TCU Baseball: What Did We Learn?

Welcome back to another installment of "What Did We Learn.' a weekly article that goes year-round detailing the past week's results. However, in the true spirit of "WDWL," this is more of an editorial, allowing me free rein to discuss whatever caught my attention over the past week that I think Frog fans should know.

The Committees Labyrinth

One of the most anticipated parts of the college baseball season is "Selection Monday." Teams, coaches, and fans crowd around their TVs to watch the twelve-member committee decide who has earned the right to play postseason baseball and who will host the Regional rounds.

The problem doesn't lie within the format of the field of 64, how the games shake out, or any of that. The problem lies in the fact that outside of the 29 teams automatically entered into the postseason for winning their conference tournament, everything else is left to the ADs and commissioners on the committee—the same people who are invested in the success or failures of the other schools.

Unlike any other major college sport, the committee does not check in during the season. Teams do not have clear guidelines for what they look for, and in fact, if they say they looked at RPI last year, it doesn't guarantee they will this year. Just ask TCU Horned Frog's Head Coach Kirk Saarloos, who opened up his press conference after losing to Arizona 2-1 in the Big 12 Championship with, "I believe we should be host, I believe our quad one and quad two wins speak for themselves.... last year they left us out because of our RPI, and now with where our RPI sits, we should be hosting, and they proved last year they care about RPI.".

Saarloos, like many other coaches around the country, is just like regular fans when it comes to the selection show. They have no idea what will be used or where they will be seeded. D1 Baseball and Baseball America are left to handle the guessing and anticipation. Two premier college baseball news websites, which while having insider knowledge of the sport, have said themselves they don't know what the committee will do.

TCU, for example, has the 17th-ranked RPI in the country according to D1 Baseball and the 17th-highest non-conference strength of schedule out of over 300 D1 baseball teams. They are 20-14 in quad one and quad two games. They just played, albeit lost, in the Big 12 tournament championship. Twelve people will now decide if any of that matters, decide if the Frogs did any of that for a reason.

If they decide that non-conference strength of schedule doesn't matter when it comes to Tennessee hosting, Western Kentucky, which is 44-12 but has the 292nd non-con SOS, should be in the tournament. If they say that the conference tournament results matter and Ole Miss should be hosting, shouldn't Arizona also be hosting? They went 37-18 and have an RPI of 29, so surely they should host, too, right? This could have been avoided had the committee released a projection at any point this season, but now, it's too late.

To be left in the dark, guessing what will be decided on your team's fate, by twelve people trying to ensure the best results possible for their vested school, doesn't sit right with me. This isn't a SEC vs. the Big 12 situation, but it has become one. College Baseball is made great because it is truly the sport of parity. Cinderella stories lay galore in the scene, the storylines write themselves, and the players on the field generate the heartbreak and excitement. So why do we let the first round of that come from a 12-person committee that meets once a year?

The field of 64 will be announced Monday during a live show airing on ESPN2 at 11 a.m. CT. I, along with the teams, coaches, and fans of college baseball, will be watching.

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