Seadragon76

Two new changes have popped up as the new college season begins... Campbell changes things up as they move to the CAA. Grand Canyon introduces a speedy look for 2023.

Not a rumor anymore.

All three were the top three teams in the 2018 event. They got placed in Pool A along with Australia and England (4th and 5th place at the 2018 event respectively) The remaining teams in the Top 10 of the 2018 event (Japan, Israel, Germany, Scotland and Ireland) were placed as the top team in each group and then the 20 remaining qualifying teams were randomly placed in the other five groups.

It's possible. But, there might be a chance for someone else to make a move. So, after tomorrow's final round of group play, they head into the knockout round. How it works is like this... -All 5 teams in Pool A (Australia, Canada, England, Iroquis Nation and the United States) are assured the top 5 seeds. The top two in Pool A are given first round byes while the other three teams are seeded 3-5. -The group winners in the other five groups are given seeds 6-10 -The four best runner up teams are given seeds 11-14 So, as of right now, this would be the knockout round field: 1. United States 2. Iroquis Nation 3. Canada 4. Australia 5. England 6. Japan 7. Italy 8. Ireland 9. Israel 10. Jamaica 11. Puerto Rico 12. Germany 13. France 14. Netherlands [b]1st Round[/b] -(8) Israel vs. (9) Ireland [winner get (1) United States] -(13) France vs. (4) Australia -(12) Germany vs. (5) England -(10) Jamaica vs. (7) Italy [winner gets (2) Iroquis Nation] -(14) Netherlands vs. (3) Canada -(11) Puerto Rico vs. (6) Japan

That was pure domination on the part of Vegas in that game. Congrats to them and their fans. They now have a championship to call their own.

Imagine WWE and AEW merged into one giant entity.

The Super Regional Round is set. Time for a preview... Friday, Saturday and (If Needed) Sunday Duke at (7) Virginia - The bats were on fire last weekend for Duke as the Blue Devils swung their way past Coastal Carolina to get to the Super Regional Round. They're heading up the road to Charlottesville, where the Cavaliers await them. Virginia had no issues at home thanks to their stellar pitching staff, all plucked from the transfer portal. While the Cavs are terrifying at home (32-4 on the season), Duke came in late April and took two out of three from Virginia. (14) Indiana State at Texas Christian - Normally, the seeded team would host this series, but the Indiana Special Olympics are being held in Terre Haute this weekend, preventing the Sycamores from hosting this series with TCU. Either way, it'll be a clash on contrasting styles at play here: The clutch hitting of the Sycamores against a Horned Frog squad that feasted on Razorback last weekend. (15) South Carolina at (2) Florida - One of two series between SEC teams, the Gators and Gamecocks took different routes to get here. South Carolina bulldozed their way through the regional at home while Florida had to take two out of three from Texas Tech. The Gamecocks swept the high powered Gators in late April, but that was in Columbia... this series is in Gainesville. A whole different beast in itself. Oral Roberts at Oregon - Two red hot Cinderellas meet in the Pacific Northwest as Oregon, who found a second life in the postseason, faces the hottest team in the nation in Oral Roberts. The Ducks, who everyone thought were dead meat heading into the Pac-12 tournament, have reeled off 7 straight wins to get here thanks to their bullpen. Now comes the blazing hot Golden Eagles, who have a 21 game winning streak and took advantage of the chaos they help create in Stillwater by winning close games. Saturday, Sunday and (If Needed) Monday (16) Alabama at (1) Wake Forest - The top seeded Demon Deacons had little issues running through their regional as no one was even in the ballpark. Now they get a battle tested Alabama team that had to fight to get here - walk off wins over Nicholls State and Troy in the regional were part of it. If the Crimson Tide wanted a challenge... hoo boy. They're getting one. Texas at (8) Stanford - The Longhorns and the Cardinal hold some of the biggest pedigrees in the world of college baseball and these two pedigrees will collide in Palo Alto this weekend. Texas comes in with a certified man in P Lebarron Johnson Jr. He threw a complete game (the first all season for Texas) in the regional semifinal against Miami (FL). Stanford comes in with their own swagger: Four straight trips to the Super Regional Round. (12) Kentucky at (5) Louisiana State - The other series between SEC teams happens down on the Bayou as the Wildcats and Tigers meet up. Kentucky had to work to get here, beating Indiana twice despite two shutouts in the regional (the team's first and second shutouts in NCAA Tournament play since 1949). They're off to Baton Rouge to face the Tigers, who used their star power to literally overpower the rest of their regional foes. LSU won two out of three games here against Kentucky when they met in mid-April. Tennessee at Southern Mississippi - The final Super Regional sees two teams that took different paths to get here. Tennessee didn't lose a game over in Clemson over the weekend, but they needed a miracle against the Tigers in the regional semifinal to win there. Southern Miss got popped by Samford to open play in Auburn, but that didn't deter them as they would take out all three teams in the regional to get here. Now comes the challenge for the Volunteers - can they win away from home? (UT = 5-12 on the road; USM = 27-5 at home)

Day 2 is in the books, let's recap it... The Fallen Fifteen - Fifteen teams were eliminated yesterday, mostly four seeds. But, there were some teams that deserve more recognition here... CAA = Cooked Asses Association - The CAA had two teams in the field, Northeastern and UNC-Wilmington. Neither team won a game as the Huskies got rolled over by George Mason and the Seahawks were completely over-matched in both games. Both teams going '2 and Q' is not a good sign. Slaughtered in Stillwater - Oklahoma State lost a hard fought game to Oral Roberts on Friday, but what came after was the stuff of nightmares as Dallas Baptist blew them out of the water in a 18-4 rout. This opens the door for someone else to take the region - namely, Oral Roberts. The Golden Eagles survived a wild and wacky shootout with Washington to move on. Poor day on the Plains - The other host to get knocked out was Auburn. The Tigers got stunned by Penn on Friday and running into an angry Southern Miss team was probably not a good sign as the Golden Eagles won 7-2. Also like in Stillwater, the four seed in the bracket final as Penn held off a late charge by Samford. Wet Weather Woes - Rainy weather caused havoc at certain sites, which means the schedule has to be juggled to make sure all games are played. One game in Fayetteville was postponed and the entire bracket in Baton Rouge was put on hold thanks to the rain. In Fayetteville, the game between Arkansas and TCU starts the day with the loser playing Santa Clara (a winner over Arizona in the lone game of the day there) in the nightcap. Meanwhile, the game between Tulane and Sam Houston State continues at 12 Noon EST with the Bearkats leading 7-2 in the bottom of the 7th inning. Oregon State and Louisiana State meet in the winner's bracket game at 3 PM (EST) and then the nightcap is the second elimination game.

Day 1 is in the books, let's recap it... Upset Party - The first day saw some massive upsets, but none bigger then Rider's win at Coastal Carolina. The Broncs dropped 9 runs on the Chants in the 7th inning to take a 9-5 lead, only for the Chants to fight back and send it into extra innings, where the Broncs would finish the job and secure their first tournament win since 1987. They get Duke today in the winner's bracket game. Welcome to the #QuakeShow - If there was one team people probably expected to pull an upset here, it was Penn. The Quakers proved their worth with a win over Auburn 6-3. This puts them against Samford, a team that won three games in a day to earn their automatic bid. Praise be Oral - The other 4 seed to win? Oral Roberts, probably the scariest of the bunch because they have beaten Oklahoma State twice already this season. Once in April in Stillwater and once in May in Tulsa. The third time? Well, still all Oral Roberts as they defeated the Cowboys 6-4 and move on to play Washington in the winner bracket game today.

Why did they wait this long to unveil the nickname?

You want some cheese with that whine, man? Sheesh...

The field is set... let's break it down: Super Region 1: Winston-Salem vs. Tuscaloosa Winston-Salem: Wake Forest, Maryland, Northeastern, George Mason Tuscaloosa: Alabama, Boston College, Troy, Nicholls State Super Region 2: Coral Gables vs. Stanford Coral Gables: Miami (FL), Texas, UL-Lafayette, Maine Stanford: Stanford, Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton, San Jose State Super Region 3: Baton Rouge vs. Lexington Baton Rouge: Louisiana State, Oregon State, Sam Houston State, Tulane Lexington: Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, Ball State Super Region 4: Auburn vs. Clemson Auburn: Auburn, Southern Miss, Samford, Penn Clemson: Clemson, Tennessee, Charlotte, Lipscomb Super Region 5: Gainesville vs. Columbia Gainesville: Florida, UConn, Texas Tech, Florida A&M Columbia: South Carolina, Campbell, North Carolina State, Central Connecticut State Super Region 6: Conway vs. Charlottesville Conway: Coastal Carolina, Duke, UNC Wilmington, Rider Charlottesville: Virginia, East Carolina, Oklahoma, Army Super Region 7: Nashville vs. Stillwater Nashville: Vanderbilt, Oregon, Xavier, Eastern Illinois Stillwater: Oklahoma State, Dallas Baptist, Washington, Oral Roberts Super Region 8: Terre Haute vs. Fayetteville Terre Haute: Indiana State, Iowa, North Carolina, Wright State Fayetteville: Arkansas, TCU, Arizona, Santa Clara As for televised games on the first day... ESPN2 -7 PM (EST): Oklahoma vs. East Carolina (Charlottesville Regional) -10 PM (EST): Cal State Fullerton vs. Texas A&M (Stanford Regional) ESPNU -12 Noon (EST): Texas Tech vs. UConn (Gainesville Regional) -3 PM (EST): Tulane vs. Louisiana State (Baton Rouge Regional) -6 PM (EST): Charlotte vs. Tennessee (Clemson Regional) -9 PM (EST): Arizona vs. TCU (Fayetteville Regional) Longhorn Network -2 PM (EST): UL-Lafayette vs. Texas (Coral Gables Regional) SEC Network -12 Noon (EST): Ball State vs. Kentucky (Lexington Regional) -8 PM (EST): Eastern Illinois vs. Vanderbilt (Nashville Regional) ACC Network -1 PM (EST): North Carolina State vs. Campbell (Columbia Regional) -7 PM (EST): North Carolina vs. Iowa (Terre Haute Regional)

It's that time of year again, folks. Time for the Road to Omaha. First off, the announcement of the regional hosts for the upcoming first round of play. They are, in alphabetical order... -Alabama -Arkansas -Auburn -Clemson -Coastal Carolina -Florida -Indiana State -Kentucky -Louisiana State -Miami (FL) -Oklahoma State -Stanford -South Carolina -Vanderbilt -Virginia -Wake Forest As such, these 16 teams are in the field automatically as hosts (Clemson, Indiana State and Vanderbilt won their automatic bids to begin, so... yeah). As for some notes with the auto bids... -Tulane, at 19-40 on the season, is in the field as they stunned the field in the American tournament to win their automatic bid. -Cal State Fullerton 'earned' the automatic bid out of the Big West by default as the actual conference champion, UC San Diego, is ineligible for the tournament.

Well, that's something different... You can figure that four cities will more then likely land teams: Boston, Denver, New York and either Baltimore or Washington D.C. The next four? That's the hard part, but I think that Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta are good bets.

Here's a new logo... This time, Lewis (D-II Great Lakes Valley Conference) makes a change.

Already brought up Western Illinois, man. In the case of the Summit, there's been talk for years about Augustana (SD) joining the league, but they don't have a plan outside of the incoming hockey team joining the CCHA. On the flip side, the Ohio Valley is now safe in terms of other sports... but is going to have to do the heavy lifting in terms of the alliance with the Big South for football. It's similar to how the WAC is going to do the heavy lifting for the UAC.

Western Illinois jumps from the Summit to the Ohio Valley (Football will stay in the MVFC for this season)

NBC has been the broadcaster for the Bayou Classic game between Grambling and Southern since 1991 (this includes the stint on NBC Sports Network before that got shutdown)

Not a bad game for NBC to pick up to start their run with the Big Ten - a Power 5 battle in Happy Valley. Isn't this also the first year for the new media deals that the Big Ten and SEC have?

Exactly... New Haven is more then likely getting the call within the next year or two.

I thought so.

I assume it's six teams, like any other sport. Anyhow, the brackets were released for both men and women's DI lacrosse. I'll start with the men's bracket. Men's Bracket Play-In Game Marist at Delaware 1st Round Marist/Delaware winner at (1) Duke Michigan at (8) Cornell Princeton at (5) Penn State Army at (4) Maryland Richmond at (2) Virginia Yale at (7) Georgetown Bryant at (6) Johns Hopkins Utah at (3) Notre Dame Women's Bracket 1st Round Central Michigan at Michigan [winner at (1) Northwestern] Penn State at Stony Brook Fairfield at (8) Loyola (Maryland) Southern California at (5) Denver Albany at Virginia Marquette at Richmond Sacred Heart at (4) North Carolina Massachusetts at Johns Hopkins [winner at (2) Syracuse] Army at (7) James Madison Drexel at Maryland Jacksonville at (6) Florida Mercer at Notre Dame Penn at UConn [winner at (3) Boston College]

That, and he already ripped the Penguins to shreds.

It's like the Gods of Chaos wanted to have some fun with the playoffs and, lo and behold, this is what we get... Florida stunning Boston and Seattle stunning Colorado. Man, I love Chaos.

Feels nice for Toronto fans to get the 20 ton King Kong sized gorilla off of their backs. The only way this gets better for them is if Florida does the unthinkable tomorrow night and beats Boston in Game 7. Ending the drought AND avoiding Boston? Yeah, I think there are a few Leaf fans here that might end up like the end result of a sugar high if that happens.