A Refresher Course On The Selection Process & More…

Just five days remain until the selections are announced for this year’s NCAA Division One Baseball Tournament. We always receive questions about how selections are made and just how the whole process works.

The tournament starts in just over a week with a field of 64 and culminates with the College World Series in Omaha in June. With all that in mind, here’s a look at how selections will be made this weekend, who is on the selection committee and the formats for the Regional, Super Regional and CWS rounds of the NCAA baseball tournament.

CLICK HERE to see the 2012 NCAA field of 64 teams.

64 teams will qualify for the NCAA Baseball Championship.

30 of the 64 teams that qualify for the tournament will receive automatic bids based on winning conference championships. Most of those automatic bids go to teams that win their conference tournaments.

The minimum requirement for at-large selection is an above .500 record against Division One competition.

The West Coast Conference , Big West and Pac-10 do not sponsor postseason tournaments, so their automatic bids go to the regular-season champion.

, and do not sponsor postseason tournaments, so their automatic bids go to the regular-season champion. Since there are only 30 automatic bids, 34 at-large spots in the tournament are selected by the NCAA baseball committee.

The committee uses the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), a computer program that provides the committee with (1) the institution’s Division I winning percentage , (2) opponents’ success and (3) opponents’ strength of schedule . The RPI is an additional tool used in the evaluation of at-large teams. Please note that the adjusted RPI takes into account a bonus/penalty structure. Bonus and penalty values only will be used for non-conference games.

(RPI), a computer program that provides the committee with (1) the institution’s , (2) and (3) . The RPI is an additional tool used in the evaluation of at-large teams. Please note that the adjusted RPI takes into account a bonus/penalty structure. Bonus and penalty values only will be used for non-conference games. Regular-season conference standings and/or conference postseason competition shall be considered by the committee when selecting at-large teams.

The committee may consider comparing data of individual teams, including, but not limited to, overall record, Division I record, overall RPI rank, non-conference record and RPI rank, conference regular-season record and conference tournament results, road record and RPI, last 15 games’ record, its record against teams ranked 1-25, 26-50, 51-100, 101-150 and below 150 in the RPI, head-to-head record, common opponents’ record and input from regional advisory committees.

The same criteria is also used to determine seeding for Regionals and the top-eight national seeds. RPI was said to have been de-emphasized last year, but it is still a huge factor in the selection and seeding process.

The top-eight national seeds essentially are the eight teams that (at least in theory) should make it to the College World Series. Top-eight seeds are guaranteed they would not have to play each other until the CWS.

Regional host sites will be announced on Sunday, May 27, while the field of 64 will be announced on Monday, May 28 (Memorial Day). Selections will be televised on ESPNU.

CLICK HERE to see the list of 30 automatic qualifiers.

The 2012 NCAA Selection Committee

Kyle Kallander – Big South Conference Commissioner

Gary Overton – East Carolina Assistant Athletic Director

David Heeke – Central Michigan Athletic Director

John Hardt – Bucknell Athletic Director

Larry Gallo – North Carolina Associate Athletic Director

Dennis Farrell – Big West Conference Commissioner

Chris Monasch – St.John’s Athletic Director

Mark LaBarbera – Valparaiso Athletic Director

Eric Hyman – South Carolina Athletic Director

Randy L. Buhr – Washington State Associate Athletic Director

The Road To Omaha leads to TD Ameritrade Park and The Dugout – located right across the street from TDA’s home plate entrance. The Dugouthas a ton of authentic college baseball caps – just like the ones the players wear on the field.

If you’re going to Omaha for the College World Series make sure to make your first stop The Dugout for all officially licensed CWS apparel. If you can’t make it to Omaha just follow our red links to The Dugout!

Here’s how the tournament is formatted:

Regionals

16 four-team Regional tournaments take place at different locations around the country.

Ordinarily, all Regional and Super Regional tournaments are located on or near the campus of one of the competing institutions; however, a Regional or Super Regional tournament may be scheduled at a neutral site provided advance approval is obtained from the Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet.

The committee shall attempt to place Regional tournaments so that maximum national balance can be obtained, preferably at least one Regional in each of the eight Division I baseball regions.

Except for the 16 No. 1 Regional seeds, the pairings for the Regionals, whenever possible, will be based on closest geographical location of the teams to the tournament sites. Teams may be moved outside their regions, if necessary, to balance the bracket, or if the proximity to an opponent outside the region would be comparable and a better competitive matchup would occur.

Two teams from the same conference cannot be placed in the same Regional.

Teams from the same conference that are seeded first in their respective Regional will be placed on the bracket to avoid potentially meeting in a Super Regional.

Typically, #1 seeds host Regionals, but it is possible for a #2 seed to host.

Teams are seeded 1-4 within each Regional, with the #1 seed playing the #4 seed and the #2 seed playing the #3 seed on the first day of the tournament.

The tournament is played out in a double-elimination format, with the winner advancing to one of eight Super Regionals.

As noted below, one change made a couple years back is that the potential game-7 of a Regional (i.e. both teams have one loss) is played on Monday, whereas it used to be played on Sunday night (barring weather rescheduling, there never will be more than two games played in one day at a Regional site).

Here’s the Regional format:

Day 1

Game 1 — No. 1 seed vs. No. 4

Game 2 — No. 2 vs. No. 3

Day 2

Game 3 — Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2

Game 4 — Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Day 3

Game 5 — Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4

Game 6 — Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5

Day 4

Game 7 — If necessary, same teams as in Game 6

Super Regionals

Two teams will play a best 2-of-3 format to determine the Super Regional winner.

Super Regional competition takes place at on-campus sites or alternate sites that are approved by the baseball committee.

Consideration for hosting shall be given to the higher seed, including the eight national seeds, if a suitable hosting proposal has been received (e.g., meets financial guarantee and quality of facility criteria). If the higher seed has not submitted a proposal, the lower-seeded team will host if its proposal is acceptable.

If the Super Regional matchup is between equally-seeded teams, the committee shall review the hosting proposals according to the site selection criteria (e.g., quality and availability of the facility, revenue potential and other available accommodations) to determine the host. If only one of the teams has submitted a

proposal, that team shall host if the proposal is acceptable.

proposal, that team shall host if the proposal is acceptable. Winners of the eight Super Regional tournaments will qualify for the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

in Omaha, Neb. The 2012 College World Series begins on Friday, June 15 and runs through Monday/Tuesday June 25/26.

Note: While the tournament starts with 16 #1 seeds, for the purposes of Super Regional pairings only the top-eight national seeds are taken into consideration. According to the NCAA, the other eight #1 Regional seeds all “become a nine seed” when it comes to pairing which Regionals will face off in the Super Regional round. Super Regional pairings are made based on geography rather than actual seed.

Here’s the Super Regional format:

Day 1: Game 1 — Team A vs. Team B

Day 2: Game 2 — Team A vs. Team B

Day 3: Game 3 — if necessary, Team A vs. Team B

College World Series