NCAA Baseball Regionals 2012: Breaking Down the Entire Bracket
After a wild week of conference tournament action that saw the No. 1 (Florida State), No. 2 (LSU) and No. 3 (Florida) teams lose prior to the championship game, the NCAA regional field of 64 is set.
There were some surprises in seeding and host sites, but for the most part, everything went as it should have.
Here is a look at all of the regional action and teams that you need to look for when the games get started.
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When: Regionals start on Friday, June 1 thru Tuesday, June 5.
Regional Host Sites: Gainesville (Fla.), Raleigh (NC State), Charlottesville (UVA), Columbia (SC), Eugene (Ore.), Gary (PUR), Houston (Rice), Waco (BAY), Los Angeles (UCLA), College Station (Texas A&M), Coral Gables (MIA), Baton Rouge (LSU), Chapel Hill (UNC), Tucson (Az.), Palo Alto (STAN), Tallahassee (FSU).
All regionals are double-elimination.
Bold Indicates Top 8 National Seed
| No. 1 Florida |
| No. 2 Georgia Tech |
| No. 3 Charleston |
| No. 4 Bethune-Cookman |
| No. 1 NC State |
| No. 2 Vanderbilt |
| No. 3 UNC-Wilmington |
| No. 4 Sacred Heart |
| No. 1 Virginia |
| No. 2 Oklahoma |
| No. 3 Appalachian State |
| No. 4 Army |
| No. 1 South Carolina |
| No. 2 Clemson |
| No. 3 Coastal Carolina |
| No. 4 Manhattan |
| No. 1 Oregon |
| No. 2 Fullerton |
| No. 3 Indiana State |
| No. 4 Austin Peay |
| No. 1 Purdue |
| No. 2 Kentucky |
| No. 3 Kent State |
| No. 4 Valparaiso |
| No. 1 Rice |
| No. 2 Arkansas |
| No. 3 Sam Houston State |
| No. 4 Prairie View |
| No. 1 Baylor |
| No. 2 Dallas-Baptist |
| No. 3 Texas-Arlington |
| No. 4 Oral Roberts |
| No. 1 UCLA |
| No. 2 San Diego |
| No. 3 New Mexico |
| No. 4 Creighton |
| No. 1 Texas A&M |
| No. 2 TCU |
| No. 3 Mississippi |
| No. 4 Dayton |
| No. 1 Miami |
| No. 2 Central Florida |
| No. 3 Missouri State |
| No. 4 Stony Brook |
| No. 1 LSU |
| No. 2 Oregon State |
| No. 3 Belmont |
| No. 4 Louisiana-Monroe |
| No. 1 North Carolina |
| No. 2 East Carolina |
| No. 3 St. John's |
| No. 4 Cornell |
| No. 1 Arizona |
| No. 2 New Mexico State |
| No. 3 Louisville |
| No. 4 Missouri |
| No. 1 Stanford |
| No. 2 Pepperdine |
| No. 3 Michigan State |
| No. 4 Fresno State |
| No. 1 Florida State |
| No. 2 Mississippi State |
| No. 3 Samford |
| No. 4 UAB |
Top Teams
Florida Gators
The Gators entered the season with the most talented team in the country. Despite some stretches where they have not lived up to that billing, it is hard not to love the potential of this team in a short-series round-robin tournament like this.
As the No. 1 national seed, the Gators got the "easiest" draw in the regionals. They should have little problem advancing to the super regionals next week.
LSU Tigers
Surprise, surprise, the SEC gets represented well in a list of favorites during postseason tournaments. LSU stumbled during the conference tournament last week, but the Tigers knew their spot was secure and did not put forth their best lineups to make a run.
Now that the real games have started, the Tigers will look to prove that their 43-16 record and SEC regular season title were no fluke. Behind the right arm of ace pitcher Kevin Gausman, they will make their first appearance in the College World Series since 2009.
UCLA Bruins
Unlike last year, when they boasted two of the top pitching prospects for the 2011 MLB draft in Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer, the Bruins made it back to the regionals with a team filled with quality upperclassmen, like Jeff Gelalich, who could be a supplemental round pick in the 2012 draft, and young studs who keep getting better.
Youth is a dangerous thing to bet on in a tournament like this, but talent wins a lot more games than experience does, and the Bruins have a lot of the former.
Underrated Team to Watch
Kentucky Wildcats
It is strange to say that a No. 2 seed in a region would be underrated, yet somehow the Wildcats still don't manage to get the respect they deserve. They are a better team than Purdue and deserve to be hosting their own regional.
Instead, the Wildcats will have to settle for proving to the world—and the selection committee—that they deserve much better than they got. This team is a legitimate threat to win the College World Series.
They did finish the year in a bit of a tailspin (2-5 in their last seven games), but their pitching has been strong throughout the year and will be good enough to at least carry them through the Gary Regional.
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