With the NCAA baseball tournament starting Friday, here are my tips for betting this year’s road to Omaha.
The 64 teams are bracketed and will follow the same bracket format (and each team’s placement within said bracket) all the way to and through Omaha. Understanding each team’s strengths and weaknesses is a big part of the CWS handicap, but also understanding how each team sits in proximity to other top 20 competitors is foundational to tourney success. An efficient pass into Omaha always helps!
There are 11 SEC teams in the field of 64, and in that league, steel sharpens steel. The SEC has 5 teams in the top 7 D1 rankings, which were used to seed this tourney.
SEC teams will for the most part thrive against most non-SEC competition. They are spaced such that the SEC will not have to play vs. another SEC team in five of the potential eight Super Regional best-of-three series, which is quite favorable to the SEC as a league.
The ACC has eight teams in the field of 64, which is indicative of its rise this year in hardball. The ACC has 5 teams in the top 16, which were used to seed this tournament.
I add a premium to veteran teams who made it to the Regionals and Super Regionals last year and pay extra attention to any teams that competed in Omaha. Often, they’re wide-eyed fulfilling dreams that first year. If they can make it back, they’re all business.
Teams in this year’s field that were in Omaha last year: Florida, LSU and Tennessee in the SEC and Virginia and Wake in the ACC. Neither Oral Roberts, Stanford or TCU (the other three Omaha 2023 teams) made the field of 64.
I could envision the SEC landing up to six teams this year in Omaha, but more than likely four or five teams. I can see the ACC having success this year, and I would not be surprised to see them land 2-3 teams.
After the SEC and ACC, there’s little room for all the other squads competing in this year’s tourney of 64. Any making it to Omaha will have to be top-caliber clubs: Oregon St. East Carolina, Oklahoma and Arizona to name a few.
Arizona is in the most competitive regional, and I look for Dallas Baptist, a veteran team that made the Regionals
Alabama, Duke, South Carolina, S. Miss and Indiana State all made it to the Supers last year and were eliminated. Look for them to be live in this year’s NCAA Baseball Tournament.
