Among the criteria not under consideration when it comes to the NCAA tournament is creative baserunning. Although as most softball fans probably observed by now, if it was, two-time defending champion Oklahoma would be a lock for the No. 1 seed thanks to senior Lea Wodach.

Instead, we're left with more mundane matters like the RPI. The NCAA selection committee has historically adhered close to the RPI in seeding the tournament. But it isn't just the base ranking that is important, it's the breakdowns in the so-called "nitty-gritty" report that includes data like records against the RPI top 25, top 50, 100, etc.

It isn't a coincidence, for example, that when Minnesota stunningly went unseeded a year ago, it had fewer top 25 and top 50 wins than those seeded ahead of it.

There is ample reason to argue with that rationale, but historically, it best predicts the bracket.

And after the final weekend of April, the picture is starting to come into focus.

This is not a suggestion of what the seedings should be. It is a look at the current data and selection committee's historical tendencies to guess at what those seedings look like at the moment. The RPI rankings refer to those in the most recent public release on April 23.

No. 1 Oregon: The ninth-inning grand slam from DJ Sanders that put an exclamation point on a series-opening win at Washington (the deciding run in the 7-2 win technically scored in less dramatic fashion two batters earlier) may or may not prove pivotal in the Pac-12 title race. Oregon and UCLA remain tied atop the standings. But the grand slam and ensuing series sweep at Washington give the Ducks a steely grip on the No. 1 seed. Thanks to the strength of the top of the Pac-12 but also the program's aggressive scheduling out of conference, Oregon has 13 wins against the RPI top 10 -- more than any two challengers for the No. 1 seed combined.

No. 2 UCLA: The Bruins did all they could to help their cause during a lull in their Pac-12 schedule, sweeping four games against Oklahoma State and South Dakota with ease. In the only game she pitched, Rachel Garcia struck out 18 and one-hit the Cowgirls. They can't match Oregon's top-10 wins, and lost the head-to-head series, but no other team is as strong at the top of the résumé. Even without help from the wins against Oklahoma State, which entered the weekend No. 26, UCLA is 14-2 against the top 25 and 23-2 against the top 50 -- the best winning percentage in such games among contenders. Just as important, it is 7-2 against top 10.

No. 3 Florida: It was a good week for the Gators, mostly because it was a good week for pitcher Kelly Barnhill's player of the year campaign. She was brilliant in a midweek win against Florida State and in the series opener against LSU. And when she wasn't spotless -- home runs again were a problem amid 14 strikeouts in the LSU finale -- her offense delivered. But without making too much of one loss against a quality opponent, the loss in the game Barnhill didn't pitch will linger. The Gators are 20-6 against teams in the RPI top 25, three more wins than anyone else. But within that is a 2-3 record against the RPI top 10. Adding to earlier sweeps of South Carolina and Texas A&M, teams just outside the top 10, would have helped a case to edge out UCLA.

No. 4 Georgia: Perhaps the first surprise -- No. 4 is higher than the Bulldogs are ranked in the RPI or the USA Softball/ESPN.com poll. But they've helped their cause as much as any team the past two weeks by winning SEC series against Kentucky and then Alabama. Even after losing Sunday's finale to the Tide, Georgia is 16-7 against the RPI top 25 -- more wins than any except the three teams above them here. That includes a 4-3 record against the RPI top 10, making Georgia the rare team other than Oregon, Tennessee and UCLA with a winning record in those games. And of note after righty Brittany Gray threw out a left-handed ceremonial first pitch on Senior Day, and despite Sunday's struggles in this regard, Georgia continues to pitch well enough to fend off any temptation to downgrade them because of Gray's season-ending injury.

No. 5 Arizona State: Unlike at least one of the teams to follow, Arizona State didn't slip when presented with a chance to accumulate some top-50 wins. A sweep at Utah, with the requisite G Juarez shutout, helped the Sun Devils bounce back from the previous week's disappointment against Arizona. The Sun Devils are 11-8 against the RPI top 25 and 4-7 against the top 10. In both cases, their final series at UCLA in two weeks could produce a significant swing in seeding.

No. 6 Tennessee: It's difficult to come away happy from a series that included a squandered 8-2 lead in an extra-innings loss, as happened to Tennessee in the opener against Kentucky. But winning the next two games -- Meghan Gregg hit home runs in each -- made it more likely there will be two more weekends of softball in Knoxville this season. At 15-8 against the RPI top 25, Tennessee has almost as many of those wins as Florida State and Oklahoma combined. Those teams have better winning percentages in those games, but Tennessee isn't scuffling around .500, either.

No. 7 Washington: The wrong end of back-to-back sweeps obviously hurts, all the more after Oregon's combination of power and speed got to Washington's pitching in ways almost no team previously had. But the numbers suggest the Huskies had seeding issues before this past weekend. Namely, there just aren't a lot of RPI top 25 wins relative to teams above them. As much as Washington's struggles against the RPI top 10 (4-8 in those games), it is the lack of RPI top 25 games out of conference dragging down the seed.

No. 8 Oklahoma: Wodach avoided the tag Saturday and delivered the walk-off sweep Sunday. But in what is becoming an annual tradition, the Sooners will struggle to evade a committee historically unwilling to apply the eye test. Even after sweeping Texas, Oklahoma has fewer top-50 wins than a team like Georgia does against the top 25. And thanks to Oregon's Megan Kleist, who shut them out a week ago, the Sooners are 1-2 against the top 10. Sweeping upcoming Bedlam games against Oklahoma State and winning the Big 12 tournament would help a little, but unless the committee proves willing to judge this as essentially the same team that won the last two national titles, even holding on to a potential home super regional will be a challenge.

No. 9 Florida State: The Seminoles clinched a sixth consecutive ACC title with a series win at Notre Dame. No Sydney Broderick, Jessica Burroughs or Alex Powers after all three made their way to National Pro Fastpitch? Plug in transfer Kylee Hanson and freshman Sydney Sherrill and keep winning. But in the cold math of the bracket, the losses to Florida midweek and in the weekend finale against the Irish hurt more than the ACC title helps. Florida State's seven losses outside the RPI top 25 are more than Oregon, UCLA, Washington, Florida, Oklahoma, Georgia and Tennessee combined. Now there is no season sweep of Florida to help offset that.

We move to the lightning round for the final seven seeds, those that would host regionals.