after it struggled in conference play, but the nation’s No. 1 strength of schedule won out. The defending national runners-up are indeed in the field, but they’ll avoid a Florida State matchup and instead travel to the Oklahoma State Regional. That improved Florida’s streak of NCAA Tournament appearances to 16, which is the second-longest active streak in the country.
The road back to Omaha fittingly starts with a team from the Cornhusker State. Florida will take on Nebraska in a 1996 Fiesta Bowl rematch. Nearly 3 decades after Florida’s frustrating night on the gridiron, Jac Caglianone and the Gators will have a chance for a little revenge against the Big Ten Tournament champs.
4. Texas A&M and Texas are in the same Regional, just as the college sports gods intended
In the last few months that Texas A&M and Texas will be in separate conferences, they’ll be in the same Regional together. How fitting. The A&M Regional will play host to Grambling State, Louisiana and Texas. The Aggies earned the No. 3 overall seed and will take on a Grambling State squad that earned its third NCAA Tournament berth in program history.
Of course, all eyes will be on that potential A&M-Texas game. Two years ago in Omaha, it was the Aggies who got the last laugh with a 10-2 victory in an elimination game. More recently, Jim Schlossnagle’s squad got the upper hand with a 9-2 victory when the teams met in Austin in the regular season. Of course, bouncing back after an early SEC Tournament exit and taking care of Grambling State will be priority No. 1 for the nationally seeded Aggies.
5. The SEC’s historic 11-team bid feels like it’ll end with yet another title
For the first time, a conference will send 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament. Florida was the last real piece of that puzzle, but the Gators helped the SEC earn the highest number of teams in the field by a conference. Mizzou, Ole Miss and Auburn were the only teams left out. To recap, the SEC has more teams in line to host Super Regionals (5) than it has teams on the outside of the NCAA Tournament. Not too shabby, even for the SEC.
It begs the question — does this mean the SEC is a lock to win yet another national title? It’s been 6 years since the SEC failed to win the College World Series and it’s been 8 years since the SEC failed to put a team in the College World Series finals. All signs point to significant SEC representation in Omaha. If it just means more CWS glory, nobody will be surprised.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
