For OU, the trip to the CWS begins tomorrow against UMBC who was fourth in their conference and won its tournament.
http://stats.ncaa.org/teams/472057
It is always unwise in sports to overlook someone. It is rarely this difficult to get your attention on the first game. UMBC defeated 0 teams in the top 100 rpi. They were something like 1-12 against teams in the top 150. Their rpi is somewhere around 215. I haven't looked it up. But, they may be the weakest team we have played this year.
Their ace freshman pitcher who had something like 350 Ks was bombed by teams like Mass Lowell, Lehigh, Stony Brook. Against that caliber of competition, I suspect that Parker Conrad would have been the primary candidate for national player of the year.
Wisconsin-----early in the year, I had a lot of interest in what they were doing. They lost to Tech. But, they beat nearly everyone else. But, it is relevant that they were 0-6 against Northwestern, Minnesota, and Michigan while beating up on the rest of the Big Ten. They are good at beating bad teams, rarely slipping up. They did beat Texas in an extra-inning game (as I remember, think it was 0-0 through eight) after losing a couple of days earlier. I doubt they show up strong enough to beat Notre Dame, much less OU. They just don't seem to do well above the bottom feeder level.
Notre Dame----pogo stick team. They are run-ruled in one game, only to surprise someone in the next. They were run-ruled by Syracuse! They did do well in the final run to the ACC tournament until they were beaten 2-0 by FSU. They had beaten FSU in Tallahassee earlier this year, a day after FSU run-ruled them.
Notre Dame does have a very good power hitter who had 20 home runs and only ten Ks.. Good hitter. But, they have only fifty HRs as a team. This is a team that might actually beat you----once.
