Softball

SoonerTraveler said:
YEESSSS!! ... What a TEAM!! ... What a PROGRAM!!

* * * * * * * * *

I don't mind reading the endless RPI debate, as both sides sometimes make me laugh out loud as I look at my PC screen.

The debate will likely continue, even as it is now MOOT. The Sooners showed how to make it MOOT. Just win.

The RPI. Who cares? It's like a cow's opinion. It doesn't matter. It's MOO

* * * * * * * * *

Back to what does matter. It has all worked out for the best.

  • Winning 4 "do-or-die" games last weekend
  • Knocking out Auburn in front of their rabid SEC fans
  • Winning 6 games in a row against post-season competition
  • Getting a huge win in the post-season without Paige Parker on the mound
  • The TEAM is confident
  • The pitching STAFF is confident
  • The TEAM is ready.

OKC! Bring 'em on!
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Call it moot, but what it show is that a Committee made up of Asst. A.D.'s, mainly from small conferences (Big 12 and PAC not represented) who rely on an algorithm that lord knows who came up with or what it was based on, is a pathetic way to seed a tourney. Home field clearly matters in the Super regionals, so this needs to change.
 
You're correct. I think the SEC rep on the committee sold the small conference reps on putting all 13 in the regionals. It was wrong to do that, but the SEC cares only about the SEC, not the best interest of the sport.
 
That's right, and I'd like to add that the SEC creates a partial vacuum with it's mouth.
 
Sooner Cal said:
You're correct. I think the SEC rep on the committee sold the small conference reps on putting all 13 in the regionals. It was wrong to do that, but the SEC cares only about the SEC, not the best interest of the sport.
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Don't forget ESPiN! I don't doubt for a minute they are influencing, not only softball, but anything they can! They are flooding the regular ESPiN channels with SEC channel filler programming. It's not enough to have multiple SEC channels but then putting that crap programming on regular sports channels. 🙁
 
I don't care for ESPN either. Rather than continuing to complain about it, I did about the only thing I could personally do that has any impact. About six months ago, I "downgraded" my cable package in order to CANCEL ESPN. This means that I have to follow some OU games on the radio or the internet, but that is OK with me. Years ago I started turning the sound off on ESPN (and other) TV broadcasts and listened to the description of OU games on the radio, so I decided to save money and just cut out the picture as well.

I am in my 60s and I have observed that no college playoff selection system pleases everybody. Never has. At the end of every men's basketball season, there are always members of the national media that harshly criticize that "this team" or "that team" gets in, or is left out. Always. Every single season. All of these after-the-fact complaints by highly-paid talking-heads accomplishes exactly Dick. I can no longer stand the sound of Dick Vitale's and others voices because of this, and other hyperventilation exercises they perform with their voice boxes that pain my brain and hurt my ears. Good gosh. It is boring. Who needs it?

I agree with those that think OU should have been a top-8 national seed. So what? We are all biased. I guarantee that fans of other teams feel the same way, i.e., their team was under-seeded.

I also agree that the composition of the softball selection committee members was an insult to the sport of college softball. So what? What can I do about it?

The best solution is to let me be the selection committee. OU will be the #1 seed. Problem solved. Surely, no one across the country could disagree. :)
 
"I thought the whole seeding process was skewed this year,” Myers said. “I'm only speaking for myself, and I think matching us up was only for TV.”

It looks like even the Auburn coach knows this was nonsense.
 
SoonerMGB56 said:
My points are these (and I know you'll argue, because you love to do so, and you believe the RPI did it's job):

1) IMO, if the RPI was properly setup, OU would have been seeded ahead of Auburn and Tennessee.

2) Hosting regionals had more to do with who advanced to the Supers, than the seedings/RPI.

3) Ole' Miss and Kentucky should never have been hosting reqionals. And if they didn't host, IMO it's highly doubtful they would have been in Supers.

4) Arkansas, South Carolina and Georgia should not even have been in the tournament.
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Well stated.

You complain because that is how change begins. No resistance, no change.
 
SoonerTraveler said:
From the Auburn 247Sports site / Free Content

Disappointing finish: Tigers falter with season on the line
http://auburn.247sports.com/Article...igers-falter-with-season-on-the-line-52925121

Fans show up in droves for Auburn Super Regional
http://auburn.247sports.com/Article...uburn-softballs-Super-Regional-again-52917843
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Pitiful. :facepalm

Over and over and over they talk about: "Nicole Pendry".

It's hard to win when you don't even know the names of the opponent's key players.
 
Four teams have been eliminated:

Ole Miss
Auburn
Alabama
Kentucky

The only win that any of them had was against another SEC team, Florida.

Teams advancing:

UCLA
Oklahoma
Florida---the only SEC team played another SEC team.
Oregon
 
sybarite said:
Four teams have been eliminated:

Ole Miss
Auburn
Alabama
Kentucky

The only win that any of them had was against another SEC team, Florida.

Teams advancing:

UCLA
Oklahoma
Florida---the only SEC team played another SEC team.
Oregon
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Ole Miss to UCLA, Alabama to Florida and Kentucky to Oregon were underdogs and not supposed to win. Only Auburn was favored and lost.

Alabama, A&M and LSU have wins over favored Florida, Tennessee and FSU. OU is the only other 'dog with a win and we had 2.

OU is the only 'dog to make the WCWS to date. Both A&M and LSU are 'dogs that are only 1 win from the WCWS.
 
scrybe said:
Do you not realize we don't use the shift when runners are in scoring position?
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Yep on scoring position. But I first noticed not being in the shift in the top of the 4th when Fagen led off for Auburn and then when the third hitter Vetch struck out with the passed ball allowing Vetch to reach 1st. We were not in the shift on several other hitter throughout the game but could not see shift status on all batters to try determine when and why.

Could only observe for certain when the CF camera picking up the pitch while picking up Arnold on 3rd base side of 2nd and not in the shift.
 
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Baylor beats Arizona 6-4. Now we need them to do it again tomorrow and preserve LC's HR record.
 
SoonerMGB56 said:
My points are these (and I know you'll argue, because you love to do so, and you believe the RPI did it's job):

1) IMO, if the RPI was properly setup, OU would have been seeded ahead of Auburn and Tennessee.

2) Hosting regionals had more to do with who advanced to the Supers, than the seedings/RPI.

3) Ole' Miss and Kentucky should never have been hosting reqionals. And if they didn't host, IMO it's highly doubtful they would have been in Supers.

4) Arkansas, South Carolina and Georgia should not even have been in the tournament.
Click to expand...

To each his own. Many don't like whatever ranking system especially the rpi but their dissatisfaction by citing individual teams that they feel are unjustified exceptions reputes nothing regarding the rpi. The rpi's objective is to accurately identify and seed a high percentage of teams. They have no concern about how individual teams are impacted.

Everything else is a unsubstantiated disagreement with the results based on an opinion. Until the committee provides the transparency to document the system's accuracy the discussion really remains moot. Personally I do not always understand the logic of the committee when ignoring the rpi like they did this year with Minnesota. To me that was politically based.

But the fact is the system has consistently identified accurately via seeding the teams that have finished as champion, in the championship game, in the final 4 teams and the WCWS. Ditto for men's and women's basketball. That is the job it is designed to do.

OU was 1-4 against top ten and 5-5 against the top 25. Tennessee was 3-3 against the top 10 and 16-7 against the top 25. Auburn was 1-2 against the top 10 and 15-6 against the top 25 with a win over OU. And the justification for OU was what? Defending national champ counts nothing this year. Nor does the name OU. Wins over UCLA, Mississippi, Tulsa and Baylor twice is not much of a resume for a top 8 seed.
 
This gets old. The simple fact is that the SEC has underperformed in the Super-Regionals, and the home field advantage makes that a bit difficult. Between them, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Auburn won how many games? Zero? Is seeding that well-defined?

I'm also a bit tired of hearing about the early losses. In our first game, against Auburn (not their first game), we were experimenting. We didn't use our ace. Auburn used one of their two starters, the one that had faced us in the finale. We used someone that was still a project. She walked five, typical of how she had pitched at Missouri. It was a third of the season before she got into the groove of what she was being taught. Now, look at how many times she even walks two in a game. She has become all about control. Oh, and we had no idea what our lineup might be, still favoring Dalton as one of our replacement stars. We had no clue about Mendes. We also had Knighten and Romero in recovery from surgery.

We started 24-7. But, we were developing. Auburn was probably about as good as they were today. We were better. We had the same experience with teams like Washington and Arizona. Just from watching recent play, if OU were to play those 31 games with this team in this condition, what might their record be? 30-1? 29-2?

All of those losses were at neutral sites. It is curious as to how we didn't get credit for beating UCLA on their field because it was a part of some tournament. But, we lost at neutral sites.

Meanwhile, we watched teams that played hardly anyone lose at home----on their home field. Yet, they ended up with good rpis? I would feel pretty good if I were taking one of three from the Yankees. But, losing to a middle school in Norman might cause me some concern. Some of these highly-rated teams were losing to Maryland, Penn State, and Houston on their home field. If your system doesn't penalize them for that, it needs to be discarded and ignored.

Myers was probably right. ESPN did get the seeding and the matchup that they wanted. It was good TV: the defending champions and the runners-up. Having just watched some other games, Auburn and OU might well be as good as anyone in the nation. But, ESPN got the matchup and the TV audience they wanted. Rpi and integrity aside.

At least, it's nice that A&M, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida were playing against each other. Got the SEC some wins.
 
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