Virginia gets screwed by NCAA selection committee

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Having a hard time digesting the NCAA Baseball selection committee’s decision to leave Virginia out of its 64-team field, considering what the Cavaliers accomplished.

UVA had some hiccups along the way, but figured out its issues and got itself together, turning around a season that once stood at 12-11 and finished 32-18, with the Cavaliers winning 12 of their last 14. During that span, the Wahoos won a series at Georgia Tech, swept Miami and took a road series at Virginia Tech.

Virginia finished in sixth place in the ACC regular-season standings, only a game-and-a-half behind first place Georgia Tech, yet ahead of Miami (15-14) and Louisville (15-15). In addition, the Cavaliers were robbed of an opportunity against second-place finisher Florida State, with all three of those games being cancelled due to the tragic shooting on the Tallahassee campus the week those games were scheduled.

Nine ACC teams were selected to the field, but Virginia was omitted with the excuse that the Cavaliers’ RPI was lousy — and it was, at No. 65 — thanks greatly to a nonconference schedule that was rated No. 257 in the country. UVA lost six of those games, which was bad, but what the Cavaliers did in one of the two best baseball conferences in the country should have overshadowed those issues.

Is it Virginia’s fault that some of its traditional nonconference opponents weren’t as good as usual? Past committees didn’t seem to hold that against the Cavaliers.

So, Brian O’Connor’s team, a regular participant in the NCAA Tournament, is left out of the postseason, the first time since 1994 that an ACC team finished five or more games above .500 in the league and was snubbed by the selection committee.

This stinks.

UVA’s national ACR number was 40, compared to other teams that got in: Kansas State (31-24, ACR 47); Kentucky (29-24, No. 38); Cincinnati (32-24, No. 43); Southern Cal (35-21, No. 44); Oklahoma State (28-23, No. 41); Arizona State (35-22, No. 39).

Also consider that Miami went 1-7 to finish the regular season and was No. 45, while Kentucky was 5-9 over its last 14 games, Kansas State was 5-7, USC was 3-6, and Oklahoma State was under .500 most of the season.

Oh, and that FSU series?

NCAA committee chairman Jay Artigues said the FSU series was discussed by the committee.

“It was definitely discussed and you hate to see that, but we can only evaluate for teams they do play,” Artigues said.

Lame.

He also pointed out that Virginia’s ACC schedule was “unbalanced.” Last time I checked, you play the ACC schedule you’re handed. UVA did and finished sixth.

Frankly, Artigues’ argument doesn’t add up, considering the numbers comparisons and going grossly against the grain considering the quality of the ACC.